Hi island Mike
I read your post on here in relation to nicotine patches and would like to know where you have discovered that “it has long been known that smokers are less likely to develop Parkinson’s”. When I was diagnosed some ten years ago a specialist said exactly the same thing to me, and I have to say that it was one of the easiest claims to refute as the statistics just don’t back it up at all.
-
The majority of Parkinson’s diagnoses still occur in those over 60.
-
smokers are definitely in the minority of the population as a whole, and in particular in those aged 55 plus, the percentage of those who smoke is much lower than in those under 40.
-
It can be taken then that the majority of Parkinson’s diagnoses the patient is either someone who has never smoked or someone who has quit smoking and that the oft quoted rubbish that people who smoke are less likely to develop Parkinson’s is bunkum and I challenge you or indeed anyone to provide concrete proof that smoking in some way gives you a lesser chance of a Parkinson’s diagnosis. I am sorry but this is a myth that has, in my opinion, been perpetrated for far too long, and when you say in your next sentence “Nobody knows why this is the case”, you pretty much give a clue to the authenticity, or lack of such, of this oft-repeated tripe. Do you really think that it there were any truth to smoking lessening the chance of a Parkinson’s diagnosis, that we would all be shakingly sparking up our cigarettes with the nicotine stained fingers of a 30 a day habit? Lol duh Homer!!