#Parkinson’s diseases

[mindblowingscience]

Researchers have identified a series of blood markers that betray the presence of Parkinson's disease up to seven years before most symptoms present. If findings from this small study can be replicated in larger populations, a simple blood test could be developed to identify those at risk. With around 10 million people impacted by Parkinson's globally, there is an urgent need to develop better treatments and preventative strategies. One of the reasons this has proved challenging is our inability to identify people at risk of Parkinson's early enough to trial mitigation strategies. So, University College London biochemist Jenny Hällqvist and colleagues used machine learning models to find eight proteins in our blood that change as Parkinson's disease progresses.

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[beardedmrbean]

Badass

[lady-of-tearshed]

Precious times

Summary: You had never met Azriel's mother. You never dared to ask to come with him when he's visiting her. You discretly test the waters of this subject with him.

Words count: 1.7k

Warnings: slight angst, talking of Parkinson disease, mention of slight injuries

A/N: At your demand... here you go :)💕 I felt like being productive today, so a Azriel fic out, AND I'm going to go feed your deers @thehighladywrites 🤣

The raw weather of Velaris winters engulfed your house briefly when your mate walked into your home. He took off his flying leathers in peaceful silence, as usual. The usual thud of his boots as he puts them down on the carpet announcing the end of his arrival routine. You smile as he gently wraps his arms around your hips, his chest pressed tightly onto your back as you are cooking dinner. He hummed and kissed your jaw softly, his cold lips brushing against your skin making you shiver. He giggles “I missed you today.”

“You always do, handsome.” You smile and slightly turn your head to him so you can kiss him. He kisses you back quickly before slightly pulling back as a smell hits his nose. He doesn’t say a word as you keep stirring the soup boiling in the cauldron and his eyes scan the kitchen. He spots a familiar book spread open on the countertop beside you. “Where did you find this..?” He whispers and frowns his eyes at you.

One thing you knew about the spymaster is that he hated when you were snooping around his stuff. Not that he had things to hide from you, simply there were things he wasn’t ready yet to talk about. “Oh, found this when I placed your folded laundry into your drawer. I thought a recipe from your mother’s cooking book would make you happy.” 

He tenses slightly, then rests his head on your shoulder. “It does, love. It does… Thank you.”

The both of you stay in silence as you keep following the recipe written in his mother’s handwriting. You had never met her since you and Azriel got together. You knew he visited her every year around Solstice, and on special occasions, but he had never offered you to join him. And you knew better than to push him into something. It would only make him shut up like an oyster. 

“Are you going to visit her at Rosehall soon? Solstice is coming.” You start off carefully. He simply nods, his nose snuggled in the curve of your neck.

“I’ve never met her before.” You simply state, testing the waters. He hesitates for a while, then speaks up. “Do you wish to?” 

You spin around and narrow your eyes “Why wouldn’t I? She’s your mother. The one that raised you to the man you are today.”  You smile softly and turn off the oven. You caress his cheek, feeling that there was something more he wasn’t telling you about this topic. 

He bites his tongue, and sighs, trying to release some tension from his knotted stomach. 

“It’s… a bit complicated. She has a disease. neuro-degenerative disease. Parkinson.” He states and places his hand on the one caressing his cheek.

You had never seen him on the verge of tears as he is now. “She can barely talk now, I don’t think you would like to meet her like that-” “Azriel… I just want to meet her and thank her, for you. She seems like such an amazing person…” “She looks just like you.” He admits, his voice shaky. He forces a smile and kisses your lips tenderly. He then whispers against your lips.  “Next week. I’ll bring you with me next week, so we can celebrate Solstice all together.” 

—

You had spent all week wandering around Velaris marketplace with Feyre, digging for the best gift for Azriel’s mother. You had settled your choice on a photo of you and Azriel on the day of your mating ceremony placed in a sculpted silver frame. You had bought her a set of blue sapphire earrings, matching Azriel’s siphons. You were anxiously looking down at the gift in your hands as your lover walked into your shared bedroom. “Love… I don’t want to put pressure on you…” “No, I want to go, Az, really. I just… I want to make a good impression on her.” I want to be good enough for you… 

He lifts your chin up between his fingers and brushes a strand of hair behind your pointed ear. “You don’t have to prove anything. Be yourself, you are perfect in every way, love. I love you. And… she already loves you…” He mutters, red painting his cheeks. 

“You talked about me?” You give him a teasing grin. He grabs you by the hips and leads you towards the balcony, ready for take-off. “A little. Ready?” He says before taking off abruptly, making you shriek and giggle as he holds you close to his chest, his body warm enough to block out the cold winter wind.

—

Rosehall was a lot smaller than what you imagined. A little cottage covered in vines and thorns. It must be an even more beautiful place in hot summer weather, when the roses are blooming on the residence walls and archway. 

When he walks inside the house, Azriel is immediately alerted by the nurses's voices coming from his mother's room. He quickly lets go of your hand but before he goes inside the room, a maid stops him gently. 

“What is it?! What’s wrong with her?!” He suddenly hears a slight groan of pain coming from behind the door the maid was preventing him from passing. “Stop it. You’re hurting her.” He snarls, his siphons glimmering and shadows covering his feet, ready to burst. 

“No, they’re healing her, Azriel.” The old maid, probably familiar with Azriel's protective nature over his mother at this point. You walk slowly towards your mate and place a comforting hand on his tensed shoulder. The nurse takes a softer tone when she notices the anger slightly vanishing from his hazel eyes with only your touch. “Her health is slowly deteriorating. She’s having to develop end-stage symptoms. Her coordination isn’t the best anymore, she’s having a lot of muscle rigidity and even her voice has started to change… We tried to write you a letter, Sir.” 

Azriel’s jaw clenches, and his fingers slightly twitch at the maid's words. An overflowing feeling of shame and self-loathing runs through the bond, making you feel it as if it were your own. Azriel had been busier than ever the past month, and there were piles of unread letters on his desks. The missive from Rosehall about his mother’s health had probably gotten lost in the piles of work on his desk. You squeeze your boyfriend’s hand, it wasn't his fault. 

Before you can tell him comforting words, the nurses come out of the room and smile politely at Azriel “Is she okay?” He asks. “She’s comfortable now. She has a light bruise on her hip, but nothing alarming.” The nurses smile and leave with Azriel's nod of dismissal, the maid moving to let him in.

The sight of the woman lying in bed almost struck you in place, if it wasn't for your mate’s hand pulling you inside. She was exactly like him. The same long eyelashes fluttering in front of the most beautiful shade of hazel eyes you had ever seen, except Azriel’s, those high cheekbones, that sharp jawline, and this smooth tan skin. It was literally how you had imagined her. Her son was definitely the exact perfect portrait of his mother. 

Azriel’s mother's eyes seem to light up, chasing those heavy clouds of tiredness from them, when she sees you moving from behind him. “Eve.” She tries to smile at you, barely able to do so, the muscles from her face tightly and painfully tensed up. 

Azriel sits beside his mother on the bed and kisses her cheek. He pulls you down on the end of the ridiculously large bed and squeezes your hand lightly. 

“Mother, this is Eve.” “The Eve.” She cuts him off, her voice strangely monotone, due to her sickness. Azriel chuckles, “Yes, mother. The Eve… And Eve, this is my mother, Ymir.”

Your heart swells with happiness when you realize how much your boyfriend must be talking about you if his mother considers you as ‘The Eve’. The three of you take the rest of the night easy, exchanging gifts and talking about mostly everything. It’s mostly you and Azriel doing the talking, as Ymir wasn’t feeling all too well. But you didn’t mind at all.

As it was getting quite late, and Ymir was starting to get tired after today’s events, she asked Azriel to tuck her in and play her a song on the big piano placed in the center of the room. A small smile lingers on your lips as you stand next to your mate on the piano seat. His fingers dance on the tiles as he plays a relaxing and comforting song, a song he had probably played thousands of times before, considering the fluidity and accuracy of his notes. As the song finishes he stands up and goes to kiss her forehead, his mother already deeply asleep. 

The both of you quietly make your way out of the house, and you feel the shields your mate had put up, without you even noticing, crumbling down when the front door closes. Tears start falling down his face, just like the snow from the night sky. You hug him tightly into your arms as he silently cries into your neck, his shoulders quivering with each sob. You can’t help but wonder how many times he had to deal with it on his own, how many times he broke down alone without anyone to hold him tight. You want him to know that you’re here, that you’ll always be, and that everything he’s feeling is okay.

“You’re not alone. I’m here.” His sobs get slightly louder, his neck burying even deeper into the crook of your neck. He tries to get lost in your calming scent and to get a grip on his shaky breathing. You stroke his hair slowly, patiently waiting for him to deal with every feeling he’s dealing with right now. “That part is always the hardest… I’m sorry…” “Don’t be. It’s okay to be sad, it’s completely normal, Az.” 

You stay there for a while longer, before he flies the both of you back in your house. The both of you quietly get ready for bed, and put on the matching pair of socks his mother had lovingly knitted. He nuzzles into your neck and holds you close. It felt so good to have someone at his side… He regrets not bringing you with him sooner on his visits. 

“I love you…” He whispers, his voice barely audible. “I love you too, Az.” You answer back before falling asleep.

A/N: Azriel is a very complicated male to write about... there's not much we know about him, actually! Can't wait to see what Sarah J.Maas has planned for us in the next book, I hope we'll learn more about him. 💕😊

[cbrownjc]

Hi! I hope you don't mind getting an ask from me even though we've never interacted.

I have a question about Old Daniel in the IWTV series, but I don't know how to put it except: what exactly is his current health situation? He has Parkinson's disease (or at least they show us ha has some symtomps, and Daniel says it is Parkinson's), but in ep 01 of the first season Louis calls it an "autoimmune disease" (which Parkinson's is not).

They show us that Daniel keeps a bunch of pill containers on his table in his apartment, which makes sense with how Parkinson's would be treated, but then there's the "levodopa transfusion" scene which does not. (I could try to explain the pharmacokinetic reason if you're interested).

And then there's the meals, during which they keep filling his wine glass, the two Martini scenes. . . why do they keep giving him drinks?They arrange for a doctor to come and administer the "therapy" (I'm not buying that it's levodopa), but he can have all the alcoholic beverages in the world? When they most likely would interfere with the pharmacological therapy he's supposed to be taking?

It all seems a bit suspicious to me. What do you think?

(apologies for any mistakes, english is not my first language)

Hi! It's fine to ask me questions even if we've never interacted before, I don't mind. 🙂

So, as far as we know older Daniel on the show has Parkinson's disease for sure. Daniel pretty much confirmed he does because Louis said he had it and Daniel confirmed it in episode 1x01. And the shaking very much shows he does have it IMO. Because he was specifically shown to be shaking back in episode 1x01 when he was trying to put the Fall of the Reble Angles puzzle together.

Now, as many who read my blog likely already know, I've talked about how my mom had Parkinson's and I was her primary caregiver (before she passed away). So I know a lot already about how that disease works. And so when Armand -- as Rashid -- was talking about "levodopa transfusions" for Daniel being scheduled back in episode 1x04 I was very much "WTF?" about that. The whole idea of that is sus because I know from experience that Daniel should just be taking his levodopa via pills. The only time my mom ever got levodopa administered via an IV drip was when she was staying overnight at a hospital.

So I've long thought there is way more going on with that "levodopa transfusions" Daniel got, and have talked about it here and here. Though at the current time, the theory I talk about in those links might be outdated at this point, though I think there might still be a little something to them.

But, if you know the lore, Dr. Fareed -- the doctor who arrived back in episode 1x06 to administer Daniel's transfusion -- is not only a vampire himself but runs a clinic in the books where he looks into and does experiments regarding vampire physiology. And something else that caught my eye about that clinic he runs as I've been reading Prince Lestat, is that it is said in the book that Fareed and his vampire Maker (and lover) Seth, "ran a small clinic for mortal incurables."

And Parkinson's is very much "incurable."

So yeah, I think something is going on when it comes to Dr. Fareed giving Daniel that IV drip of levodopa. Because even when it comes to the idea of cloning, that's a lot to go through just to get something like a blood sample or something I think. But hey, there's really no saying when it comes to that I guess . . .

As to such as Louis calling it an "autoimmune disease" I just chalk that up to either a writing mistake or, hell just Louis being a vampire. He might just not know the correct medical term to use for it. That is also something that is going into in the Prince Lestat book -- how it can sometimes be very hard for vampires to keep abreast of tech and other things at any given time if they do not encounter it or use it regularly. (Lestat is always forgetting and losing his iPhones). As to the alcohol that, again, could just be the show not really looking too closely at such things (because outside of medical shows, many drama shows don't), or maybe Daniel only being allowed one glass a night and being given some okay about it we never saw. Who knows at this point. 🤷🏾‍♀️

[thoughtlessarse]

Cases of people with Parkinson’s disease are exploding worldwide, with a 30% increase in the Netherlands over the past 10 years, a new study based on data contributed by hundreds of doctors has shown. The research, published in the Lancet medical magazine, shows 11.8 million people now have Parkinson’s compared to 6.2 million only five years before. The number of Parkinson’s sufferers has doubled over the last 25 years and it is expected to have doubled again by 2040. In the Netherlands the number of patients has risen by 30% in the last ten years and incidences may be accelerating, Radboud teaching hospital neurologist Bas Bloem told broadcaster NOS. […] European research led by Wageningen University showed that 42% of Dutch farmland has excessive levels of nitrogen and phosphates, in addition to widespread contamination with pesticide compounds. Research is also ongoing into a higher incidence of Parkinson’s in the bulb growing areas in the Netherlands. “I am convinced Parkinson’s is a man-made disease,” Bloem said. The introduction of extremely neurotoxic pesticides such as the now banned Paraquat in the 1970s probably marked the start of what is now an explosion of cases, he said.

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[ghost-bison]

something interesting about executive dysfunction that i realized yesterday is this: if you have it, and someone tries to tell you you are "lazy" and to just "get out of bed, it's not that difficult", then you should know that executive dysfunction is linked to the dopamine deficit in your brain (research that i think it's common in neurological disorders).

dopamine is responsible for your motivation, your pleasure, and overall satisfaction. meaning, if your brain doesn't produce enough of it, it can lead to intrusive thoughts, extreme perfectionism, you never finishing anything because you fear it's never good enough or because of the pressure around it (yes i am looking at you, school projects), and also anxiety, depression, simple tasks (showering, eating, chores, taking public transportation) making you feel existential dread (= you would rather decompose than do those and in fact, the prospect is becoming more and more attractive).

so yeah, conclusion: no dopamine = shit.

now, something else that's interesting is how i came to think of that: i was talking to my mum and she mentioned that her aunt died of parkinson's disease, and that nowadays they "treat" parkinson with... drum rolls... dopamine! that's right bitches, it is that deep.

i looked it up on the internet, and apparently, "parkinson's disease first induces a gradual degeneration of the dopamine neurons in the brain, dopamine being a neurotransmitter involved in the control of several functions such as voluntary movements, cognition, motivation and affects".

so if i got this right, there is literally a connection between parkinson and executive dysfunction.

so if anyone bothers you again with how "lazy" you are, try to explain this to them because you are valid, you shouldn't feel guilty about fucking things up when your brain is literally conditioned to do so. and you should know that even though it is, you are not doomed for failure, there are ways around it! crutches if not miracles, but still crutches: take your meds, talk to a therapist, don't be afraid to take advantage of the commodities that have been put there for you to use; they are there for a reason, you know?

stay safe, you are understood by more people than you think. fuck those who don't try. fuck those who don't believe you; i do.

[gaysie]

one thing that always bothers me about the pilot is they call parkinson’s an autoimmune disease. which it is not. but i just read on reddit that in the original script daniel had MS and then for some reason they changed it later to parkinson’s but i guess never changed that line. but i wonder why the change…

[edwinspaynes]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by George Rexstrew (@georgerexstrew)

Hey! George is running a charity drive for Parkinson's disease/dementia because his dad passed a year ago today. I'm sharing it here in case anyone with more money than me wants to donate. You get a cameo from him with a $50 donation.

Also if anyone can help me figure out how to donate less that $50 (obviously no cameo) lmk because I'd like to make a small donation

[bpod-bpod]

Triple Threat

This is a mind on the brink of collapse – a collection of brain cells, or neurons, developed in a lab from the stem cells of a Parkinson’s disease patient. These neurons produce the chemical messenger dopamine, and are the first to show signs of the disease onset. Since the patient carried three copies of a particular gene called synuclein – a trait strongly linked to Parkinson’s disease and the degradation of neurons that it entails – these neurons are already experiencing the early stages of damage. This model of dopamine-producing neurons is a platform to investigate the molecular processes underpinning the disease, and if one picture tells 1,000 words, then this image, a composite of 8,000 individual images and coloured according to depth from top right to bottom left, could have a very detailed story to tell about Parkinson’s disease and new approaches to treatment.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image captured at the Micron Bioimaging Facility, Oxford

Image from work by Nick Gatford

Molecular Neurodegeneration Research Group, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Image supplied and copyright held by Nick Gatford

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Maria Grazia Spillantini

Molecular neurologist Maria Grazia Spillantini was born in 1957 in Caprese Michelangelo, Italy. For nearly thirty years, Spillantini has been researching the cause of dementia. She discovered the gene mutations that cause frontotemporal dementia, and was the first to identify the protein deposit found in Parkinson's disease and certain other types of dementia. Spillantini is a Professor of Molecular Neurology at the University of Cambridge, where her lab continues to conduct research on dementia and Parkinson's. She has published more than 200 articles and chapters, and has won several awards, including the UK Biochemical Society's Tudichum Medal and the Potamkin Prize.

[warningsine]

A small new trial published in the journal Nature Medicine describes what would be two firsts for Parkinson's disease, if they pan out: a diagnostic test and a potential immune-based treatment that works similarly to a vaccine. The research is still early, but researchers are excited by the prospect of advances for a disease that lacks good diagnostics and treatments.

The target of both innovations is alpha synuclein, a protein that takes an abnormal form in Parkinson's patients—aggregating in their brains and destroying nerve cells involved in motor and some cognitive functions. While researchers have long known that these proteins are involved in the disease, finding ways to measure and target them has not been easy.

The (potential) Parkinson's vaccine

The Florida-based biotech company Vaxxinity developed a vaccine, or what it calls an active immune medicine, to train the immune system to attack only abnormal versions of the protein—which are improperly folded—and not the regular forms. This would essentially help people's bodies treat themselves.

“The idea is that patients should recognize their own misfolded proteins, and it is personalized because their own immune systems are doing the work,” says Dr. Mark Frasier, chief scientific officer at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which funded the testing part of the study.

The Parkinson's test

The new diagnostic test for Parkinson’s, which was developed by researchers at University of Texas and Vaxxinity, uses samples of cerebrospinal fluid to measure a person's levels of abnormal alpha synuclein. If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants it full approval, it will become the first test for diagnosing Parkinson's. (The FDA classified it as a breakthrough device in 2019, a status that expedites access to innovative technologies where there is unmet need.) “Without [such a test], you’re kind of shooting in the dark,” says Mei Mei Hu, CEO and co-founder of Vaxxinity.

Alpha synuclein has been tricky to measure in the body for several reasons, says Frasier. While everyone has the protein, abnormal forms of it occur in relatively small amounts, so they're harder to detect via imaging. This type of alpha synuclein also tends to clump inside cells rather than outside of them, making it even harder to see. If clumps are large enough to become detectable, they can look structurally similar to amyloid or tau—the proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s disease—so imaging tests might misdiagnose people with Alzheimer’s rather than Parkinson’s.

Read More: Michael J. Fox: Chasing Parkinson's Treatments

The test overcomes those hurdles by cleverly exploiting normal forms of the protein. Parkinson’s experts believe that tiny amounts of abnormal alpha synuclein circulate in the spinal fluid of patients, but are too small to be detected through imaging. To run the new test in the study, researchers take normal forms of the protein in the lab and add them to samples of spinal fluid from patients; that prompts any misfolded protein that might be present in the samples to pull the normal proteins into misfolded aggregates, amplifying the signal for the abnormal form. Scientists then use a fluorescent probe to detect how much antibody to the misfolded protein patients generated, resulting in a biomarker, or stand-in for the treatment effect.

This test would be a critical advance because it makes it possible to identify patients with abnormal alpha synuclein at the earliest stages of the disease, when treatments might be more effective.

With more data from patients, researchers hope to further refine what different levels mean, so that the test will be able to tell not just if a person has Parkinson's but whether someone might be at a greater risk of developing it. Currently the test is only used in research studies, but more results like these—as well as data on whether the same process can be applied to blood samples—could speed the test to getting approved for wider use.

What the study found

The trial—conducted by researchers at the University of Texas, the Mayo Clinic, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, and Vaxxinity—included 20 people with Parkinson’s. It was just designed to test the safety of the approach, so the study only provided hints about the treatment's effectiveness. Everyone received three shots over nearly a year; some contained the treatment at different doses, and some contained a placebo.

Overall, people receiving the vaccine generated more antibodies against the abnormal alpha synuclein protein than those vaccinated with placebo, as measured by the Parkinson's test. Antibodies started to ramp up about four months after the vaccinations began.

“What is unique about our technology is that it can stimulate the immune system to produce very, very specific antibodies against toxic forms of alpha synuclein, and do it in a safe way, which is reassuring,” says Jean-Cosme Dodart, senior vice president of research at Vaxxinity and senior author of the paper.

According to the test results, about half of the patients in the trial showed high levels of antibodies against the misfolded alpha synuclein, and most of these patients received the highest dose of the vaccine. They also scored the highest on motor and cognitive tests. There were too few patients to adequately assess any changes of Parkinson’s symptoms, but the researchers believe that longer follow-up with those tests, and potentially more frequent or higher doses of the vaccine, could lead to improvements in those scores. “The results are very, very encouraging,” says Dodart.

“This paper demonstrates that in a small number of people, the vaccine is having an impact on misfolded alpha synuclein, which is really exciting,” says Frasier. “We are now in the biological era for Parkinson’s disease."

[mindblowingscience]

As reported in the journal Science Advances, the findings create a foundation for a new area of investigation, fueled by the timely impact of environmental factors on human biology. “Parkinson’s disease has been called the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world,” says principal investigator Andrew West, professor in the pharmacology and cancer biology department at Duke University School of Medicine. “Numerous lines of data suggest environmental factors might play a prominent role in Parkinson’s disease, but such factors have for the most part not been identified.” Improperly disposed plastics have been shown to break into very small pieces and accumulate in water and food supplies, and were found in the blood of most adults in a recent study. “Our study suggests that the emergence of micro and nanoplastics in the environment might represent a new toxin challenge with respect to Parkinson’s disease risk and progression,” West says. “This is especially concerning given the predicted increase in concentrations of these contaminants in our water and food supplies.”

Continue Reading.

[randomtheidiot]

Prion disease: A disease caused by a misfolded protein that burns holes in the brain and always kills. Can have a late start (anywhere from 2 to 5 years) but always causes the same symptoms, which look nothing like autism and will kill you within months or even weeks of onset. Basically a zombie virus that eats your brain from the inside out and makes you lose control of your mind and body. Causes hallucinations, rapid decline in mental function to the point of nonsentience, convulsions, abnormal movement like walking in circles, loss of ability to eat, sleep and breathe and eventually death. None of these symptoms look like autism.

Forest rangers: Doing their goddamn jobs and getting blood samples from the local deer population to test for diseases. They’ve been doing this practically since the technology first became available and they’ve filmed the process extensively. They are so open about doing this that they write it all down in excruciating detail and publish it in news articles. This is where the CWD and other disease reports come from, and they would naturally do more of this if there’s more reason to suspect a disease outbreak.

Autism: You’re born with it. It has been diagnosed more frequently due to advancements in neuroscience. It also happens to look and function nothing like prion disease and it doesn’t fucking kill you within weeks of a diagnosis.

Some conspiracy nut: Hurr durr the government is injecting zombie diseases into deer to give humans autism and that’s definitely how autism works and also I’m not crazy and I don’t need therapy, you’re just a sheep and I’m too smart for you liberals to ever possibly understand.

Get your tinfoil hat wearing head out of your ass and either figure out just what the fuck you’re talking about or keep your mouth shut and don’t make yourself look like a jackass in front of people who do. Fear mongering doesn’t work if you’re an idiot.

[gameo-archive]

"Here is my more personal cameo for my mama whose partner suffers from Parkinson’s.

George, I can’t thank you enough for these words! This came through just after mum had been at the hospital all night & it gave her the strength to get through the day. Were both so grateful 🙏🏻💛"

[cbrownjc]

Hi! Hope you don't mind but I wanted to ask your opinion on some stuff we learned in ep 6 and possible repercussions for Daniel's character. So we get the super heavy-handed wink wink nudge nudge "body switch" line from Raglan, which imo definitely implies they are gonna go there at some point - body switching *will* be a thing.

Before this, I was actually pretty hopeful that at some point, Armand was going to turn old man Daniel into a vampire. Not sure yet how and when it would happen, but it felt like they were building towards it (also having not forgotten the super sus levodopa treatment from probably-a-vampire Dr. Fareed). But if they're going to introduce body switching (and it feels significant that this line was said to Daniel so I doubt it will NOT involve him at all), then that no longer makes sense, right? Why bother turning old man Daniel when they're gonna body switch his spirit with what I suspect might be a cloned younger version of him (played by LBF ofc)? I realize I'm making a lot of assumptions here lol but the hints are there, aren't they? Mostly I just really don't want Eric to be written out of the show - I'm so attached to his version of Daniel (though I also want to see more of LBF - I'm so torn lmao).

Where do you think they're going with this?

Hi,

Okay, so. IF older Daniel is turned and IF the body switch is still in play, I feel there are multiple scenarios going on as to where this could be going.

The first thing we have to look at is who we might see turn older Daniel if it happens. (And which I already predicted after last week's Inside the Episode for ep 2x05 gave away that the IWTV book was going to be published I think very likely is going to happen this season.) If it's Armand who does it, then it is 100% Daniel who is being turned. If it's Louis -- or anyone else -- who does it, then it 100% is not Daniel who is being turned IMO, but Raglan James -- no matter if it's Eric that we see getting bitten, drained, and turned by Louis . . . or any other vampire.

Because this show did not go to all the trouble it did in this latest episode (2x06) to specifically discuss how Armand has never once in his whole vampire life made another vampire and then not have him be the one to turn his one-and-only book-canon fledgling.

So if we see anyone other than Armand turning older Daniel at some point? Then that is Daniel's body being turned, but Daniel's actual soul/spirit/consciousness will for sure be somewhere else. Even if we don't actually see the switch happen beforehand.

If this is the case, Daniel's soul/spirit/consciousness will be in some other body -- most likely Justin Kirk's -- and I can see a scenario where Daniel doesn't want his older body back because it's now a vampire. So a new body is made for him -- via clone or whatever -- by Dr. Fareed that is younger, but not super young or something (and played by LBF -- whom I myself have already pointed out is 36 years old right now . . . meaning he could realistically play someone 40 years old IMO).

So this way, Daniel is still human, just in a different body now. And his older body is now a vampire and . . . IDK, goes off to join in on the Great Conversion thing, I'd guess. Or, maybe James just goes off to do what he did in the TotBT book but then, maybe something goes wrong with him in Daniel's older body -- maybe he's not fully anchored to it or something because this is the first time he's ever jumped bodies. Or maybe something else goes wrong (put a pin in this). And so James jumps bodies again, but he now wants to be a vampire again really bad. Which now sets up for him plotting to steal Lestat's body and the whole TotBT storyline.

However, if we see Armand turn older Daniel? I do think they could still be setting up for the body swap but, IMO, it might go more like this if they are:

Older Daniel gets turned and, just like his book counterpart, goes mad sometime very soon after he is. And I think the earlier in the show's run that Daniel gets turned the more likely we are headed toward the book scenario of Daniel losing his mind after he is turned. Because even I have kind of glossed over the fact Daniel being turned by Armand didn't lead to a happy ending for them both -- not right away. Things actually went really bad for them for decades afterward. Daniel went mad, and he and Armand were separated during that time he was, for over 20 years before Daniel finally healed and reunited with Armand again.

And while I don't think Daniel's turning on the show will lead to a +20-year separation -- because Armand and Daniel have already done that on the show -- we are very much not out of the woods on older Daniel going mad once he is turned IMO. I think Daniel going mad after he's turned is not only very much in play but will happen at some point if he is.

And, in the show? Daniel might not just go mad because he's unable to deal with what he now is or he's angry at Armand about, well, a whole lot of things. IMO, the body swap hints might also point to something, even more, being at play here. (Pin!)

This, however, is where my thoughts on these things get a bit more possibly depressing because -- I'm not 100% sure that turning older Daniel would cure his Parkinsons. Because Parkinson's isn't like cancer or being poisoned or dying from being shot or something. Parkinson's is specifically a neurological disease.

And one thing that the books have shown is that The Blood does NOT cure something neurological.

In the books, one of the twins, the vampire Maharet, was blinded before she was turned. And she isn't able to just take some human eyes and put them into her empty eye sockets and have that work permanently. The human eyes just continue to die within her eye sockets and that is because even The Blood can't heal the nerves connecting them.

We also see that The Blood doesn't help with neurological problems with the character of Mekare -- the other twin -- in the book Prince Lestat. Now, I'm only up to Chapter 15 of that book, but I have read past the part in that book where Jesse talks about Dr. Fareed examining Mekare, particularly her brain. Because while Mekare had her tongue cut out before she was turned, something happened to her mind as well. And this is what Jesse says was discovered after Mekare was examined by Fareed (via a CAT scan and other ways):

"They said Mekare was mindless," said Jesse. "They said the brain in her head was atrophied. They said there was so little indication of brain activity that she was like a human in a coma, kept alive by the brain stem alone. Apparently, she'd been entombed for so long, possibly in a cave, no one knew, that even her sight had been affected. The powerful Blood actually hardened the atrophied tissue over time [. . .]"

What this tells me is that there is probably not going to be any reversal wrt Daniel's Parkinson's once he's turned. Daniel's brain, and nerves, might just do like Mekare's did -- harden at the point they are at now. Keeping things forever in the degenerative state they are at whenever he's turned.

The Blood can kill cancer cells, destroy poison within the body, eradicate diseases like TB from the body, and even heal cuts and wounds. But it doesn't seem to be able to do anything for neurological issues, going by the books. It freezes things where they are when you are turned wrt that and does not repair them.

So older Daniel going mad after he's turned? Might not just be because of being unable to fully deal with now being a vampire. It might also be because he was turned while his body had health issues that even The Blood cannot fix. And while he will no longer age or die, Daniel might still have his body's neurological issues that were there when he was turned, just now forever frozen in that state where they were. Just like it remained so for the twins.

The show specifically focused on Daniel's shaking getting worse in episode 2x02 when he was under emotional stress/duress, which is very much a Parkinson's thing. As I know I've said more than once, I took care of my mom for 10 years while she had Parkinson's, and because so I've hyper-noticed these things -- the camera very much sometimes focusing on Daniel's shaking this season. Daniel's shaking was even commented on by Louis just last week.

And if Daniel is turned soon, well . . . imagine having to live with something like that for eternity?

And so just like with Maharet and her eyes, which Dr. Fareed figured out how to give her permanent ones that would never die in her head, (and also knew he could give Mekare a new tongue but, at least as far as I've read that offer hasn't been accepted -- and doing something for her brain was likely out of the question given that she was the Sacred Core at that point meaning her brain was fused with Amel's spirit . . . operating on that would very likely put every vampire in the world in danger), maybe this will have Dr. Fareed coming up with a new, cloned body for Daniel that don't have those neurological issues?

And then maybe that body gets stolen by Raglan James in a later season and we get the TotBT storyline that way? I can see being one way into it.

As it is, I know that making bodies for spirits to occupy does become a thing in the books after Prince Lestat. So their being able to do so is likely going to be established at some point -- and this could be one way they do so.

But, either way, if older Daniel is turned anytime soon, these are the two ways I can see it going afterward, and probably why they are also dropping body swap hints as well along with it. Because I don't think Daniel being turned is going to be simple, or lead to something happy right away. Again, it didn't in the books.

And really, this all just kind of backs up why I wasn't ever really feeling Daniel being turned anytime soon. But I realize now that my wanting the show to wait before they did so was the more happy way I was looking at it to go.

But this is Gothic Horror. And while I don't think Eric will be "written out" right away or something, I don't think whichever scenario I've given for all of this will lead to something happy. Not for a long time. There is just too much already in the source material that points to it not, IMO. And I think the show is very much setting up for that as well with the hints it's clearly dropping wrt all of this.

[unhonestlymirror]

Ngl, I kinda hate how One Piece portrays narcolepsy