The following article suggests that Artemisia might be so far the best medicine against parasites. Here the parasites include any organism or cells that are incompatible to the body: virus, bacteria, protozoan, worms, tumors cells, even fetus.
Please forgive the bad English in this article which was translated automatically from a Chinese articel. you may find it hard to understand.
quote: Had the preliminary achievement pending in-depth development
Artemisinin was first isolated by Chinese in 1971 from the compositae plant Chrysanthemum wormwood leaf. It has a peroxide bridge this ester compound. Developed many kinds of derivative like Dihydroartemisinin, the Artemisinin amber ester, the wormwood methyl ether, the wormwood ether in Artemisinin foundation, had anti-malaria, anti-is pregnant, the anti-fibrosis, the anti-blood sucking insect, the anti-arch insect, the anti-arrythmia and functions and so on tumor cell toxicity. Artemisinin class medicine function is widespread, its function mechanism, the characteristic, the applied research still were at the initial stage, the pending further develop.
anti-malaria affects Artemisinin and the derivative is including the peroxide bridge time of half tie lactone class new antimalarial, has highly effective, characteristics and so on fast, low poison, security. The research indicated that, Artemisinin has to the malarial parasite gamerophyte kills extinguishes the function, its intensity and the dosage and the gamerophyte maturity are related.
The early research indicated that, Artemisinin selectivity kills extinguishes the red in time malarial parasite the mechanism mainly is the function in the malarial parasite membrane is a structure, causes the karyotheca, the protoplasmic membrane to destroy, the line plastochondria swelling shrinkage, in the external coat periplast peeling, also has certain influence to the intranuclear dyeing material, Artemisinin and the derivative through the influence line plastochondria function, block the malarial parasite nutrition the supply, thus achieves the anti-malaria goal. Artemisinin class medicine applies for more than ten for years not yet to see the related antibiotic report, in to the multiple antibiotic pernicious malaria treatment in, the Artemisinin amber ester and the wormwood methyl ether also has the good curative effect.
The anti-pneumocystis carinii pneumonia function animal experimentation confirmed that, Artemisinin is effective to the big mouse pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Treats the big mouse pneumocystis carinii pneumonia with the Dihydroartemisinin 60 milligrams kilograms, after the big mouse survival number, the survival percentage are higher than the infection group to treat the big mouse average lung heavy, the average lung heavy body weight compared to are lower than with the envelope number infect the group, the lung organization inflammation responded reduces obviously.
The further research indicated that, Artemisinin main destruction pneumocystis carinii membrane is a structure, causes the sporozoon to nourish in the body cytoblastema and the envelope appears the vacuole, the line plastochondria swelling, the karyotheca bursts, endoplasmic reticulum swelling, in the pouch the small body dissolves the destruction and so on the ultrastructure the change.
Anti-is pregnant affects the Artemisinin amber ester and the Dihydroartemisinin to the mouse, the golden yellow mole, the big mouse and the rabbit has anti-is pregnant the function, the golden yellow mole and the guinea pig performance are the miscarriage, the mouse, the big mouse and the rabbit performance for the embryo absorption. The Artemisinin amber ester (40 milligrams kilograms) �~5 the day may cause the pregnancy big mouse blood serum progesterone content to drop and to damage the fetal membrane and the placenta cause the embryo necrosis to terminate the pregnancy; Artemisinin also has the direct kill function to in vitro raise human fetal membrane cell. Artemisinin class medicine has the high selective toxicity to the embryo, compares the low dose then to cause the embryo death to cause the miscarriage, but to the parent substance womb, the ovary and the general state of health affects not obviously, this kind of medicine has the possibility to develop for the induced abortion medicine.
Has the cytotoxin activeness to the tumor function Artemisinin and the derivative to the mouse Ai ascites lump cell and the human HeLa cell. And perishes weakly with Artemisinin amber ester processing HeLa cell obviously scalariform DNA the small body. Beekman and so on to 60 tumor cells which raises from 9 kind of different organizations carries on the examination discovery, Dihydroartemisinin dialogue hemopathy, the melanin lump, the colon cancer, the prostate gland cancer and breast cancer cell line is highly sensitive, but to the non-cellule lung cancer, the central nervous system tumor, the ovarian cancer and a kidney cancer cell activeness is low. Its anti-tumor function possibly produces the massive free radicals as well as the alkylating with Artemisinin and the Fe2+ response concerns.
The anti-blood sucking insect affects
Artemisinin and many kinds of derivatives has the anti-blood sucking insect function, in entire takes medicine the stage all to have to the larval stage blood sucking insect kills extinguishes the function, therefore has the good prevention effect. Artemisinin also can kill extinguishes enters host in vivo the larva, has the protective function to the epidemic disease water contact, uses in infecting Japanese blood sucking insect tail you after the early treatment, may reduce the blood sucking insect infection percentage and the infection degree, and may prevent snail fever to occur. Its anti-blood sucking insect active groups and bases are the peroxide bridge, the action mechanism are affect the insect body sugar metabolism. When massively applies the Artemisinin amber ester preventive treatment contact epidemic disease water the crowd discovered, 17031 people after take medicine the not acute snail fever to occur, therefore thought Artemisinin prevention snail fever has highly effective, safe, convenient and so on the characteristics, is the present quite ideal preventive.
The treatment arch insect infection affects
in vitro experiment to confirm that, Artemisinin (wormwood methyl ether) can suppress the arch insect invasion cell. Artemisinin main function in the insect somatic cell membrane, the line plastochondria and the cell nucleus, subsequently is widespread damages its membrane is the structure, creates the karyotheca break, the line plastochondria swelling, the vacuole type denaturation, the endoplasmic reticulum expands even appears the nucleus disruption, the karyolysis phenomenon.
Artemisinin is known as the slow-down heart rate to the cardiovascular function Artemisinin, anti-arrythmia, functions and so on suppression cardiac muscle shrinkage force. Artemisinin can obviously resist the arrythmia which the ligation crown arteries cause, may cause the arrythmia outbreak time which the calcium chloride, the chloroform cause to postpone obviously, the room trembles reduces obviously, if its function suppresses the introverted rectification potassium electric current and the water's edge is willing the wild textile fiber instantaneous extroversion potassium electric current to concern.
to the immune system function
Dihydroartemisinin, the Artemisinin amber ester has the remarkable inhibitory action to the ultra suitable dosage immunity law induction donor mouse T cell production, also both all can strengthen the acceptor mouse reaction stage cell activeness.
Other function
pair of hydrogen Artemisinin has the remarkable inhibitory action to the Leishmania donovani and assumes the dosage relevance. Its mechanism is affects in front of the Leishmania donovani the flagella body DNA synthesis, causes the insect body to distort, the nucleus, moves the substrate not to be incomplete, in the butcher nature appears many vacuoles, the flagella falls off. The Artemisinin extraction also may kill extinguishes the vagina trichomonad and dissolves the organization amoeba to nourish the body. The Artemisinin amber ester can relax the guinea pig trachea smooth muscle competitiveness to oppress the anti-acetylcholin, the histamin contraction trachea function by no means, the mechanism and the activation gland glucoside sour cyclase pass, also you is not blocked by beta the adrenalin acceptor sai Luo river. Chinese medicine
Posted by 8man12 (Member # 7664) on :
lYMIES AROUND HERE TRYED IT,AND A FEW LIKE MYSELF THAT WERE MISDIAGNOSED IN THE BEGINING,SEEM TO THINK IT ACTED LIKE A STERIOD.SET US BACK A LONG TIME AFTER QUIT TAKEING IT.AND WE DIDNT SEE ALOT OF GREATNESS WHILE ON IT.Sorry about the caps.lol.I agave it 6 months off and on.Wonder if it has any steriod type properties in it.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
It worked great for me, but I'd also had several years of clindamycin/quinine off and on.
Loved that translation!! You get the same thing when you try to put a bicycle together at Christmas!! Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
The herb Artemisia annua contains Artesunate, Artemether, Arteether, and Artemisinin, all have antimalaria activity and in fact, other compouds are more potent than Artemisinin, e.g. Artemether is 6 times more stronger that Artemisinin.
Roughly one gram herb contains 10 microgram of Artemisin.
Stephen Buhner suggested using 3X100mg of Artemisin daily for 30-40 days for treatment of Babesia.
If taking herb, you need 3X10,000 mg (or 10 grams) of Artemisia annua daily to be equal to 3X100mg of Artemisin.
I took 3X100mg of Artemisin per day and that did almost nothing.
However when I took 2X1,500 mg of the herb, I herxed badly,as I did on 3X100mg of Artemether.
I know some people on this board take much high of Artemisinin in the range of 1,500mg to 2,000mg, but just 1,500mg of the herb.
In another word, 1,500mg of the herb at least is equal to 1,500mg of Artemisinint, suggesting that the herb contains other compouds that total 100 times more potent than Artemisinin.
So in the case of Lyme, the herb may be prefered. Another good thing is that Artemisinin (and other Artemisia compounds--I think) could be effective against Borrelia, Bartonella and Ehrlichia implied by Stephen.
If it's true, and I believe it is, Artemisia could be one of the best medicine to treat Lyme which is caused by probably multiple organisms.
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
Artemisinin is a very valuable herb..
even the WHO has acknowledged it, with world-wide regret that growing and cultivation efforts were not taken advantage of decades ago -
there are now concerns about shortages.
There is openly acknowledged regret that the world was led to rely on pharmaceutical anti-malarials which have served to cause resistant strains of parasites and bacteria. Yet again, remedies the drug companies cannot patent and formulate in a lab are supressed.
The whole herb, in infusion, tea, or tincure - is used with great efficacy in maleria time and time again by natives in endemic regions.
I believe in chronic conditions the therapy must be pulsed, due to blood concentration drops --
Wormwood remains a powerful intestinal parasite remedy.
Based on the available research - it's action in blood-parasite infections and cancer -
I have little doubt it is effective against Bb.
Mo
[ 07. August 2006, 02:39 AM: Message edited by: Mo ]
Posted by daystar1952 (Member # 3255) on :
I am growing artemesia annua in my garden this year. I'm wondering how to dry it...should I use the stem and all to make tea.? I have one of those ronco dryers to dry herbs and other things in. I think I heard you can just hang it upside down to dry? But if it's humid, I'm afraid it will rot.
Anyone have any experience or hints?
Thanks Margie
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
Daystar,
Its interestin that you are growing artemesia annua in your garden. Sure it's a beautiful plant.
However, for medicine purpose, I don't know where you located, Artemesia annua can grow everywhere in the world, it's found that artemesia annua growing Northern American don't have enough Artemesinin to fight malaria.
So be careful of where the herb come from, it's not just the name, but the geological location is important.
Dave
Posted by musicnorth (Member # 6205) on :
Hi,
Can someone elaborate on the Artemisia behaving as a Steriod concern? In the Burrascano guidelines, he suggests Artemisia in conjunction with the mepron treatment against Babesia.
Thanks, and best,
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
I don't believe that it has any steroidal properties in it. Even those plants that do contain what is loosley referred to as "plant steroids" - are not at all with the same adverse effects as chemical steroids. "Plant steroids" from the WHOLE HERB give the body forms of nutrients it needs to make it's own hormones, you run into trouble when they try and isolate or extract certain elements of an herb - plants are of their own perfect make-up, they're "food", really - in any event, I don't think artemisinin has any sterols. I'll look for my data on the plant compound.
This is an interesting article:
Wormwood is the Basis for a Cancer-fighting Pill
Wednesday, November 28, 2001 Environmental News Network
Annual wormwood Artemisia annua L.
A nontoxic pill that could be taken on an outpatient basis to combat breast cancer or leukemia sounds like a fantasy, but the treatment is becoming a reality due to the investigation of a University of Washington research team into an ancient Chinese remedy for malaria.
Two bioengineering research professors at the University of Washington have rediscovered wormwood as a promising potential treatment for cancer among the ancient arts of Chinese folk medicine.
Research professor Henry Lai and assistant research professor Narendra Singh have exploited the chemical properties of a wormwood derivative to target breast cancer cells with surprisingly effective results. A study in the latest issue of the journal Life Sciences describes how the derivative killed virtually all human breast cancer cells exposed to it within 16 hours.
"Not only does it appear to be effective, but it's very selective," Lai said. "It's highly toxic to the cancer cells but has a marginal impact on normal breast cells."
Environmental risk factors for cancer are many. Lifetime exposure to the female hormone estrogen and estrogen-mimicking chemicals such as some pesticides and herbicides has been linked to an increase in breast cancer risk. In 1991, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the pesticide DDT as a possible human carcinogen, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified DDT as a probable human carcinogen.
The manufacture of PCBs, the oily liquids or solids used as coolants and insulators, was stopped in the United States in 1977 because of concerns that exposure increases the risk of cancers, but PCBs are still found in the environment.
Most Americans are exposed every day to air toxins emitted by motor vehicles, substances that the EPA says have been proven to cause cancer in humans. "Benzene, says the EPA, "is a known human carcinogen, while formaldehyde; acetaldehyde; 1,3-butadiene; and diesel particulate matter are probable human carcinogens." The EPA has now classified 1,3-butadiene, a gas used commercially in the production of resins and plastics, as a known human carcinogen.
The use of the bitter herb wormwood is nothing new. Used for centuries to rid the body of worms, it is also an ingredient in the alcoholic beverage absinthe, now banned in most countries.
Artemisinin, the compound that Lai and Singh have found to fight cancers, isn't new either. It was extracted from the plant Artemesia annua L., commonly known as wormwood, thousands of years ago by the Chinese, who used it to combat the mosquito-borne disease malaria. The treatment with artemisinin was lost over time but rediscovered during an archaeological dig in the 1970s that unearthed recipes for ancient medical remedies.
Now widely used in Asia and Africa to fight malaria, artemisinin reacts with the high iron concentrations found in the malaria parasite. When artemisinin comes into contact with iron, a chemical reaction ensues, spawning charged atoms that chemists call free radicals. The free radicals attack cell membranes, breaking them apart and killing the single-cell parasite.
About seven years ago, Lai began to hypothesize that the process might work with cancer, too.
"Cancer cells need a lot of iron to replicate DNA when they divide," Lai explained. "As a result, cancer cells have much higher iron concentrations than normal cells. When we began to understand how artemisinin worked, I started wondering if we could use that knowledge to target cancer cells."
Lai devised a potential method and began to look for funding, obtaining a grant from the Breast Cancer Fund in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the UW patented his idea.
The thrust of the idea, according to Lai and Singh, was to pump up the cancer cells with maximum iron concentrations, then introduce artemisinin to selectively kill the cancer.
In the current study, after eight hours, just 25 percent of the cancer cells remained. By the time 16 hours had passed, nearly all the cells were dead.
An earlier study involving leukemia cells yielded even more impressive results. The cancer cells were eliminated within eight hours. A possible explanation might be the level of iron in the leukemia cells. "They have one of the highest iron concentrations among cancer cells," Lai explained. "Leukemia cells can have more than 1,000 times the concentration of iron that normal cells have."
The next step, according to Lai, is animal testing. Limited tests have been done in that area. In an earlier study, a dog with bone cancer so severe it couldn't walk made a complete recovery in five days after receiving the treatment. But more rigorous testing is needed.
If the process lives up to its early promise, it could revolutionize the way some cancers are approached, Lai said. The goal would be a treatment that could be taken orally on an outpatient basis."
That would be very easy, and this could make that possible," Lai said. "The cost is another plus: At $2 a dose, it's very cheap. And with the millions of people who have already taken artemisinin for malaria, we have a track record showing that it's safe."
Whatever happens, Lai said, a portion of the credit will have to go to unknown medical practitioners, long gone now. "The fascinating thing is that this was something the Chinese used thousands of years ago," he said. "We simply found a different application."
Copyright � 2001 Environmental News Network Inc.
Posted by daniella (Member # 6753) on :
great info Dave thanks! I love artimesian...I forget why I stoppped but I need to stock up on it again...
hard to find at a good price. Anyone have good store they use?...
thanks
daniella
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
quote: The thrust of the idea, according to Lai and Singh, was to pump up the cancer cells with maximum iron concentrations, then introduce artemisinin to selectively kill the cancer.
Taking Iron could be beneficial when you are on Artemisia, as the compounds react with Iron and thus could reduce the Iron levels in the body, causing fatigue as observed by others and me.
I am now take 2X 50 mg Iron per day when I on Artemisinia. I didn't notice any side effects and have less fatigue.
Daniella, I ordered my Artemisia annua in powder form from the 1st china herb (25462P Artemisia Annua / Sweet Wormwood Herb powder form, one pound for $7.99). One pound=450g, I take 3 g per day, that can last for 150 days or roughly half of a year. That's pretty cheap. By the way, according others here, you don't need take it everyday, but pulse it. Click Artemisia annua for the hereb.
One thing you should bear in mind is that the where (geological location) Artemisia grown is critical, as found by scientists that Artemisia annua grown in Northern American doesn't have enough Artemisinin and has no value for fighting malaria.
Another thing is that the dose is very critical: there is a threshold. Taking less than the threshold won't e effective.
Good luck.
Dave
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
David,
What I derived from the info on it's use in cancer and malaria, and reading Bpecks posts from her artemether treatment for babesia -
is they load the cancer patients with iron in order to attract artemisinin to tissue - depending on how long it takes iron to be distributed to tissue, I guess (?)
..and theories are if you want it to treat the blood parasite phase - to avoid iron, so it may go for the RBC's in the blood, rather than iron particles in the blood...or at least to time it so there is no iron in the blood if you are not doing a "loading dose" of iron - I hadn't thought of depleation.
I did strict NO IRON on riamet - but that was just for 72 hours. On the longer pulsing therapy with artemisinin, I took iron on the three days off.
I'm curious - how far away do you space your iron from the artemisia?
That's a good source you found - I agree, it's best from China. Where herbs are grown is very important, they are a blend of energy, nutrients, environment, ect..
Mo
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
Mo,
I am glad that you take Iron.
That's probably still a hypothesis.
Definitely taking Art. with Iron is not a good idea, for the apparent reason: they'll destroy each other.
But you need to supplement Iron when you are on Art. for a long time.
I found my Iron was below normal when I had been on Arte for awhile.
Rember that not just Fe can triger the reaction, the neighbours of Fe: Zn, Cu,.. can also triger the reaction.
Good luck
Dave
Posted by canbravelyme (Member # 9785) on :
Hi,
I was reading the Burrascano guidelines, and he suggests taking Artemisia along with the Mepron. Does anyone here know which dose Dr. Burrascano prescribes, and in which form (tincture, whole herb)? Pulsing, non-pulsing?
Best,
Posted by Andie333 (Member # 7370) on :
I had been on this herb for months then stopped taking it for no good reason.
Maybe I didn't think it was doing much.
Anyway, after about 2 weeks, I suddenly found myself dealing with a LOT of babs symptoms again (some I hadn't seen in months). I've just begun taking it again and am ramping up my dosage.
There's been a mild herx reaction to it this time around.
The hiatus has shown me the herb was definitely keeping something at-bay.
Andie
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
Mo,
Forgot to mention that I usually take one 50mg Iron with lunch and dinner.
I take Art. at 8:00am and 0:00, so they are roughly 4 hours apart.
Dave
[ 08. August 2006, 08:10 PM: Message edited by: Dave6002 ]
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
Canbravelyme,
Unlike other anti-malaria drug, for decades, Art. has not been found to cause any drug resistance in Malaria.
Probably cuz Art. targets multiple systems in the Malaria: plasma, mitochondria, DNA...
So it's impossible for the parastes to develop drug resistance to Arte.
For this reason, it's a role that Arte. should be included in all cases of treating parasites including Malaria and Babesia, to prevent parasite from developing drug resistance.
The author of the book Healing Lyme, Stephen Buhner is the master of the herb.
He suggests take 300-500mg (3X 100-200mg) of Artemisinin daily for Lyme. But for malaria, the dosage is higher, 500-1000mg daily or 800-1600mg in China.
The secret is in the dose, as with all medicines.
I was suspecting the efficacy of this drug or wondering if I had Babs when I took it at low dosage of 3X100mg.
When I increased the dosage to 3X100mg of Artemether, which is 6 times more potent than Artemisinin, or 2X1,500mg of Artemisia annua, I hered badly, making me wondering that this drug was doing nothing good but bring back my Lyme symptoms. And I stopped and felt better.
After reading Groove2's message stating Herx is a good thing, I re-took the medicine and this time had much less herx and I am enjoying good days as before I fell ill. I can work full time now, although my work even for healthy one is very challeging.
I hope that I'll recover completely soon on this regimen.
Wish me good luck.
Dave
Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
Dave and Mo, I've been wondering about this and you just reminded me.
I had high iron levels prior to starting the Artemisinin. (I'm assuming this implies it might lower my iron load.)
I'm wondering what effect this would have on the way Artemisinin works. Would/could it be more effective... in that case?
(I've been getting hammered on a small dose for a while now.)
[ 08. August 2006, 09:21 PM: Message edited by: trueblue ]
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
I tend to think so.
Most scientists think that Art. kill parasites and cancer cells by react with Fe (Iron), Zn, Cu to produce peroxides: H2O2, which is very unstable and will change to H2O and oxygen radicals. The latter is very active and can react with many compouds in the body and have been proved in vitro and in everyday's life to kill bacteria as effectively as alcohol.
The reaaction in the body:
Art.+ Fe -->H2O2.
Obviously the more Fe on the left, the more H2O2 will be produced on the right.
But I dont know how to increase the efficency of Art by provding more Iron.
However it's neccessary to take some Iron to compensate the loss of Iron due to Art.
Best wishes.
Dave
Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
Thanks Dave, I'm curious to see where my iron levels are on my recent bloodwork.
Maybe I'm finally doing something right for a change.
Good Luck on the new regimen, I hope it does the trick.
Posted by hatsnscarfs (Member # 6562) on :
Do you take Artemisinin while you are on antibiotics? Do you wait until you are done with abx. How do I know if I should be taking it? hats
Posted by serendipity (Member # 8474) on :
Hi, I have been taking Artemisinin 400 mg twice a day since May (5 1/12 days on and 1 1/2 days off). Initially I had severe herxes, worse than any other herb that I have taken. Although my Babesia Western Blots were negative, I assume from the severity of the herxes that I do have a good load of Babesia.
Thank you for all of this information. I am going to print it out and read it carefully,
I do have a few questions for now: can Artemesinin alone at the proper dose and shcedule eradicate Babesia? Or must one use another agent? Does the Artemisinin target Babesia at all the stages? I've been told different things, the MD and NP treating me said that Artemisinin alone would not be sufficient.
How long does one need to treat to safely assume that the Babesia is eradicated -- I didn't have typical Babs symptoms such as fevers and sweats to go by. I've been treating for a little over two months.
My ferritin was low (37). Will iron supplementation augement the Artemisinin or antagonize it? My doctor thought it would feed the Babesia and cautioned me abouts supplementing with iron.
Sorry if some or many or all of these questions have been answered in this thread. Thank You!
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
quote: Do you take Artemisinin while you are on antibiotics?
Yes. I am taking 2X500mg of Clarithromycin and 2X100mg of Hydroxychloroquine (before I took 2X200mg of Doxy and 2X500mg of Tinidazole, and) with 2X1500mg of Artemisinin annua. I also took 3X100mg of Artemether with IV Rocephin.
quote: How do I know if I should be taking it?
If Art, can cause Herx, making you feel worse, then you may have Babs or other protozoans and you should take it.
Before, I thought I didn't have Babs, cuz the tests from Ingenex were negative and I didn't have the typical symptoms of Babs.
But I didn't improve much on long term of abx treatment including 2X2g IV Rocephin per day, making me wondering that Bbs probably not the sole or major culpit for my illness.
Then I posted my sysmptoms here: palpitation, headach and stomachach.
Somebody immediately pointed out that I had Babesia.
So I decided to treat Babesia. First time when I was on IV Rocephin, one week of 3X100mg of Artemether made me very misirable with severe fatigue, I had to stop.
Then just a couple of weeks ago, after several days of 2x1500mg of Artemisia annua, I felt misirable again and started to think that I might had a Lyme relaps and again I had to stop and switch to abx that treat Lyme.
Now I noticed that my symptoms have been improved a lot recently after taking Art.
I feel almost normal now and work everyday.
Now I am 3 days into my third round of Arte. Although I have some herx but less intensive, I'll keep taking it, hoping I'll continuously improve and finally get rid of this disease.
Even you don't have Babesia, you still may benefit from ARte. which was thought to target every kind of pathogens in the body.
Good luck.
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
quote: can Artemesinin alone at the proper dose and shcedule eradicate Babesia? Or must one use another agent?
I wish the answer is "Yes".
The treatment failures for infectious diseases and cancers are mainly due to resistance development. This problem is well known in Malaria field and Cancers.
It's not been found that Malaria can develop resistance aginst Art. over decades of usage.
So Arte. may continuously be effective on Babs and weaken them till they all die off.
However, combinational therapy is almost a rule in treating infectious disease, such as Aids, H Pylori. and cancers.
So It would be a good idea to combine Arte. with other medicines.
quote: How long does one need to treat to safely assume that the Babesia is eradicated -
I don't know the answer.
Stephan Buhner did say in his book Healing Lyme:
one 100mg capsule 3x daily for 30-40 days.
But I don't think that would be enough.
JimBob here may have been taking Arte. for more than several months.
Symptom-free maybe is the only indicative that you have been cured.
quote: My doctor thought it would feed the Babesia and cautioned me abouts supplementing with iron.
This contradicts with the notion that Arte. kill Malaria by reacting with Iron in the parasite's body.
Malaria consume a lot of hemoglobins in the red cells and does't use Iron and a lot of Irons accumulated in the body and could release a lot of peroxides--the letahl weapon-- on contacting with Arte.
On the other hand, I had low level of Iron, I am not sure if this is a symptom of Lyme or Babesia, or is due to ARte.
So I decided to take Iron and B12 and Didn't notice any adverse effect.
Keep us posted on you taking ARte,
Best regards.
Dave
Posted by serendipity (Member # 8474) on :
Hi Dave, Thank you for answering my questions. You guys are great. I wish I had starting posting earlier instead of lurking for months.
Ok, so artemisinin may not be an effective monotherapy for Babesia because of resistance. Another explanation that was postulated on this forum: that art may not be effective against Babesia in the dormant state.
I am still attempting to understand the link between art, iron, and Babesia. If I can increase my ferritin level, I will be able to likely tolerate thyroid supplementation.
Oh, my doctor didn't directly say that iron would feed babs just many or all of the critters I have. He doesn't like iron supplementation in general. I'll keep you posted.
Posted by serendipity (Member # 8474) on :
Hi Dave, Thank you for answering my questions. You guys are great. I wish I had starting posting earlier instead of lurking for months.
Ok, so artemisinin may not be an effective monotherapy for Babesia because of resistance. Another explanation that was postulated on this forum: that art may not be effective against Babesia in the dormant state.
I am still attempting to understand the link between art, iron, and Babesia. If I can increase my ferritin level, I will be able to likely tolerate thyroid supplementation.
Oh, my doctor didn't directly say that iron would feed babs just many or all of the critters I have. He doesn't like iron supplementation in general. I'll keep you posted.
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
Hi, serendipity,
quote: Ok, so artemisinin may not be an effective monotherapy for Babesia because of resistance.
Just want to clarify that so far as I know there is no known resistance for Arte.
quote: that art may not be effective against Babesia in the dormant state.
Could you expand on dormant Babesia? I don't know much about it.
Thanks.
Dave
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
Are you referring to the "liver stage"?
(which may not be in just the liver, I suspect with babs) --sort of a variarion of the liver stage in maleria..
I have in my files somewhere some info (again from BPeck) on veterinary articles and articles on maleria from which one can derive that basesia has places from which it repopulates - liver and other tissue - where "spore-like" forms "hide".
which is why you can kill it in the blood (by using artemisia) - in the RBC's - the "maltese cross form" is accessable to the little explosions created by artemether withing the cells - and even with courses of other anti-malerials it can be treated there to an extent - and low and behold, it creeps right back.
Also why Riament has artemether PLUS Lumafantrine. Art works immediately in the blood, lumafantrine has a much longer activity, to work on the "liver stage" of malaria.
OR - BPeck's successful treatment (alternative malaria treatment) - using Artemether and Doxy (Doxy to kill the "liver stage") Bpeck had a serious situation, babs for 20 years and no spleen.
Riamet, as I said, made an impressive dent in my case, but it would come back in a couple of weeks (to where I felt symptoms) - I believe I has resistant spores, and they were dug deep. (I had allot more allopathic LLMD treatments for babs than she did when she used artemether+doxy -- which Riamet likely has a similar effect.)
Babesia is likely far more insideous than maleria in this stage - I definately think it would not work so well to take the art alone.
Wasn't Doc B at one point talking about how he believes it may be in the bone marrow?
I cannot remember if that was "offically" announced or just part of the discussion regarding clinical observation/hypothesis. I think spores can hide in many organs, including the brain - but that is my opinion only, based on alot of reading and pondering, and my 'feeling'.
It hides somwehere, somehow - but in my experience, is not dormant, just "pregnant" - and doesn't take too long to re-appear in circulation after treatment is paused or stopped.
That's why I went for pulsed therapy (four days on, three off)
both for maximum artemisia blood-concentration, and to give the boogers a chance to come back out of hiding, thus reducing the population and "spore" potential gradually until it was a non-issue...and/or handled by my immune system.
Also of interest, Doc J the pediatric LLMD, believes babesia is self-limiting in MOST cases of babesia and small children - perhaps because they have that advantage of supercharged organ metabolism?
This was true in my little one, anyway.
Getting back to adults - thinking out loud in this thread -- perhaps the cure could be effected faster if there was MORE of a break in the pulse? Like - take artemesia one week on and one week off - or one week a month at high doses?? After Riamet, my symptoms would take two-three weeks to be felt -- but that doesn't mean it was not in the blood before that.
That's where I believe the use of CBC tracking (tracking the WBC, eosinophils and RBC width, basophils, platelets, reactive lymphocytes ect.. would be prudent through treatment -- I don't know why LLMD's don't utilize this method of tracking. BPeck utilized it during her artemether tx, and I continued it for over a year in my trials with all the infections, I did not have the fast cure she did with babs, but I got allot out of that kind of tracking she did over her course - it just makes sence to go for simple and straight observation, and I took it with me - )
Most all Docs nowadays just follow it to see if the WBC differentials are within "normal range" - yet, you can observe and track significant shifts in the subsets, even if within "normal", that can give clues - along woith regimens and symptoms - as to whether your body is reacting, and what it is reacting TO. ...also, microscopic tracking within the blood, actually looking inside the RBC's, would be prudent as well during treatment of infection IMO... I did a little bit of that, and I think that is a largely untapped tool. What better than too actually SEE what is going on??
Afterall - I based the "pulse timing" on blood-concentration info re: the action of artemesia, not on the time it takes babesia to bloom into the blood. In retrospect, maybe that should have been considered.
In the end - my Babesia has been gone for a couple of years. For the couple of years I had it, it came back to visit by circulatory system rather frequently.
Even tho it is gone, babesia still fascinates me.
Mo
[ 10. August 2006, 02:36 AM: Message edited by: Mo ]
Posted by groovy2 (Member # 6304) on :
Hi All
Yep Art dose help with babs-- I have been taking for about 6 months
Made me herx when I first started using- and when I upped dose to 1200mg a day for a month or so--
I ran out of art for 2 weeks and could sure feel the differance--Jay--
Posted by serendipity (Member # 8474) on :
Mo, I'm starting to have an appreciation for Babesia, and a good understanding of why it can be so hard to eradicate.
I don't have a good grasp of the the maxium blood concentration -- why take artemesninin for three days and then stop. And there seems to be conflicting opinions regarding iron supplementation while taking artemsninin. Does it make it more potent:
quote: Most scientists think that Art. kill parasites and cancer cells by react with Fe (Iron), Zn, Cu to produce peroxides: H2O2, which is very unstable and will change to H2O and oxygen radicals. The latter is very active and can react with many compouds in the body and have been proved in vitro and in everyday's life to kill bacteria as effectively as alcohol.
The reaaction in the body:
Art.+ Fe -->H2O2.
Obviously the more Fe on the left, the more H2O2 will be produced on the right.
But I dont know how to increase the efficency of Art by provding more Iron.
However it's neccessary to take some Iron to compensate the loss of Iron due to Art.
Best wishes.
Dave
From others' experience it doesn't seem that artemesnin alone is suffiencent for Babs. Since I am not taking antibiotics, that leaves me with other herbals and rife techonology (high powered magnetic pulser too) to act along with the aretemseninin.
Groovy2-
I read your post on another thread regarding chest pain and babs herxes. That was exactly what I experienced- left sided chest pain, and terrible soreness around the ribs. My doc checked the area and found a fungus by energetic testing. .The pain responded to antifungal treatment and two weeks of low carb diet but perhaps there was a Babs component.
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
Hi serendipity -
I pulled a quick search, this is just one of the references to the drop in plasma concentrations over time on artemisinin - while remaining at the same dose. I skimmed another where they could not get increased concentration even by upping the dose each day to 5 times as much- so it has something to do with how it interacts with our systems.
There are other studies as well, but I don't know if I can find them easily -
I wrote Holley Pharmaceuticals - if you go to the website and click the research article, they also offer to send more research upon request.
Within that packet I read more about this.
being that the concentration drops so quickly after the third day - my therapy was to take it till it drops, then allow three days to clear the blood to where optimum concentration was again achieved.
This study below does not indicate exactly when "clearance" occurs - but I remember another did, and the manager at Holley confirmed that (according to research) three days will bring the body back to where maximum concentration is ahcieved.
This is just what I did, and here is a little of what it was based on:
-------------------------------------------------
Drug Metab Dispos. 1998 Jan;26(1):25-7. Related Articles, Links
Artemisinin pharmacokinetics is time-dependent during repeated oral administration in healthy male adults.
Ashton M, Hai TN, Sy ND, Huong DX, Van Huong N, Nieu NT, Cong LD.
Division of Biopharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics, Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
The pharmacokinetics of the antimalarial artemisinin exhibited an unusual time dependency during a 7-day oral daily regimen of 500 mg in 10 healthy, male Vietnamese adults.
Artemisinin areas under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) decreased to 34% (median) by day 4 with a further decrease by day 7 to only 24% of values obtained after the first day of administration.
In seven subjects restudied after a 2-week washout period, artemisinin AUCs had almost normalized, demonstrating the reversibility of the time-dependent drug disposition.
The results suggest artemisinin exhibits an auto-inductive effect on drug metabolism of an unusual magnitude. This may partly explain why some patients on standard doses, due to subparasiticidal drug levels toward the end of a standard regimen, do not completely clear parasites. Further, the possibility of drug-drug metabolic interactions during combination regimens is implicated.
As far as doing combination therapy, I think it is wise as it has been well-established that artemisia alone is not nearly as effective as in combo (lumafantrine or doxy)
I was on minocycline at the time of my pulse therapy.
Perhaps there is a way to research an herbal therapy with similar effect on the liver and tissues?
Mo
Posted by serendipity (Member # 8474) on :
MO, auto-induction was the concept I was missing. Tegretrtol also has an auto-induction effect, but increasing the medication dose counters the effect.
The key differenece may be the "unusual magnitude" of the auto-induction, which can not be countered by an increase in the dose.
Thanks so much for the info, I will send it to my doc and ask if I can change my dosing to 3 days on and a few days off. He may be getting tired of all the faxes by now.
There is a new herbal medication coming out from nutramedix that energetically tested well for Babesia- at least for me. Cumanda and Quina didn't. So my approach now is Artemesninin. Maximizing it by attention to dosing and use of iron supplementation. +Rife/HPMP +New Herbal. Only time will tell if this will be effective.
Thanks again.
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
Hey serendipity -
I should note that the approach in my therapy was to target babesia in the blood/RBC stage, repeatedly - so I might chip away at polulation and all stages. over time..
I never really came at it from the iron-loading perspective used in cancer in order to attract artemisinin to the tissues.
In the blood activity approach, iron is used away from artenisinin in order to replenish the iron lost from the atremesia "explosions".
So -- in that sense, iron does not increase the efficacy of artemisinin, but is perhaps necessary on long-term artemesia therapy to supplement/replenish -- but taken as far away from artemesia peak concentration as possible, so it will not "distract" the artemesia from the RBC's.
In Cancer (and perhaps this is a consideration in babs, but I did not go down that road of investigation) -- in Cancer, they load the patient with iron so as to attract artemisinin to the tissue.
Just a musing and confusing thought here -- what if the Babesia in blood AND liver stage could be treated with artemesinin based on dose change, pulsing, and iron level changes?
OR, what if the decreased plasma concentrations means it is because the artemesinin heads for tissue after three days??
I did not look into that at all, nor do I have any info to apply to it readily on-hand - just a raw thought.
Man, if we had appropriate monies and researchers desicated to this disease in humans, we might have some efficatious cures.
I went with dealing with the blood only and pulsing - kind of a "sniper" mentality - which was complicated enough at the time. For me, it worked. But I have no dount there are even better answers out there.
However, we do not have hard data on the tissue stages of babs to my knowledge, other than scant Vet literature.
Mo
Posted by serendipity (Member # 8474) on :
Hi MO
You wrote:
quote: Just a musing and confusing thought here -- what if the Babesia in blood AND liver stage could be treated with artemesinin based on dose change, pulsing, and iron level changes?
OR, what if the decreased plasma concentrations means it is because the artemesinin heads for tissue after three days??
Intersting thought, what if the blood values dipped because the herb was going into tissues. Then a different dosing strategy would be effective.
Now, the lyme has definatley affected my brian. But I do not understand how iron loading attracts the iron into the tissus. I thought artemesinin is attracted to the iron. The iron would be in the serum, ferritin, and RBCs.
I am glad that you chipped away and got a hold of your babs.
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
quote: in Cancer, they load the patient with iron so as to attract artemisinin to the tissue.
Iron cannot attract artemisinin.
Arte.+ Fe--> H2O2
Fe's role is to release H2O2 from Arte.
It's a simple chemical reaction.
If your overall level of Fe is low, the yield of H2O2 is low.
On the other hand, if you want more H2O2, you need supply more Fe.
Every human cell, not just red blood cell, has Fe.
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
quote: Body iron stores
Most well-nourished people in industrialized countries have 3-4 grams of iron in their bodies. Of this, perhaps 2.5 g is bound up in the hemoglobin needed to carry oxygen through the blood. Another 400 mg is devoted to cellular proteins that use iron for important cellular processes like storing oxygen (myoglobin), or performing energy-producing redox reactions (cytochromes). 3-4 mg circulates through the plasma, bound to transferrin. [3] Because so much iron is required for hemoglobin, iron deficiency anemia is the first and primary clinical manifestation of iron deficiency.
Some iron is stored. Physiologically, most stored iron is bound by ferritin molecules; the largest amount of ferritin-bound iron is found in cells of the liver hepatocytes, the bone marrow and the spleen. The liver's stores of ferritin are the primary physiologic source of reserve iron in the body.
Macrophages of the reticuloendothelial system store iron as part of the process of breaking down and processing hemoglobin from engulfed red blood cells.
Iron is also stored in hemosiderin in an apparently pathologic process. This molecule appears to be mainly the result of cell damage and is often found engulfed by macrophages that are scavenging regions of damage. It can also be found among people with iron overload due to frequent blood cell destruction and transfusions.
Men tend to have more stored iron than women, particularly women who must use their stores to compensate for iron lost through menstruation, pregnancy or lactation.
It's interesting .. the timing and doses of both iron and artemisinin could lead artemisinin activity in different directions?
Med Hypotheses. 2003 Oct;61(4):509-11.
Turning an 'Achilles' Heel' into an asset--activation of HIF-1alpha during angiostatic therapy will increase tumor sensitivity to iron-catalyzed oxidative damage.
McCarty MF.
Pantox Laboratories, San Diego, California 92109, USA. [email protected]
During angiostatic therapy, tumor hypoxia will activate the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha), and will select for mutations which up-regulate the activity of this factor. This adaptation will increase tumor angiogenic capacity, while aiding the survival of poorly nourished cancer cells. A further effect of HIF-1alpha is to increase expression of transferrin receptors.
The natural antimalarial drug artemisinin is selectively toxic to iron-loaded cells (such as malarial parasites), and it has recently been suggested that, inasmuch as many cancers overexpress transferrin receptors, such cancers might be treatable with a regimen comprised of iron supplementation and high-dose artemisinin. Thus, it can be anticipated that many tumors which evolve relative resistance to angiostatic therapy will be selectively susceptible to attack by the iron-loading/artemisinin strategy. Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
I only tried to target blood. I have no idea if the artenisinin iron-loading cancer therapy would be useful in babesia - the studies by Lai and Singh are showing intracellular iron loading "attracts" artimisinin to tumor cells.
Life Sciences 70 (2001) 49-56 0024-3205/01/$ - see front matter � 2001 PII: S0024-3205(01)01372-8
Selective toxicity of dihydroartemisinin and holotransferrin toward human breast cancer cells
Narendra P. Singh*, Henry Lai Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Received 9 March 2001; accepted 13 June 2001
Abstract
Artemisinin becomes cytotoxic in the presence of ferrous iron. Since iron influx is high in cancer cells, artemisinin and its analogs selectively kill cancer cells under conditions that increase intracellular iron concentrations. We report here that after incubation with holotransferrin, which increases the concentration of ferrous iron in cancer cells, dihydroartemisinin, an analog of artemisinin, effectively killed a type of radiation-resistant human breast cancer cell in vitro. The same treatment had considerably less effect on normal human breast cells. Since it is relatively easy to increase the iron content inside cancer cells in vivo, administration of artemisinin-like drugs and intracellular iron-enhancing compounds may be a simple, effective, and economical treatment for cancer. � 2001 Elsevier Science Inc.
Discussion
These data indicate that `holotransferrin1 dihydroartemisinin' treatment is selectively toxic to human breast cancer cells, and with relatively low toxicity on normal human breast cells. This may suggest a simple and novel method for the treatment of breast cancer: iron content in breast tumors can be increased by oral administration of an iron salt, such as ferrous sulfate or ferrous citrate, thus making the cells more susceptible to the cytotoxic effect of artemisinin-like compounds.
Artemisinin and its analogs have been used for the treatment of more than one million cases of malarial infection [21]. More potent analogs of artemisinin and similar compounds are also available and are being developed [22-25]. However, it must be pointed out that different analogs should be tested for their suitability for cancer treatment. High doses of the analogs arteether (20 mg/day for 8 days) have been reported to induce neurological deficits in the dog, and artemether
(12.5 to 50 mg/kg/day for 28 days) to induce neurological syndromes in the rat [26], but oral and subcutaneous administration of the synthetic analog RO42-1611 (arteflene) to rats at 400 mg/kg/day for 4 weeks was well tolerated and did not induce any mutagenic effect [27]. Since only one-third of the transferrin molecules in the circulation are normally saturated with iron, the concentration of holotransferrin (iron-loaded transferrin) can be increased by administration of an iron salt orally.
This, in turn, will lead to an increase in iron transport in cancer cells and will also enhance the cells' susceptibility to artemisinin. This has been feasible in our previous in vivo experiment [18].
Thus, using a proper dosing schedule, oral or parentral administration of artemisinin analogs plus a ferrous salt has the potential to be a powerful anti-cancer therapy. The treatment can be an economical addition or alternative for traditional chemotherapy, and may also be useful for the prevention of cancer and its metastasis.
Furthermore, the effectiveness of artemisinin and its analogs can be enhanced by increasing oxygen tension, decreasing intake of antioxidants, and blockade of peroxidase and catalase by drugs such as micronazole [28-30].
Thus, the anticancer efficacy of artemisinin/ intracellular-iron enhancer treatment can be explored in future studies.
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
Well -
looks like the iron-loading effect (tissue) MAY be unique to cancer cells because of the bolded info below on transferrin receptors:
...The compound helps control malaria because it reacts with the high iron concentrations found in the malaria parasite. When artemisinin comes into contact with iron, a chemical reaction ensues, spawning charged atoms that chemists call "free radicals." The free radicals attack cell membranes, breaking them apart and killing the single-cell parasite.
About seven years ago, Lai began to hypothesize that the process might work with cancer, too.
"Cancer cells need a lot of iron to replicate DNA when they divide," Lai explained. "As a result, cancer cells have much higher iron concentrations than normal cells. When we began to understand how artemisinin worked, I started wondering if we could use that knowledge to target cancer cells."
Lai devised a potential method and began to look for funding, obtaining a grant from the Breast Cancer Fund in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the UW patented his idea.
The thrust of the idea, according to Lai and Singh, was to pump up the cancer cells with maximum iron concentrations, then introduce artemisinin to selectively kill the cancer. To accommodate a rate of iron intake greater than normal cells, cancer cell surfaces feature greater concentrations of transferrin receptors -- cellular pathways that allow iron into a cell. Breast cancer cells are no exception. They have five to 15 times more transferrin receptors on their surface than normal breast cells.
In the current study, the researchers subjected sets of breast cancer cells and normal breast cells to doses of holotransferrin (which binds with transferrin receptors to transport iron into cells), dihydroartemisinin (a more water-soluble form of artemisinin) and a combination of both compounds. Cells exposed to just one of the compounds showed no appreciable effect. Normal breast cells, exposed to both compounds, exhibited a minimal effect. But the response by cancer cells when hit with first holotransferrin, then dihydroartemisinin, was dramatic.
After eight hours, just 25 percent of the cancer cells remained. By the time 16 hours had passed, nearly all the cells were dead.
An earlier study involving leukemia cells yielded even more impressive results. Those cells were eliminated within eight hours. A possible explanation might be the level of iron in the leukemia cells.
"They have one of the highest iron concentrations among cancer cells," Lai explained. "Leukemia cells can have more than 1,000 times the concentration of iron that normal cells have."
-------------------------------------------------
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
Iron is needed for every cell in our body.
Cancer cells proliferate rapidly and thus need more Iron to produce more energy.
That's why cancer cells have much more Iron than normal cells.
But some normal cells also proliferate rapidly, such as fetus,bonemarrow.
That's why women in pregnancy are advised not to take Arte. and Arte. can even be used as birh control.
Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy are targetting cancer cells by inhibiting or blocking cell proliferation.
One good thing for Arte, is that normal cells can eliminate free radicls rapidly, but cancer cells cannot.
That's probably why Arte. can selectively kill cancer cells but not normal cells.
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
quote: After eight hours, just 25 percent of the cancer cells remained. By the time 16 hours had passed, nearly all the cells were dead.
This is impressive, although seems it's in vitro data.
Posted by Dave6002 (Member # 9064) on :
quote: I only tried to target blood.
I had same thought before.
However, the fact: one that unlike malaria, Babs are hardly detected in red blood cells or other blood cells; two babs cause symptoms that cannot be explained lonely by damaged blood supply, such as headach and palpitation.
We don't know for sure where are Babs in the body.
Posted by serendipity (Member # 8474) on :
Hi Mo and Dave, thanks for posting the articles of aremisia and cancer therapy.
Dave, your last post is interesting. I do think poor cirucaltion could explain headaces and palpitations.
If babs is stored in large part in the liver, art could be used as a treatment as ferrtin in largely in the liver. I wonder if Babs in my heart given the cardiac symptoms.
well, I posted on the other art thread so I will keeep this short.
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