posted
I know this must seem like a silly question because they cost an absolute fortune and need to be performed elsewhere making them quite prohibitive for most.
But even so, why aren't more people getting them? Why aren't celebrities getting them?
Do they work?
Just wondering in general why we don't hear more about this therapy.
Has anyone gotten one and if so, are you cured?
Is a stem cell transplant for Lyme and co-infections just like anything else in that it may work for one and not another?
I feel like this post sounds flippant but its not intended to, just opening up a conversation…..
-------------------- unsure445 Posts: 824 | From northeast | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
I think Yolanda Foster tried that and she's still sick.
??
For the rest of us, yes, quite expensive. Most of the treatments are overseas, right?
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Phoiph
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posted
One of the ways that mild hyperbaric works is by promoting release of one's own stem cells. It is a much less expensive and invasive way to go...(and yes I am well because of it...)
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sparkle7
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I'm no scientist but when you have a stealth infection like Lyme - it can transform into a different form & hide out for some time in the body. I don't think stem cells will work because of that.
There are also usually co-infections, too.
I guess if you have alot of money to throw around - it might be worth a try.
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poppy
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posted
Seems like I have heard that Bb can invade stem cells. That would be a good reason not to do it.
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Phoiph
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posted
This study reports significant improvement:
Treatment of Lyme Disease with Human Embryonic Stem Cells: A Case Series
According to the ALS Worldwide publication "A Patients Path through the Maze of Stem Cell Transplantation"
Dr. Shroff has no background in stem cells, has never published anything and makes extraordinary claims to have cured more than 100 patients of everything from Alzheimers disease to spinal cord injury.
In fact, she claims to be able to cure more than twenty different diseases with treatments proven to be bogus. Her credentials are nowhere to be found. Multiple lawsuits against her exist. This publication classifies Nu Tech Mediworld under notorious stem cell operations: avoid, shun and ignore their claims.
Indeed, Nu Tech Mediworld and Dr. Shroff were apparently subject to a governmental inquiry in 2006; the results of that inquiry are not widely known.
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sparkle7
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posted
PS - you have to be really careful about going to a foreign country & getting some expensive treatment like this. I'm not against stem cell therapy but I don't think it's necessary to get "embryonic" stem cell therapy.
I don't like the idea of that when we all have our own stem cells that can be utilized. There's alot of fraud in medical treatment. One would have to be ultra careful about this.
In any case, I don't think it would be a permanent cure for Lyme since the bacteria is pleomorphic (changing shape) and can persist dormant in the body for a long time.
I think there are valid and proven uses for stem cells but Lyme is not one of them as far as I have researched. I'm no scientist, though.
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Phoiph
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posted
I understood the researcher in this study to have been trained by ILADS Dr. *** H...
That said, I cannot personally speak for it either way, as my success was from a different method...
**edited first name of LLMD per LN rules...contact Phoiph for info**
posted
Lyme patients have gone to New Delhi for quite some time now to receive stem cell injections. They go for two months and sometimes go a second time. The patients feel much better. One wrote a book about it. I'm not sure if people are still going. There is ongoing work with this around the world, including in this country.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
It would be great to hear if its been a magic bullet for anyone. I think for the money, time, overall investment, it would be pretty tough emotionally if it wasn't.
-------------------- unsure445 Posts: 824 | From northeast | Registered: Jun 2008
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sparkle7
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posted
My 2 Lyme friends went to Germany for SCT from their own blood......SC was grown for 10 days then back in w IV Worked for one but not the other women.
I had SCT last yr in CA w my own fat cells. Didn't work for me either. My friend w MS, in wheelchair, went to Mexico for fetal SCT last May, didn't work for her either
Posts: 315 | From USA | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I guess it works for some and doesn't work for others. We have several people in the SF bay area for whom the injections in New Delhi have worked for them. Most also had the money to go for a second time.
Phoiph, very interesting to read your comments here that hyperbaric oxygen can stimulate stem cells. I don't have time to read right now, but will soon -
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Phoiph
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posted
Penn Study Finds Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments Mobilize Stem Cells Recovery of Injured and Diseased Tissue the Ultimate Goal
(Philadelphia, PA)- According to a study to be published in The American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulation Physiology, a typical course of hyperbaric oxygen treatments increases by eight-fold the number of stem cells circulating in a patient's body. Stem cells, also called progenitor cells are crucial to injury repair.
The study currently appears on-line and is scheduled for publication in the April 2006 edition of the American Journal.
Stem cells exist in the bone marrow of human beings and animals and are capable of changing their nature to become part of many different organs and tissues.
In response to injury, these cells move from the bone marrow to the injured sites, where they differentiate into cells that assist in the healing process.
The movement, or mobilization, of stem cells can be triggered by a variety of stimuli - including pharmaceutical agents and hyperbaric oxygen treatments. Where as drugs are associated with a host of side effects, hyperbaric oxygen treatments carry a significantly lower risk of such effects.
"This is the safest way clinically to increase stem cell circulation, far safer than any of the pharmaceutical options," said Stephen Thom, MD, PhD, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
"This study provides information on the fundamental mechanisms for hyperbaric oxygen and offers a new theoretical therapeutic option for mobilizing stem cells."
"We reproduced the observations from humans in animals in order to identify the mechanism for the hyperbaric oxygen effect," added Thom.
"We found that hyperbaric oxygen mobilizes stem/progenitor cells because it increases synthesis of a molecule called nitric oxide in the bone marrow. This synthesis is thought to trigger enzymes that mediate stem/progenitor cell release."
Hopefully, future study of hyperbaric oxygen's role in mobilizing stem cells will provide a wide array of treatments for combating injury and disease.
posted
Thanks for the updated comments Littlesprout, Robin, and Phoiph!
Little, I am sorry to hear procedures didn't work and for you and your friend with MS. It must have been quite difficult emotionally and financially.
Littlesprout…Your comment about about your 2 Lyme friends; exactly the information, including location,I was looking for when I wrote this post, so thank you. Glad to hear 1 friend was helped.
Your friend that wasn't helped, do you know if her health circumstances were much different; a more severe case or longer time with the infections?
-------------------- unsure445 Posts: 824 | From northeast | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
My llmd said that several of his patient had tried it, and did show improvement, but it didn't last. His thoughts were it worked more on the inflammation of the body.
Posts: 857 | From northern california | Registered: Dec 2009
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posted
My one friend, who went to Germany ...didn't work, was older then the friend who SCT worked for. I don't know if one was sicker then the other. I think the aging process plays a part in the Lyme picture.
Posts: 315 | From USA | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I think the SCT works better for the youngerLyme people. They don't have the immune system damage of a older person who has gone 30 + yrs before Lyme treatment.
Posts: 315 | From USA | Registered: May 2005
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