Archive for the ‘Treatment’ Category

Clinical Trial in the Works Using IV Vitamin C Against the 2019-nCoV Virus

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04264533

Brief Summary:

2019 new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infected pneumonia, namely severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) has caused global concern and emergency. There is a lack of effective targeted antiviral drugs, and symptomatic supportive treatment is still the current main treatment for SARI.

Vitamin C is significant to human body and plays a role in reducing inflammatory response and preventing common cold. In addtion, a few studies have shown that vitamin C deficiency is related to the increased risk and severity of influenza infections.

We hypothize that Vitamin C infusion can help improve the prognosis of patients with SARI. Therefore, it is necessary to study the clinical efficacy and safety of vitamin C for the clinical management of SARI through randomized controlled trials during the current epidemic of SARI.

Condition or disease Intervention/treatment Phase
Vitamin CPneumonia, ViralPneumonia, Ventilator-Associated Drug: Vit CDrug: Water for infusion Phase 2

Detailed Description:

At the end of 2019, patients with unexplained pneumonia appeared in Wuhan, China. At 21:00 on January 7, 2020, a new coronavirus was detected in the laboratory, and the detection of pathogenic nucleic acids was completed at 20:00 on January 10. Subsequently, the World Health Organization officially named the new coronavirus that caused the pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan as 2019 new coronavirus (2019-nCoV), and the pneumonia was named severe acute respiratory infection (SARI). Up to February 4, 2020, over 20000 cases have been diagnosed in China, 406 of which have died, and 154 cases have been discovered in other countries around the world. Most of the deaths were elderly patients or patients with severe underlying diseases. SARI has caused global concern and emergency.

Statistics of the 41 patients with SARI published in JAMA initially showed that 13 patients were transferred into the ICU, of which 11 (85%) had ARDS and 3 (23%) had shock. Of these, 10 (77%) required mechanical ventilation support, and 2 (15%) required ECMO support. Of the above 13 patients, 5 (38%) eventually died and 7 (38%) were transferred out of the ICU. Viral pneumonia is a dangerous condition with a poor clinical prognosis. For most viral infections, there is a lack of effective targeted antiviral drugs, and symptomatic supportive treatment is still the current main treatment.

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, has antioxidant properties. When sepsis happens, the cytokine surge caused by sepsis is activated, and neutrophils in the lungs accumulate in the lungs, destroying alveolar capillaries. Early clinical studies have shown that vitamin C can effectively prevent this process. In addition, vitamin C can help to eliminate alveolar fluid by preventing the activation and accumulation of neutrophils, and reducing alveolar epithelial water channel damage. At the same time, vitamin C can prevent the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps, which is a biological event of vascular injury caused by neutrophil activation. Vitamins can effectively shorten the duration of the common cold. In extreme conditions (athletes, skiers, art workers, military exercises), it can effectively prevent the common cold. And whether vitamin C also has a certain protective effect on influenza patients, only few studies have shown that vitamin C deficiency is related to the increased risk and severity of influenza infections. In a controlled but non-randomized trial, 85% of the 252 students treated experienced a reduction in symptoms in the high-dose vitamin C group (1g / h at the beginning of symptoms for 6h, followed by 3 * 1g / day). Among patients with sepsis and ARDS, patients in the high-dose vitamin group did not show a better prognosis and other clinical outcomes. There are still some confounding factors in the existing research, and the conclusions are different.

Therefore, during the current epidemic of SARI, it is necessary to study the clinical efficacy and safety of vitamin C for viral pneumonia through randomized controlled trials.

Study Design
Go to  sections
Study Type : Interventional  (Clinical Trial)
Estimated Enrollment : 140 participants
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Triple (Participant, Care Provider, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title: Vitamin C Infusion for the Treatment of Severe 2019-nCoV Infected Pneumonia: a Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial
Estimated Study Start Date : February 10, 2020
Estimated Primary Completion Date : September 30, 2020
Estimated Study Completion Date : September 30, 2020
Arms and Interventions
Go to  sections
Arm Intervention/treatment
Experimental: Vit C

24g Vitamin C+water for injection, total volume 50ml. 7ml/h; infusion pump.
 Drug: Vit C

24g Vitamin C will be infused in the experimental group per day for 7 days by the infusion pump with a speed of 7ml/h.
Other Name: Vitamin C
Placebo Comparator: Water for injection

50ml water for injection. 7ml/h; infusion pump.
 Drug: Water for infusion

50ml water for infusion will be infused in the placebo comparator group per day for 7 days by the infusion pump with a speed of 7ml/h.
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures :

  1. Ventilation-free days [ Time Frame: on the day 28 after enrollment ]
    days without ventilation support during 28 days after patients’ enrollment
Secondary Outcome Measures :

  1. 28-days mortality [ Time Frame: on the day 28 after enrollment ]
    wether the patient survives
  2. ICU length of stay [ Time Frame: on the day 28 after enrollment ]
    days of the patients staying in the ICU
  3. Demand for first aid measuments [ Time Frame: on the day 28 after enrollment ]
    t t the rate of CPR
  4. Vasopressor days [ Time Frame: on the day 28 after enrollment ]
    days of using vasopressors
  5. Respiratory indexes [ Time Frame: on the day 10 and 28 after enrollment ]
    P O2/Fi O2 which reflects patients’ respiratory function
  6. Ventilator parameters [ Time Frame: on the day 10 and 28 after enrollment ]
    Ecmo or ventilator
  7. APACHE II scores [ Time Frame: on the day 10 after enrollment ]
    Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation
  8. SOFA scores [ Time Frame: on the day 10 after enrollment ]
    Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment

 

Category:

research, Supplements, Treatment, Viruses

Latest Look at Lyme – Dr. Waters

latest look at Lyme july 2018Paper Here

Written by Dr. Robert Waters, https://www.watersbiomed.com

1416593336

Waters’ 8 pronged approach to treating Lyme/MSIDS:  https://www.watersbiomed.com/integrative-approach-to-lyme-disease.html  All of which are discussed in the paper above.

He also discusses typical deficiencies patients have and the importance of supplementation to boost the body’s ability to fight for itself.

For Doctor Waters’ presentation:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2015/04/18/dr-waters-presentation/

You can also watch videos, read published papers, and read newsletter on various topics.

Category:

diet and nutrition, Gut Health, Herbs, Inflammation, Lyme, research, Treatment

How Do I Prevent Getting the Influenza?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-do-i-prevent-getting-influenza-darin-ingels-nd-faaem-fmaps/

How do I prevent getting the Influenza?

Darin Ingels, ND, FAAEM, FMAPS

It’s January and the people who have been visiting my practice, the last couple weeks, have symptoms related to a cold or Influenza. Its flu season, it’s definitely in full force, and I’m hearing it from people who are local as well as people who live around the country. I want to give you my top tips for treating the flu, because if you’ve ever had the flu it’s absolutely miserable. Your body hurts, your head hurts, you’re tired, you just don’t want to get out of bed. It’s a virus typically caused by different forms of influenza virus; I think this year it’s influenza A. It tends to alternate years between influenza A and influenza B, this year seems to be influenza A.

We know from the research on the influenza vaccine, it’s not very effective this year.

Even if you got the shot, there’s a good possibility if you get exposure, that you might actually develop symptoms.

Oscillococcinum for the Flu

One of my favorite remedies for dealing with flu is a homeopathic remedy called Oscillococcinum It’s really long, it comes in a big wide box, and you can find it in most health food stores such as Whole Foods, or your local health food source. It comes in a big wide box, and there’s several tubes in it.

Basically you take one tube under your tongue. They’re little sugar pellets, they actually taste good. Even for kids will take it. And you can give a dose every couple of hours, and it really helps mitigate the flu symptoms. It’s not going to necessarily get rid of it 100%, but definitely can help reduce the fever, stop some of the body pain, and just help get it through a little bit faster.

Oscillococcinum is safe for adults and children. You can find it at pretty much any health food store, and it’s not super expensive either. I recommend you keep taking it until you get to a point where you start to feel better. There are lots and lots of other homeopathic remedies that are indicated for flu, and if that’s something you choose to pursue I would recommend you work with a homeopathy that really understands the individual remedies, to give you something that’s very specific for you or your child. Oscillococcinum is definitely at the top of my list.

Elderberry for the Flu

Elderberry is an herb, and actually it’s a berry so it tastes good. Again, kids will take it. It typically comes as a syrup. Be aware that a lot of elderberry syrup actually comes in a base of honey. If you have a child under the age of two, be careful. You don’t want to give honey to children under the age of two because of the risk of Botulism.

No alt text provided for this image

I personally have never ever seen that, but it’s one of those warnings that goes out there, so please be careful.

They do make elderberry syrup that isn’t in a honey base, but a lot of the commercial products are, so just be mindful of that. And again, for children you can give anywhere from a half a teaspoon to a full teaspoon every couple of hours. Again, it’s not toxic, it’s safe, and it really helps.

It’s a natural antiviral, and since we’re dealing with a virus this is just another way to shorten the course of flu.

Wet Sock Treatment for Colds and Flu

I actually wrote an article on it in one of my previous blogs. It’s one of these things that sounds honestly very strange. And when I first heard about it, I thought it was kind of kooky. Having used it on numerous patients over the last 20 years; for some people it works really well.

It involves getting some cotton socks, put them in cool water, ring them out. Put them on your feet, and then get some big wool socks, put them over the top of that, and then go to bed. When you wake up in the morning those socks are going to be bone dry, and often it helps drop the fever, people report that their body pain feels better. This is an old naturopathic therapy. It’s something we’ve used for years, and for some people it works really well.

The trick is just do it before bedtime, and in the morning people often do feel better. You can do it each night, or you can do it during the day. It’s just overnight you’re not moving around. Walking around with wet socks probably wouldn’t be very comfortable. This is a very inexpensive, easy thing to do.

Herbs for the Flu

There are a lot of herbs that are really helpful in treating viruses. Influenza is a virus, so we use herbs like:

  • Andrographis
  • Echinacea
  • Lomatium

I think the challenge with herbs, particularly with kids, is that some of them are kind of bitter, they don’t taste great. If you can get them in, it does help shorten the course. Certainly as an adult, they make a lot of these as encapsulated products, so as long as you can keep things down. A lot of people when they get the flu, they’re nauseous, they’re vomiting, they don’t want to keep anything down, so that’s always the challenge with flu is how can we just get things in the body? But if you can stomach it and if your child can stomach it, they sell these herbal preparations at most health food stores.

I am a big fan of Andrographis, particularly for adults. It comes as an encapsulated product, I’ve used it for just any kind of upper respiratory virus, I’ve used it for flu, and clinically I find it works pretty well.

For kids I like a product called Lomatium Isolate, it’s made by a company called Eclectic Institute. It comes as a little bottle, and then you just use drop doses, you can mix in a little bit of water or juice. Lomatium is a very potent antiviral, so it works really well.

Vitamin D for the Influenza

No alt text provided for this image

Vitamin D is actually a hormone, it’s not a vitamin. I find that a lot of people tend to be vitamin D deficient, particularly in the Wintertime because you get most of your vitamin D from being out in the sun. And even here in sunny California, it’s actually been pretty cool, so a lot of people are indoors. And when they are outdoors, they have a jacket, they’re covered, they’re not really getting that skin exposure to raise their vitamin D levels.

Supplemental vitamin D can be very beneficial. For children this time of year, up to 2,000 IU’s is very safe. And for adults, anywhere from five to 10,000 IU’s a day is safe. Make sure you take vitamin D with a little bit of food just to help improve the absorption. Vitamin D is a hormone, actually is an immune modulator. It does actually help boost your immune system, so just adding that extra vitamin D can definitely make a difference.

You can use some of these things, particular the botanicals as a preventive measure. Certainly if anyone in the house has the flu, make sure everybody’s washing their hands, it’s very important. This is very easy to pass, so the more you wash your hands, it just reduces that risk of passing it from one person to the next. I hope these tips help.

Darin Ingels, ND, FAAEM, FMAPS

PS: Are you having unexplained symptoms like fatigue and muscle soreness? Concerned you may have Lyme disease? Take the Lyme Solution Quiz! Make meals to support and boost your immune system! Download my recipe book, “Immune-Boosting Recipes” at NO COST!

 

 

Category:

Herbs, Treatment

Testosterone Replacement in Chronic Pain Patients

https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/hormone-therapy/testosterone-replacement-chronic-pain-patients

Testosterone Replacement in Chronic Pain Patients

By Forest Tennant, MD, DrPH and Lisa Lichota, DO

Adequate testosterone serum levels are required in males and females not just for libido and sexual function but also for cellular growth, healing, maintenance of muscle mass and bone, and central nervous system maintenance of opioid receptors, blood- brain barrier, and dopamine-norepinephrine activity.

Testosterone deficiency in chronic pain patients has now been recognized by many observers.1-6 Due to its critical biologic functions in pain control, testosterone testing and replacement (TR) should now become a mandatory component in the treatment of chronic pain. This paper summarizes the physiologic actions of testosterone relative to pain management and lays out practical guidelines for testing and treatment that can easily be adapted to pain practice… (See link for article.  It is excellent and very needed information.  Please read about my personal experiences below.)

_______________

**Comment**

I’ve self injected testosterone for years and I’m a woman.  My husband also injects T.

Are we crazed body builders?  Hardly….

For me, it started as severe PMS that I had pretty much my entire adult life.  I had one good week out of the month and that’s an understatement.  Not only did I struggle with pain but I struggled mentally.  It was as if someone painted my world gray.  I also riveted on things that normally I should be able to drop.  Thankfully, I had a holistic doctor who specialized in pain management as well as breast cancer.  Little did I know – testosterone helps both.  He actually told me one day, “I have no studies to prove this, only 35 years of experience but if you give testosterone to women, their breast cancer dries up.”  After trying progesterone cream with little effect, he asked if I’d like to try T.  Within 20 minutes, I felt it.  I felt it mentally, as if I could see color for the first time in my life.  Physically I felt blood rushing into areas I thought were dead.  Yes, it helped sex drive, but it did so much more than that.

Recently, I lowered my dose as I appeared high on paper.  Within weeks I developed the old familiar ovarian pain and then lower back pain so severe I could hardly stand.  I called my hormone doctor to run it by him, wondering if the two could be related.  He said that yes, they could be related and to go back up on the dose I was previously.  I had a female physical to rule things out first.  I also shared my theory for the pain (lowering my T) with the physician’s assistant.  Our conversation was interesting.  She said I was blessed to have found doctors willing to treat me with testosterone as the results were clear. She also said I would not receive that type of help in her mainstream facility.  This isn’t the first conversation of this sort I’ve had with mainstream doctors who admit that their hands are completely tied to convention – in spite of results and science. I also tried to convince Physician’s For Women and the Wisconsin Fertility Clinic to adopt using various forms of testosterone for suffering women – to no avail.

Armed with the knowledge I was normal physically I went back to my regular dose.

Within ONE injection, both the ovarian and back pain were GONE.

I tell this story to demonstrate how hormones can help dramatically with pain.

My husband’s story is similar, albeit different. Before he was diagnosed with Lyme/MSIDS it was discovered that his testosterone level was nonexistent and he had severe joint pain.  He started injections as well but the pain, although diminished, was still there.  Eventually, he developed a whole battery of symptoms consistent with tick-borne illness and he was diagnosed with Lyme/MSIDS.  For him, T has helped his mood as well as pain.  At various times he’s gone off T for certain tests. Every single time, PAIN comes back with a vengeance and he becomes depressed.

So why do I bring this up?

I don’t think we are alone.  Due to environmental toxins and estrogens (xenoestrogens), many are estrogen dominant.  “The Textbook of Bio-Identical Hormones,” by Edward Lichten M.D. shows in detail how estrogen disorders are prevalent.  Did you know that testosterone is a treatment for diabetes in men?  I didn’t either until I read the book.  It does so many things.

According to this article,

Estrogen dominance has also been linked to allergies, autoimmune disorders, breast cancer, uterine cancer, infertility, ovarian cysts, and increased blood clotting, and is also associated with acceleration of the aging process.  https://www.drnorthrup.com/estrogen-dominance/

https://www.johnleemd.com/estrogen-dominance.html  Put simply, estrogen dominance is an elevated estradiol to progesterone radio.

But for me, the addition of progesterone wasn’t enough.

And to counter the argument that hormones aren’t “natural,” please understand hormones are made from cholesterol – all of which is within the body and is completely natural.  There are obviously synthetic forms of hormones used for specific purposes but bioidential hormones are as natural as you can get.  For a great read:  https://metabolichealing.com/cholesterol-your-body-is-incapable-of-making-hormones-without-it/  Essentially, we’ve been told cholesterol is the bad guy.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  We need cholesterol.  The article also points out that toxicity, mercury poisoning and fluoride toxicity all contribute to hormone disruption.  Mercury can interfere with the conversion of progesterone into cortisol.

Unfortunately, hormones, like cholesterol, have been mischaracterized by mainstream medicine and are currently classified as class 3 substances along with Vicodin and Ketamine.  A class 3 drug has, “accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. Abuse of the drug may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.”

To understand why Medicine hates hormones:  https://www.acesototalhealth.com/why-medicine-hates-hormones/

In a nutshell Medicine (and pharmacists I might add) hates hormones due to a study called the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) trial which had numerous design flaws.  Researchers concluded things that weren’t verified in the data and over time many statements were retracted, but this little detail didn’t make the evening news, and medical professionals still tout the study as if it’s settled science – much like the Klempner study is used to keep Lyme/MSIDS patients from further treatment for continuing symptoms.  Also, they used Premarin, a synthetic hormone.  They never looked at bioidentical hormones.

Excerpt:

Since the WHI, there  have been hundreds if not thousands of research articles identifying bio-identical hormones as safe and effective.  However, in the medical community, the thought is “If Premarin is bad, then you have to assume that bio-identical estrogen is bad also”.  The statement is logical, but unfortunately it has not been proven in the literature; in fact just the opposite.  Bio-identical hormones have been shown over and over to not have the same deleterious effects that there synthetic counterparts have, and yet, doctors continue to assume that bio-identicalls and synthetics are the same.

I will also add that another very real reason steroids are frowned upon is that they are cheap and natural and would solve so many problems that it would affect Big Pharma.

And just to play devil’s advocate, I’ll stick up for synthetics for just a moment.

I know of a patient who has severe endometriosis.  Her pain was of a magnitude that made life unbearable.  She tried everything mainstream medicine had to offer and actually had memory loss after one injection of Lupron. Under the supervision of a MD she is currently taking two synthetic steroids for severe endometriosis.  The results are clear – her pain is GONE.  She is enjoying a normal life. The use of these two hormones (nandrolone and stanozolol) lowers the sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), which stops the bleeding, and the pain.  As I write this, 10 million women worldwide are suffering lives not worth living due to the pain of endometriosis.  It is the number one reason for infertility.  But, doctors are so afraid of hormones they would rather watch women suffer than learn for themselves the effectiveness of this simple treatment.  The other key ingredient that stops the androgenic effects (voice lowering and acne) is spironolactone.  To learn more about this cutting edge treatment: https://www.theendocure.com

So once again we see that for a certain subset of patients, a synthetic version may be more helpful and it’s, “the dose that makes the poison.”

Our family was forced to find these answers and testosterone has made all the difference in the world to our current health.
 I hope this helps someone out there.

 

Category:

Pain Management, Treatment

Evaluation of Natural & Botanical Medicines For Activity Against Growing and Non-Growing Forms of B. Burgdorferi (In Vitro)

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2020.00006/full

Front. Med., 21 February 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2020.00006

Evaluation of Natural and Botanical Medicines for Activity Against Growing and Non-growing Forms of B. burgdorferi

Jie Feng1†, Jacob Leone2, Sunjya Schweig3* and Ying Zhang1*
  • 1Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
  • 2FOCUS Health Group, Naturopathic, Novato, CA, United States
  • 3California Center for Functional Medicine, Kensington, CA, United States

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the US and Europe. Although the current recommended Lyme antibiotic treatment is effective for the majority of Lyme disease patients, about 10–20% of patients continue to suffer from persisting symptoms. There have been various anecdotal reports on the use of herbal extracts for treating patients with persisting symptoms with varying degree of improvements. However, it is unclear whether the effect of the herb products is due to their direct antimicrobial activity or their effect on host immune system.

In the present study, we investigated the antimicrobial effects of 12 commonly used botanical medicines and three other natural antimicrobial agents for potential anti-Borrelia burgdorferi activity in vitro. Among them, 7 natural product extracts at 1% were found to have good activity against the stationary phase B. burgdorferi culture compared to the control antibiotics doxycycline and cefuroxime. These active botanicals include

  • Cryptolepis sanguinolenta,
  • Juglans nigra (Black walnut),
  • Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed),
  • Artemisia annua (Sweet wormwood),
  • Uncaria tomentosa (Cat’s claw),
  • Cistus incanus, and
  • Scutellaria baicalensis (Chinese skullcap).

In contrast, Stevia rebaudiana, Andrographis paniculata, Grapefruit seed extract, colloidal silver, monolaurin, and antimicrobial peptide LL37 had little or no activity against stationary phase B. burgdorferi. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of Artemisia annua, Juglans nigra, and Uncaria tomentosa were quite high for growing B. burgdorferi, despite their strong activity against the non-growing stationary phase B. burgdorferi.

On the other hand, the top two active herbs, Cryptolepis sanguinolenta and Polygonum cuspidatum, showed strong activity against both growing B. burgdorferi (MIC = 0.03–0.06% and 0.25–0.5%, respectively) and non-growing stationary phase B. burgdorferi.

In subculture studies, only 1% Cryptolepis sanguinolenta extract caused complete eradication, while doxycycline and cefuroxime and other active herbs could not eradicate B. burgdorferi stationary phase cells as many spirochetes were visible after 21-day subculture.

Further studies are needed to identify the active constituents of the effective botanicals and evaluate their combinations for more effective eradication of B. burgdorferi in vitro and in vivo. The implications of these findings for improving treatment of persistent Lyme disease are discussed.

_________________

**Comment**

Please remember this is in vitro and has not been studied in the human body.

They now say Stevia, Andrographis, Grapefruit seed extract, colloidal silver, monolaurin, and antimicrobial peptide LL37 didn’t do diddly.

And they keep stating that 10-20% go onto suffer with symptoms when that number is completely inaccurate and far too low:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/25/medical-stalemate-what-causes-continuing-symptoms-after-lyme-treatment/

Excerpt:

10-20% of Lyme disease patients who are promptly diagnosed and treated with an antibiotic within the first few weeks of infection, still end up with chronic disease. This is PTLDS.

30-40% of Lyme disease patients who have been infected for weeks to months before getting diagnosed, and THEN treated with an antibiotic, still end up with a chronic disease. This subgroup has no specific label but it has been referred to as “chronic Lyme disease,” or CLD.

60% OF LYME PATIENTS END UP WITH CHRONIC SYMPTOMS

Category:

Herbs, Lyme, research, Treatment, Uncategorized