Just wandering if this protocol that is being used by people with CFS is a detox?
I've noticed my skin on face clearing of bloches. And I get itchy skin after taking it.
Posted by cactus (Member # 7347) on :
I have wondered this myself.
If you are using the guai and cutting out all salicylates (including topicals - mint toothpaste etc), as directed, then perhaps so. Dr. St Amand, who designed the protocol, explains this in his book - to some extent - although if I remember correctly the guai is helping to rid cells of calcium phosphate build up.
I used the guaifenisen protocol for 2 years prior to my Lyme diagnosis, and actually experienced symptoms similar to a weak herx. I did gradually see positive results, but definitely got worse first.
Many people, myself included, use a lot of dietary supplements and a low carb diet while on guai, so that may also contribute to any improvements.
Have not used it while on abx, since '05, but I have privately theorized that there was a detox effect. Perhaps someone else will know more.
Posted by kelmo (Member # 8797) on :
My daughter takes Mucinex every day because she has been coughing up the gook for four years. She was originally diagnosed with mycoplasma pneumonia before the Bart discovery.
It has just become a routine to keep things clear. I don't know if it's helping with other things. Sometimes we are all taking so much we don't know what is really doing the work.
Posted by spookydew (Member # 8432) on :
I thought I read where people with morgellon's was using this protocol too. But I might be getting mixed up in all of my reading.
Posted by TerryK (Member # 8552) on :
I've been on the guaifenesin protocol for 7 years and my mother for 8 years for fibromyalgia. Now I know I have lyme and so does my mother.
Guaifenesin has helped me a great deal with my orthostatic hypotension. The theory is that it clears phosphates due to a defect in the kidneys. It is pure speculation by the endocronologist who created the protocol. He and his whole family are sick, (wife and children) and they live in California. He is a professor at UCLA and has a practice where he treats fibromyalgics/CFIDS patients with guaifenesin. I'm sure he has never considered lyme disease and he is not open minded about the causes of fibromyalgia even though there are plenty of doctors who readily admit that fibro can be caused by lyme.
Immunesupport.com lists guaifenesin as a detoxifiyer but I've never been able to find anything to substantiate that. What I have found is that guaicum (a form of guaifenesin) was used to treat syphilis prior to abx being available.
Many people feel that they are detoxifying on guaifenesin but the originator of the protocol (Dr. Paul R. St. Amand) does not agree. I use muscle testing and the first year that I was on the protocol I needed copious amounts of metal detox. Myself and others sometimes notice a metallic taste in the mouth when first on the protocol. When I started the protocol, I had no idea that killing bacteria releases metals so I was puzzled until after my diagnosis of lyme and finally putting together than lyme kills spirochetes and spirochetes release metals.
I used to have hard lumps all over my body. A common finding in those with fibromyalgia. Those lumps got soft, hot and mushy and left while on guaifenesin. I assume they had something to do with toxins due to infection.
I just figured all of this out this year. I'd be very interested to hear of any other information regarding guaifenesin and lyme.
Terry
Posted by Ladylee210 (Member # 9945) on :
GIGI
Wow this is intereting to say the least.
I have taken guaifenesin over the yrs alot due to "chronic" as they call it - coughing up mucus, when it is thick and gluely like - the guaifenesin helps to loosen it and I can get it out.
Otherwise I wind up with a tight chest and have to use inhalers.
Most of my chronic coughing up came in along with the yeast.
I do not take the bottle form of this because it contains sugar - I stick with the pill forum (no sugar) and what ever is happening it does keep things open like one of the other posters said as well.
However I only take it when the congestion takes hold, and hmmmmm now that I'm thinking of it - at times I do not feel all that right - maybe I'm herxing from the detox effect???
You learn something new everyday!
Posted by Marnie (Member # 773) on :
You are getting closer to understanding... IF and WHEN you start looking at HOW these things work.
quote: You are getting closer to understanding... IF and WHEN you start looking at HOW these things work.
Mark London has been a long time doubter and foe of the guaifenesin protocol for many years. It is personal to him for reasons that I won't air here. He has done everything in his power to discredit the protocol so you must take his writing with a grain of salt.
He does have the facts correct in some cases (not all) but he is often incorrect in his extrapolations and reasoning. Also, while he personally knows people who were on the protocol, I'm pretty sure he has not experienced it firsthand. Anyone who has adequately researched the protocol and certainly most who have used it, understand that much of what he say's is incorrect. For example, most people who will benefit from the protocol DO NOT have a muscle relaxant effect from guaifenesin, in fact just the opposite. I've never suffered the kind of muscle pain and agony that I did the first year I was on the protocol. Ever hear the old saying that you feel like you've been run over by a truck. That depicts it pretty well. Hardly what I would consider a pain reliever. LOL In fact, my pain levels have NEVER returned to what they were pre-guai but I am able to sit and stand up whereas before I was unable to sit up even for 15 minutes without the powerful urge to lie down. It definately affects my orthostatic hypotension. When I try to go off, the orthostatic problem returns.
I've taken omega 3's in sufficient quantity for years and they do NOT have the same affect as guaifenesin.
I believe guaifenesin works because it kills spirochetes and it may be doing other things as well. One really must avoid salicylates for it to work well.
I can personally attest (via my own experience of many years) to the fact that it is NOT placebo and that salicylates DO affect the treatment. There are literally thousands of people that have been helped by it. Not everyone, and not to the level that St. Amand states, but it does help many, at least to some extent. Terry