Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

I co-authored a book on CFS around 1990 when we did not have much data or suspicion of Lyme Disease. The definition of CFS was and is "Greater than 50% debility for over 6 months, WITH NO KNOWN CAUSE. " The expanded definition included muscle pain and tenderness, swollen glands with fever and malaise, rash, neurologic dysfunction, sore throats and other signs of systemic infection that could all be explained by Lyme infection, as well as many other conditions. Once a legitimate cause is discovered, it is no longer CFS. It is Chronic Fatigue caused by some dccumented infection such as LD, Tuberculosis, tooth or sinus abcess, Urinary tract infection, and of course, bacterial, parasitic or yeast infection of the gut. In our book, "Solving the Puzzle of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome," Dr. Rosenbaum and I postulated the likelihood of Mixed Infection Syndrome (MIS) which was not accepted widely before the discovery that Lyme Disease often has with it "co-infections" which can be contracted from the same tick as Borrelia (Lyme tick). In those days, Lyme Disease was really under the radar of conventional medicine. Now that we know that much so-called CFS, is really the emerging borrelia bug causing Lyme Disease, we shall be much more effective in dealing with both conditions.

Lyme Disease & CFS

Detecting & Treating an Eluzive & Stubborn Infection

Lyme Disease (LD) (named after the town of Lyme CT where the disease first became recognized as an issue in the USA around 1975).

Lyme Disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorfori. This spirochetal (corkscrew shaped) organism reaches the human body through tick bite. The deer tick bites an infected deer and gets the Borrelia in its blood. It then bites a human spreading the infection. The infected human then suffers at first a flu-like illness with fever, chills, headache, muscle pain, malaise, fatigue, and sometimes a characteristic “bulls eye” rash. If the immune system fails to stop it, it progresses on to multi-system disease, including arthritis, and neurologic and cardiac disease.

Since most physicians believe that Lyme Disease can only happen in wooded areas like Lyme CT, they have a low index of suspicion and never check for LD in areas like Arizona and even California. Our experience has been that it is common here. There has been much speculation that insects other than the tick can transmit the disease. Fleas, mosquitoes, flies, are among the new suspects, but this has not been documented. Other repository animals than the deer almost certainly carry Lyme. It has been found in horses, dogs, and rodents. Additionally, perhaps humans can occasionally transmit it sexually and even by less intense contact. I have seen at least one case that appears to have passed from a Lyme Disease husband to his new wife who had no known exposure to insects.

Lyme Disease is confounding for many reasons. First, its laboratory diagnosis is very difficult, and most labs do not detect LD very well. Secondly, the organism evades conventional antibiotic treatment because it is an intracellular bacteria that grows slowly and can transform to at least four different types each of which may require a different antibiotic approach. Thirdly, there may be “co-infections.” This means that at least four other micro-organisms (bacteria and parasites) may be infused into the body with the same tick bite.

Stay tuned, there is much more to be said about detecting and treating this formidable enemy.

Intravernous Detoxification & Immune Support

Detoxification, almost by definition, supports the immune system. Deficiency and toxicity are two grisly horsemen of the apocalypse of our health destiny. It is not quite that dramatic, certainly not the final cataclysmic battle. Many individuals suffer and even die if they do not adequately support their immune system. We know many ways to enhance our detoxification and thereby our immunity. Let us use IV Vit C as a clear example of detox and support.

Vitamin C intravenously may give major detoxification, while it boosts our immune function. We also usually include in the IV a wide and deep spectrum of vitamins and minerals. If I were marooned on a desert Island and could have only one treatment to use for any medical problem that came along, I would probably choose IV Vitamin C. Vit C is a major anti-oxidant, thereby useful for combating various toxicities that invade us from the toxic civilization that we are forced to enjoy. It also acts as a natural antibiotic with one of the mechanisms being the hydrogen peroxide VitC produces when it reaches very high concentrations in the blood and in the tissues. The hydrogen peroxide acts as biological “flamethrower,” in the white cells, killing the invading microbes. Because we can achieve much higher blood levels of VitC when given IV, we can get much more dramatic therapeutic effects than if we used it orally.

We numerous IV, IM (intra-muscular), transdermal (through the skin), as well as oral and other methods to detoxify our immune function and the other organs and tissues that that have vital health functions.

Remember, cancer risk increases with many deficiencies and toxicities. Low Vit D, for example, has now proven to be a significant cancer risk, increasing the danger by perhaps 55%. Heavy metal toxicity increases the risk of many health threats, such as High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, and neurologic loss. Of course, our old nemesis Lyme Disease, will be at its most dangerous, like most infections, when the immune system is compromised. The list is literally endless.

Although our treatment arsenal contains many possible methods for detox and support, sometimes we must rely on the heavy weapons, such as Intravenous Therapies. We definitely use juice diet detox, herbal cleanse, protein and fibre programs, and other specialized ways to cleanse the accumulated toxinx. Of course we always prioritize to the least invasive treatment that will work. We are fortunate to have these powerful intravenous allies to combat the two horseman of the health apocalypse.

Chelation for Heavy Metal Detox

I started doing chelation therapy in 1972. Chelation (pronounced kee-lay-shun) Therapy (CT) was then beginning to emerge from the restraints of conventional medical thinking which used it only to treat acute and/or severe heavy metal poisoning. I found that chelating patients with EDTA and sometimes other agents would detoxify them from their heavy metal burdens and effect great changes in their health.

In my three plus decades of giving thousands of intravenous CT’s to several thousand patients, I have seen many responses that could be considered miraculous. Many patients who had refused heart surgery, leg amputations, and arterial opening of the Carotid to the brain, progressively rid themselves of their symptoms and signs of these ailments. Their chest pain, limb pain, and loss of mental focus resolved and began a path of continuous improvement. As often as I saw it, it always felt like a validation of my willingness to think and act outside the box.

Chelation means “metal binding.” As a medical treatment applied only to the most severe industrial or laboratory accidents with lead, cadmium, mercury, nickel, etc., it was a relatively obscure part of medicine. When it proved useful in chronic high-grade heavy metal accumulation, such as in children eating chips of lead paint it became more widely used, but still not in the way we use it in our office. I learned to use it from Ray Evers, MD who pioneered the use of CT for calcified arteries. He felt that the calcium that CT could take out of the body was the culprit, but he was only partially right. He claimed CT reversed hardening of the arteries, and indeed, it seemed to do just that. Unfortunately, to this day, no one has proved to the satisfaction of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) that CT actually does reverse ASVD (Arteriosclerotic Vascular Disease) – hardening of the arteries. Although the experience of hundreds of physicians and tens of thousands of their patients suggests that it does work on arteries, it remains illegal to make such claims. There are also many “unofficial” research studies that suggest a cause and effect with CT and reversal of ASVD, and they cannot be used as proof that it works. Presently, the National Institutes of Health is funding a $30,000,000.00 study to shed light on this question. Unfortunately, the study is not adequately designed or funded to resolve the problem with certainty. CT is good enough, however, that it may prevail even in the course of a less than perfect study.

What is clear and undeniable is that CT works for heavy metal detoxification. What is also clear, is that many if not most of us have significant, sneaky accumulations of heavy metals in our bodies. The levels are no where near the levels that cause serious clinical disease or death, but the levels are sufficient to cause low level damage to the immune system, the nervous system and the vascular system. There are studies from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) that support such thinking. The bottom line is that many of us suffer from sneaky accumulation of lead, mercury and other toxins and this may be causing us to have greater risk of many degenerative diseases and decreased longevity.

Long Life Medicine

Long life medicine covers a span of possibilities. It can involve simple life style activities like buckling a seat belt or flossing teeth. Or it can expand to management of genetic abnormalities with ultra high technology. Life extension requires that we seek solutions to degenerative, infectious, toxic, and genetic disease. The idea offers tantalizing possibilities, some of the near future, and some of the present.

Immunity means freedom disease. (in the ancient Greek it was freedom from taxes). Our immune systems have the formidable task of protecting us from all of the assaults of our toxic environment and deficient food. We must deal with infections, some obvious and some hidden, like Epstein-Barr Virus, Lyme Disease, and countless others. We must deal with the toxicities in our “civilized” environment. Mercury, lead, cadmium, aluminum, and many other heavy metals, sometimes synergize against us with the estimated 87,000 man-made chemicals that have never been fully tested for toxicity. We have mold toxins if our home has water leaks that allow mold to grow. We have to deal with electromagnetic fields, cell phone, light pollution, noise pollution. It seems improbable that any of us can survive for a short life, let alone a long and healthy life.

To address this mountain of health issues, we must be deliberate and calm. We have the knowledge to mitigate virtually every problem that comes along. We can achieve higher quality of life for a longer time than if we just ignore what is going on — in and out of our bodies. Our pleasure is to help guide our patients on a quest for long and happy life.

Nutrition & Wellness

Nutrition to Balance the Demands of Civilization & Promote Healing

Nutritional Therapy goes beyond what most people think of when they hear the word, nutrition. Nutrition is almost synonymous with life. No nutrition—no life. Poor nutrition, poor life. High tech life requires high tech nutrition. What does that mean? Well look around at what we eat and where it comes from. Our food varies as much from the primitive food our caveman ancestors ate as our homes vary from their caves. We live in a high tech world, and our bodies have not evolved to catch up with the evolution of our food supply and the work it has to do to keep us alive and healthy. It was simple for the caveman. Hunt food and kill it or gather it. It had not been grown on depleted, soil with pesticides and artificial fertilizer. The animals had not been fed on depleted grains and antibiotics and genetically modified organisms. Their food was not processed, preserved, colored, flavored, packaged, shipped, stored and sometimes worse.

Their food gave them enough Vitamins and minerals. Now we have to take supplements to meet our needs. To know those needs requires study and experience. We have been studying nutrition and toxicity for about four decades, and we know a lot about it. We are still learning, but we are able to make a large difference in the quality of life by recommending the appropriate diet and supplements. We now have a panoply of elegant nutrients from which to choose to make up for the nutritional losses of the food supply, toxic exposure and various other demands of civilization and high tech living.

When we treat diseases like Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Heart Disease, Myalgia, we know we must boost the immune and endocrine systems to do their best. We need healthy, well nourished immunity to free us from the threat of Diabetes, High Blood pressure, etc. We also can give nutrition a boost by giving intravenous and intramuscular shots to fulfill needs that might not be fully met by oral ingestion. Sometimes intravenous Vitamin C is like manna from Heaven.

Nutrition is the foundation of healing.

Bio-Identical Harmones

Connecting BHRT (Bio Identical Hormone Replacement) and quality of life is a slam dunk. When we find someone who is beginning to suffer the loss of well being that goes with menopause or andropause (male “menopause”) we have the capacity to relieve the symptoms. We now have available through (compounding) pharmacies that can fill our tailored prescriptions with special “natural” hormones to replace those that are lagging in our body. We can measure and evaluate the various hormones and determine which of several directions to take with the replacement. We adjust the dose to meet the patient’s needs. The needs may include loss of energy, sleep disorder, muscle weakness, weight gain, depression, decreased sexuality, and on and on and on.

The classic hormone that women lack is estrogen and men lack testosterone. Of course it goes much further and deeper than that. Women also need natural progesterone, especially for bone health. They also need small amounts of male hormone, testosterone, which plays a large role in libido and sexuality. Men sometime benefit from taking small amounts of the other female hormone, progesterone, that has a beneficial effect on the prostate.

Then it gets much more extensive. BHRT also gives immune support. Many doctors feel that the loss of other hormones like Growth Hormone, Thyroid Hormone, Adrenal Hormones and several others are all part of the aging phenomenon and often need replacement. They point out that somewhat surprising problems like heart disease (coronary artery), infectious disease (Lyme Disease, EB Virus, H. Pylori), memory loss (Alzheimer’s Disease) and many other conditions are diminished by the immune support that BHRT gives.

As we have said, the quality of life improvement with BHRT is patently obvious and in basketball would be a slam dunk

Oxidative Medicine

Oxidative Therapy is a Broad Based Highly Effective and Safe Approach to Many Difficult Health Problems

Nothing supports life more than oxygen. We have come to use therapeutic oxygen of higher reactivity than the ordinary O2 that we breath. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has become a popular alternative way to treat successfully many conditions that are otherwise resistant to conventional approach. H2O2 is one of several available ways to deliver highly reactive Oxygen to the patient. Hydrogen peroxide consists of water joined chemically with an extra Oxygen atom that easily separates from the peroxide and provides the healing kick that many conditions seem to require. Peroxide may seem a strange substance to deliver into the body intravenously, but the body actually makes about 20% of the O2 that we breath into H2O2 momentarily in our normal metabolism. This provides reactive Oxygen to support the immune system and act to kill micro organisms in our body. Remember that H2O2 that we get in the pharmacy makes a fine antiseptic to use on cuts and abrasions. As for safety, H2O2 breaks down into water and oxygen, our two most life giving and safe substances. Of course, in high concentrations it can bleach hair or power rockets into space. Even the safest substances can be made dramatically dangerous. However, it is not difficult to know how to use them safely.

There now exists a growing number of doctors who are using H2O2 to treat a surprisingly long list of conditions. There are reports of excellent responses of difficult pulmonary conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Sarcoidosis, Emphysema, Chronic Bronchitis, and Bronchiectasis.

We have seen remarkable improvement in chronic infections such as our old friend, Lyme Disease, viral infections, such as Influenza and Epstein-Barr, as well as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a long list of other possibilities.

It turns out that H2O2 may be one of the most underused therapies available. It is extremely safe and broadly and deeply effective.

Homeopathy & Natural Healing

Safe & Effective Natural Healing

Homeopathy (HP) refers to the form of treatment based on healing with “similars.” This movement began with the work of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, about two centuries ago in Germany. Hahnemann professed that instead of using “opposites,” as did conventional Western Medicine, he could find substances, such as herbs, minerals, chemicals, that could be hugely diluted and used for treatment. A major aspect of the substances required that they cause similar response in the body as the illness caused, but because they were diluted to the point where there was none of the original substance detectable, they caused no sickness.. Rather did these homeopathic remedies, stimulate healing in the body, perhaps by triggering the immune system. The diluted solution apparently carried the energy of the substance.

Therefore, in conventional Western Medicine, if one has a headache, one might take an aspirin or some other substance that blocks the pain. In Homeopathy, one might instead take a dilution of arnica, which causes pain in its undiluted form, but if diluted homeopathically, it encourages the body to heal itself. This approach reduces the intake of toxic drugs. And remember, one of the best definitions of a drug is that it is “a selective poison.” Virtually all drugs poison some enzyme or other aspect of our metabolism, in order to achieve a therapeutic effect. Homeopathics, therefore, achieve their effect in a much more natural way and provide a safe and comfortable approach to many illnesses.

We should note that Homeopathy has always fostered much opposition from Conventional Medicine. Although less condemned in recent years, the Conventional “Wisdom” states that there is not enough scientific study of HP to justify its use. It would seem that is the same scientific mentality that once said the Earth is flat and the Sun revolves around it. And of course all lightning bolts come from the great God, Zeus. Considered objectively, HP could be the scientific advance that will bridge the gap between chemical and energy medicine. Energy Medicine truly gets to many vital basics. Modern physics now claims that all “solid” matter is really frozen energy!

Now we should suffice to say that HP may obviate a patients use of a toxic drug. By the way, it also works on animals. Since the major claim of HP’s critics says that it works only by placebo, the response of a pet or domesticated horse, dog or cat (especially a cat), will be difficult to write off as a placebo.

We could rail on about the fascinations of HP. Now let us say that HP at one time enjoyed a great deal more prominence than it now does. It now seems to be on huge rebirth, and that is a welcome addition to our natural healing desires. Homeopathy can be powerful, especially since it first does no harm.