It always amazes me when someone gets all hot and bothered and starts sounding off about a plant being poisonous or a drug source so they won't plant it because they have children or there are children in the neighborhood or it is illegal to grow. Most of the plants in the garden are poisonous at some levels. Azaleas are very powerful alkaloids and poisonous. Monkshood is a member of the nightshade family and poisonous. Datura (which is also a source of scopolamine) is often eaten or smoked in imitation of native American vision quests using Jimson Weed (Datura stramonium) and poisonous. But they also taste terrible. Most children will spit the leaves out before they ingest enough to hurt them because the leaves are bitter. Those that end up in the hospital tend to be teenagers who were looking for a "high" and doing something dumb. Poppies are the source of heroin and morphine. They are not illegal to grow in your garden (except if you intend to collect and process the sap into heroin). Nor is Jimsonweed illegal to grow. And neither are bananas, even though it was "common knowledge" in the sixties that you could smoke banana skins to get high.

Hi AuroraWA: You are right about the genetic factor which raise the risk of PD & plus more sensitive to pesticides. Not everyone is allergic to raisins like my kid, she has hay fever and many food allergies, which make her sensitive to pesticides. Raisins also has sulfur dioxide added as preservative. Sulfur dioxide is highest in yellow raisins, and that's her favorite for the past years. Thank God that my kid stops stuttering and neck-muscle-spasm after removal of raisins and dirty-dozen produce from her diet. Sam's Club, Walmart, and Trader's Joe all have organic produce at decent price. Genetic factor: if I have 1/4 cup of wine, I break out in rash rather than muscle-spasm. There's a genetic factor in Parkison's which makes a person more sensitive to pesticides. In my previous link on PD and hereditary, a twin posted on how his identical twin has PD, and he doesn't, see below link: "My identical twin brother has had Parkinson's for 14 years or so and has diskonesia; a side effect from the drugs he takes to manage his parkinsons. As we know identical twins start out from one egg and split into equal parts. Needless to say I don't have Parkinson's and can guarantee I will not get it. My twin brother is confined to his unit where he lives mostly and has cracked 9 ribs as well as his sturnum with the many falls caused by parkinsons." http://www.caring.com/questions/parkinsons-disease-hereditary Here's an excerpt from WebMD: "The UCLA researchers also found that people with a common variant of the ALDH2 gene are particularly vulnerable to these ALDH-inhibiting pesticides, according to a university news release. People with the variant are two to six times more likely to develop Parkinson's than those without the variant when exposed to the pesticides. The levels at which the pesticides inhibit ALDH are much lower than those at which they are currently used, according to the study in the Feb. 5 online issue of the journal Neurology ... "These pesticides are pretty ubiquitous, and can be found in our food supply and are used in parks and golf courses and in pest control inside buildings and homes." http://www.webmd.com/parkinsons-disease/news/20140203/more-pesticides-linked-to-parkinsons-risk From the below link: "According to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation: Epidemiological research has identified several factors that may be linked to Parkinson’s, including rural living, well water, manganese and pesticides. Some studies have demonstrated that prolonged occupational exposure to certain chemicals is associated with an elevated risk of PD [Parkinson’s disease]. These include the insecticides permethrin and beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (beta-HCH), the herbicides paraquat and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and the fungicide maneb. In 2009, the US Department of Veterans Affairs added Parkinson’s to a list of diseases possibly associated with exposure to Agent Orange.” Separate research has further revealed that ambient exposure to organophosphate pesticides also increased the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.6 Rotenone and paraquat are two additional pesticides linked to an increased risk of Parkinson's disease, and both are lipophilic, meaning they resist breaking down in water and accumulate in your fat. Both are also known to cross your blood-brain barrier. Dousing our crops with large amounts of glyphosate ��" the active ingredient in Monsanto’s broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup ��" may be another factor in the rising rates of Parkinson’s disease we’re now seeing,7 as these residues are found in all virtually all food containing genetically modified ingredients. " Here is a link that might be useful: Pesticides that trigger PD This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Oct 8, 14 at 9:39

I stumbled on this topic and was so glad to see that I am not the only one who has struggled with this. I have been having issues for the past 3 years. My periods stopped almost exactly 2 years ago. I had gotten so bad in the past 6 months that I could not walk when I got out of bed in the morning and could barely walk after sitting for longer than 10 minutes. I finally found a combination of things that have been working for me. I hope it may help somebody else! I admit that my diet has been terrible. I've had a bad case of the "busys" and I have relied heavily on the "bag and box" convenience approach. I read that people who eat a lot of fast/convenience food have magnesium and potassium deficiencies--which affect muscles. I began eating a banana--sometimes with peanut butter for breakfast. I eat baked potatoes (with all the good stuff; even then it 's better for me than fast food!). I concentrated on getting food with real nutrients; particularly potassium. You can google and find lots of options. I began taking a magnesium supplement. I only take about 1/2 the therapeutic dose. Do some research and find out which formulations are best absorbed to avoid diarrhea. I found out that artificial sweeteners can have an affect on nerves over time. (I recalled working with a client in my past job who turned to drinking Listerine as a source of alcohol. It permanently damaged the muscles in his legs.) I have been a HEAVY diet coke drinker for decades. I limit the diet soda to one or two small bottles per week and I began drinking water. Lots of it. I bought a compact fold-up exercise bike so that I could get in non-weight bearing exercise. The treadmill just seemed to aggravate things, especially my foot that had begun swelling. The bike allows me to work my legs--releasing lactic acid build-up that can lead to tightness--without causing new problems. A rowing machine might work too. I do at least 30 minutes a day, sometimes breaking it up into two or three sessions. I like the bike because it is totally silent and I can stop for brief breaks. I watch TV while riding. (I've read that deep tissue massage is also excellent in releasing lactic acid build-up, but I haven't tried it.) I began taking vitamin D3 for muscles and bones. I began taking Krill oil to help with inflammation--and it's just plain good for the human body. On mornings when I am still feeling pretty tight by 9:00am or so, I take 600mg ibuprofen. Previously, this did nothing to help. Now, it makes all the difference. I can feel it within an hour and one dose is all I need for all day. It took about 6 weeks, but the difference has been amazing. My stiffness is not totally gone, but it is remarkably lower!!! I can stand up and loosen up in a few seconds.

I woke up with right hand swelling and within weeks the swelling included the left hand. Then it was the right and left foot, right and left knee, back of right and left knee, legs, both forearms and elbows, swollen veins under tongue, swollen eyes from the beginning. My hands will not close so I have no grip but I do have muscle strength. Mid Feb 2011, I started to get short of breath. I do have speckled ANA antibodies but that is it. Nothing else in my blood work is abnormal. They did 2 weeks of in hospital testing (Doppler of legs, vascular study, lymphatic study, CT stomach, Ultrasound stomach and liver, X-ray chest, Echo of heart, pelvic ultrasound, mammogram, CT brain). The doc are giving me prednisone to deal with the swelling symptoms but I think the drug has made me as weak as a kitten and raised my resting heart beat since being sick from 72 bpm to 115 bpm. I think the docs are on the wrong track. Not one doctor will agree to a body MRI. All the symptoms just came on too fast. I will be 50 this year. I am hoping someone out there can relate and share their answers.