I hate to be the one to give you the bad news but the Marshall Protocol is not going to be effective for most people with lyme disease. It has aroused such controversy that I have tried my best to stay out of it but after I have seen what they did to Paula Carnes as well as to texas lyme mom, two thorougly decent and compassionate individuals I have decided to speak out.

First, in my own experience, I was on the protocol for some months and was very, very sick and in an enormous amount of pain. My vitamin D levels were with in the normal range and I had eliminated all the vitamin D that I knew of from my diet and was wearing sunglasses-eventually Noir sunglasses-the order that I must stay out of all sunlight was ridiculous and indeed downright impossible. I live by myself.

The kicker came for me when I developed intestinal bleeding on top of the crippling pain-two incidents ten days apart no less. I heard on the very day that I had the second of the episodes that the anti-inflammatory agents used before vioxx and bextra caused 16,000 deaths a year from gastrointestinal bleeding. Lovely. Benicar is an anti-inflamatant.

In my reading I found again the quote from Trevor Marshall in which he said that benicar dampened down the JHS shock reactions.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. I got sick as a dog and I have had a number of reports of absolutly horrific Jarsch-Herxhiemer Shock reactions. Such reactions are dangerous. I have talked directly to two friends of mine who were in one case on the MP and had to quit it and in the other one was taking just 40 mg of benicar and had JHS reactions so badly that she had to quit the 40 mg of benicar a day and then got better.

I have received reports of people becoming so ill that they have had to be taken to the cardiac wards in emergency rooms. It appears that the benicar with minocin can trigger dangerous cardiovascular reactions in people.

Further when I questioned Marshall and others about the survival of the cyst form of the bacterium in the blood stream and elsewhere I never really got an answer. They do not know. That is the point: Marshall and company do not know so very much about this particular disease. If you do not get rid of the cyst form of the disease you will never get rid of the disease.

So I would suggest that the MP, at least as far as lyme disease in concerned, is a highly risky undertaking with at best a limited chance of success. You will probably go through a living hell and maybe even risk your life and for something that probably will not work.

quote:

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Originally posted by once bitten:
how do you expect snake oil salesmen to make a living if not for us desparate people?

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Ain't that the truth!

Lyme is filled with "miracle" cures, and I have tried many myself. Problem is the same people go from one to the next and tell us this is the answer. If that were so, why are these same people touting the last "cure" back selling the new one? Aren't they well from the last thing they pushed?

What really worked for me was both traditional medicine and alternative nutritional medicine. The antibiotics have been better able to do their jobs since I got my body as healthy as it can be through nutritional medicine. My immune system is in great shape, I am supplementing all those vitamins, minerals, etc. which were so low and depleted because of a long fight with Lyme.

I am now also fighting this from the inside. The antibiotics and my body are keeping both infections beaten down to levels which aren't hindering my ability to function and live my life.

I am not well by any means, but continuing to make slow, sure improvements. I came from being bedridden to nearly back to work. I didn't have any hope at all for awhile. But now I do. I even started working out at the Y. I was very much into exercise and health before my illness, and, for a long time, I thought I would never be able to exercise again.

Thomas, any chance you can pull together the funds for a visit to an alternative practicioner? Try to find one who does actual testing to determine your nutritional status. I had the ION panel. It stands for Individual Optimal Nutrition. I got pages and pages of info about my general status, and a doctor put me on lots of supplements tailored to my individual needs. It took awhile, and some $$$ to do this, but I can honestly say it worked.

Makes perfect sense. Fight this with both antibiotics and from within. Avoid stress, as this infection is very opportunistic and grabs the upper hand if it sees weakness.

Thomas, I am sorry you saw a failure with the MP. I could not get up the nerve to try that one. It was just too restrictive, and I had too much trouble understanding the science. To those who saw good progress from it, good for you.

Who did the ION panel...an alternative practioner or naturopath and how would I find someone who does this paticular test?

Email if you want!

I sent you an email. Hope it helps. I am not sure were you are located. But maybe you can find one using a few search ideas.

Good luck with all of this!

Thomas, please see my email I brought to the top today of Iowa's Sen. Chuck Grassley's reply letter to us who submitted our lyme letters to him...ok. Have you heard from him or anyone else since you & Tincup were the only ones to include your full names & mailing addresses?

These words could have been mine, they really speak volumes:

"I realize that desperate people do desperate things. I know. I was, and am, one of those people. Slowly dying with lyme disease and learning the hard way that the doctors are basically nothing but a bunch of callous idiots is painful indeed. But the MP is not a solution to our problem."

Thomas Parkman

TNF alpha, subsequent to angiotensin II, has "protective" features as documented in my Updated Nutshell post. It is a proinflammatory cytokine.

Inflammation is, and always will be a step in the "healing process".

Keep it under control with the most natural anti-inflammatory there is...magnesium.

Please, please see my post titled: "For my friends". I have "translated" the medical jargon further down in the responses.

This pathogen (Bb) follows the pathway we make cholesterol. Statin drugs can activate an enzyme to put the breaks on, but they...as all Rxs...have "unpleasant" side effects. However, not surprisingly, Mg can also inactivate the enzyme to put the breaks on (Thank you Dr. Mildred Seelig!).

Mg also controls PFK...an enzyme Bb is dependent on. PFK is "rate limiting" for glycolysis...using sugar, not oxygen, for energy.

That may well be how and why the doctors at the Romanian CANCER hospital were able to cure 2 lyme patients...by restoring the "SIGNIFICANT" Mg deficiency.

Mg (and Ca) are needed to make HEALTHY antibodies so we can fight off this pathogen the way nature intended. We MAKE our own "antibiotics" which are highly targeted.

Target this bug...directly.

A body in balance has no disease. Restore the balance.

This is the point I tried to make a long time ago. People feel everyone with a Phd is beyond reproach...wrong.

Here we have someone who lists his "Research Institute..." on his credentials.

HELLO???!!! The address is his home...not quite a valid institute of higher education/research! Deliberately misleading one might think...

The hospital affiliation: His wife is a nurse at a LOCAL hospital. HELLO??? Anyone home?

I printed his "Research Paper" and gave it to a friend who is an immunologist from John's Hopkins. He read it, gave it back and said, "I hope people are not taking this seriously!"

The statement that higher doses of Benicar are not harmful is VERY misleading, as the company literature lists kidney problems, etc.

Here we have someone posing as a researcher, when all that has been done is to read info on the internet, compile such info imto his own format. There have been no controlled studies, no valid researchers with acceptable protocols to follow, and absolutely no PROOF of this working. Please recall the lady who worked with Marshall's group who stated that under no circumstances were even a majority of people with SARC being cured. She stated that the numbers were just not true, and she was shot down. Remember, Marshall claimed that almost all of the SARC patients got better. Bull....!

WHERE IS THE PROOF???!!! Sure I believe in the freakin' EASTER BUNNY!!!! But she works for Hefner now...

YES, we are desperate for cures. Does this mean that we suddenly have to be careless and throw all caution to the wind?

I have not posted for some time as I just got sick and tired of all the crap.

Marnie, Tx, Tinny, TuTu, Tree and others...this does NOT refer to you...your continued help is well appreciated!

I hope you feel better Thomas, and that someday the scientific community knows enough about this curse to offer us a safe cure.

Until then, I am taking Tinadazole(Tindamax...2 grams per day...low molecular weight, excellant BBB penetration) and Ketek (was on Biaxin XL). I have had Lyme for 11 years...I am not going to be cured after only two or three months. I AM considering checking out Rife, but I am not convinced the placebo effect is not part of that treatment...I hope it is not for those that are Rifing!

Happy Easter to all you Lyme Bunnies...

Hey Tu Tu...nice buns!