International Criteria for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Many Lyme sufferers were first diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction (CFIDS/CFS), now called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). Here is a link to the new International Criteria. It may help some people with their disability and Social Security claims.

http://niceguidelines.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/myalgic-encephalomyeli\
tis-international-consensus-criteria.pdf

Scroll to the bottom "Table 1" for the meat and potatoes. There is also an article about it in ProHealth.com library. When struggling with doctors who tune out at the mention of Lyme, this might be a way to get much needed help.

New Lyme Testing Lab

There is a new Lab I've discovered in Lubbock Texas, called Spiro Stat. They've been around for two years and test for 35 different co-infections and their various species.

Pathogen Information:

The following organisms can be detected and identified using the test panels offered by Spiro Stat Technologies.


Anaplasma
phagocytophilum
Borrelia afzelii
Babesia microti
Bartonella henselae
Borrelia burgdorferi
Borrelia garinii
Borrelia hermsii
Borrelia lonestari
Borrelia parkeri
Borrelia valasiana
Brachyspira aalborgi
Bracyspira hyodysenteriae
Coxiella burnetti
Ehrlichia chaffeensis
Ehrlichia ewingii
Francisella tularensis
Mycoplasma fermentans
Rickettsia spp (9 species)
Treponema carateum
Treponema denticola
Treponema pallidum
Treponema pertenue

They also test for Babesia and fungi.

Spiro Stat uses modern molecular diagnostic approaches that have been validated under stringent criteria. All laboratory testing is performed in association with a CAP accredited CLIA laboratory, Southwest Regional PCR.

For pricing, see:

http://www.spirostat.com/

Bob's video update 8-19-11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q6t8YjiGeU

Nerve disease cell repair 'flaw'

I saw this story on the BBC News today about ALS and possible PD implications.
A breakdown of a recycling system in cells appears to be the underlying cause of a fatal nerve disease.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14591364 >

Enzymes Special Report

Interesting article about digestive and systemic enzymes, and their role in treating inflammatory diseases.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/21/enzymes-special-report.aspx?e_cid=20110821_SNL_Art_1

Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt on Lyme Disease

Dr. Mercola posted a big article on Lyme today. Mostly, it's about Dr. Klinghardt's approaches to treatment, but there's also some other general Lyme info as well. There's a long video with Dr. Klinghardt on it, too.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/27/dr-dietrich-klinghardt-on-lyme-disease.aspx?e_cid=20110820_DNL_artTest_B1

Personal Update 8-17-11

Letter to my LLMD today:

Hi Dr. ________

Thought I should report to you that I am in major pain. Like number 10 on a scale of 10 in my shoulder, the shoulder on the side where I have the stiffness and tremors. Also pain has increased in the rt arm, which is much stiffer than before. 

To treat the back, I've been to the chiropractor twice and the Feldenkrais practitioner once, and then to my GP yesterday, all for nought, thus far. The pain is between the rt shoulder blade and the spine. This has been going on for over one week now. Everyone seems to think it's a spasm in a muscle, resulting from a strain. But I think it's the parkinsonism which is stiffening the shoulder as well as the arm at this point. What muscle wouldn't freak out from being contracted all day? 

I'm taking ibuprofen a lot and also hydrocodone apap 5 500 that Dr Kurn (PD doc) prescribed a while back. But I am pretty incapacitated and the pain is really terrible. Some relief from resting shoulder on a heating pad in bed. If I do anything more than that with the arm I'm in trouble. 

I'm not sure what to do about the IVs. I don't know if this has been getting worse because of die off/Herx/oxidative damage from doing so many antibiotics and antiviral antifungal stuff all at the same time (remember, I am doing IV ceftriaxone, IV Flagyl, azithromycin, valacyclovir, and Mepron all at once). I stopped everything yesterday. Nothing has gotten better so far. It's about the same if not worse. The foot tremors are also nonstop. 

The pain from the shoulder is radiating down the arm and up the neck a bit. My GP, Nicola Hanchock, ruled out nerve compression yesterday. We are trying to get me into an appointment with the Parkinson's doc Matthew Arnold here in Berkeley to see what he has to say, bcuz it seems as though the parkinsonism has progressed rapidly.

I just ran out of IV Wellness glutathione but I reordered some and I should have it in a couple of days. Other Parkinson's symptoms such as loss of balance, difficulty initiating movement and so forth have also increased pretty quickly. It's rather frightening, but mostly the pain is what is getting to me. Maybe we should have a phone conversation.

The old chest rash around the port has revisited but is about a 2 on a scale of 10. And my swollen red earlobes thing has happened again. Skin is now peeling off them, the swelling lasted 5 days. Now waning. Still swollen and red but less so.   

Bob

Tracking Lyme Disease in Dogs May Help Protect Humans - Yahoo! News

Interesting means of determining estimated danger of infection in your region.

http://news.yahoo.com/tracking-lyme-disease-dogs-may-help-protect-humans-160807893.html

Antibodies Linked to Long-term Lyme Symptoms

Antibodies Linked to Long-term Lyme Symptoms

from Nature News

Some patients with Lyme disease still show symptoms long after their treatment has finished. Now proteins have been discovered that set these people apart from those who are easily cured.

People who experience the symptoms of Lyme disease, which include fatigue, soreness and memory or concentration loss, after treatment for the disorder are sometimes diagnosed as having chronic Lyme disease or post-Lyme disease syndrome. But these diagnoses are difficult to make, because the individuals no longer seem to harbour the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. And the symptoms could instead be indicative of chronic fatigue syndrome or depression.

Now Armin Alaedini at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and his colleagues have found that patients diagnosed with post-Lyme disease syndrome have antibodies that suggest they carried the infection for an unusually long time. The finding, published in Clinical Immunology, might help the syndrome to be better understood, diagnosed and treated.

http://ow.ly/5XEON

5 Myths about Lyme Disease Treatment

Here's a very good pamphlet about Lyme disease. A good primer. It's from the Haverford Wellness Center. Oddly enough, it's in Havertown, PA, just across the street from the house I grew up in. I am tempted to go there the next time I get back east.
http://www.lyme-disease-testing.com/5-myths-about-lyme-disease.pdf

Bob

Good List of Glutathione for PD Studies

I found this while Googling around this evening.

http://www.1whey2health.com/parkinsons_glutathione.htm

Lots of links down at the bottom.

Here is info a blog reader found. She said that www.research1st.com had the original story.

Thanks to Marie for the lead!

PubMed Results

Item 1 of 1

1.	Biomed Pharmacother. 2008 Apr-May;62(4):236-49. Epub 2008 Mar 14. Glutathione and Parkinson's disease: is this the elephant in the room? Zeevalk GD, Razmpour R, Bernard LP. Source University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Neurology, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. zeevalgd@umdnj.edu Abstract At least 2 decades have past since the demonstration of a 40-50% deficit in total glutathione (GSH) levels in the substantia nigra in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The similar loss of GSH in the nigra in Incidental Lewy body disease, thought to be an early form of PD, indicates that this is one of the earliest derangements to occur in the pre-symptomatic stages of PD. Oxidative damage to lipids, protein and DNA in the nigra of PD patients is consistent with the loss of the antioxidant functions contributed by GSH. Past clinical trials that have used an antioxidant approach to treatment have used antioxidants that might substitute for GSH but these have shown modest to little benefit. More recent studies of the functions served by GSH in cells include in addition to its well-known participation in H(2)O(2) and toxin removal, such roles as modulation of protein function via thiolation which may control physiological and pathophysiological pathways to include DNA synthesis and repair, protein synthesis, amino acid transport, modulation of glutamate receptors and neurohormonal signaling. These multifunctional aspects to the workings of GSH in the cell would suggest that its loss perturbs many different processes and that replenishment and maintenance of GSH per se may be the best approach for preventing progressive damage from occurring. Despite this, few studies have been directed at specifically restoring GSH, although, as discussed herein, its unsanctioned use in PD is growing in popularity. This review will focus on glutathione in PD; the various functions carried out by glutathione and possible consequences of its depletion, as well as measures to elevate GSH in the CNS and its use in humans. Consideration of how the CNS generates and handles the substrates for GSH synthesis is also addressed with the view in mind that this may provide insights into control and maintenance of intracellular glutathione.
	PMID: 18400456 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Dr. Joe Burrascano Audio Podcast

Check out this free podcast on iTunes. This is a very candid talk by Joe to an audience of MD's. I found it fascinating and learned a few new things. Presented at the American College for the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM). Thanks to Hootan for the tip.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=95954705&id=351890855

FDA Alert - Diflucan (fluconazole) - Long-term, High-dose Use During Pregnancy May Be Associated With Birth Defects

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FDA MedWatch Alert Sent to subscribers of: fluconazole systemic Drug Safety Communication: Diflucan (fluconazole) - Long-term, High-dose Use During Pregnancy May Be Associated With Birth Defects August 3, 2011 Audience: OBGYN, Pharmacy, Infectious Disease. ISSUE: FDA is informing the public that treatment with chronic, high doses (400-800mg/day) of Diflucan (fluconazole) during the first trimester of pregnancy may be associated with a rare and distinct set of birth defects in infants. This risk does not appear to be associated with a single, low dose of fluconazole 150mg to treat vaginal yeast infection (candidiasis). Based on this information, the pregnancy category for fluconazole indications (other than vaginal candidiasis) has been changed from category C to category D. The pregnancy category for a single, low dose of fluconazole has not changed and remains category C. Read more... Get these updates via twitter

Copyright © 2011 Drugs.com. All rights reserved.

Flagyl vs. Tindamax - Bioavailability

I started IV Flagyl today and was researching doses, recommended flow rates, etc. Here's interesting study I just found on the Web. The study compares serum levels of each of these two anti-protozoal drugs over 48-hrs after IV, oral, anal, and vaginal administration. The upshot is that, at least via IV and oral administration, Tindamax has a significantly longer half life.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC184797/pdf/aac00206-0093.pdf

Bob

Fasudil as a Potential Disease Modifying Treatment for Parkinson's

The Michael J. Fox Foundation - Van Andel Research Institute Testing Fasudil as a Potential Disease Modifying Treatment for Parkinson's

13 Most Difficult Diseases to Diagnose

A reader sent this in today. A bit spammy because the blog is about insurance, but the info about the diseases is useful.

Hi Bob,

We would love to share with you an article that we just posted on our own blog! "13 Most Difficult Diseases to Diagnose" is linked below and could be a fun way to share this announcement with your readers.

 (http://www.insurancequotes.org/13-most-difficult-diseases-to-diagnose/)

 It has been a sincere pleasure to read your great content.

Sincerely,

Liz Nutt