posted
I ran into a woman tonight and as we were talking she told me about a Dr. M in Paoli, PA who treats lyme by removing a significant amount of the patients blood, irradiating it and then replacing it.
Somehow this is supposed to make the blood cells better able to fight the disease. It sounds like hooey to me, but I wondered if anyone here has heard anything about this????
Posts: 160 | From Abington, PA, USA | Registered: May 2005
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posted
There are two articles that you should look up.
Successful treatment of a patient with chronic Lyme arthritis with extracorporeal photochemotherapy.
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Volume 30, Number 5, May 1994, pg 908 - 910.
Also see:
Light can unmask The Traitorous Cells of Immune Disease.
N.Y. Times, 10-23-1990, by Gina Kolata.
Both of these articles talk about the same process " photopheresis" or " extracorporeal photochemotherapy"
This might be what you are talking about.
Part of the N.Y. Times article says:
To researchers' surprise and initial disbelief, an unusual technique developed for an immune system cancer is emerging as a potential treatment for an important family of ailments known as autoimmune diseases.
The technique seems to work by unmasking the traitorous cells that cause these diseases when they attack the body's own tissues.
The technique, depends on a drug that becomes active only when exposed to ultraviolet light. After a patient has taken the drug, blood is removed from the body, exposed with unltraviolet light and returned.
The drug, known in shorthand as 8-MOP, occurs in a Nile River weed that was known by the ancient Egyptians for making the skin more sensitive to sunlight.
Dr. Richard Edelson, chairman of the department of dermatology at the Yale University School of Medicine discovered photopheresis by accident.
The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology states that the treatment for one patient was given once a month for 14 months, then given once every two months. By the sixteenth treatment he was asymptomatic. Treatments were then given at 3-month intervals. Six months later therapy was terminated because he continued to be free of symptoms. During photopheresis therapy the patient received no additional therapeutic interventions.
In August 1986 is when he developed joint stiffness and fatigue, in April 1990 they started the photopheresis.
He had been on IV ceftriaxone and IV penicillin, doxycycline, etc. before this treatment.
Ok, so I do not know anyone who has tried this, but it sounds interesting.
AGuess
Posts: 45 | From NC,USA | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
I think LymeScience posted something on this recently that said it would not work for Lyme.
Hubby had 4 UVB treatments -- this was prior to antibiotics. Many ACAM (American College for Advancement in Medicine) doctors use these treatments. I do think they are fairly effective for viruses, but not as effective for bacteria.
The 1st 2 treatments were immediately followed by IV Hydrogen Peroxide. The 2nd 2 treatments were from a different doc. Had a real problem getting the blood back into hubby -- ended up adding heparin numerous times and finally infusing through his foot. Later found to have hypercogulation.
One disadvantage to these treatments is that they require a large IV needle -- can't remember the size, but it is larger than normal IV's. Some docs pass the blood through the UVB light only once and others do it 2 or more times for no additional charge. Cost per UVB treatment is usually $125 - $500 depending on the doc.
Hubby had pretty bad herxes with these treatments. This is something we have considered doing again except for the fact that the closest doc is over an hour away and hubby really does not travel well. If we were to do this again we would probably do weekly treatments for a minimum of 4 - 6 weeks.
Hubby does have some viruses -- EBV, HHV-6, CMV and Borna virus. Can't be certain if the UVB was helping with those or the Lyme, Babesia or Bartonella.
Bea Seibert
Note: Hubby has had probably 25 hydrogen peroxide IV's -- did not herx with those and they didn't seem to help either. The UVB treatment was what caused the herx.
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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5dana8
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7935
posted
What about the lyme in the organs. Thats not in the blood.
You might kill the lyme in the blood stream but it still would be left in the organs & connective tissues.
-------------------- 5dana8 Posts: 4432 | From some where over the rainbow | Registered: Sep 2005
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That kinda of procedure sounds scary aswell, I dont know if i would ever consider it even if there were success stories.
Posts: 170 | From Vancouver | Registered: Apr 2006
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