Robin Williams and Parkinson's
 

While listening to the radio this morning I heard Dr. Ken Kronhaus state the following pertaining to Robin Williams and Parkinson's.

(I'm stating this from memory.) Addiction to alcohol and cocaine can damage the brain. Specifically, cocaine overexcites and destroys neurons, the brain cells responsible for producing dopamine. This can result in Parkinson's disease.

I think that is a fact that drugs can induce Parkinson's Disease but the most common cause is aging.

Yes. And?

Fine, Robin Williams was human and fallible and did horrible things to his body. Could you PLEASE let those of us who loved him mourn him without you condemning his mistakes?

The OP implies that this is what happened to Robin Williams.The reality is that they haven't figured out what causes this horrible disease. A dear friend's husband has PD and certainly didn't abuse drugs or alcohol; the OP really upset me.

Thank you Red, I could'nt agree more.

Agree, RErmer. My brother has PD, and he always lived his life clean as a whistle.

Who is Dr. Ken Kronhaus? Another Dr Oz?

Dr. K is a cardiologist in Mt. Dora. While that (drugs) may be one reason for the development of Parkinson's, it's not the only one. Frankly, who cares what brought about the illness...it happened....he died and many of us are DEEPLY saddened.

It's cruel to blame people for directly causing themselves such a cruel disease, especially when we know innocent babies, teens and adults who do not abuse drugs get cruel diseases.

I hope I can say this part without sounding critical. I've been surprised at how shocked people were at hearing he died and then how he died, given his extremes of high and low moods, and his known problems with substance abuse and addiction.

From what I saw of him over the decades, I'd often think "he's extremely manic". Then when he would make all those fantastic, crazy faces (some have a face that makes half their act), I thought his sad faces were not acting, but were his real face/mood. He often looked deeply depressed.

I hope his problems bring more awareness to bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder. Many people seem to have it to a certain degree, and when they're not exhibiting grossly and outrageously high and low behavior, it goes undiagnosed and treated. And it can be treated.

You might have a point. Dr. Ken Kronhaus comes on the radio, as a guest, once a week on a morning talk show and gives the latest health and medical news. He has a medical practice somewhere in central Florida and also has his own one hour radio program where he answers questions from those who call in.

He was the one who gave information about Soprano star Gandolfini. He said his death was brought about by overeating, and that was based on a list of foods that he had ordered while staying in a hotel in Italy. I don't have that list handy but it was an enormous amount of food.

I'm not a big fan of Dr. Kronhaus because, like Dr. Oz, he advertises products on his show. In addition to that he runs advertisements for a heart scanning service that he provides. I just happen to think that whenever there's a profit motive involved the information provided may not always be unbiased. But that doesn't mean he's not a good doctor.

He's a heart doctor and when it comes to talking about Parkinson's Disease, he had nothing to gain financially by giving the information he gave. He simply reads health and medical journals and brings the latest information to his listeners.

What he said about Parkinson's did NOT exclude other possible causes. And the information that he gives is not intended to condemn anyone, it's given so that we may learn and hopefully prevent more of it from happening in the future.

Just another talking head..........................

You need to get a television set. I mean this very sincerely.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...s/CON-20028488

The onset of Parkinson's can be caused by drugs and alcohol but aging and genetics are common factors and the exact cause has really never been determined. HOWEVER, when a person perseverates on the same subject or fixates on the same problem, that can be OCD.

One of the causes of OCD is a drop of serotonin to the brain. Medications like Zoloft can help that. Usually the person who has OCD can't see the difference but the people around them can. It takes about six weeks for the symptoms to become milder.

Confusion is another problem that some people suffer from. You can see it in their rambling and in the difficulty they have in focusing. They drift from one issue to another.

There have been a number of major studies on the affect of alcohol and cocaine on the brain. St Jude;'s Hospital did a 2005 study.

As to cocaine what experts have found is that cocaine triggers excitotoxicity in the brain meaning that nerve cells are damaged and killed by excessive release of neurotransmitters such as glutamate that causes cells to overexcite and die. Muhammad Ali developed Parkinson from being beaten so badly around the head. Of course one cannot discount genetics

Some posters attempted to shoot the messenger which i believe was an emotional response due to their personal feelings about Williams.

Clearly Williams, the comedian, was a genius and brought much laughter to billions of people but he was also a person. I suspect like his idol Jonathon Winters Williams suffered with mental illness.. We could go on but the point is too many people can't seem to separate the person from the celebrity. Personally I admire Williams more for his ability to overcome his mental illness

How about a cheerful post, instead of bringing up subjects, that are was beyond the realm, of our limiting understanding.

As the "Beatles" said, "Let It Be".

Robin's death is still being mourned, by those who are deeply saddened. I for one, don't need to hear his falibilties, that may have led to his demise. He is gone. Let his tortured soul, rest in peace.

Drugs, mental illness, DNA are subjects that need to be investigated further, by brighter minds than I.