Rheumatism: Is The Cause An Amoeba? - Part 3 (End)

http://www.gnhealth.com/articles/whichArticle.php?article=178

Anti-amoebic Treatment for Rheumatoid Disease

Gus J. Prosch, Jr.

contributed by: The Arthritis Trust of America
(O Institute of Biomolecular Medicine: Gus J. Prosch, Jr., 1985; Formerly published in The Journal of the Rheumatoid Disease Foundation, Volume 1, Number 1.)

PART 3

The last part of this series discusses an anti-amoebic treatment protocol using medications and diet. There’s some discussion about taking copper, but the delivery system was questionable when the article was written in 1985; I have no idea if they’ve made improvements on copper usage or not. I know there are copper homeopathic salts but don’t know how well they work. I didn’t see anything mentioned about a colloidal or ionic copper solution. Again, before jumping on the bandwagon with more experiments on the newest thing, look into what’s really going on with you first before making assumptions with self-treatment or a prescribed treatment plan by your practitioner.

Best of Health!

DD

 

Anti-amoebic Treatment of Rheumatoid Disease

We have found that the majority of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis respond well to treatment by using Metronidazole and Allopurinol. The Allopurinol, according to Dr. Wyburn-Mason interferes with the enzyme systems of the amoebae and this is the reason for its effectiveness. The Metronidazole itself or its metabolites seem to actually kill the amoebae and are primarily responsible for causing the Herxheimer reaction if given in the proper dosage. I usually routinely begin treatment of my Rheumatoid Arthritis patients by giving 3 primary medications.

1. One cc of Depot Medrol is given on the day the patient comes to my office. This is a cortisone-like medication that prevents a severe Herxheimer reaction. As more amoebae are killed at first, the "flu-like" symptoms can be quite severe and the Depot Medrol lasts about 7-10 days. Because of this, many patients notice fairly severe flu-symptoms the second and third week of treatment after the Depot Medrol has worn off. I don't like to use cortisone-like medications for any condition normally, but I find it very appropriate in this treatment.

2. Secondly, I give a prescription for Allopurinol or ZyloprimO, 300 mg. tablets. The patient takes 1 tablet 3 times daily for 1 week then stops this medication.

3. I also give a prescription for Metronidazole, 250 mg. tablets, to be taken in divided doses, two days in a row each week for 6 weeks. For a patient who weighs around 200 pounds, I recommend 2000 mg. daily or 2 tablets with meals and 2 at bedtime two at bedtime two days in a row, each week for six weeks. For a 150 pound patient, I give 1,500 mg. daily or 2 tablets with each meal and none at bedtime. For a person who weighs over 225 pounds, I prescribe 3 tablets with each meal or 2,360 mg. daily. I have the patient begin both medications the next day after the Depot Medrol injection.

In addition to the above medications, I prescribe a special diet and various supplements that I will mention later. Also, I check each involved joint to determine if any of the nerves are inflamed and inject the affected nerves when appropriate. I will also go into detail tomorrow concerning the techniques and theory involved with intraneural injections. I have the patient make an appointment to return for evaluation in 6 or 7 weeks.

When the patient returns for the second or follow-up visit, I usually see one of three things that have happened:

1. The patient has no more arthritic pains and the involved joints are not inflamed anymore even though the patient may have had no Herxheimer reaction, or a moderate or a severe reaction. I do not give any further medication to these patients but advise continuing the diet along with continuing the supplements for another 2-3 months.

2. Some patients returning may be no better at all and have had no Herxheimer reaction at all. With these patients, I re-evaluate the previous diagnosis and if the original diagnosis was wrong, I change the treatment accordingly. With this situation, one of two things has happened: The diagnosis is wrong and the patient doesn't have Rheumatoid Arthritis or the patient's particular amoebae are not sensitive or responsive to the medication given and with these patients I will usually change to another anti-amoebic medication. [Note: This is typical – nothing but guess work on the person’s part on diagnosing. DD]

3. The third thing I may see on the second return visit is a patient who has had a mild, moderate or severe Herxheimer reaction and usually is somewhat to greatly improved but still has arthritic pains and symptoms and some evidence of inflammation in the involved joints. Should they seem to be reacting to medication, I may prescribe an additional 4 weeks of Metronidazole. If they have had only a mild Herxheimer reaction, I may change the medication to a different anti-amoebic drug. It really depends on the particular patient response.

Another thing I have seen on a few patients after a few weeks or months, is that they may be in total remission initially and then the arthritis symptoms gradually begin to recur again. If this happens, I have to conclude that either the patient's original amoebae turned to the cyst stage where the medication couldn't kill them or maybe the original amoebae found some place to hide in the body tissues that had a very poor blood supply and the medication couldn't get to the amoebae. If these patients responded well to the Metronidazole, I may give them another 4 to 6 weeks treatment and have them take the Metronidazole the first 2 days of each month thereafter, or I may change to another anti-amoebic drug, depending on the patient.

For the past two years, I have strongly suspected that in some patients, the amoebae may hide in body tissues or areas where there is poor blood supply such as in cartilage or fascial (connective tissue covering the muscles) tissues or even inside the colon where there is an abundance of E. coli germs that is a favorite food of the amoebae. I've even given some patients high colonics and enemas to try to clean out the entire colon, but so far the results are not spectacular, but I am still working on this aspect. I am becoming more convinced each day that amoebae do hide in the fascial or connective tissues which have a very poor blood supply.

Dr. Seldon Nelson of Lansing, Michigan, and myself are working on this aspect and Dr. Nelson is an Osteopathic Physician and has developed various techniques of stretch and counter-stretch actions which increase the blood supply of these tissues, and we are seeing some very good results in some patients who have been unresponsive to the regular anti-amoebic treatment. Dr. Nelson has been visiting my clinic 3-4 days each month, and we are developing and improving these techniques that he originally discovered and perfected and he has done a magnificent job in his research. We hope to develop techniques to improve the healing as well as the functioning of the deformed joints of patients with even long-standing arthritis. One exciting breakthrough is that some patients with multiple sclerosis are getting better and improving, but let me emphasize to any physician here that he should never treat a patient with multiple sclerosis with the anti-amoebic protocol as the patient can be made worse. I hope to discuss this a little further tomorrow when I talk to you about the intraneural injections.

Other Anti-Amoebic Medications

One of the major problems that we are faced with today is the scarcity of medications or effective drugs that are able to kill the different strains of the limax amoebae. We do have some moderately effective drugs available in America, but those drugs that are known to be the most effective for killing the amoebae are not available in the U.S. The following slide lists the drugs that are known to be anti-amoebic, and they are listed according to what we believe to be the most potent anti-amoebic listed first, and the least potent listed last. Those that are available in the U.S. will have a double star or asterisk typed after the generic name.

Anti-Amoebic Medications

Listed in order of potency and United States availability denoted by **:

 Generic Name Chemical Name Brand Name

 Clotrimazole Imidazole Myceliex,
Lotrimin
Tinidazole Nitroimidazole Fasigyn
Nimorazole Nitroimidazole Emtryl, Naxogin
Ornidazole Nitroimidazole Tiberal
Metronidazole** Nitroimidazole Flagyl
Furazolidone** Nitrofuran Furoxone
Rifampicin** Rifamycin B Rimactane
Allopurinol** Pyrimidine Zyloprim
Diiodohydroxyquinon** Oxyquinoline Yodoxin
Copper ions** Inorganic Copper Copper Sulfate
Dehydrocholic Acid** Bile Salts Decholin
Cimetidine** Tagamet
PABA** Potaba

Of the medications avaible in the United States, I have received the best results in treating patients with a combination of Metronidazole and Allopurinol. I seem to get fair results with Yodoxin, Furoxone and Rimactane. The copper works very well in some patients, but there are some problems encountered with absorption and delivery of the copper ions to the actual site of infestations of the amoebae. Dr. Seldon Nelson and myself are presently working on various techniques of administration of several drugs to improve this as well as methods to increase blood circulation to affected areas which should deliver better concentrations of the copper and other medications to the infected tissues. The Rheumatoid Disease Foundation is presently supporting double-blind studies by Bowman Gray School of Medicine on Clotrimazole and hopefully these studies will make available to our physicians this drug which we believe is the most potent anti-amoebic.

Supportive Measures in Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis

To achieve the best results in treating any chronic degenerative disease it is important to remember that simply giving a drug to kill a disease causing germ is not enough. In the first place, these patients have been ill for many months to years and their entire body chemistry, digestion, nutrition, and immune system has been continually stressed and damaged over this period of time. The next slide will list the supporting facets of treatment which first not be overlooked if a physician wants to give his patients the very best opportunities to achieve the most successful improvement.

Supportive Evaluations for Better Results in Treating Any Chronic Degenerative Disease

1. Diet and proper nutrition.
2. Correction of any Nutritional Deficiency or imbalance.
3. Correction of any digestive malfunctions.
4. Elimination of contributing factors that may be suppressing the patient's immune system

a. Food, inhalant, and chemical allergies.

b. Concomitant infections such as yeast, virus, foci of infections.

c. Exposure to toxins such as heavy metals and petrochemicals.

5. Exercise.
6. Rest and relaxation.
7. Removal of physical or mental stress factors.
8. Instill hope and positive mental attitude in patients.
9. Intraneural injections for arthritis patients.

Intraneural Injections

Most patients with Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis have developed inflammation in various nerves that go to the joints. These areas of inflammation in the nerves may be caused by calcium deposits in the nerve areas, trauma or injury to the nerves or even invasion of the nerves by germs like the amoebae or Candida-yeast infections. Our Foundation's Medical Director, Dr. Paul K. Pybus, has been working with this problem for several years and has developed various techniques of intra-neural injections that have caused remarkable improvement in many patients. I will be speaking tomorrow concerning these injections and will go into detail to explain the theories involved, the preparation of solutions for injection and the actual techniques of injection, but I just wanted to mention here that this is a supportive measure I use in treating all arthritic patients. I would now like to go into a little more detail on a couple of the other very important supportive measures.

Diet

There are more incidents of the chronic degenerative diseases in our land today than has ever been known in the history of mankind. These diseases include all the forms of arthritis and auto-immune diseases but also obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases which include heart disease, arteriosclerosis, and peripherial vascular disease. Today, with the processing of most our foods, many important vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids are removed so the foods will last longer on the shelves. Many soils which are used to grow our foods are becoming depleted of essential nutrient substances, especially minerals.

Also thousands of chemicals are added to soils in the growing process and also preservatives and other chemicals are added to our processed foods. Because of all of this, we are finding that our entire society is suffering from a diet that is plagued with over-consumption and under-nutrition and the incidence of chronic degenerative diseases can only increase in severity. Most Americans are now conditioned to follow this "S.A.D." or Standard American Diet and our diet plays a very important factor in treating all arthritic patients. It can spell the difference in getting poor, fair, good, or excellent results in the treatment of our arthritic patients.

Whereas normal body fluids are nearly always slightly alkaline, as opposed to acid, I constantly find those patients with arthritis disease have body fluids that are more acid in nature than normal. This is partly due to a deficiency in free (ionic) calcium, which itself is very alkaline in nature. But the primary cause of this acid-alkaline reversal can be found in the diet and nutritional habits of those with arthritis disease. Most cellular mechanisms of the body and particularly those involving the use of ionized (free) minerals such as the secretory (all glands) processes, nerve function processes, and muscle contraction, etc., proceed best in a mildly alkaline state. For this reason, a diet consisting of high alkaline forming foods should be consumed, combined with avoidance of acid forming foods. Acid forming foods are those which are high in one or more of three elements: phosphorus, sulfur, and chlorine. Alkaline forming foods are those which are high in one or more of four othe elements: potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium. The following diet has proven to be effective in treating those with Rheumatoid Diseases, but also seems to strengthen and fortify any individual's immune system and body defenses, especially when combined with other adequate vitamin and mineral supplements.

The following slide is a summary of the type of diet I recommend for all arthritic patients. I will explain the reason and rationale for each of the foods listed.

Summary of Diet for Rheumatoid Disease Patients

Avoid These Foods

1. Processed foods (foods in box or can).
2. Alcohol, caffeine, nicotine.
3. Processed cereals, white rice, and corn products.
4. Four vegetables - Irish potatoes [white potatoes], tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers.
5. All forms of pork.
6. Peanuts, walnuts.
7. Skim milk or low fat milk.
8. Any known allergenic foods.
9. All sweets, deserts, sugars, candy, soft drinks, ice cream, pies, cakes, pastries, etc.
10. All white flour such as white breads, crackers, biscuits, spaghetti, macaroni, pasta.
11. All "hydrogenated" or "hardened" cooking oils or fats, and especially margarine.
12. Excessive diet drinks (2 per day permitted).

Eat These Foods

1. Fish, fowl, eggs, cheeses, lamb, and beef (up to 3 times weekly), yogurt, venison, shrimp.
2. All vegetables, preferably raw or "wok" cooked, (avoid potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers).
3. All vegetable juices except tomato.
4. All salad vegetables.
5. Whole wheat or whole grain breads (if 100%).
6. Whole grain cereals - non-processed.
7. All nuts except peanuts and walnuts.
8. Home canned foods without sugar added.
9. All fruits and juices including dried fruits. (The whole fruits are preferable to the juices.)
10. Decaffeinated coffee, herbal teas, whole milk, buttermilk, spring or mineral water, juices.
11. Butter, olive oil, cooking oils that are "cold-pressed."
12. Adequate vitamin, mineral supplements with cod liver oil.

Calcium Imbalance

During the physical examination and after studying the history of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis, I very frequently find strong evidence of calcium deficiency. There are two main types of calcium in the body. These are free or ionic calcium and the calcium bound to proteins. Blood calcium measurements measure the total of free and protein bound calcium, and it seems to be the free-ionic calcium that arthritic patients are deficient in, and the blood calcium measurements are usually in the normal range and do not show up the deficiency of free calcium. Previous research by another physician in Canada, Dr. Carl Reich, has shown that arthritic patients are quite deficient in this free calcium and this problem must be addressed to get better results in treatment.

Dr. Hans Nieper of West Germany has done much research on the use of various calcium preparations, and he has shown that there are two forms of calcium that occur naturally in our vegetables and the body uses these forms of calcium much better than regular calcium supplements. These two forms are Calcium Orotate and Calcium Aspartate, and ideally the patients should get about 400-500 mg of calcium daily from one or both of these forms of calcium. Some health stores carry calcium daily from one or both of these forms of calcium. Some health food stores carry calcium orotate since many people have learned that the orotate form is the very best type that helps osteoporosis. The FDA is trying to make it a prescription item, so I usually furnish this to the patients since they may not be able to find it in health food stores.

In order for our bodies to use the calcium properly, we must have available adequate vitamin D3 or natural vitamin D. Most supplements contain the D2 form as well as the D2 form that is added to milk and other foods, and this form is synthetic. This synthetic D2 causes the body to absorb the calcium all right but does not regulate how the calcium is used. The natural D3 causes the calcium to be absorbed from the small intestine and regulates and promotes the excretion of any excess calcium which helps protect the body from the development of kidney stones. I also advise patients to try to get about 30 minutes of exposure to the sun each week which activates the vitamin D. The natural vitamin D3 is found in fish liver oils, so arthritic patients must take cod liver oil. I recommend that they go to health food stores and purchase the Norwegian cod liver oil that contains 10,000 units of vitamin A and 1,000 units of vitamin D3 per teaspoon and recommend 2 teaspoons morning and night.

Fatty Acid Deficiency

Another nutrient that I find all arthritic patients deficient in and I estimate that about 80% of our entire population also are deficient in fatty acids. This is the fault of our food companies who take out all the fatty acids when they process our foods to prevent the foods from turning rancid. In my opinion, this is the primary reason that we are having so much arteriosclerosis with heart attacks and strokes today, and we are seeing these diseases occurring earlier in life, even men in their twenties. There are two primary reasons for this: One reason is the cholesterol scare that has been thrown at us from all angles. Cholesterol intake, in my opinion, is not the cause of any cholesterol buildup in our arteries, but the inability of our bodies to use the cholesterol manufactured by the body itself is the cause.

The cholesterol we take in as food is digested and broken down into its component parts in the stomach and is not cholesterol anymore. We manufacture our own cholesterol, and how our bodies use this manufactured cholesterol determines whether we get arteriosclerosis or not.

Besides, if cholesterol intake caused atherosclerosis, the Greenland Eskimos would be dying like flies from atherosclerosis since their diets are tremendously high in cholesterol, yet they have much fewer deaths from heart and blood vessel disease than we do. The diet of the Eskimos also is very high in the fatty acids that our food companies take out of our foods, and also their diets contain very small amounts, if any at all, of the hydrogenated oils as found in margarines and our hardened cooking oils.

So the two reasons, in my opinion, for the near epidemic state of arteriosclerosis in America is due to number one, the excess of hydrogenated oils in our diet; and number two, the deficiency of fatty acids in our diets.

The excess hydrogenated oils block the chemical pathways by which the few fatty acids that do get in our diets are utilized. Therefore, our bodies cannot use our cholesterol properly. Then, the actual deficiency of the natural fatty acids our bodies must have to manufacture other hormone-like substances called prostaglandins play an important role in [not] allowing our bodies to use the cholesterol and triglycerides manufactured by our own bodies.

I've been treating my patients who have high cholesterol and triglycerides by simply adding the fatty acid supplements to their diets, and I'm seeing amazing results.

Now all these arthritic patients are severely deficient in these fatty acids that are used to manufacture the hormone-like prostaglandins. It's the prostaglandins that our systems must have to resist and overcome any inflammatory reactions. Some prostaglandins cause inflammation; and to fight any inflammation, we must have adequate prostaglandins of which, for our consideration, there four primary ones, prostaglandin 1, 2, 3, and 4:

Prostaglandin 2 is a bad guy, and we get loads of it in our red meats, seafoods, and diary products.

Prostaglandins 1, 3, and 4 are good guys and the ones that are removed from our foods.

Prostaglandin 1 is very important, and the hydrogenated oils block its production; the fatty acid it is made from is gamma linolenic acid. It is found in high concentrations in Oil of the Evening Primrose and can be purchased at health food stores. I recommend 6-8 capsules daily.

Prostaglandins 3 and 4 are also important, and their precursors are Eicosapentanoic Acid and Docosahexanoic Acid; both of these are removed from our foods.

Salmon oil is rich in both of these fatty acids and can be found in the health food stores under the name Maxepa, and I recommend 6-8 capsules of this daily.

I have seen definite improvements and faster improvements in all arthritic patients when I give them these fatty acid supplements.

I realize I have only hit some of the high points in this talk, but I hope that I have been able to enlighten you more about the work of The Foundation and what we are trying to accomplish. I would like to spend these last few minutes of time in answering any questions you may have.

Tweet