The Heartwarming Story of a Fibromyalgia Cure

Posted by on June 21, 2010 20 comments

One of my favorite sites is cpnhelp.org, formed to help chronic disease patients suffering from infections with Chlamydophila pneumoniae, a parasitic intracellular bacterium. When I first discovered this site I immediately recognized many of my own symptoms in the reports of other patients. Although I had already cleared many symptoms through diet and supplements, cognitive and neuropathic symptoms remained, and my doctor agreed that the evidence for a persistent bacterial infection was strong. Three months of antibiotics cleared nearly all my remaining symptoms.

I’m far from the only chronic sufferer to benefit from antibiotics. Yesterday cpnhelp had a lovely and inspiring post from Ladybug, an Australian painter who suffered from fibromyalgia, a condition that produces debilitating muscle pain. She describes her condition:

The hallowed shrine of my body was invaded by ugly bugs. They put on their own ugly bug ball in my central nervous system and invited all their friends and relatives. They feasted and made merry and committed unspeakably rude acts wherever and whenever they wanted. They poured waste matter down the drains and left rubbish lying about all over the place. [1]

The medical professional has badly failed at diagnosing and treating chronic disease. I’ll have more to say later about why that is – partly it has to do with the ineffectiveness of antibiotics on a bad diet, and partly with some defects in modern medical research and clinical practices. But there is hope for chronic disease sufferers:

I [have] really overcome the scourge of fibromyalgia, despite the rhetoric carved into the stone walls of western medicine:

    Australian Association of Musculoskeletal Medicine (AAMM): “What is fibromyalgia? Pathology: not identified.”
    Australian Rheumatology Association: “Currently there is no cure for fibromyalgia.”
    American National Fibromyalgia Association: “The underlying cause or causes of FM still remain a mystery.”

No cure, eh? Mystery, eh? Pigs’ ears!…

“Living Well With Fibromyalgia” my foot. I’d just as soon live well without fibromyalgia, thank you very much….

I, Ladybug, fell ill in 2000 and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in mid 2005. I had so much pain and confusion, I was barely crawling through the day. Five years on, thanks to Dr Powell’s [2] antibacterial, antiviral and detoxification therapy, I am leading a pain-free existence. [1]

Congratulations, Ladybug. We can be grateful that, thanks to the impetus and insight of frustrated patients and a few creative doctors and scientists, there is growing hope for complete cures for chronic disease.

[1] Ladybug, “Life After Fibromyalgia,” June 20, 2010, http://cpnhelp.org/life_after_fibromyalgia.

[2] Dr. Michael Powell of the Fibromyalgia Treatment & Learning Center, http://www.fmtlc.com/.

Plant Pesticides

Posted by on June 20, 2010 14 comments

I mentioned earlier, when discussing the case of the 88-year-old woman who suffered bok choy poisoning, that most of the toxins in our bodies come from plant foods.

This is a surprise to most, since we have been taught to regard vegetables as healthy, to fear meat and fats, and to fear above all synthetic environmental toxins like pesticides.

Yet the volume of plant toxins which our bodies must deal with from our daily food is remarkable.  Bruce Ames and Lois Gold of the University of California at Berkeley report:

About 99.9% of the chemicals humans ingest are natural. The amounts of synthetic pesticide residues in plant foods are insignificant compared to the amount of natural pesticides produced by plants themselves. Of all dietary pesticides that humans eat, 99.99% are natural: they are chemicals produced by plants to defend themselves against fungi, insects, and other animal predators….

We have estimated that on average Americans ingest roughly 5000 to 10,000 different natural pesticides and their breakdown products. Americans eat about 1500 mg of natural pesticides per person per day, which is about 10,000 times more than the 0.09 mg they consume of synthetic pesticide residues. [1]

They also note that 57% of natural plant compounds tested have proven to be carcinogens in rats and mice, compared to 60% of synthetic compounds tested. In general, plant pesticides are as potently toxic as synthetic pesticides.

Should you run in terror from the supermarket vegetable aisle? No, not at all: it’s better to back away cautiously, to avoid being noticed.  (Just kidding; in fact we recommend eating 1 to 2 pounds of plant foods per day, including vegetables!)  But it’s prudent to diversify your plant food consumption, avoid the most toxic foods like grains and legumes, and cook most vegetables.

[1] Ames BN, Gold LS. Paracelsus to parascience: the environmental cancer distraction. Mutation Research 2000 Jan 17; 447(1):3-13. http://pmid.us/10686303.

The Danger of Plant Foods

Posted by on June 18, 2010 27 comments

Recently, an 88-year-old Chinese woman was brought to the emergency department at New York University’s Tisch Hospital by her family. She had been lethargic and unable to walk or swallow for 3 days. [1]

She had been eating 2 to 3 pounds of raw bok choy daily for several months in the hope that it would help control her diabetes, and the bok choy had poisoned her thyroid. In addition to coma, her symptoms included low body temperature (36 C), a shrunken thyroid, dry skin and coarse hair.  Her life was saved by high doses of intravenous thyroid hormone, but she still needed four weeks in the hospital before she could be moved to a nursing facility.

Remarkably, but not surprisingly in light of how little publicity is given to the dangers of plant toxins, her family wanted to keep feeding her raw bok choy in the hospital! [2]

This episode is a timely reminder that most of the toxins in our bodies come from the plant foods we eat.  Plant toxins can be quite dangerous. 

For good health, exposure to plant toxins should be minimized by:

  1. Cooking most plant foods other than fruits and berries, which are relatively non-toxic.  The heat of cooking destroys many toxins, and renders many others more digestible.
  2. Diversifying plant food sources.  Don’t eat too much of any one plant; rather try to eat modest amounts from many different species.  Live by the toxicologists’ rule, first formulated by Paracelsus:  “The dose makes the poison.”  If you keep the dose of any one toxin low, it will not poison you.
  3. Eliminating the most toxic foods.  These are grains; legumes; oils from grains, legumes, and seed crops; and fructose sugars.

The Paleo principle – it’s healthiest to eat like a caveman – is a good guide to low-toxicity eating.  Paleolithic peoples gathered a wide variety of plants – hundreds of species – and did not eat the Neolithic agricultural crops. Agriculture needs plants that produce an abundance of calorie-rich seeds, but these are precisely the plants that load their seeds with high levels of toxins to discourage herbivores.

Eat like a caveman, and stay out of the hospital!

[1] Chu M, Seltzer TF. Myxedema coma induced by ingestion of raw bok choy. N Engl J Med. 2010 May 20;362(20):1945-6. http://pmid.us/20484407.

[2] http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/05/20/too-much-bok-choy-puts-88-year-old-in-coma/.

Fish, Not Fish Oil Capsules

Posted by on June 16, 2010 50 comments

Yesterday I recommended eating about a pound a week of salmon or sardines as part of the strategy for achieving an optimal omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.

Yet this is not the way many health-conscious people obtain omega-3 fatty acids.  They buy fish oil capsules. 

The trouble with this approach is that omega-3 fats are chemically fragile:  their carbon double bonds are easily oxidized.  EPA has 5 double bonds and DHA 6 double bonds, so they are the most vulnerable of all dietary fats.  They easily become rancid.

Fish oil capsules often sit on a shelf for months before they are eaten.  If someone offered you the opportunity to eat salmon that had been sitting on a shelf for six months, would you do it?  No? Then why accept the same deal with salmon oil?

In fact, clinical trials have compared eating fish to eating fish oil capsules.  Fish consumption has an excellent record in a number of clinical trials, but fish oil capsule supplements do not. 

In the Diet and Angina Randomized Trial (DART-2), 3114 men with stable angina were followed for 3-9 years. There was a control group, a group advised to eat oily fish like salmon, and a group taking 3 fish oil capsules daily.  There was a significant increase in sudden cardiac death among the subgroup taking fish oil capsules. [1]

So, give up the fish oil capsules:  they’re all too likely to poison you.  Instead, buy some fresh fish.  Poached or baked salmon is an excellent summer dinner.

[1] Burr ML et al. Lack of benefit of dietary advice to men with angina: results of a controlled trial. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2003 Feb;57(2):193-200. http://pmid.us/12571649.