Somerthing's working....
 

......or, "Return of ze White Rat" :D

My New Year's vows included one to get a bit more scientific about my self experimentation. As a result I have adopted some simple tests of how I'm doing that will help me chart progress or reversal. I hope to report monthly here for whatever value there may be.

Starting with a two week "drying out period" of no supplements of any kind, I had the following baseline values:
12/19/06
Ability to balance on one leg: Right- 5 seconds; Left- 18 seconds
Number of steps to cover 100': 38

I then reintroduced the following "core" of Alpha Lipoic Acid; Acetyl-L-Carnitine; Carnosine; Ginger Extract; Green Tea Extract; Multi; and Fish Oil

12/23/06
Leg balance was up to: Right 14 sec and Left 57 sec

From my journal:
12/31/06: Doing much better. Freezing rare and pretty much confined to bedtime. Bowels doing better but still having gastro problems at times, mainly bloating. Sleeping very well, 7 to 9 hrs. Polyuria mostly gone.
Much better bladder control.

About Jan. 3 I began a sneak attack on my old friend H pylori using a combination of rhubarb extract and green tea extract along with close attention to ridding myself of toxins via my GI system and it seems to be paying off very well. Unlike the accidental experiment with turmeric of a couple months back, this time I prepared properly and seem to have gotten away with it. Definite improvements in function and it is time to consider reducing my meds a little since the "twitches" have started to be noticeable.

Finally, and what prompted the start of this admittedly repetitious log, yesterday I repeated the 100' stride test and was down to 35 steps from 38!

Over the last six weeks I have seen great improvement and hope to extend it over the coming months. I will resurect this thread from time to time to report for the benefit or to warn fellow Rats. May it be a good year for us all. :)

Rick, could you give us a little more detail on the rhubarb extract (that's a new one, I think) and what did you do about ridding yourself of toxins via your GI system?

One test I use to see where I'm at is the thumb and middle finger tapping that my neuro always uses. You tap the tips of the fingers together as rapidly as you can, opening your hand wide between each tap. If it's good, there's rapid steady repetition, if not it's very awkward and I get stuck open or fingertips together. I see you're using objective numbers, so I guess it would have to be to see how many good taps you could do in five or ten seconds. Just a thought.

rhubarb etc
 

Wendy-
I ran across this recent paper. Rheum is rhubarb. It seems to be unusually effective against HP without the resistance problem. I revved up my usually moribund GI tract with a combination of prunes, milk of magnesia, and enemas (you did ask). I also took a tincture of green tea one-to-one with the rhubarb because the former purportedly counters the toxins from the HP. Finally, I added in silymarin for liver support. And then I watched myself like a hawk for symptoms. The HP is not to be trifled with. Its endotoxin seems to be a neurotoxin and was really scarey when I accidently provoked it with the turmeric a couple of months ago. I am, however, very encouraged by the results. Definite feeling of too much meds now where a week ago it was just the opposite.

1: World J Gastroenterol. 2006 Nov 28;12(44):7136-42.

Antimicrobial activity of Sapindus mukorossi and Rheum emodi extracts against H
pylori: In vitro and in vivo studies.

Ibrahim M, Khan AA, Tiwari SK, Habeeb MA, Khaja MN, Habibullah CM.

Centre for Liver Research and Diagnostics, Deccan college of Medical Sciences
and Allied Hospitals, Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad 500064, India.
ibrahim_cce@rediffmail.com

AIM: to evaluate the antibacterial activity of Sapindus mukorossi (S. mukorossi)
and Rheum emodi (R. emodi). METHODS: Powders of S. mukorossi and R. emodi were
extracted successively with petroleum ether, benzene, chloroform and ethanol and
were concentrated in vacuum. The disk diffusion method was used for in vitro
studies and in vivo studies were performed on male Wister rats. Thirty resistant
clinical isolates of H pylori, as determined by their antibiotic sensitivity
patterns by E-test, along with two Gram +ve (S. aureus, B. subtilis) and two
Gram -ve (E. coli, P. vugaris) organisms were screened for their susceptibility
patterns against these extracts. RESULTS: In our screening, all 30 resistant
isolates and the other four organisms (two Gram +ve S. aureus, B. subtilis and
two Gram -ve, E. coli, P. vugaris) were sensitive to the test compounds. It was
found that ethanol and chloroform extracts of S. mukorossi and ethanol and
benzene extracts of R. emodi inhibited H pylori at very low concentrations. In
the in vitro study, the isolates showed a considerable zone of inhibition at
very low concentrations (10 mug/mL) for both the extracts. In the in vivo study,
the H pylori infection was cleared with minimal doses of extracts of S.
mukorossi (2.5 mg/mL) and R. emodi (3.0 mg/mL) given orally for seven days.
CONCLUSION: We can conclude from this study that the extracts of S. mukorossi
and R. emodi inhibited the growth of pylori in vitro and, in in vivo studies,
the H pylori infection cleared within seven days at very low concentrations. We
also found that H pylori did not acquire resistance against these herbal
extracts even after 10 consecutive passages.

bump for H. pylori folks
 

I haven't updated these numbers for a long time and I may screw up my courage and do so the next sunny day. Not sure that I want to know :) But, in the meantime, those contemplating H. pylori might be interested.