Q&A with John Coleman

Then you will only recover 90%, maybe and if you are lucky. Do you want to be well or dont you says John! When John was getting well he was 110% strict and focused and thats what you need to do if you want to be well. John’s rule is be 100% at all times. Once you are 100% recovered and well, then down the track this can be relooked at as an occasional treat within reason. But get there first!

If people are sleeping at least reasonably well, they’re actually building up some reserves of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and anandamide. So when they wake in the morning, their body’s calmer. The body’s stress response system (called the HPA Axis and is how your brain talks to your adrenal glands to release cortisol) is calmer when you wake, so you will be less likely to be experiencing symptoms associated with hyper stress.

But by the time you get through the morning, get yourself showered, dressed and eating, you are more worried about what’s going on for the day, thinking and dwelling on things more etc. This stress unbalances the neurotransmitters in the brain . So by the afternoon your symptoms are likely to be exacerbated.

What they can do? Take some time in the middle of the day or early afternoon to do some meditation and some gentle, peaceful exercise. Then often we can see that the afternoon symptoms won’t be as bad. So essentially this is associated with stress.

Be reminded that levopdopa isn’t a cure for PD. If tremors are worse then its most important to look at why e.g. heavy metals, toxins like glyphosate, paraquat, petrochemicals, industrial chemicals, infections, mycotoxins, lack of sleep, poor diet, stress and inflammation can all be associated with tremor. So simply increasing medication is not likely to have a major effect on tremor intensity.

If tremors are worrying people, we need to be looking at what’s causing that tremor and then dealing with that cause.

Up until recently there were only 3 reliable labs in the world to test for tick bites. Unfortunately as of 2025, there are only two. Australian Biologics, following pressure from medical authorities and the regulatory body, TGA (like the FDA in the USA), decided it was too difficult and expensive to keep offering these tests. Medical and government opinion in Australia is that Australian ticks do not cause Lyme Disease. (John Coleman furiously opposes this view).

The two reliable labs left are Igenex in the USA and Armin Labs in Germany. If your blood test was not performed at either of these labs, and you scored high for stealth infections on John’s questionnaire (which is the MSIDS questionnaire), then please consider redoing this blood test through Igenex or Armin labs.

There’s 36 species of Borrelia infection from ticks that we know of, of which 18 can infect humans. Many labs only test for one type, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, which is fundamentally the Northeast American Lyme disease.

There is also babesia and bartonella infections from ticks.

Note: read over Chapter 26 of John’s book Rethinking Parkinson’s Disease which goes into this in more detail.

Keto diets in my experience are useful for one to 2 weeks and then they can become problematic. There are nutrients missing from a strict keto diet. Whilst people with neuro disorders need a protein they also need lots of vegetables and fruits, fibre (highest in beans and legumes), and nuts and seeds.

So Bowen works on a number of levels. Obviously, when someone’s lying on the table face down, your face in the bed face hole, soft music playing, we’re feeling comfortable and drifting off into fairyland. We are going into a very deeply relaxed state and no one’s going to attack us. Its not a remedial massage session with heavy elbows so we know the treatment is not going to hurt. So number one, that very relaxed state is helping to reduce that inflammation, that agitation in the system, so that in itself will help reduce tremor. Bowen is also changing the viscosity of fascia from what is often too viscous in people with neuro disorders to almost watery temporarily

That state of low viscosity lasts for around 20 min to half an hour. So again, that’s allowing the body to really relax, almost go completely floppy which is one of the reasons when we ask people to get off the table bowen therapists should be there in case they collapse because blood pressure can drop very rapidly after a bowen treatment for a few minutes.

So there’s a couple of factors. There’s relaxation, the change in viscosity of fascia, lower blood pressure, better hormone levels, reducing adrenal output with cortisol.

We’re getting that better balance between adrenal hormones, dopamine, serotonin and anandamide, etc. So neurotransmitters and with the change of viscosity of the fascia, we get a temporary reduction in inflammation.

Now, what can people do to continue these benefits in between Bowen sessions? Continue to hydrate, continue to meditate. Use affirmations and EFT (tapping).

John says he had a light bulb moment when he was very unwell with PD back in 1996. He was staggering around the hospital and tremoring and was just exhausted one day, and crept into an empty operating theatre and lay down on the table. Probably a dangerous thing to do! Someone he knew walked into the theatre and saw him lying on the table with his tremors and gave him a scalp massage. In that moment he became completely still and that lasted for nearly 30 min.

Even whilst studying to be a naturopath with severe Parkinson’s symptoms (which Lisa remembers as we studied at the same college at the same time in the 90s), he had a fellow student during classes stand behind him and give him a scalp and shoulder massage and he became completely still.  Therefore John got into the habit of giving himself scalp massages.

So to continue the benefits of Bowen between sessions, give yourself a scalp massage regularly OR ask your partner, family member, friend to do it for you.

The other thing you can do is between sessions is ask your Bowen Therapist for moves you can do yourself e.g. shoulder move, chest move, self help move.

But the other thing for the patient to remember is the tremor is the most superficial symptom of all and will be the last to go.

Yes, the dystonia should go first. Dystonia is often caused by medication, over medication in particular. There are some other causes of dystonia such as due to excess mercury and also cadmium. This is why a HTMA (hair tissue mineral analysis is recommended at least once a year).

Some vaccines can cause dystonia as a side effect, so that’s worth considering, and there are antidotes for most vaccines available.

As the person gets better and assuming they’re reducing medication and they’re detoxing, doing everything as per my book, then dystonia will become less and less.

If they’re struggling with the right hand side, then the primary damage is on the left side of the brain. So things like singing, dancing, ambidextrous movements and cross crawling can help. All these sorts of activities will help balance up the sides.

It’s the nature of the disorder. If they are primarily unilateral, they’re very lucky because the disorder hasn’t spread bilaterally and that’s great.

Don’t stop using the right hand side but do use it in short bursts.

So I suggest to patients if it’s the right hand side (John’s was the right hand side) practice something with a movement that side when they don’t have to do the movement. So if they’re struggling to clean their teeth, clean their teeth with the left hand side, but then, when they don’t have to clean their teeth, practice using the toothbrush with their right hand which is less stressful.

It’s similarly with other movements e.g I can’t turn over in bed.

During the day, when you don’t have to turn over in bed, lie down on the bed and turn over, have some music playing and practice that movement to regain muscle memory. It takes the stress out of the action when you practice doing it when you dont need to.

One of my patients said they would generally move around pretty well, but walking to and from the bedroom door, the bed to the bedroom door and the bedroom door of the bed was really problematic for them and would fall. Now, why is that? Why do you think that might be when we have to think about it yourself? When you get up at night and you’ve got to go and pee tired, your energy’s low, so that passage between the bedroom door and the bed either way is a stressful action and particularly if you’ve had a fall, so it becomes a dangerous action. So practice it when you don’t need to.

I’ve had people up to 10 times a day, walk between the door and the bed, lie down on the bed, get up off the bed, walk out the door again and they regain that ability more quickly.

Yes. Sugar is poison and it is inflammatory. Sugar is dangerous.

The two most common scales used for PD are the Hoehn and Yahr Scale and the UPDRS scale.

Stage 0 Parkinson’s disease is no symptoms.

Stage 1 is where symptoms are apparent, mild, unilateral. Not really inhibiting life at all. Someone’s got a bit of a tremor, or they’re not swinging their arm when they walk, or they’re dragging a leg a bit and they’re a bit worried. So that’s stage one.

Stage 2. The symptoms are becoming significant or it’s now becoming bilateral, usually unevenly. So they’re not moving their left arm quite normally, but their right arms quite still when they walk, etc but they’re still functioning. They may or may not consider low dose medication of that state depending on how Gung-ho their neurologist is.

Stage 3. It’s beginning to piss them off, or it’s becoming difficult to function normally, if they have a tremor, the tremor is becoming significant. Movement is difficult. Balance may be compromised. They could be having some brain fog, energy is low. They’ve definitely been very unwell, and they feel the disease is progressing, and if they under the care of a doctor they are most likely on some form of medication at this stage, almost invariably they have been seeing a neurologist.

Stage 4 (which John was classified as). Significant tremor in your head, both hands, both arms, right, leg, whole of body. Getting up and down from a chair being difficult. Walking extremely slow. Unable to speak that well. John had night sweats, great rigidity, a lot of pain.

Stage 5. May be in a nursing home having full time care.

However there is hope! John mentions in his book his client Lionel who was stage 4 and a half when he came to see John and was in his eighties, and they turned that around. It took him 6 years. In his 90s he was at the local lawn bowls club and doing well. When John met him he was on 11 drugs. He was able to get off all of these drugs.

Yes! This is something we are working on towards in the future with Lisa’s help.

I think this bears out, that cold foods and liquids for some people can be harmful because it shocks the system. So drinking icy drinks particularly shocks their gut which can then reduce absorption and function and production.

So I encourage my patients to drink their water at room temperature or slightly warmer if they’re using lemon juice and water before meals. Lukewarm, I think, works better.

Even though raw salads are still beneficial but John would take it out of the fridge and let it reach room temperature. Some patients just do better with steamed or otherwise cooked foods rather than cold foods. Sometimes we can judge that with their heritage, their cultural heritage. So I’ve I’ve seen that the people who are not so far removed from a United Kingdom, Northern European heritage or Canadian we’ll do better with warmer foods because the constitution is used to a cold environment which needs warming.

Whereas people whose heritage is perhaps Mediterranean or Pacific may do better with some salads and the cooler foods, but not cold.

Exercise is good and there are a number of exercises that have been shown to be better than others for people with Parkinson’s and similar. Now the intensity has to be judged individually here. Marathons could be ridiculous, an exercise in trying to kill yourself due to the high stress on the body. But we have seen good results with high intensity, interval training with short intervals. So 1 min high intensity, 2 min slow, 1 min, 2 min, 1 min, 2 min with a limit on repetitions dependent on the patient’s energy and condition.

We know that cycling can be good because it’s repetitive cross movement and either a stationary cycle or on the road. You know, they’ve got to be safe on the road so often its a stationary cycle.

Elliptical training can be good again, because it’s a cross movement. And there’s also boxing which if properly supervised can be good because there’s a movement and ducking and weaving so similar to dancing. Dancing can be good exercise.

Judge your ability, then go 5% more. So extend ourselves, but not exhaust ourselves. And and there’s good research, showing that that this works. This does help recovery and helps to reduce symptoms.

Yes, there is because the causes of chronic heart disease and the causes of so-called Parkinson’s disease are exactly the same, trauma, toxins, infection.

Also be mindful that stealth infections from tick bites can also cause considerable cardiovascular issues. Heart conditions amongst Lyme patients are very common.

If the sports person is elite and training at a sports institute, keep in mind that their diet is likely to be highly inflammatory. Lots of gluten, dairy and sugar as well as processed foods.

Often these sports institutes do not understand preserving energy production. They stress stress stress the body. Often elite sportspeople end up with arthritis, depression, joint, breakdown, spinal degeneration and more. They’ve overstressed their body for years, and some of them are in a state of collapse when they’re 28 or 30.

What’s causing the hair loss? What’s causing the Parkinson’s symptoms? Genes, if they’re triggered can affect hair loss

Is there lead? Is there mercury? Is there cadmium that causes hair loss? Arsenic causes hair loss.

Lack of B12 causes hair loss, lack of zinc causes hair loss.

Infection causes hair loss, tremor causes hair loss.

Trauma causes change in hair colour.  John used to have beautiful brown hair with a hint of red and after his son Damien died on the 29th of December, 1983, by the end of that year he was grey. A few years later he was brown again.

We know that we need glutathione in every cell for detoxification.

However we also know that even the best glutathione supplements are very poorly absorbed only up to 10%.

One study was done using intranasal glutathione as an efficient way to increase glutathione in the brain however the results were not remarkable.

There may be a little benefit from oral, intranasal, or even IV glutathione in normal circumstances. Now that being said we do know that excellent food choices, bowel tolerance vitamin C and rooibos tea can increase production of endogenous glutathione. So I encourage all my patients to use that.

No. You need to be 100% focused on diet to recover 100%. Decaf coffee is also a no-no.

So Dr. Constantini started treating Alzheimer’s patients with B1 therapy high dose thiamine, and he saw some improvement, and so he thought it would be a good thing to try with his Parkinson’s patients as well. All these Parkinson’s patients were taking Levo-dopa. What it appears to do is reduce some symptoms, particularly in people who are also taking low to moderate doses of levodopa drugs. It won’t help everybody. It won’t reverse the Parkinson’s process, and it won’t cure the Parkinson’s process. So it’s one of those therapies that can be used to reduce symptoms so that people can actually be more active in doing things to get well. A number of my patients have tried it with probably 8 out of 10 have got nothing out of it. If you do take B1 therapy it needs to be thiamine hydrochloride. You can get it as a micro lingual or sublingual form, which is more convenient. The challenge is, if most people, if they’re taking it as a supplement need to take a high dose. So we’re talking, say, 4 grams a day which is a minimum of 8 capsules. And again, I’m very cautious with B1 therapy, because we don’t understand the mechanism of action.

This is a herb that contains a natural source of levodopa. However many brands are not good quality and the active component will not cross the blood brain barrier. John would always like to remind you that levodopa medication or a herbal source of levodopa DOES NOT treat the cause. It may help to reduce your most obvious symptom of a tremor BUT it is not helping to heal or address the causes. If you ARE going to take mucuna then Lisa recommends MacuDopa only. Please note that it can be contraindicated with medications and you need to take it under professional guidance.

Changing one’s mindset and attitude towards recovery from neuro disorders. John emphasizes the need for dedication, patience, and compliance in the healing process. He also highlights the need for a change in attitude and the importance of patience and dedication in the healing process.

The causes of ill health dont change. There may be new methods however in addressing the causes. The various causes include toxins, stealth infections, stress and trauma, poor diet, nutrient deficiencies, concussions, microbiome health and genetics. There is new research into red laser light however, this is not necessarily addressing the causes of PD.

John emphasizes the importance of choosing the right filter based on the locality and water source. Is there chlorine in your water, is there fluoride? Are there heavy metals like copper? He suggests checking with your local water supply company what is added / removed from your water. In John’s location in country Victoria, Australia he uses a reverse osmosis filter. John also mentioned the need for a neutral pH in water unless you are very acidic. You want to make sure your water has no chlorine, fluoride and heavy metals.

This again is a symptom-controlling drug rather than a cure. They work on dopamine for addiction. Nicotine patches may be helpful to support dopamine, but they should not be relied upon and if used at all should be used in conjunction with recovery strategies. Never forget to address the underlying causes – toxins, trauma, stress, diet, lifestyle, stealth infections, nutrient deficiencies etc.

John discussed the long-term effects of concussions, particularly on the nervous system and brain. He highlighted a case of a patient who had a concussion at age 12 and was now in their 40s with Parkinson’s disease. John emphasized that even a single concussion can lead to neural dysfunction and suggested that athletes and sports participants should be investigated for potential concussions. He recommends seeing a chiropractor or osteopath who specialises in concussions.

Yes, most people experience improvements in a general order. Often, energy, clarity and internal sense of wellbeing shift before the more visible neurological symptoms improve. According to John, symptoms tend to improve in reverse order of their onset. That means the longer a symptom has been present, the longer it may take to fully resolve. Tremors, in particular, are often the last to settle down, even when other aspects are improving steadily. Your progress so far – such as periods without tremors and feeling more “normal” in your body – is a very positive sign that deep healing is underway.

John was quite clear that it’s best to avoid this kind of task if at all possible. He recommended either hiring someone or wearing full protective gear – including a disposable painting suit, gloves, shoes cover booties and a proper respirator, not just a mask. Even brief exposure to mould in enclosed, dusty areas can trigger setbacks when the immune system is vulnerable. If it must be done, keep time inside very short, and shower and wash clothes immediately afterwards.