Subscribers Categories

To explain this case report, one of my colleagues notes that alcohol inhibits cysteine entry into the brain and therefore could evoke a rebound induction of methylation cycle block in the brain that later improves CNS glutathione production and possibly improve CNS function. The immediate effect of methylation cycle block would cause CNS depression but then CNS functional rebound later which is what she reports. Initially she feels poorly and even sick after alcohol ingestion but sleeps better with the alcohol and then does better cognitively for the next several days. She calls this a love-hate relationship with alcohol. Another colleague thinks that certain gut pathogens and especially helminth infections can be inhibited and killed by alcohol. On the negative side, alcohol increases gut permeability and puts severe pressure on liver detoxification mechanisms. A CT scan of this patient’s liver shows fatty metamorphosis and in line with this negative view of alcohol on the liver-gut system. Like all other drugs and alcohol is a drug, the good they do must be weighed against the bad they do and this can vary from person to person and is dose dependent in each person.

I placed three cell phones on his chest wall as he lay on the echocardiograph table and called my office number and left the phones on his mid-sternum for one minute while they rang that number. I then measured the IVRT response every minute after turning the phones off. He “experienced” the documented free energy decline by IVRT criteria as feeling heaviness in his chest. Below is the powerpoint slide of the resulting IVRT decline at each minute after the cell phones were turned off.

Below is an interesting link to a thorough discussion on gammaretroviruses and the related human endogenous retroviruses ERV’s of which there are 2,000 ERV genes located on a single human chromosome. There are thousands of ERV’s spread across the entire human DNA grouped into 24 families. XMRV has 95% homology with human ERV’s. What is very interesting about ERV’s and likely true for XMRV is that they are TH1 immunosuppressive which is believed to be critical in the ability to get pregnant as the mother needs to be Th1 immunosuppressed to avoid rejection of the implanted fetus. The hormones of pregnancy and especially progesterone are in part responsible for activating env proteins of ERV’s which apparently are largely responsible for this immunosuppression. It is likely that progesterone activates XMRV env protein and may explain why we see women with more CFS at 4 to 1 over men and the apparent vulnerability of adolescent girls to CFS onset and the relative reduction of the point prevalence of CFS in the elderly and in children compared to the young to middle ages. I have also observed a reduction in severity of CFS symptoms in post-menopausal women though perhaps modulated by their use of HRT. The related hormones to progesterone are pregnenolone and cortisol. I have seen both devastate a handful of CFS cases.

I have tested a patient’s response to various vitamin E preparations on the ETM plus a typical array of nutrients that are standard practice in my clinic – Methyl-B12, Hydroxy-B12, Glucose, Fructose, Olive Oil and Fish Oil. The last six always show this kind of response in CFS but not in controls who are all positive for these six except Fructose which can be mixed in controls. CoQ-10 response can be mixed positive or negative in CFS but positive in controls. The historical variance for IVRT testing is plus or minus 1% and IVRT is measured three times and averaged. IVRT is an indirect measure of the free energy in the heart myocardial cells. Positive is good and negative is bad as it indicates a loss of free energy. These immediate responses in IVRT over a few minutes may or may not reflect later effects over time but are rather more useful to detect immediate positive or negative effects. Later effects can also be monitored but requires sequential testing over months of many patients on the same nutrient. This had only been done for a few items we currently use in therapy.

Current testing, primarily by VIP Dx in Reno, gives three results. 1) Serum RT-PCR for viral RNA 2) Whole blood PCR for viral DNA and 3) Culture of human blood white cells which amplifies the infection to see it better and the most sensitive of the three tests, the most labor intensive and the most costly. Coming soon will be antibody testing including 4) IgG against common viral proteins and 5) Western blot (WB) which looks at the entire pattern of viral protein antibody expression which are present and considered the gold standard for confirming any direct detection of virus by PCR or RT-PCR testing which is subject to false positives. When IgG ELISA testing is available, there will likely be a contraction of standard testing to just serum RT-PCR and whole blood PCR and IgG if positive to confirm and perhaps IgG if negative to confirm any past infection which, of course in a retrovirus, is permanent infection of your DNA. There are other issues involving infectiousness and viral latency that are peculiar to retroviruses. Below is a fuller explanation.

I have observed ventilatory and echocardiographic responses to 4 lpm NC oxygen every day in this practice for over three years now, admittedly in a rarified group of long time ill (ave 15 years) and very disabled (ave KPS of 50-60) cases of well characterized CFS cases. They have large ventilatory reactions (hyperventilatory and hypoventilatory) and some express immediate dislike of oxygen and get very anxious and agitated. A few have stopped breathing and had to be noxiously stimulated to revive them off oxygen. The echo shows an average of 10-20% loss of free energy by IVRT criteria on 4 lpm NC oxygen which means decreased ability to pump calcium out of the myocardium and relax and fill properly the LV. This cannot be a good thing if sustained and has potentially deeper threats related to poor oxygen handling such as DNA damage from accelerated ROS.

I have advised all my patients and their families to take 2000 IU of Vitamin D during this H1N1 crisis who can tolerate it and to go on Insosine at 500 mg BID and ramp it up to 1500 mg BID if exposed to or infected with H1N1. We have had only one case of H1N1 in a non-CFS adult child of a CFS case who reportedly did well on ramped Inosine but we don’t know what would have happened if she had not done that. Inosine can reduce death rates by viral infections, even when given late.

When I added Artsesunate to my complete protocol including CSF’s with pre-treatments, GMP and dietary changes a year ago, it seemed that overall, the clinical responses significantly improved and I saw a large number of patients completely resolve their diastolic dysfunction over time which I had never seen before I added Artesunate. The dogma in Cardiology is that diastolic dysfunction, once apparent, never goes away completely on echo. That is not true here and it began to be seen when we added Artesunate to an admittedly already complex protocol. All my stem cell patients are on this protocol as well. The stem cell patients show the most improvement on echo including ETM and diastolic dysfunction via standard echo. They are, however, on a complex protocol in addition to stem cells.

A recent publication out of Germany (Hohn O. et al, Retrovirology, 2009 Oct 16;6(1):92. [Epub ahead of print] – PMID: 19835577) reports that prostate cancer patients with a known RNAse-L mutation, linked in the US to XMRV, had no evidence of XMRV infection. The same type of patient was shown to be associated with a high incidence of XMRV infection reported by the Cleveland Clinic in 2007.

I recently saw my longest follow-up stem cell patient at nine months out from stem cell treatment. This 57 yr old medically retired nurse was a KPS of 40 prior to stem cell therapy and an invalid with basic ADL assistance provided by her husband in the three months prior to stem cells given in early February 2009. She was essentially bed or couch bound and quite ill at times. Today, nine months later, I estimate her KPS at 65 as she notes she could now live alone and can engage in hobbies but could not at present work a regular part-time job.