After developing Parkinson's disease and searching out a natural cure, international best-selling author John Gray of Mars/Venus fame made an astonishing connection between the condition, his childhood, and his stratospheric success.
One night while watching TV, John's wife Bonnie looked over at him with alarm. "John, your head is shaking," she said. Gray was shocked. He'd had no idea his head was moving, but once he did, he couldn't do anything to stop it. "I would focus my mind, my head would involuntarily shake back and forth, and I was powerless to control it," he said.
Over the next few days, he realized the tremors were getting worse. A few days later, his doctor finally put a label on his symptoms. Early stages of Parkinson.
Gray learnt that the treatments available through his doctor would only grant temporary relief, and over time his body would come to depend on it and need more. This sort of 'treatment' was not acceptable, so Gray embarked on his own search for a cure. He came across the work of Dr William Hitt, who treats patients with a variety of 'brain' conditions. Gray was impressed to learn that patients of every variety, including those addicted to cocaine, were coming off their drugs without side-effects.
At Hitt’s clinic, John received an intravenous (IV) infusion of a number of amino acids and nutritional supplements, which enabled his body to make enough dopamine. Within nine days, all his symptoms had disappeared.
When he returned home, Bonnie noticed that it wasn't just the shaking that had stopped. John was less distracted and restless when she talked to him, and more relaxed and present, more interested in their relationship and the family.
John himself noticed an even bigger change - life felt a good deal easier than it had been before. He had more energy, less distraction, more discipline. His life felt orderly and organized.
"Then it dawned on me. Most of my life, I had ADHD [attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder] and didn't know it. I just thought life was hard. I had no idea that life could be so much easier; I simply concluded my problems were my problems and I had to just push through them every day. I had no idea that I was experiencing many of the common symptoms of ADHD."
As John began researching the causes of ADHD, he discovered a common link between Parkinson's disease, ADHD and other mental conditions: a down-regulation of dopamine.
An even bigger light-bulb moment came when he realized that the brain-killer common to all these conditions was hyperstimulation in its various forms: too much sugar; too many loud, brightly coloured video games; too many street and prescription drugs; and, in his own case, too much stratospheric success.
In 1992, Gray had published his international mega-hit Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, which went on to hold the record as the best-selling hard-cover non-fiction book of all time. For some six years, it topped best-seller charts around the world.
"Our family would be having Sunday brunch and listing something good that happened to each of us that week. And when it came to my turn, every week for six years I'd reply, 'Well, I'm still number 1 on The New York Times best-seller list.'
"I had international celebrity status, I had my own private jet, I was fêted wherever I went; I had the high lifestyle and stimulation of mega-success and, in a sense, nothing else was giving me pleasure."
All this attention proved to be overwhelming. At the end of those six years, he developed his first signs of Parkinson's..
Dr Hitt's treatment for Gray would last for three months before he'd have to return for another series of treatments. But after several visits to the Mexican clinic, John decided to formulate his own oral supplement programme, which eventually included brain rebuilders like undenatured whey protein and other amino acids that help the body produce its own dopamine. He takes these supplements in a morning shake and hasn't suffered from tremors for 12 years.
In the process of healing himself and observing how it improved his own relationships, Gray, the relationship expert, began to recognize the enormous effect of our modern overstimulated world on men and women and also on their relationships .Increasingly, the line between his clients' relationships and their health became blurred.
He went on to spend some of the proceeds from his books on a major health centre at his ranch in California, enlisting complimentary doctors and naturopaths to research natural and inexpensive solutions for the health of his clients. After 12 years he closed his health centres to focus on educating the public about what they learned. He now counsels those who come to him for marital issues about their health as well. In his latest book on relationships-Staying Focused in a Hyper World-he suggests various natural supplements and treatments to heal the brain of ADHD, restore memory and improve brain performance
Having flown in a cosmic orbit for many years, Mars has never been happier, now that both feet are firmly planted back on Earth. "This," John says of his latest work about health and its connection to relationships, "is what I live for."
Come listen to John Gray speak at the Get Well Show on Saturday 14th November where he'll be talking about his book Staying Focused in a Hyper World and natural solutions for ADHD.
Get your tickets now!
