28 Nov 2007
“Men who have excessive faith in their theories or ideas are not only ill prepared for making discoveries; they also make very poor observations. Of necessity, they observe with a preconceived idea, and when they devise an experiment, they can see, in its results, only a confirmation of their theory. In this way they distort observation and often neglect very important facts because they do not further their aim…”
–Claude Bernard, An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine
I’ve been on the Marshall Protocol since May of 2005. Before I began the MP, I remember reading through the documentation and thinking, “You know, this makes a lot of sense to me. I could really see how this could work.”
What follows are ten reasons why the MP made sense to me. Those of you who have other thoughts about why the MP “just makes sense” are encouraged to share your insights by posting a comment at the end of this piece. You must click on the title of the piece for the comment box to appear.
Every major disease to befall mankind has, in the end, been linked to a pathogen. Whereas centuries ago doctors who treated patients with leeches and bloodletting wondered about the cause of tuberculosis, polio, syphilis, leprosy, even the plague - it wasn’t long before these diseases were linked to bacteria.
Now, we find ourselves in the midst of a new epidemic of chronic disease in which millions of people are suffering from ailments that mainstream medicine still insists to be of unknown cause. Is it possible that this community has underestimated the ability of bacteria to cause other diseases? That would be an understatement.
Just a month ago, NASA announced that the results of a study which demonstrated that the so-called sterile clean rooms in which they assemble spacecraft and prepare them for launch are actually filled with a diversity of hardy bacteria.[1]
Why were the bacteria not previously detected? Because according to Dr. Venkateswaran who ran the study, the bacterial species had never before been cultivated in a medium in which they were actually able to grow.
It was only after Venkateswaran and team used a powerful molecular detection mechanism known as ribosomal RNA gene sequence analysis, that they were able to detect myriad bacterial species in the rooms previously touted as “sterile.”
In fact, according to the study, samples taken from clean rooms at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida, and the Johnson Space Center in Houston revealed the presence of almost 100 types of bacteria, about 45 percent of which were previously unknown to science. The findings were a major wake-up call for NASA, an agency now forced to wonder exactly how many unknown pathogens have been taken to the moon and Mars.
Similarly, it’s clearly overreaching for doctors and researchers to think that we have come to appreciate the full extent to which bacteria drive illness. How could any physician actually believe that the discovery of penicillin and other antibiotics has forever stopped bacteria in their tracks? Especially when an increasing number of studies are showing that most of the bacteria in our environment have yet to be named and detected?
“It has been estimated that only 0.4% of all extant bacterial species have been identified. Does this remarkable lack of knowledge pertain to the subset of microorganisms both capable and accomplished in causing human disease?” asks Dave Relman, PhD, of Stanford University.[2] Yes, argues the assistant professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology, and those of us familiar with the Marshall Protocol know that he is absolutely right.
Of course every physician will admit that a virtually endless number of bacteria thrive in the human body. Yet few of them pause to wonder what all these pathogens are capable of doing. “Most of the cells in your body are not your own, nor are they even human,” argues Rowan Hooper of Wired Magazine. “They are bacterial. From the invisible strands of fungi waiting to sprout between our toes, to the kilogram of bacterial matter in our guts, we are best viewed as walking ‘superorganisms,’ highly complex conglomerations of human cells, bacteria, fungi and viruses.”
But for decades, the medical community has assured us that these bacteria are commensal, sharing our food but doing no real harm. It’s wishful thinking. In a world where predators dominate the circle of life, isn’t it rather odd to assume that the trillions of bacteria that invade and persist in our bodies are all microscopic Buddhas, intent on living harmoniously inside their host? Surely as people begin to age and the species of bacteria in the body begin to shift, many, if not the majority, of these bacteria have their own interest in mind.
In 1895, scientists first observed that classical forms of bacteria are capable of transforming into smaller forms that lack cell walls. Since that time, these pathogens have been repeatedly grown under specific laboratory conditions and at the moment are easily visualized under the electron microscope.
So much information has been gathered about these pathogens– the way they grow, reproduce, move, change shape, how they can be cultured– that researchers such as Lida Mattman and Gerald Domingue have published entire textbooks that detail how L-form bacteria persist in the tissues and change form during different stages of their lifecycles. These textbooks and as well as many of the hundreds of papers published on L-form are filled with pictures clearly showing the persistent pathogens in the tissues of people with nearly every disease that the MP can potentially treat. If seeing is believing, then what more proof do we need?
L-form bacteria would get more scholarly ink were it not for a single factor: they don’t grow in a standard Petri dish using the usual culture methods. L-form bacteria must be grown at different temperatures than classical bacterial forms and in mediums such as blood agar. Since the vast majority of mainstream researchers have failed to familiarize themselves with these laboratory techniques it’s no wonder that most doctors are oblivious to the bacteria making their patients sick.
“Features of a number of important but poorly explained human clinical syndromes strongly indicate a microbial etiology,” states Relman. “In these syndromes, the failure of cultivation-dependent microbial detection methods reveals our ignorance of microbial growth requirements.”
At the beginning of the 20th century German scientist Paul Ehrlich proposed the concept of “horror autotoxicus”, wherein a “normal” body does not mount an immune response against its own tissues. Soon, researchers began to hypothesize that inflammatory disease might stem from the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as “self”, resulting in an immune response against its own cells and tissues.
The “autoimmune disease” article on Wikipedia lists seven different theories that try to explain what might cause the immune system to supposedly lose control - all of which are quite complicated, and all of which are supported by little evidence at the molecular level.
Some researchers favor the Clonal Deletion Theory, in which self-reactive lymphoid cells are destroyed during the development of the immune system. Others back the Clonal Anergy Theory, insisting that self-reactive T- or B-cells become inactivated in the normal individual and thus cannot amplify the immune response. Then, there is the Idiotype Network theory, wherein a network of antibodies capable of neutralizing self-reactive antibodies exists naturally within the body. And don’t forget the Clonal Ignorance theory, the Supressor Population theory, or the Regulatory T-cell theory.
These and other suspiciously complex explanations can’t help but invoke Occam’s Razor which states that in the absence of other factors the simplest explanation is usually the right one. Why then, is it so hard to appreciate that inflammatory diseases are the result of infection?
“Why would the human body, which has evolved so elegantly over the course of millions of years retain such a debilitating flaw?”Surely the actual mechanisms behind “autoimmune disease” also remain elusive because when it comes down to it, the concept makes little sense. Could it really be possible that the millions of people who suffer from “autoimmune disease” all have immune systems that have turned against them? Why would the human body, which has evolved so elegantly over the course of millions of years retain such a debilitating flaw? Evolutionarily speaking, since the immune system is such a vitally important part of survival, the genes of those people who lost the ability to differentiate “self” from “non-self” should have been eliminated by natural selection long ago. There is simply no parallel for a long-standing trait that puts humans at such a profound reproductive disadvantage.
Central to the concept of autoimmune disease is the presence of an inflammatory response that results when the immune system secretes cytokines, or proteins that cause pain and fatigue. But what triggers this cytokine release? Doesn’t it make sense that something is provoking the immune system? Perhaps….a pathogen? Since it’s universally accepted that bacteria cause the release of cytokines during acute infection, why wouldn’t they cause the inflammation seen in patients with chronic disease? “The epidemiologic, clinical, and pathologic features of many chronic inflammatory diseases are consistent with a microbial cause,” states the CDC.[3]
Modern medicine’s understanding of the body as a series of discrete systems blinds the profession to the nature of bacterial infections, which knows nothing of such categories. If doctors were ever to fully embrace the overlap of symptoms and diagnoses - the fact that sarcoidosis patients have dyslexia, and fibromyalgia patients have gastrointestinal problems - it would be all too clear that chronically ill patients are suffering from system wide dysfunction which is best explained by infection.
“But specialists have trouble recognizing the systemic nature of chronic symptoms.”But specialists have trouble recognizing the systemic nature of chronic symptoms. Most pulmonologists will tell you that sarcoidosis is only a lung disease, when in fact, many patients with the illness actually find other symptoms to be more of a problem than those in the lungs. “Funnily enough, I never had much in the way of lung symptoms, yet most doctors think of sarcoidosis just as a lung disease,” states Julia Greer, an MP patient with sarcoidosis.
It’s almost as if, as the classic analogy goes, these doctors are all blindfolded, yet still trying to figure out the nature of something that’s right in front of their faces. One feels a tusk, another rough skin. Others feel large toenails or giant ears – yet all of them remain focused only on the small area they can physically examine. Take off your blindfolds, doctors – it’s an elephant, and by that I mean an infection.
This analogy essentially applies to most diseases of “unknown cause” which the medical community has labeled with an array of different names, but, in reality, all result from the same pathogenesis - namely infection with different species of L-form bacteria, biofilm bacteria, and other treatment resistant, hard-to-detect “persisters”. Once the immune system is weakened by these bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa can also thrive.
People’s symptoms arise from the unique mix of pathogens they collect over a lifetime, meaning that no two people are alike. Surely this explains why most people who end up at the doctor’s office have symptoms that could be attributed to multiple conditions. What name you give these symptoms doesn’t really matter. “The fact that some conditions are not currently diagnosed as illness doesn’t matter either,” says Marshall.
Researchers at McGill University have compiled two lists of genes transcribed by the Vitamin D Receptor including 913 genes on the confirmed list and over 20,000 on the putative list. As this list implies, the VDR plays an undeniably fundamental role in the body.
But the role of the VDR doesn’t stop at gene transcription. It also controls the activity of the innate immune system and the production of many of the antimicrobial peptides - peptides that kill bacteria, viruses, and fungae by a variety of mechanisms including disrupting membranes, interfering with metabolism, and targeting components of the machinery inside the cell.
Thus, if the Vitamin D Receptor is not functioning correctly, it’s no stretch to think that dysfunction will occur. First, the expression of thousands of genes is thwarted. Then, the innate immune system slows down. And finally, production of the AMPs decreases – meaning that bacteria in the body find it exceptionally easy to spread.
Marshall points to a 2007 paper showing that a species of gliding bacteria creates a substance that is able to bind the VDR and slow its activity. Eureka! This discovery strongly suggests that other pathogens can create similar substances, each of which can potentially block the VDR and diminish its ability keep bacteria in check. “There is now proof of concept that bacterial genomes are capable of producing at least one ligand which acts as a strong VDR antagonist,” says Marshall.
“What an exceptionally logical survival mechanism for any form of pathogen.”What an exceptionally logical survival mechanism for any form of pathogen. By creating one single substance to block the VDR, they can, in a knockout blow, disable the receptor that would otherwise activate numerous pathways to interfere with their ability to persist in the body.
“Think about it for a minute,” says Marshall. “If you were a persistent pathogen, wouldn’t it seem a good idea to disable your host’s ability to produce the antimicrobial peptides? And if you discovered that disabling just one receptor, the VDR, would get rid of [many types of AMPs], wouldn’t you try to evolve a mechanism for doing that?”
Thus, many of the bacteria we harbor have hit the nail on the head. Take control of the VDR and other vital receptors and it’s suddenly easy to disrupt the body’s delicate state of homeostasis.
One would also look at the ability of L-form bacteria to live inside the cells of the immune system that are supposed to render them dead, or persist inside biofilms – protective protein matrixes that once again protect them from the effects of standard antibiotic therapy as exceptionally logical survival mechnisms. According to the Centers for Disease Contol and Prevention, ”Biofilms, or microbial communities that behave like biofilms, represent potential, unrecognized stages in the pathways from infectious agent exposure to chronic disease.”[3]
The contradicting studies released year after year about autoimmune disease, the failure of researchers in the field of genetics, who have been given billions of dollars in grant money, to create even one effective form of gene therapy, the ever greater number of patients who are referred from doctor to doctor without receiving an accurate diagnosis, the fact that patients given vitamin D fail to show long-term improvement – all suggest that most members of the medical community are caught in a cascade of mistaken consensus.
“We like to think that people improve their judgment by putting their minds together, and sometimes they do,” says John Tierney of the New York Times. “The studio audience at ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ usually votes for the right answer. But suppose, instead of the audience members voting silently in unison, they voted out loud one after another. And suppose the first person gets it wrong.”
If the second person isn’t sure of the answer, he’s liable to go along with the first person’s guess. By then, even if the third person suspects another answer is right, she’s more liable to go along just because she assumes the first two together know more than she does. Thus begins an “informational cascade” as one person after another assumes that the rest can’t all be wrong.
“Cascades are especially common in medicine.”“Cascades are especially common in medicine”, explains Tierney. Doctors unable to keep up with the volume of research take their cues from others and look for guidance from experts — or at least someone who sounds confident.This happens more than one might think.
One recent example is the cascade that led researchers to conclude that a relationship exists between dietary fat and heart disease when in reality, as Pulitzer prize winning author Gary Taubes explains in his book “Good Calories, Bad Calories”, the theory that low-fat diets afford protection against coronary heart disease has been repeatedly overturned in clinical trials.
Taubes describes how, in the case of dietary fat and heart disease, the NIH hosted a series of “consensus conferences” that officially put an end to decades of debate on the issue. Researchers who did not agree with the theory were simply not invited and ostracized to the sidelines. “The NIH Conference officially gave the appearance of unanimity where no unanimity existed,” states Taubes. “After all, if there had been a true consensus, you wouldn’t have had to have a consensus conference.”
This brings to mind the recent 2007 NIH conference “Vitamin D and Health in the 21st Century” where the only people invited to speak at the gathering were those who have spoken favorably about Vitamin D supplementation. Rather than inviting Dr. Marshall to chair the session “Potential Adverse Outcomes of Vitamin D”, the slot was given to Professor Reinhold Vieth, one of the most zealous and outspoken proponents of the notion that the public should consume huge amounts of extra vitamin D.
“The presence of the immunopathological reaction is proof positive that the body is indeed killing bacteria.”Naturally, other doctors and researchers are taking their cues from Vieth and the other “consensus” conference participants, rendering them oblivious to the actual controversy surrounding vitamin D. These and other similar accounts are proof positive that when researchers and doctors get caught up in cascades even large groups of intelligent people can turn out to be wrong.
It’s also only natural that those researchers caught up in the cascades surrounding autoimmune disease, genetic predisposition, and vitamin D are reluctant to take note of the novel concepts put forth by Marshall and other researchers stressing the importance of bacteria and the VDR in chronic disease. As Atle Selberg, winner of the 1950 Fields Medal in mathematics once stated, “The thing is, it’s very dangerous to have a fixed idea. A person with a fixed idea will always find some way of convincing himself in the end that he is right.”
When patients with CFS, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease and some other chronic conditions complain of pain and fatigue they are all too often told their illness is psychosomatic. This diagnosis has no greater explanatory power than saying such a person is a witch and inhabited by sinister spirits. Is it not the height of ridiculousness that the mind would ever conspire to simulate a real illness?
Has the psychosomatic diagnosis ever made any sense? It’s against human nature and contrary to the survival of the species for the mind to create the sensation of symptoms in instances where there is apparently nothing wrong with the body. Yet, over and over again, we hear stories of people who are repeatedly diagnosed with psychosomatic illness after seeing multiple doctors.
Greatly ironic is the fact that those researchers who truly understand fibromyalgia, CFS and Lyme disease argue that patients with these illnesses often experience more physical debilitation than patients with diseases consistently recognized as real.
A study published recently in the International Journal of Clinical Practice found that patients with fibromyalgia had a greater overall health burden than people with specific conditions generally considered debilitating.[4]
Similarly, according to Dr. William Reeves, the lead expert on CFS at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “People with CFS are as sick and as functionally impaired as someone with AIDS, with breast cancer, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”[5] In fact, researchers at DePaul University in Chicago found that the mean age at which patients with CFS die from cancer is considerably younger than that of the general population.[6]
It’s time to accept the obvious. Nobody would go to a doctor unless they were feeling real physical symptoms. Nobody would pay the extravagant fees for multiple doctor visits unless they were seriously sick. And few people would complain of symptoms to their friends and family unless something was seriously wrong. Nobody wants to be seen as the person who never feels like doing anything. Attention is great, but only when it comes from your Dad, or your sister, or your co-workers – not from a dubious doctor. Who needs that kind of abuse?
The psychosomatic diagnosis is the perfect group hug of laziness, ignorance, and hubris. Patients on the receiving end of the diagnosis are essentially being told, “I cannot explain your symptoms, so I’m blaming you for them.” It’s only logical to suspect that those unfortunate people who are told that severe physical symptoms are “all in their heads” are suffering from chronic bacterial infections - infections with pathogens that their doctors have no idea how to culture or identify.
Vitamin D is not a vitamin. Any molecular biologist will state with confidence that it is actually a potent secosteroid and transcriptional activator that controls the activity of the Vitamin D Receptor. This understanding has been seemingly lost to all those clinicians who, picturing vitamin D as a nutrient, unreservedly recommend the addition of the substance to our diets, from pre-natal vitamins right through to the end of life – adhering to a model no more sophisticated than “vitamin in, benefit out.”
In fact, the actions of the various forms of vitamin D are so complex that the vast majority of vitamin D “experts” are missing important chunks of the actual picture. These “experts” incorrectly attribute grandiose healing properties to vitamin D. Yet one must ask, in their view, what exactly is “vitamin” D doing in the body?
Most understand that the activated form of vitamin D (1,25-D) controls the transcription of thousands of genes. Yet these researchers still remain completely unaware of the molecular models showing that high levels of the precursor form of vitamin D (25-D) obtained from supplements and excess sun exposure (which is an immunosuppressive secosteroid) thwarts the entire transcription process.
In an article on a Canadian health website John Jacob Cannell, head of the Vitamin D Council, an agency that advocates high levels of vitamin D supplementation states, “There is no better anti-cancer agent than activated vitamin D. I mean, it does everything you’d want.” Everything you’d want? Does he have a model to support that statement?
The reality is that these “experts” will never be able to put forth an accurate model of vitamin D’s purely “beneficial” actions because they don’t appreciate the fundamental properties of the substance they are dealing with, nor the underlying bacterial cause of symptoms in patients with chronic disease. In contrast, Marshall has precise molecular models detailing exactly what receptors and substances vitamin D affects in the body – models now backed up by a substantial amount of clinical evidence. Hmm…who to believe?
Of course uttering a collective “whoops” will not come easily to these “experts.” After all, as Mark Nathan Cohen states in Health and the Rise of Civilization, “A colleague once defined an academic discipline as a group of scholars who had agreed not to ask certain embarrassing questions about key assumptions.”
If the claims made by vitamin D “experts” are correct, and the idea of “autoimmune disease” is correct, then why is the rate of chronic disease increasing as we add an ever-greater amount of vitamin D to the food supply and doctors continue to treat their patients with immunosuppressive drugs?
A team of researchers at John Hopkins University released a statement saying that if people keep gaining weight at the current rate, 75 percent of U.S. adults and 24 percent of U.S. children will be overweight or obese by 2015. Similarly, according to the CDC, seven of every 10 Americans who die each year, or more than 1.7 million people, die of a chronic disease.
“The difference is that over the past few decades the rate of chronic disease has escalated to the point where we are now in the midst of a literal epidemic.”Researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio found that almost 9% of American Children meet DSM-IV criteria for ADHD. The Center for Disease Control and prevention now estimates that 2.54% of persons 18 to 59 years of age suffer from CFS. The number of American children and adolescents treated for bipolar disorder increased 40-fold from 1994 to 2003. The list goes on and on….
Chronic diseases have been around for centuries. Shakespeare and Beethoven are rumored to have suffered from chronic symptoms resembling those of sarcoidosis or CFS. Even the neolithic Iceman, who, a decade ago was found embedded in ice, is thought to have suffered from arteriosclerosis, a stroke, and arthritis. The difference is that over the past few decades the rate of chronic disease has escalated to the point where we are now in the midst of a literal epidemic.
Is it merely a coincidence that during the 20th century we have:
1. Added vitamin D to the food chain – to the point where today not just milk but butters, orange juice, cereals, grain and pasta products, cheeses and soy milk are all fortified with the secosteroid.
2. Started to routinely give patients anti-inflammatory drugs, ranging from over the counter anti-pyretics and anti-histamines, to prescription steroids, such as prednisone, in order to suppress what is incorrectly regarded as inflammatory response by an immune system that has lost control (e.g autoimmune disease).
3. Have started to equate tanned skin with beauty – meaning that excessive sun exposure at the beach and the use of tanning beds has become commonplace.
4. Frequently administered the beta-lactam antibiotics such as penicillin, which kill most classical forms of bacteria during acute infection but cause the formation of L-form bacteria in the process.
Surely these factors offer a plausible explanation for why the rate of chronic disease has skyrocketed.
Since a boatload of evidence suggests that diseases of “unknown cause” are infectious, any effective treatment would kill the microbes causing such an illness. In sufficient numbers, bacteria that die generate an immunopathological reaction. This reaction is unavoidable, and it is the hallmark of the MP.
Immunopathology occurs because after bacteria die, the associated release of toxins and cellular debris occurs faster than the body can process them via the kidneys and liver. Bacterial death is also accompanied by the release of cytokines – proteins that cause pain and fatigue. All of the above cause a temporary rise in diseases symptoms.
The existence of this reaction has been noted decades before the creation of the MP. Both Adolf Jarisch, an Austrian dermatologist, and Karl Herxheimer, a German dermatologist, are credited with the discovery of how the immune system reacts to bacterial death.
Jarisch noticed that patients with syphilis experienced unexpected worsening of skin lesions after being treated with mercury (which has antibacterial properties). His patients also experienced fever, nausea, and vomiting. The reaction lasted several days, but was almost always followed by resolution of the skin lesions.
Patients on the MP use a combination of Benicar and pulsed, low-dose antibiotics to elicit bacterial death. Because, like Jarisch’s syphilis patients, people on the MP note an increase in symptoms once they have started medication, the presence of the immunopathological reaction is proof positive that the body is indeed killing bacteria – which in turn means that bacteria are undoubtedly driving the disease process in the first place.
A devil’s advocate would be hard-pressed to explain MP patients’ consistent immunopathology in any other way. After all, both Benicar and the antibiotics used by the MP have excellent safety profiles, so rises in symptoms can seldom, if ever, be attributed to the side effects of these medications.
Just as one might suspect, patients who increase their antibiotics find that their symptoms return with increased severity. Similarly, taking lower doses of antibiotics, which decreases the number of bacteria being killed, results in a reduction in symptoms.
In fact, since each MP antibiotic targets different species of bacteria, patients can often switch from one antibiotic to the next in order to elicit different symptoms.
Nothing but calculated and controllable bacterial death can explain the above reactions. And, nothing but the absence of bacterial death can explain why when patients who complete the MP - who are taking just as much Benicar as the day they started, along with the highest dose of antibiotics allowed by the treatment - find that the medications no longer elicit immunopathology. Why? Because all their bacteria have been killed - a reality backed up by the fact that their symptoms have resolved.
25 Responses for "Why the Marshall Protocol makes sense"
Before discovering the MP over 3 years ago, my wife Carol was taking massive doses of antibiotics consistent with The Road Back’s approach to these diseases. She always believed that bacteria were responsible for her RA, and The Road Back was the only game in town that supported this belief.
She took pills, shots, and IV,s of various antibiotics, including minicycline, in massive quantities to kill these bacteria, but never once experienced an immunopathologic response. Then she discovered the MP.
After taking Benicar for a week, we were ready for her to take her first small dose of 25 mg of minocycline. Needless to say, we were not expecting too much from such a small dose, especially after the massive quantities she took under The Road Back approach. Her reaction was strong and immediate. She was on the couch for a week! We were estatic. Nothing has convinced us of the validity of the MP more than this first IP reaction. Since then every event she has experienced on the MP has been predicted by the MP! Enough said.
The MP absolutely gives a workable perspective to this new paradigm of chronic disease. None the less, like in the older days of Newton and Einstein, just because you have the equations to fly you to the moon doesn’t guarantee you’re going to get there. There is a great American proverb, —- Happens. On a more positive note, at least some of us will make it. Humans are fierce and strong and will always find a way. At least now, there is a way.
Hi Amy…….this looks interesting. I have printed it to make reading easier.
Can you tell me why lines are drawn through a lot of print on these pages? (I didn’t know that Word could do that.)
Keep up the good work………Sharon
Hi Sharon,
You shouldn’t be using Word to print this article. Try clicking on the individual article and the print this post icon.
Paul
Dear Amy and Paul,
it makes hell of a sense to me.
I have a question for you, do you think sooner or later Prof. Trevor Marshall, PhD. will get the Nobel price for his discoveries? And, do you think that he will be able during his life to convince all the “mainstream medicine” that what they are doing (vit. D food fortification, unknown causes of autoimmune disseases, use of corticoid steroids etc.)is wrong ???
Thanks for another excellent article.
Kindly yours,
Petr Dymacek
P.S. One more comment :o) Don’t you think that to this sentence: “The findings were a major wake-up call for NASA, an agency now forced to wonder exactly how many unknown pathogens have been taken to the moon and Mars”, should be added: “and from the Moon and Mars…”?
Hi Petr,
Glad you agree that what I wrote about makes sense! I personally feel that Dr. Marshall should definitely win the Nobel Prize – in my opinion he should probably win it several times over (if that were possible!) because of all the separate discoveries that he integrated in order to create the MP and also the vast amount of people his research will affect. Maybe he should even win the Nobel for economics considering how much money countries will save when people with chronic diseases can be treated and don’t need to be supported by the government etc, and that includes the elderly. I feel that the MP can do wonders for the current healthcare/insurance crisis in the US.
I hope that mainstream medicine takes the same view as me. I actually feel that they will (probably just one Nobel though!). As for how long it will take before he is recognized, that is a difficult question. Ten years, maybe 20? But I feel that things are picking up speed – he has a paper about vitamin D appearing in the prestigious journal BioEssays in February which should shake things up, and then his session at the next Autoimmunity Conference should get another very large group of scientists thinking.
Then again what may cause acceptance of Marshall’s research to evolve at the fastest pace may be the ever increasing number of patients who demand that mainstream medicine acknowledge these findings. With each new MP patient often comes a new doctor and slowly, as word spreads, more and more doctors will discover that their patients are able to recover and hopefully speak out as well.
Best,
Amy
PS You’re right! Who knows..maybe we have picked up undetected bacteria from Mars or the Moon…should make things interesting down the road if that proves to be true!
Im in the United Kingdom and was first diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoid in 1998, many symptoms I suffer have been discounted as being related to sarcoid eg night sweats, memory loss, my lungs are now badly scarred. I changed my consultant 2 years ago now but the consensus of opinion is that the damage is done with no hope of improvement and that the only treatment available for the future will be more steroids.
how do I get onto the MP in the UK ? how do I get my consultant to consider this?
Hi Dave,
I’m so sorry to hear that your doctors have discounted the severity of your disease. But now that you have found the Marshall Protocol there is absolutely hope for the future. This is a curative treatment. Sarcoidosis is caused by mutated bacteria that have lost their cell walls and are able to live undetected inside the cells of the immune system. The Marshall Protocol will allow you to kill these bacteria, and you will end up as healthy as anyone else out there - no more steroids, thankfully!
Patients who do the MP find a doctor in their area that is willing to prescribe the MP medications. Then they are encouraged to post on the Marshall Protocol study site (www.marshallprotocol.com) every week where their progress is monitored free of charge by nurse moderators. So all you need to do is convince you consultant to give you the MP medications, or if he/she won’t do it, you may have to look for another doctor.
However let’s hope you can convince your consultant. The first thing I recommend is to become as familiar as possible with the treatment and the science that creates the backbone of the treatment so that you can eloquently explain it to your doctor and make a convincing case for needing the medicines. To that end, I’d try to read all the information on this site as well as information on the Marshall Protocol study site. This forum is a good place to start:
http://www.marshallprotocol.com/forum2/
If you have any questions/concerns during your reading, you can post them on the following website:
http://www.curemyth1.org (Th1 refers to diseases caused by L-form bacteria, hence the name Cure My Th1). The site is moderated by experienced patient advocates who answer questions free of charge. They can also give you further suggestions about how to convince your consultant to prescribe the MP meds and provide you with documents to present to your doctor.
Personally, I think it would be helpful to show you consultant the following list of published papers and presentations by Dr. Marshall.
http://www.trevormarshall.com/papers.htm
I would also show him/her the Marshall Protocol Phase 1 guidelines which explain the treatment in great detail.
http://www.marshallprotocol.com/forum2/2275.html
(you must click on the first link once you get to the above webpage)
Finally, if your consultant won’t cooperate, you can request a list of doctor who administer the Marshall Protocol in your area at this link:
http://www.marshallprotocol.com/forum11/9355.html
Hope this helps and continue to post at http://www.curemyth1.org for further guidance.
Best,
Amy
Great Job Amy
I have been looking for a way to help explain the MP to family and friends and i love your site and all your hard work (been on MP since feb 2005)
great job!
tom
I found your website when I was looking for MP doctors in my area. You seem very knowledgeable about he MP and I am hoping you can give me some information about it.
The number one thing I am wondering is: why is the diet necessary? The dietary restrictions don’t make sense to me, because in no other case (that I know of, as a former health care professional) do antibiotics only work if a special diet is followed (aside from some medicines which require avoiding certain foods because of their interactions with the medicines, not with the bacteria.)
It seems to me that if the drugs will kill the bacteria, they will kill the bacteria regardless of what I eat. Someone on the MP explained to me that the antibiotics will only work if the bacteria are weakened by Vitamin D deprivation, but that just does not make sense to me.
The idea that CFIDS could be caused by these pathogens DOES make sense to me and I am eager to try the medication protocol, but the dietary restrictions just don’t make sense.
Hi Priscilla,
It is important to follow the MP dietary guidelines for several different reasons. First off you may want to read my article “Diet and disease:eating for health” which explains the reasons behind many of the MP dietary guidelines. Here’s a link to the article.
http://bacteriality.com/2007/10/02/diet/
It is very important to avoid vitamin D, but your friend who told you that L-form bacteria become weak if they don’t get vitamin D is totally wrong. The reason we avoid vitamin D while on the MP is because of its effects on the immune system, not on bacteria. The form of vitamin D derived from foods and supplements is called 25-D. Dr. Marshall’s molecular modeling research, as well as the work of other scientists, has shown that this form of vitamin D is immunosuppressive. In our bodies, a receptor called the Vitamin D Receptor controls the activity of thousands of genes as well as the activity of the innate immune system. Unfortunately, 25-D binds the receptor and turns it off. So people on the MP avoid vitamin D so that their immune systems are able to work as well as possible. If vitamin D is turning off the Vitamin D Receptor the immune system simply doesn’t have the strength to kill L-form bacteria. I would recommend reading the following article about vitamin D so that you get a better understanding of how it affects the immune system. Remember that the MP antibiotics can only weaken L-form bacteria and that it is a person’s own immune system that must have the strength to finally kill them.
http://bacteriality.com/2007/09/15/vitamind/#3
Folic acid is a substance that L-form bacteria use to their own advantage. An enzyme called DiHydro-Folate Reductase (DHFR), converts folic acid into a form that the body can use to produce the nucleic acids essential for life. Nucleic acids are building blocks that our bodies use to create DNA. However, if a person consumes too much folic acid, L-form bacteria will use it to generate their own nucleic acids and replicate and create their own DNA. That’s why people on the MP eat only the folic acid in natural foods and not foods that have been artificially supplemented with folic acid. The extra folic acid in these products would likely help their bacteria rather then them.
The MP recommends a low-carb diet. You don’t have to eat low-carb if you don’t want to, but people who eat low carb seem to kill bacteria at a greater rate.
This is because our bodies use carbohydrates as a source of energy, but carbohydrates are also a source of fuel for L-form bacteria. The body breaks down both carbohydrates and sugar into the exact same sugar molecules, so a diet high in carbohydrates will produce the same fuel for bacteria as a diet high in refined sugar.
The human body extracts the nutrients in food through a biological process known as the Krebs Cycle. The Krebs Cycle is part of a metabolic pathway that converts carbohydrates, fats and proteins into a form of energy that can be used by the body. The cycle uses sugar to generate molecules of NADPH, which humans are able to use as a source of energy. But bacteria such as Borrelia, Treponema, and possibly other bacteria, do not have proteins in their genomes that allow them to use NADPH as an energy source. Instead, they obtain energy directly from sugar. This means that while humans must wait until sugar is broken down in order to put it to use, some bacteria can use it right away. Consequently, extra sugar inevitably ends up benefiting the pathogen rather than the host.
But because of the power of the antibiotics and Benicar you will still kill bacteria even if you arn’t avoiding carbs. It’s just that most people don’t like the feeling of feeding the organisms they are trying to kill.
Hope this helps…and remember if you have any other questions or concerns about the MP the patient advocates at http://www.curemyth1.org will answer them free of charge. Th1 refers to diseases caused by L-form bacteria, hence the name Cure My Th1.
In the meantime, I am so glad you are eager to try the MP! You’ve made the right decision and are on your way to getting your health back!
Best,
Amy
Thank you, Amy, for that explanation. It makes a lot of sense! My info came from a woman who is doing the MP and I guess she has really misunderstood it.
I actually stopped eating processed sugar about two months ago, maybe three now. For the first four days, I felt a lot worse (I have CFS/FMS): my pain was horrible. But on the fourth day, I literally felt high. It was freaky. The high feeling only lasted a few days, but since quitting sugar I have felt, on the whole, better than I did before, and I can take less pain medication. Now I am at a place where I will occasionally have a small amount of sugar and be okay, whereas before I was eating sugar every day and feeling uncontrollable cravings.
I eat a very healthy, produce-based diet. Lots and lots and lots of vegetables, some fish, no other meat. I love to drink milk, though, and I like to eat a wide variety of produce (including mushrooms. Your article says that some of these foods are okay to eat in moderation, whereas the woman I spoke to says they must be avoided all the time. The list of foods she produced that she says she has to give up for a few years was daunting. It’s already hard to eat healthfully as a person with CFIDS.
Your article makes a lot of things look sensible to me- for instance, I am anemic and deficient in Vitamin D, and Vitamin B12. I don’t take a lot of supplements- I generally take one multivitamin every couple of weeks, when I remember it. But my endocrinologist is really riding me about the anemia and the need to take more supplements.
Thank you for your kind and detailed response and links. They are so appreciated! At this point I am pretty confused. I want to go on the MP, but to be honest I am not willing to make difficult dietary changes at this point. Over the last year, I’ve made huge dietary changes that have improved my quality of life, and it’s already hard to eat healthfully when you’re sick.
Thank you again for your wonderful, detailed, kind advice. I need to learn more about the MP and definitely show it to my doctor.
Hi Priscilla,
I actually just fixed up the statement I make about vitamin D in the articled I sent you. Sorry about the mistake. It should read:
“People who are infected with L-form bacteria should completely remove vitamin D from their diets.”
NOT
“People who are infected with L-form bacteria may want to completely remove vitamin D from their diets.”
It is extremely important to avoid vitamin D. Perhaps you will better understand why you need to avoid it if you understand that vitamin D is not even a vitamin. Don’t think of vitamin D as a nutrient. Instead it’s inactive form is an immunosuppressive secosteroid, and it’s active form is a hormone/cytokine.
What if I told you that the food supply had been fortified with prednisone and we need you to avoid foods with that substance? You wouldn’t think the guidelines were strange. Well, adding the secosteroid form of vitamin D to the food chain is almost exactly the same thing.
If you do the MP your immune system will need to be as strong as possible if you are going to kill all your L-form bacteria. These are persistent pathogens and will not die if the immune system is weakened in any way.
I urge you to follow what the hundreds of people on the Marshall Protocol before you who are now recovering have done - which is to avoid vitamin D. It is essential to recovering your health and a very important part of the treatment.
You can water down half and half instead of milk, you can use egg whites instead of egg yolks. I am able to eat an extremely healthy diet without eating vitamin. You can too….
Best,
Amy
Dear Amy,
Thank you for a rather brilliant explanation and rebuttal to all those who would pooh-pooh the MP. I have only recently discovered it and am preparing to begin the protocol. I have been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis which has absolutely no treatment at all except to throw huge amounts of prednisone/steroids at it until you die because something else failed. I too upon reading his hypothesis thought it made absolutely perfect sense in explaining all these “auto-immune” diseases. Thanks for taking the time to create this web-site & the research to back up your thinking.
Dear Char,
The MP really does makes sense huh? I’m so glad that you enjoyed the article and thanks for your nice comments. I’m even more excited to hear that you are starting the MP and as you have mentioned, are saving yourself from a lifetime of prednisone and inevitable relapse.
This is an exciting time to be on the MP and to part of the revolution it will cause when it comes to treating chronic disease. Right now I’m at the Days of Molecular Modeling Conference in Sweden and so far reception of the MP by many mainstream scientists has been very positive. We are making big strides here.
I look forward to seeing your posts and the MP board and thanks for posting!
Best,
Amy
Hello, in short, I have had Sarcoid for 7 years with a short spell of remission for 2 1/2 yrs, then I herniated a disc in my neck and it all came back with a vengence. Its now been another 5 years and life t honestly I can’t take anymore pain, sickness I am at my whits end. The only thing keeping me here is the fact that me Dad is 70 and my Mom is 65 and I am
afraid it would kill them if I did it, Honestly, I would like to say goodbye and have everyone accept that my decicion. But I know they won’t , I just don’t
want to suffer anymore. Please help. Theresa
Hi Theresa,
I am so sorry to hear that your sarcoidosis is causing you to suffer so greatly. Although I had CFS I know what it’s like to want to die every day just so that the pain and go away and it’s possible to stop fighting. I was at that point before starting the Marshall Protocol. When I got on planes I hoped that they would crash. I was that apathetic.
That is why it is so absolutely important that you do the Marshall Protocol. Sure, the bacterial die-off reaction (called immunopathology) can be difficult to tolerate but you are already suffering and once on the MP it makes a big difference to know that your symptoms are a result of bacterial death and improvement and not just a sign of demise.
If you have an awsome pulmonologist then I truly hope he will be open to putting you on the Marshall Protocol. The first step I would take would be to read all the articles on this site and on the MP study site in order to learn about the treatment and the solid science that forms it’s backbone. Then you can walk into his/her office and really sound like you know what you are talking about. The fact that you have researched the MP in detail should make you doctor realize that you are really serious about doing the treatment.
There are definitely documents that you can present to your doctor. I recommend showing him a copy of Dr. Marshall’s recently paper that was published in BioEssays, a prestigious peer reviewed journal. Here is the link to the paper:
http://TrevorMarshall.com/BioEssays-Feb08-Marshall-Preprint.pdf
One of our members has also created a packet of information to present to doctors about the MP. Details about the packet can be found here. It is very helpful.
“Folder of MP information for your doctor”
http://www.ginariggio.com/MP/phase1guide.html
You may also want to order a “Science” DVD off the MP study site. You can see an add for the DVD on the top of the screen. The DVD contains three talks by Dr. Marshall at various medical conferences that not only explain the science behind the MP but also show that Dr. Marshall interacts with mainstream scientists on a regular basis. If you can’t order the DVD, here are online links to his three best talks:
Marshall TG: Molecular Mechanisms Driving the Current Epidemic of Chronic Disease. Seminar presentation, Bio21, University of Melbourne, Australia, 16 Nov 2006
Online Video available from URL: http://autoimmunityresearch.org/bio21.ram
Transcript available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/marshall_bio21_2006.pdf
Marshall TG: A New Approach to Treating Intraphagocytic CWD Bacterial Pathogens in Sarcoidosis, CFS, Lyme and other Inflammatory Diseases. American Academy of Environmental Medicine; 2006, Plenary Sessions Syllabus, 41st Annual Meeting
Low resolution copy of the DVD video available online at YouTube
Transcript available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/marshall_aaem_2006.pdf
Marshall TG: Molecular genomics offers new insight into the exact mechanism of action of common drugs - ARBs, Statins, and Corticosteroids. FDA CDER Visiting Professor presentation, FDA Biosciences Library, Accession QH447.M27 2006
Online Video available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/fda-visiting-professor-7mar06.ram
Also be sure to tell you doctor that Dr. Marshall just returned from presenting at the Days of Molecular Medicine Conference in Karolinska Sweden and that he will be charing an entire session at the upcoming International Conference on Autoimmune Disease in Portugal. That’s huge conference and shows that his work is really starting to catch on. Here is the abstract for the presentation Dr. Marshall gave at Karolinska:
Marshall TG: VDR Nuclear Receptor is key to Recovery from Cognitive Dysfunction. Abstract presentation, Days of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, April 2008.
Copy available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/dmm2008/DMM2008_Marshall.pdf
If your current doctor won’t put you on the MP then switch doctors. Your health is too important. The patient advocates at the following website can guide you if you need to find another physician:
http://www.curemyth1.org (th1 refers to diseases caused by L-form bacteria, hence the name Cure My Th1). Not only will the advocates help you find a doctor but they will also answer other questions you have about the MP free of charge.
Good luck!
Amy
Hi Theresa,
I am so sorry to hear that your sarcoidosis is causing you to suffer so greatly. Although I had CFS I know what it’s like to want to die every day just so that the pain and go away and it’s possible to stop fighting. I was at that point before starting the Marshall Protocol. When I got on planes I hoped that they would crash. I was that apathetic.
That is why it is so absolutely important that you do the Marshall Protocol. Sure, the bacterial die-off reaction (called immunopathology) can be difficult to tolerate but you are already suffering and once on the MP it makes a big difference to know that your symptoms are a result of bacterial death and improvement and not just a sign of demise.
If you have an awsome pulmonologist then I truly hope he will be open to putting you on the Marshall Protocol. The first step I would take would be to read all the articles on this site and on the MP study site in order to learn about the treatment and the solid science that forms it’s backbone. Then you can walk into his/her office and really sound like you know what you are talking about. The fact that you have researched the MP in detail should make you doctor realize that you are really serious about doing the treatment.
There are definitely documents that you can present to your doctor. I recommend showing him a copy of Dr. Marshall’s recently paper that was published in BioEssays, a prestigious peer reviewed journal. Here is the link to the paper:
http://TrevorMarshall.com/BioEssays-Feb08-Marshall-Preprint.pdf
One of our members has also created a packet of information to present to doctors about the MP. Details about the packet can be found here. It is very helpful.
“Folder of MP information for your doctor”
http://www.ginariggio.com/MP/phase1guide.html
You may also want to order a “Science” DVD off the MP study site. You can see an add for the DVD on the top of the screen. The DVD contains three talks by Dr. Marshall at various medical conferences that not only explain the science behind the MP but also show that Dr. Marshall interacts with mainstream scientists on a regular basis. If you can’t order the DVD, here are online links to his three best talks:
Marshall TG: Molecular Mechanisms Driving the Current Epidemic of Chronic Disease. Seminar presentation, Bio21, University of Melbourne, Australia, 16 Nov 2006
Online Video available from URL: http://autoimmunityresearch.org/bio21.ram
Transcript available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/marshall_bio21_2006.pdf
Marshall TG: A New Approach to Treating Intraphagocytic CWD Bacterial Pathogens in Sarcoidosis, CFS, Lyme and other Inflammatory Diseases. American Academy of Environmental Medicine; 2006, Plenary Sessions Syllabus, 41st Annual Meeting
Low resolution copy of the DVD video available online at YouTube
Transcript available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/marshall_aaem_2006.pdf
Marshall TG: Molecular genomics offers new insight into the exact mechanism of action of common drugs - ARBs, Statins, and Corticosteroids. FDA CDER Visiting Professor presentation, FDA Biosciences Library, Accession QH447.M27 2006
Online Video available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/fda-visiting-professor-7mar06.ram
Also be sure to tell you doctor that Dr. Marshall just returned from presenting at the Days of Molecular Medicine Conference in Karolinska Sweden and that he will be charing an entire session at the upcoming International Conference on Autoimmune Disease in Portugal. That’s huge conference and shows that his work is really starting to catch on. Here is the abstract for the presentation Dr. Marshall gave at Karolinska:
Marshall TG: VDR Nuclear Receptor is key to Recovery from Cognitive Dysfunction. Abstract presentation, Days of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, April 2008.
Copy available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/dmm2008/DMM2008_Marshall.pdf
If your current doctor won’t put you on the MP then switch doctors. Your health is too important. The patient advocates at the following website can guide you if you need to find another physician:
http://www.curemyth1.org (th1 refers to diseases caused by L-form bacteria, hence the name Cure My Th1). Not only will the advocates help you find a doctor but they will also answer other questions you have about the MP free of charge.
Good luck!
Amy
Hi Theresa,
I am so sorry to hear that your sarcoidosis is causing you to suffer so greatly. Although I had CFS, I know what it’s like to want to die every day just so that the pain and go away and it’s possible to stop fighting. I was at that point before starting the Marshall Protocol. When I got on planes I hoped that they would crash. I was that apathetic.
That is why it is so absolutely important that you do the Marshall Protocol. Sure, the bacterial die-off reaction (called immunopathology) can be difficult to tolerate,but you are already suffering and once on the MP it makes a big difference to know that your symptoms are a result of bacterial death and improvement and not just a sign of demise.
If you have an awsome pulmonologist then I truly hope he/she will be open to putting you on the Marshall Protocol. The first step I would take would be to read all the articles on this site and on the MP study site in order to learn as much as possible about the treatment and the solid science that forms its backbone. Then you can walk into his/her office and really sound like you know what you are talking about. The fact that you have researched the MP in detail should make you doctor realize that you are really serious about doing the treatment.
There are definitely documents that you can present to your doctor. I recommend showing him/her a copy of Dr. Marshall’s recently paper that was published in BioEssays, a prestigious peer reviewed journal. Here is the link to the paper:
http://TrevorMarshall.com/BioEssays-Feb08-Marshall-Preprint.pdf
One of our members has also created a packet of information to present to doctors about the MP. Details about the packet can be found here. It is very helpful.
“Folder of MP information for your doctor”
http://www.ginariggio.com/MP/phase1guide.html
You may also want to order a “Science” DVD off the MP study site. There are instruction on how to orde the DVD on the top part of the screen of the MP site. The DVD contains three talks by Dr. Marshall at various medical conferences that not only explain the science behind the MP but also show that Dr. Marshall interacts with mainstream scientists on a regular basis. If you can’t order the DVD, here are online links to his three best talks:
Marshall TG: Molecular Mechanisms Driving the Current Epidemic of Chronic Disease. Seminar presentation, Bio21, University of Melbourne, Australia, 16 Nov 2006
Online Video available from URL: http://autoimmunityresearch.org/bio21.ram
Transcript available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/marshall_bio21_2006.pdf
Marshall TG: A New Approach to Treating Intraphagocytic CWD Bacterial Pathogens in Sarcoidosis, CFS, Lyme and other Inflammatory Diseases. American Academy of Environmental Medicine; 2006, Plenary Sessions Syllabus, 41st Annual Meeting
Low resolution copy of the DVD video available online at YouTube
Transcript available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/transcripts/marshall_aaem_2006.pdf
Marshall TG: Molecular genomics offers new insight into the exact mechanism of action of common drugs - ARBs, Statins, and Corticosteroids. FDA CDER Visiting Professor presentation, FDA Biosciences Library, Accession QH447.M27 2006
Online Video available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/fda-visiting-professor-7mar06.ram
Also be sure to tell you doctor that Dr. Marshall just returned from presenting at the Days of Molecular Medicine Conference in Karolinska Sweden and that he will be charing an entire session at the upcoming International Conference on Autoimmune Disease in Portugal. That’s a huge conference and shows that his work is really starting to catch on. Here is the abstract for the presentation Dr. Marshall gave at Karolinska:
Marshall TG: VDR Nuclear Receptor is key to Recovery from Cognitive Dysfunction. Abstract presentation, Days of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, April 2008.
Copy available from URL http://autoimmunityresearch.org/dmm2008/DMM2008_Marshall.pdf
If your current doctor won’t put you on the MP then switch doctors. Your health is too important. The patient advocates at the following website can guide you if you need to find another physician:
http://www.curemyth1.org (th1 refers to diseases caused by L-form bacteria, hence the name Cure My Th1). Not only will the advocates help you find a doctor but they will also answer other questions you have about the MP free of charge.
Good luck!
Amy,
I’m a newbie to all this, but I have been in touch with JCW by email. The reason I have gotten into this info this far is due to some very weird and increasingly hard to manage food sensitivities (the cholorgenic kind). Otherwise, I’ve been given a clean bill of health by my MD. Just curious, but has your group looked into any alternative methods, e.g., lactoferrin, lauricidin, etc., or do you see any hope in that direction? I guess I have a concern that since we know relatively little about the microbe universe, what’s to prevent them from developing a resistence to even this protocol?
Hi Glen,
No, Dr. Marshall has not looked into alternative methods for food sensitivities because data collected from the MP study site is showing that food sensitivities clear up on their own as the MP medications kill pathogenic bacteria, allowing the gut to restore a population of healthy bacteria.
There is definitely no need to add extra supplements such as lactoferrin into the process as the point of the MP is to allow the body to reach a natural state of homeostasis on its own. Here’s a short article about why patients on the MP do not need to take any form of supplements:
http://bacteriality.com/2008/02/23/misconceptions/#9
Minocycline is the base antibiotic of the MP and remains just as effective as ever despite the fact that it has been prescribe widely for teenage acne and other conditions since 1968. No patients on the MP at all are showing any sort of resistance to the MP antibiotics. This short piece talks more about antibiotic resistance:
http://bacteriality.com/2008/02/23/misconceptions/#3
Also, I encourage you to take a look at the following article that describes how the MP antibiotics work at the molecular level:
http://bacteriality.com/2007/10/11/antibiotics/
Here’s a quote from the article:
“Because each of the three classes of bacteriostatic antibiotics used by the Marshall Protocol affect different ribosomal subunits and target different mechanisms of protein synthesis, a bacterial species would have to develop three different mutations in order to survive in their presence. To date, no bacterial species has been shown to have this ability. Consequently, Marshall argues that when the Marshall Protocol antibiotics are taken in the correct manner, “Statistically, the chance that bacteria will evolve that cannot be killed by the MP is so close to zero it is inconsequential.”
So antibiotic resistance is not a concern Autoimmunity Research Foundation is worried about at all at the moment, and I hope that it doesn’t worry you either.
That’s because there are many people who have recovered from food and other sensitivities thanks to the MP and I hope you can become one of them. Before the MP my boyfriend couldn’t tolerate eating any vitamins, vegetables or milk. All he could eat was pasta and oatmeal. Sometimes he ate oatmeal three times a day. Now, he can eat whatever he wants and does not have to take any sort of supplements for his stomach.
I also highly encourage you to start the treatment soon in order to begin tackling the bacteria causing your sensitivities. The sooner one starts the MP, the less bacteria they have to kill and the easier any die-off reaction is to manage.
You bacterial load seems low and thus I doubt you will become very light sensitive. You should also be able to maintain a high level of activity since at this point it doesn’t seem as if you infection has spread.
If you have more questions about food sensitivities or want a second opinion about lactoferrin etc. a great place to ask questions about the MP is at the following website:
http://www.curemyth1.org Th1 refers to diseases caused by bacteria, hence the name Cure My Th1. Your questions will be answered free of charge by patient advocates.
Best,
Amy
Amy, thank you very much for writing back. This is all very exciting. I’m discussing this with my family doctor and have referred him the bacteriality web site. I don’t know if he’ll be willing to go further though.
By the way, I’m still discovering more about my food sensitivities by trial and error. Appears my problem may be due to phosphate overload or mishandling (due to low enzyme?) by my system. I only say this because lately, I’ve been symptom free by simply avoiding egg yolks and calcium glycerophosphate in the product Prelief (which produced an extremely strong and unpleasant reaction). Coffee with reishi mushroom in the blend has been no problem. I know there is one CFS doctor who promotes guaifenesen (as in Mucinex) as a remedy, due to the phosphate issue. I believe these therapies will converge one day, as I mentioned in a separate email I copied to you.
Thanks again.
Sincerely yours for research with a completely open mind,
Glen
Yes, the MP is very exciting! If your family doctor won’t look at the MP in greater detail, then find a doctor who will. You can request a doctors in your area who already have patients on the MP off the MP study site, or ask the advocates at http://www.curemyth1.org to help you find a doctor who will put you on the treatment.
I actually should let you know that the study site was recently closed to new patients because there is such an overload of patients who want to do the MP and not enough staff to handle them right now. Yet, you can still go to curemyth1.org and put your name on a waiting list so that you can start the treatment when a slot opens up.
I highly recommend you do this because the MP will restore the composition of bacteria in your stomach so that you will no longer have to restrict foods from your diet. I have been working on an MP-related project that involves analyzing data collected from MP patients. Nearly every patient with food sensitivities reported their sensitivities are better or gone thanks to the MP. And these are patients who haven’t even finished the treatment.
Maybe you can manage your sensitivities by cutting out problem foods, but why do so when there is a treatment that will allow you to eat a full diet again?
Best,
Amy
Amy, isn’t there an organization or website that assists those looking for Marshall-literate doctors in their area? I have a lyme diagnosis and don’t have any idea how to start looking for a doctor in my area of Pennsylvania. Thanks for your help and the hope you provide to CWD afflicted individuals.
Gail
Hi Gail,
Glad you are looking in the MP and want to start killing the CWD bacteria making you ill.
Unfortunately, the MP study is now closed. The organization that runs the MP - called Autoimmunity Research Foundation - tried everything to keep it open, but over the past few months too many people have wanted to start the MP and there are just not enough staff members on the study site to keep up with their needs.
However people who are sure they want to start the MP and have a good idea of what the treatment entails should still post about their desire to join the study at the following website:
http://www.curemyth1.org (Th1 refers to diseases caused by bacteria, hence the name name Cure My Th1).
The advocates on curemyth1.org can put you on a waiting list. They may even give you a form to fill out so that your spot on the waiting list is more solidified and you will be admitted to the study in time (probably sooner than later).
In the meantime, the advocates/moderators are not helping people find doctors because of the over-flow situation. All I can recommend is that you try to contact other MP patients who may live in your area (you can look at patient profiles on the MP site -www.marshallprotocol.com). Also trying to educate one of your current doctors or a new doctor so that they will give you the necessary MP medications is a good idea. Materials to present to a physician are also available on the study site.
Best of luck!
Amy
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