Friday, December 15, 2006

CFS Treatment validated by my internist (Post 6)

Remember that this is juat a post of my blog, and it evolves, so to see the full story go to: www.pochoams.blogspot.com (English) or www.sfc-tratamiento.blogspot.com (Spanish)
My current doc: Josepa Rigau Av Catalunya, 12, 3º, 1ª 43002 Tarragona Spain +34977220358 (I do recommend! hoeopathy and biological medicine, significant improvement)
My previous docs: De Meirleir (www.redlabs.be), Dra Quintana (CMD), (Lots of medication, antibiotics etc... no significant improvement)

I just came to see Dr. Garcia Quintana in Barcelona to get a second opinion for the treatment I received from Kenny De Meirleir.

The reasons for this were two. On one hand She is my doctor that has been treating me for the last year, and on the other hand I wanted an expert opinion to validate the treatment proposed. Her opinion was in favor to follow those medications, because all of them make sense in my specific case, therefore I will.

I told her about the skepticism that I found from my house doctor in Amsterdam, who did not want to be held responsible for the treatment, and only gave me prescription for Zenitrex, which is the antiviral proposed by De Meirleir due to my active Epstein Barr Virus through PCR. In Holland doctors are very conservative and are often bound by rules of their practice, the local community and the law. In all medical publications, CBT is still the only effective treatment mentioned and the family doctors only act within what they know, they themselves are not researchers.

The EBV test did get me the Zelitrex, but for the rest there is no clear evidence in his view. The reasons my house doctor argued against this treatment were that Colitofalk is prescribed for severe cases of Crohn disease or colon disease that have not been reflected in my colonoscopy. My internist in Barcelona explained that the undigested protein shows that there is inflammation in my intestines, which cannot be seen through a colonoscopy, because it is actually the thin intestine that suffers from inflammation and bacteria overgrowth in CFS.

As for the L- Glutathione and the Vitamin C and B-12, my internist tells me that this is the same as the cocktail I take of Acetylcisteine with Vitamin C plus injections of Vitamin B12. Basically Acetylcisteine becomes Glutathione after digested, therefore She told me to skip the cocktail and stick to this format.

As for the Zelitrex, She tells me that is meant for Herpes virus, but not specifically for Epstein Barr, but She guess that the doses he is prescribing is high, and that could have a positive effect on Epstein Barr. She explains that with this illness it we have to think out of the box, because only like that we can expect reaction on the body of an immune compromised person, such as CFS patients. There is are studies that Zelitrex at high doses improve the symptoms of EBV, but more research has to be done. She agrees to give it a go.

As for Gabbroral and VLS-3, She says that is a mix of intestinal antibiotics and probiotics, and therefore is a safe combination. She did treat me with Zithromax in the past and my elastase decreased significantly since then. Elastase is a proteolytic enzyme participating in the inflammatory response.

In conclusion:

I will order the rest of the medicines in order to start treatment as soon as possible. My internist in Barcelona agreed with the treatment, but disagreed on such positive prognosis that I will heal completely, in the sense that immune conditions can be controlled and improved, but not cured because they have a genetic base. Well If I do control it and have quality of life is good enough for me... Will keep you posted how do I evolve with the treatment...