THE ROAD TO HEALTH . . .
Using The Clark Method Newsletter
May/June 2004 Number 57
by Bonnie O’Sullivan
TOA-free Cat’s Claw (an herb) for Lyme disease, which is estimated to be a contributing factor in more than 50% of chronically ill people, and Far Infrared Sauna Therapy, which promises to improve the health of 100% of the population of the world without drugs are the two main subjects of this issue.
Part One – Lyme Disease and TOA-Free Cat’s Claw
Excerpts from the Focus Newsletter, October 2003 by Allergy Research Group (www.allergyresearchgroup.com) and Dr. Robert Jay Rowen’s SECOND OPINION, Vol. XIII, No. 12, December 2003 (www.healthherbs/researchreports/8625-newsletter.php)
The Incredible Healing Action of One Simple Herb
Larry Powers won the Mr. America competition in 1962 with a huge Hulk-type frame. But 13 years ago, Larry developed all the signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the diagnosis confirmed it.
Larry received the usual medicines and recently had completed eight years of Sinemet, only to experience gradual worsening, typical of PD’s progressive course. He was spending a fair amount of time in a wheelchair and, at one point, needed assistance to eat. Then he heard about Lyme and it’s connection to Parkinson’s.
Knowing the available tests might convince everyone (but him) that he was negative, even while he might be positive Larry decided to treat himself without testing. Since he couldn’t get antibiotics without a prescription, he decided to try TOA-free Cat’s Claw. Within three weeks, he was out of his wheelchair and fishing for 100-pound tarpon by his Florida home.
This is Bonnie again: When I read the October 2003 issue of the Focus Newsletter by Allergy Research Group, I realized that Sandy very well may have Lyme disease. She tested positive for it in 2001 with a German device similar to Dr. Clark’s Syncrometer. After taking shots from Germany of a homeopathic remedy for Lyme for three months she had a blood test for it in 2002 and the results were, ‘Sandra had Lyme in the past, but she doesn’t have it now.’ When I finished reading the Focus newsletter I had my doubts that the blood test was correct.
Study Shows TOA-Free Cat’s Claw is
Effective In Treating Chronic Lyme Disease
Investigators: William Lee Cowden, M.D., Hamid Moayad, D.O., Joan Vandergriff, N.D., Luis Romero, M.D., Ph.D., Svetlana Ivanova, M.D., Ph.D.
Pilot Study Results
A 6-month pilot study was recently conducted with 28 patients suffering from Advanced Chronic Lyme disease. All the patients tested positive for Lyme disease utilizing the Western Blot blood test for Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. The control group was treated with conventional antibiotic treatment, and at the end of the study, from 14 patients in this group, 3 slightly improved, 3 got worse, and the rest remained with no change in their clinical condition. The experimental group was treated with Pentacyclic Alkaloid Chemotype Uncari tomentosa (TOA-Free Cat’s Claw). At the end of the study, 85% of the patients in this group tested negative for Bb, and all the patients experienced a dramatic improvement in their clinical condition.
The Difference in Cat’s Claw and TOA-Free Cat’s Claw
Pentacyclic Alkaloid Chemotype Uncari tomentosa, also known as TOA-Free Cat’s Claw, is a rare chemo-type of a medicinal plant commonly known as Cat’s Claw, botanical name Uncaria tomentosa. Unlike traditional Cat’s Claw products, this chemotype does not contain a group of chemical antagonists called tetracyclic oxindole alkaloids (TOAs) that act upon the central nervous system and can greatly inhibit the positive effect of the pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids (POAs). The Pentacyclic Alkaloid Chemotype Uncaria tomentosa that was utilized in the study contains a standardized amount of POAs that primarily affect the immune cells responsible for non-specific and cellular immunity, and demonstrates powerful immune system modulating properties. According to research conducted in Austria, traditional Cat’s Claw products may contain as much as 80% TOAs, and as little as 1% TOAs can cause a 30% reduction in immune system modulating properties that POAs provide.
The Three Forms of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) (Lyme Disease)
The latest research on Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) ) (Lyme disease) shows that it exists in at least three different forms: the spirochete, the spheroplast (also known as L-form), and the cyst. During the course of infection, Bb can shift among these three forms, converting from the spirochete form to the others when presented with an unfavorable environment (antibiotics, changes in pH of body fluids in chronic inflammation, etc.), and reverting back to the spirochete form to grow and reproduce upon being released from naturally aging and dying infected cells. It is during the growth period after re-conversion to the spirochete form, as well as in adult spirochete form, that Bb is most vulnerable and susceptible to antibiotics and natural elimination by the body’s immune system.
The severity of Lyme presentation is directly related to the spirochete load: low load results in mild or even asymptomatic (without symptoms) infections. With increased spirochete load from subsequent repeated infections and/or reactivated dormant infections, the severity of the disease increases. Higher loads also impair key cells of the immune system and modify the immune response, thus making the immune system unable to fight the pathogen. The negative effects on the immune system increase the longer the spirochetes are present. To prevail in the effort to fight Lyme disease, it is necessary to not only restore the immune system to normal functioning, but to boost it as well. Even a normal functioning immune system is unable to attack and eliminate Bb in all its forms.
How TOA-Free Chemotype Cat’s Claw Fights Infection
The results of research on TOA-free Chemotype Cat’s Claw demonstrate its powerful immune system modulating and stimulating properties, along with pronounced anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-infectious effects. The diverse spectrum of the biological activities of TOA-free Chemotype Cat’s Claw is due to its biologically active compounds. The pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids (POA’s) contained in this Chemotype are generally accepted as the principal immunomodulating and immunostimulating agents. POAs are actively involved in the repair of many elements and functional mechanisms of both the innate and acquired immunity damaged by Bb and other co-infections, assisting in the restoration of structural and functional integrity of the immune system, enhancing its ability to eliminate the pathogens in a natural way. In addition, this Chemotype contains quinovic acid glycosides — compounds with strong natural antibiotic properties (the latest generations of conventional synthetic antibiotics, Quinolones, are based on quinovic acid glycosides), which further enhance the medicinal effect of TOA-free Chemotype Cat’s Claw in fighting the infection.
Considering the life-span of intracellular forms of Bb equivalent to the life-span of the cells invaded by these forms, they are constantly released into the surrounding environment upon natural cell death and destruction. The release of intracellular forms of Bb is gradual over time due to the various life-spans of various invaded cells. Since about 90% of these forms reside in various cells (including blood cells) which have a life-span of 2-3 weeks to 6-8 months, it may be assumed that within a 6-8 month period, a significant majority of all intracellular forms of Bb will be released into the environment where they can be successfully attacked by a properly functioning immune system and a natural powerful antibiotic.
Taking into account all the above, it can be assumed that continuous use of TOA-free Chemotype Cat’s Claw over a period of time consistent with the life-span of several generations of various infected cells (8-12 months), would more likely result in gradual killing and eliminating of Bb and co-existing infectious pathogens, with subsequent reduction of infectious load in the body and restoration of the person’s health.
Note: To order the Pentacyclic Alkaloid Chemotype Uncaria tomentosa that was utilized in the study, TOA-Free Cat’s Claw, please see page 20.
The History of Lyme Disease
Lyme disease was first recognized in the United States in 1975, following a mysterious outbreak of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis near the community of Lyme, Connecticut. The rural location of the Lyme outbreak and the onset of illness during summer and early fall suggested that the transmission of the disease was by an arthropod vector. In 1982, Willy Burgdorfer discovered the etiologic agent of Lyme disease. Burgdorfer isolated spirochetes belonging to the genus Borrelia from the mid-guts of Ixodes ticks. He showed that these spirochetes reacted with immune serum from patients that had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. Consequently, the lyme spirochete resembling the syphilis spirochete was given the name Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb).
Methods of Lyme Disease Transmission
W.T. Harvey, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., and Patricia Salvato, M.D., of Diversified Medical Practices in Houston, Texas, were puzzled by the high number of patients testing positive for Lyme disease. Many of these patients presented with “established” criteria for Lyme disease, but others did not. The fact that southeastern Texas is a ‘non-endemic’ region, and that many of the patients had no history of erytherma migrans rash, led the doctors to question established methods for Lyme disease consideration. Careful reflection of published research lead them to conclude the following. First, the arthropod is not the exclusive vector of Lyme disease. In addition to ticks, Bb may be carried and transmitted by fleas, mosquitoes, and mites. Second, Lyme disease is not exclusively vector-borne. Compelling evidence supports horizontal (sexual) and vertical (congenital) human-to-human transfer (i.e. breast feeding).
Dormancy and Subsequent Activation Caused by Weakened Immune System
It is believed that years can pass before symptoms appear in a patient who has been infected with Bb. In 1998, a study conducted in Switzerland demonstrated that only 12.5% of the patients that tested positive for Bb developed clinical symptoms confirming that the infection is often asymptomatic. A report from Germany outlines the case of a 12 year-old boy who developed Lyme Arthritis 5 years after being bitten by a tick. The case indicates that the latency period between tick bite and onset of Lyme Arthritis may be as long as 5 years. All asymptomatic carriers of Bb are at risk of developing Lyme disease at some point. Stress, an increasing health concern for physicians worldwide, may have been the trigger that activated Lyme disease in a patient in Sweden, a 26 year-old woman with latent Lyme borreliosis that was concurrently activated with a herpes simplex virus type 1 infection. Immune suppression by stress may have caused activation of both infections.
Number of Cases
Lyme disease is the fastest-growing epidemic in the world. Nick Harris, Ph.D., Director of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), states, “Lyme is grossly under-reported. In the U.S., we probably have about 200,000 cases per year.” Dan Kinderleher, M.D., an expert on Lyme disease, stated on the Today Show on June 10, 2002 that the number of cases may be 100 times higher (18 million in the United States alone) than reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia (180,000 cases).
Ten-Week Study in Fort Worth
Lee Cowden, MD is a Fort Worth cardiologist and one of the most respected names in bioenergetic medicine. He led a small study over 10 weeks on the use of a special type of cat’s claw, TOA-free Cat’s Claw, along with diet, detoxification, and nutrition. His group followed 28 people with documented Lyme disease through conventional antibody testing by Western blot with Igenix Labs. All were ill and “disabled, unemployed, and flat broke from the disease.” All of them had “failed conventional therapy.”
Fourteen of the participants were left as controls, following their regular regime. Of the 14 that were treated, one had to drop out due to an ovarian tumor. Participants were asked to rate their symptoms at the start and at the end of the study on a sliding scale of 1-10, according to published conventional medicine standards. All 13 remaining got better with an average improvement of 70 percent. Cowden added that those who stopped therapy at the end of the study did worsen, but didn’t go back to the debilitating baseline. The worst relapse was still 35 percent better than at the start.
Dr. Cowden describes some specific cases:
One of the participants was 47 and had visited the Mayo Clinic twice, but was sent home with 30 pounds of weight loss and no hope. There were peripheral nervous system complaints; severe muscle and joint pain; brain fog; inability to remember, focus, concentrate; and alterations in mood. Within six to eight weeks, symptoms were 80 percent improved. Oxycontin (a very strong narcotic) use was cut 80 percent and the subject gained back 30 pounds during the study. Another case involved a 17-year-old female who had suffered from Lyme disease since age three. She was home schooled because she was too weak to attend public schools. She needed help with self-care, including dressing, and she used a walker. By the sixth week of the program, she had gone out on her first date, and is currently attending college — on her own!
And here’s the case that encouraged Dr. Cowden to conduct the study: He heard the story of a 17-year-old male who had gone from an A student to failing in just a few months. Symptoms first began as emotional changes, followed by flu-like symptoms, achiness, and fatigue. He was on two antibiotics and herbs without improvement when his grandmother suggested TOA-Free Cat’s Claw. He quickly recovered. His neurologist declared it was a “spontaneous remission,” having nothing to do with the TOA-Free Cat’s Claw, and dared the grandmother to accomplish the same with his other patients. He sent her 58 of his worst and non-improving patients over the next few months. The average improvement under her care was 35 percent.
Initial Signs Often Missed & Frequently Misdiagnosed
Sue Massie (N.D. Candidate) explains in her article, One Woman’s Journey Through Lyme, why her lab results would have been considered negative: “After testing, I only had one band — number 41, which is the “flagellin” (or tail) of the spirochete, specific for Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) bacteria (Lyme), so I would have been told that I was negative. Quite often, patients have to be diagnosed by symptoms alone.
“Lyme disease is not necessarily associated with a ‘bull’s eye rash and sore knees.’ Less than 20% of patients ever see the tick, and less than 30% get the classic bull’s eye rash. Tucking your pants in your shoes or wearing white so you can see ticks does not provide full protection. I was the only one in my family that saw a tick on the back of my hand, and only my one son had a rash (not a bull’s eye, but more like impetigo all over his body). Co-infections are also a big part of Lyme, meaning not only do the tiny ticks infect you with Borrelia bacteria, but there is also possible infection with Babesia, Ehrlichia, Bartonella, mycoplasma, and the conditions of Epstein-Barr and HHV-6 (human herpes-6 virus).”
Fkatrina Tang, M.D., H.M.D., founder and Director of Research at the Sierra Integrative Medicine Clinic in Reno, Nevada, states in her article, Frequently Misdiagnosed, “Lyme disease eludes many doctors because of its ability to mimic many other diseases. According to an informal study conducted by the American Lyme Disease Alliance (ALDA), most patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are actually suffering from Lyme disease. In a study of 31 patients diagnosed with CFS, 28 patients, or 90.3%, were found to be ill as a result of Lyme. Dr. Paul Fink, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, has acknowledged that Lyme disease can contribute to every psychiatric disorder in the Diagnostic Symptoms Manual IV (DSM-IV). This manual is used to diagnose psychiatric conditions such as attention deficit disorder (ADD), antisocial personality, panic attacks, anorexia nervosa, autism and Aspergers syndrome (a form of autism), to name a few. Lyme borreliosis causes, mimics, is manifested as, is misdiagnosed as, or is a contributing factor to many conditions.”
Patricia Kane, Ph.D. states in her article, Detoxifying Lyme, “In our experience, patients with Lyme often suffer for many years without significant response to medical intervention for their illness. The brain fog, joint pain, intense fatigue, poor memory/concentration, and disorientation continue endlessly with course after course of antibiotic therapy.
“In our clinic we begin with an innovative protocol to mobilize and remove Lyme along with co-infections that complicate the patient’s progress. Lyme is a fat-soluble infection (has an affinity for fat cells) that may reside in fatty tissue, the liver, the biliary tree and gallbladder. Hidden in the fatty tissue rather than in blood, testing for Lyme results in negative findings whether PCR, ELISA (IgG, IgM), Lyme Dot Blot, or Reverse Western Blot is utilized. Treatment procedures must be targeted toward removal of deeply embedded infection in the liver, biliary tree and gallbladder.
“We monitor Lyme patients with some basic testing: Chem-28/CBC, BodyBio Red Cell Lipid Analysis, Urinary Neurotransmitters and Dr. Whitaker’s Visual Contrast Test.”
Dr. Joanne Whitaker’s Q-RIBb (Visual Contrast Test) for Lyme Disease
Dr. Whitaker has solved the problem of false negatives in testing for Lyme disease. Bb is difficult to detect by most laboratory methods in use today. Her lab tests for the presence of the bug itself, not just the antibodies. She says her methods also detect the cell wall deficient (CWD) form. Her test is called Q-RIBb for quantitative rapid identification of Bb. The test simply uses an antibody to Lyme derived from animals that’s modified to carry a fluorescent molecule. The antibodies will attach to both the spirochete form and the CWD form and, under the right color, will light up under a microscope. This test not only can detect Lyme directly, but it can do it in only 20 minutes and can tell you how bad the infection is by the number of bugs present.
Furthermore, Dr. Whitaker’s lab also checks for two co-infections associated with tick bites. Babesia is a protozoa organism, like malaria, and infects the red blood cells. Erlichia, a bacterium, is observed in the white blood cells. Fortunately Erlichia is treatable through conventional antibiotics, including the type that treats Bb. It appears that babesia can be eliminated with our old friend artemisinin (100 mg three times daily). Artemisinin was developed as an antimalarial. (To order Artemisinin see page 20.) You can reach Dr. Whitaker’s lab on the Internet at www.bowen.org/lyme_testing.htm or at (727) 937-9077.
Biotoxin-Induced Illness
In the Question and Answer section of the Focus newsletter, Dr. Luis Romero, M.D. states, “Current molecular and clinical toxicology have permitted the introduction of the term ‘Biotoxin-induced illness,’ the most important in this category being Lyme borreliosis, which is a rapidly spreading worldwide epidemic. From the molecular toxicological point of view, as stated by Dr. C. Shoemaker, M.D., and H. Kenneth Hudnell, Ph.D., ‘Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) produces a large suite of biotoxins that have tissue (cells) affinity, mainly neurotoxins with high molecular tropism for lipid (fat) structures, i.e., central nervous system (CNS), peripheral nerves, muscles, joints (synovial fluid composition and joint cartilage), lungs, and many others. Bb’s biotoxins are more cellular than toxemic (bloodstream).’’’
Over 300 Conditions Connected to Lyme
According to the article Hidden Plague, Forget About SARS, Lyme disease is spreading steadily, and some experts say it can elude the standard cure (People Magazine, June 16, 2003). The article tells the story of a patient suffering from Lyme disease who was misdiagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), an incurable disease that is fatal within 5 years of onset.
Dr. Whitaker states that nearly every patient she has tested who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease has tested positive for Bb. Professor Luis Romero, M.D., Ph.D., reports three patients that had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease years ago to be 99% reversed using Pentacyclic Alkaloid Chemotype Uncaria tomentosa (TOA-free Cat’s Claw).
Editor’s note: This study was conducted because benefits were found using TOA-free Cat’s Claw alone. However, according to the authors, other supportive measures were of benefit including; metabolic diet, pH balancing, and various forms of detoxification (coffee enemas, colonics and saunas).
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