Unlocking the Secrets of Lupus

Forbes

Lupus (SLE) was described in the 1800s, and doctors still don’t know how to treat it. In these patients, the body makes antibodies that attack itself, manifesting as joint problems, kidney problems, rashes, fevers—many organs may be affected. There have been no new drugs in 50 years for this disease—and steroids are the only effective drug, but side effects preclude long-term use. A new drug that may help a small proportion of lupus sufferers—belimumab—is starting final stages of studies for submission to the FDA for clearance. When the patient population studied was limited to those with active antibodies at the time of enrollment, the group given the drug had significant symptom improvements in 43%, compared to 34 % in the placebo group. The race is on from a number of pharmaceutical companies to be the first on the market for this group.

Dr. Gardner’s comments:

Millions and millions of dollars are spent on these studies, trying to find a medication that will control the antibody against a person’s own body without affecting other parts of the immune system. Can you imagine how many more people that could be helped or prevented from even getting the disease in the first place if we spent that kind of money on prevention? Although the exact cause or triggering event for most auto-immune diseases, or allergies, for that matter, is usually unknown, there are some things that we do that reduce the symptoms. These include simple things like

1. cleaning up the diet, getting off junk food and pop and sugar, and

2. getting the nutrients needed through supplements.

3. Getting rid of toxins is also important, including toxic metals that may set up a Type IV allergic reaction.

4. There may be unusual organisms that may be triggering the reactions, like Mycoplasma, C. pneumonia, or even some spirochetes.

5. Reducing stress levels (lupus symptoms are often triggered by stress).

If aggressively reducing the above 5 factors can reduce symptoms, imagine what could be done to prevent them altogether if managing each of those factors is advocated. Since we don’t know exactly what causes it, let’s get rid of the triggers that make it worse.  Make sense?

Yesterday’s post covered some of the benefits of Omega-3’s and Omega-6’s; with some explanation of how fish oil benefits us.  Interestingly, I read this article in the Wall Street Journal this morning, and have some comments about it:

Wall Street Journal

February 2, 2010

A Study Finds Mental Benefit of Fish Oil

Eighty-one young people, ages 13 to 25, were identified with high risk symptoms of schizophrenia. Forty-one of them were placed on 4 fish oil ‘pills’ and the rest were placed on placebo look-alikes. One year later, 2 of the 41 (5 %) in the treated group were diagnosed with schizophrenia, and 11 of the 40 (28 %) in the placebo group were given the same diagnosis. The study is printed in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, with the lead author from the University of Melbourne in Australia. The researchers speculate that omega-3 fish oils may help brain cells to repair and stabilize. Dr. Wozniak of Harvard Medical School is hoping psychiatrists will start to recommend this to their patients because of the potential benefits and little risk.

Dr. Gardner’s comments: It’s great seeing this study in the mainstream literature. Nerve support has been just one of many benefits of fish oils, whether it is directly helping the fat content in the nerve cell membrane or the myelin sheath surrounding the nerve, or by its anti-inflammatory action through which it is helping decrease inflammation in blood vessels. Niacin was the first effective treatment for schizophrenia, but was unfortunately discarded when anti-psychotic medications hit the market soon after and received much better marketing. ‘Orthomolecular’ medicine (the use of vitamins and minerals in medicine) was also mocked at that time, even though Linus Pauling, the only person to ever receive 2 Nobel Prizes by himself, was advocating it.

Since fish oil can help schizophrenia, this stresses the importance of the essential fatty acids for all nerve conditions. In your zeal for fish oil, don’t forget the need for the omega-3 parent compound, alpha-linolenic acid, found in flaxseed oil. The omega-6 oils found in borage oil and evening primrose are also critical for membrane function in every cell of the body.

What have you heard about fish oil causing hallucinations?

Fish oil is the oil that comes from fish, which contain the derivative products EPA and DHA from the omega-3 essential fatty acids. Research has shown benefits with fish oil in inflammatory conditions (vascular disease, allergic itchy rashes, arthritis) and neurologic conditions (schizophrenia, autism, depression). Fish oil does not cause hallucinations, but is a treatment for schizophrenia, which often has hallucinations as part of the symptom complex.

The parent compound, alpha-linolenic acid, is missing from the fish oil, and the derivative products can be made from the parent compound. Flaxseed oil is the best source of the parent compound, and that is my preference.

Because of the heavy marketing emphasis on the fish oils and omega-3 oils, very little is being said about the omega-6 oils. The parent compounds linoleic acid from the omega-6 line and alpha-linolenic are important substances in all cell membranes, and the cells will not function properly without them. My preference is to add an omega-6 oil (borage oil, evening primrose oil, black currant oil) to your omega-3 regimen.

I have a friend who has a boy with ADHD and is taking some very expensive meds. Do you have any suggestions? I would like to pass them on to him.

All neurologic conditions need to have high levels of the vitamins and oils that are needed for optimal functioning of the nerves. These include the B vitamins, especially B₁, B₆, B₁₂ and folic acid. B1, or thiamine, comes in the fat-soluble forms allithiamine and benfotamine, which releases the vitamin at the cell membrane. Both essential oils, omega-6 and omega-3, are important.

In children, the diet is most important. All sugars and processed foods need to be replaced with ‘real’ food–real meaning the kind of food that is fresh, preferably home-grown or prepared, preferably organic, not out of a box or can. Food allergies (and other allergies) may be a strong contributing factor to ADHD symptoms. Mercury is a neurotoxin, so you do not want the dentist to place amalgam (it really contains mercury, even though people say ‘silver’) fillings in his teeth.

When all those are in place, and there are still symptoms, here are a few other suggestions:

1. Phosphatidyl-choline and –serine are part of the fat that surrounds the nerves, so high doses of those supplements may prove helpful. Glutathione is an important anti-oxidant and functions as a weak chelator.  As a chelator, it can pull small amounts of offending toxins and metals out of the body. Unfortunately, it is not well absorbed. The 3 precursors can be ingested—glycine, glutamine and N-acetyl-cysteine—so the body can manufacture it more easily.

2. Most of these boys with ADHD symptoms are above average intelligence, so they are bored with school. Their behavior may be reflective of that boredom. Shift their school work into areas of greater interest, or more activity. Immediate feedback at school and home with charts, stars helps them stay on task. Just because they are inattentive or over-active, does not mean they are not listening or learning. They usually learn best when they are moving, and not focusing all their ‘concentration’ on the task of being still.

Most grading systems penalize these children because of their inattentiveness, and their creativity is not valued. When they leave the school environment and can choose where and how they perform, they may do supremely well in society.

I am 72, and have developed Osteomalacia (an adult form of Rickets) from a vitamin D deficiency, which has been treated and is now better. I also have the beginning of Osteoporosis and am struggling to learn how to treat myself. How do I find out just how much of all the minerals I need to stop bone loss, and how much is “a high dose” of strontium, so I can indeed reverse my bone loss?

The body is in a constant cycle of repair and maintenance of all tissues in the body. This includes bone tissue. When the bone needs repair, the body mobilizes ‘osteoclasts’ which enter the area of repair and break down the damaged bone area. This creates a hole in the bone, and will be seen on X-ray as calcium loss, or osteoporosis. After about 3 to 6 weeks of this, ‘osteoblasts’ are sent in to rebuild the bone. This takes about 2 weeks. During that period of time, all the minerals need to be present to build the bone matrix, and collagen tissue is also added so the bone is not so brittle.

Calcium and magnesium are two important macro-minerals, and 750 to 1000 mg should be ingested, including both supplements and food intake. Most of the other minerals are in adequate quantities in a potent multivitamin—zinc, boron, biotin. Two minerals tend to be deficient—strontium and silicon. The bone only needs 2 to 3 mg of strontium per day to build new bone, but if taken in the 1,000 mg per day range, it acts as a stimulant for reversal of osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Vitamin C is important for collagen building, so I would take at least 1,000 mg per day, and perhaps up to 4,000 mg per day. Of course, ‘real’ food is important, which means avoidance of processed foods, especially soda pop, which has a phosphorus buffer that pulls calcium out of bones when it is ingested. Fluoride should also be avoided, as it can be placed in the bone as a mineral and make it weak.

Staff infection — I’ve been treated for one going on 5 months!! Please HELP!

I recognize that hanging around with people you work with–your staff–can be infectious, but I assume you are referring to the bacterial organism, Staphylococcal infection.

Usually by now, that wound has been cultured in a laboratory, so that the antibiotic regimen you have been on was determined to be appropriate for your particular strain of infection. If the infection has not been cultured, it should be and you should take the appropriate antibiotic for it.

I’m also assuming that this is not a bone infection (osteomyelitis), which requires long-term antibiotics intravenously; nor is it a deep, chronic infection, and it is not MRSA, methicillin (and most other antibiotic) resistant staphyloccus aureus.

Any chronic infection (or any infection, for that matter) means the immune system is not as strong as it should be.

So, how do you build the immune system? It starts with a good diet, especially avoidance of all sugar which interferes with the immune system. Next, take a potent multi-vitamin and essential fatty acids for basic cellular function, along with drinking lots of water for good hydration. The next step is to start taking products that build the natural killer cells in your body—β-glucan, colostrum, and mushrooms—maitake and sheitake.

Any chronic infection may have viral or other organisms that are not responsive to antibiotics. There are neutraceuticals that are effective against those organisms. Try high doses of vitamin C orally, 6,000 to 10,000 mg per day. Intravenous administration of 20,000 mg of vitamin C over 3 hours is even more effective. Add citricidal, echanacea, oil of oregano to also help kill the organisms. High doses of resveratrol, cat’s claw and/or andrographis are more expensive, but also very effective at both building the immune system and killing organisms.

Some of you asked me how I administer oil of oregano; I simply add part of a dropper full into a swallow of room temperature, pure water, and drink it quickly.  It has a “hot” pizza-like flavor, but it is very effective and usually knocks a cold quickly.  You can also place oil of oregano directly upon an inflamed area, and it is often effective in that way for reducing inflammation.

I have a question and wonder if it is sugar related.  Just last month our 7 1/2 yr. old grandson got facial tics in the form of blinking eyes.  We are hoping the symptoms go away within 3 months, but wonder if sugar and inflammation might have anything to do with it. We have also read that it could be a lack of magnesium.  What do you recommend?

Could you please explain what you would suggest to get rid of facial tics in a child of 8 years old and what tests might you suggest he have administered?

Facial tics are muscle spasms of the face—typically eye blinking, nose scrunching, vocal sounds. They may exist by themselves, or be part of another disorder called Tourette’s Syndrome. They are not uncommon in children, and are triggered by or made worse by stress. Often they go away naturally, so the first treatment is to ignore them, and not bring attention to them. If the person tries to control them (which he or she may be able to do for the short time), it will cause internal anxiety and they will need to spend several minutes ‘tic-ing’ to ‘get it out of their system.’

The basic treatment of all childhood health issues starts with the diet. ‘Real’ food needs to be eaten. Processed food, especially sugar, needs to be eliminated. Sugar, caffeine, trans fatty acids and hydrogenated oils and aspartame are especially inflammatory to the body, and will make almost any underlying condition worse. General supplements will help assure a more adequate nutrient intake, as even the best of food today is often deficient in basic nutrients.

There are basic nutrients that help all neurologic conditions, including facial tics. The essential fatty acids and the B vitamins need to have good levels in the body. Thiamine, or vitamin B₁, may be the most important vitamin to support nerve tissue, and it is water soluble. The fat soluble form, allithiamine or benfotamine, will deliver this important vitamin to the cells without it being excreted out the kidneys. Magnesium is needed to resolve muscle cramps, and may also be useful in this setting. Certain biochemical reactions that involve nervous tissue need both thiamine and magnesium for optimal functioning.

There are some laboratory tests that may help decide if there are deficiencies in the body. Essential fatty acids of red blood cells can be ordered. Levels of B₁, B₆, B₁₂, and folic acid can also be done in laboratories.

My adult daughter has strep throat. Are there herbs and healthy alternatives versus antibiotics? Or does she need to just take what the doctor gives her? Thanks in advance!

Because of the present concern about the potential of late complications of rheumatic fever and heart disease in the untreated patient with strep throat, and the current legal climate, the only answer is to take the antibiotics prescribed, but be sure to have her take probiotics between dosing to reduce the chance of yeast (candida) infection.

My general counsel to everyone with typical viruses and bacteria is to take vitamin C doses in the range of 6,000 to 10,000 mg per day and anti-viral/anti-bacterial herbals like Echinacea, oil of oregano, citricidal (although it may only be available to physicians—I have not seen it available elsewhere), colloidal silver, to name a few. The effectiveness of the above regimen will be best when a good diet (without sugar, which reduces the immune system) and potent supplements are already in place in the person.

If the infections continue to come back (anyone that is having more than 1 infection per year), there are safe herbals and products that build the immune system: Beta-glucan, colostrum, mushrooms (sheitake and maitake), resveratrol, cat’s claw, andrographis, to mention a few.

It is important to remember that all of us have thousands of ‘organisms’ inside us at all times. It is the immune-suppressed individuals that ‘come down’ with infection. Building the immune system begins with a ‘real food’ diet, drinking plenty of water, taking potent supplements, and ridding the body of toxins that may be interfering with the immune system.