Another one on board, vicariously
Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:41 pm
So, I won't use his real name, but let me tell you an abx story. We'll do this as it unfolds, since he's just started the protocol... slowly.
We're talking about my former boyfriend. High school. A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. I sent him a note when I got my MS diagnosis, thinking it might be the last time I could coherently convey the information (I was sliding so fast). We've stayed in touch via email and phone for the past two years and, eventually, conversation turned to the likelihood of his having a cpn infection, too.
My rationale? We were thisclose for several years, those being the years I went through major lung infections, walking pneumonia, phantom chest pains and what was obviously the beginnings of this lousy infection of mine. I told him some of the things he was describing about his current life sounded exactly like the way my MS began. He had major leg cramping in his sleep, fuzzy brain, short-term memory lapses, a lack of certainty in holding items in his left hand... He also threw a couple of new ones at me: fingers feeling frozen (in his head, though they were warm to the touch) every morning upon waking, passing out in the kitchen and not remembering how he got there, an inability to read upside-down words anymore.
I sent him a birthday package in mid-September. The vitamins and supplements on David Wheldon's protocol, including NAC. He started out with one NAC daily. About a week later, I checked in on him and he said he felt fine. No reactions. He seemed disappointed, so we upped the NAC to two a day and upped his vitamin D to 2000 units a day. He called me and said he was really worried, as the frozen feeling in his fingers, causing him to put his (not really cold at all) fingers in front of the car's heater vent on the drive to work each morning, had worsened dramatically, and the fingers felt cold most of the time now. Other than that, though, he thought nothing else was going on. Except he was coughing and clearing his throat and sounded congested. I mentioned it to him and he said, "Well, I'm coming down with a cold. Like a real chest cold. It's weird, 'cause I haven't been sick in about ten years." I reminded him I'd warned him about 'NAC flu'. He was floored! Here was the confirmation of likely cpn infection!!!
And, in that conversation, he also mentioned something I'd never known before. His dad died in a nursing home. From MS.
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Chapter Two - 05 DECEMBER 2007
Did I mention this man is an accomplished musician? I have a twenty year old tape of Jimi Hendrix playing a guitar solo. At some point, it segues into my friend's hand, rather than Hendrix'. I caught the transition, but most people wouldn't. He's that good. And now it's two decades later and he's even better on that guitar. What's strange is, the playing doesn't seem to have suffered.
He does, however, complain of 'tennis elbow' with no recollection of an earlier injury. And he tells me the elbow has been borderline unbearable the past two weeks, now that he's upped NAC to a full dose of 2400mg daily. Oh, yes; the 'good' elbow is now hurting, too, when it never did before, so we talked about cpn infection lodging in places you can be totally unaware of and how the throbbing is likely an indication the infection is being addressed there.
While he says he now sleeps well again, through the night without waking, and he has more clarity and energy than he's had in many years, he groused at me last night that he's again got the same sore throat he had when starting NAC. He reminded me he 'has to be one hundred percent at work', so he hopes the abx don't take his knees out from under him when he starts. He's dragging his feet on seeing the doctor for the prescriptions, but promised to make the call this week. (A nudge about having to pay a new deductible in January got the ball rolling. Better to see the doctor THIS year than pay the deductible out-of-pocket right after the holidays!)
Our conversation turned to other things and he later asked, out of the blue, if I remembered a motorcycle accident he'd had in his early twenties. I did, because I clearly remember him refusing my offer to come to the hospital. He'd traveled a good distance on his hands and elbows (tennis elbow, anyone?) on a gravel road and had pockets of gravel under the palms of his hands, which had to be cut, like ACTUAL pockets, and cleaned out. Not the best thing for an extraordinary guitar player.
His point in bringing it up was a 'feeling' he's having. He says he can't place it physically on his body, but he is feeling like he's 'healing'. He said he feels exactly like he felt a couple of days after the bike crash, as his body got over the shock and he could feel the healing phase starting inside him. He says he's never felt that since the crash, but he feels it right now. I'd say we're on the right track here.
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Note: 06 January 2008
He's dragging his feet on going for the prescriptions. He's still on 2400mg of NAC daily, in addition to all the supps on the Wheldon protocol. Still sleeping 'better than he can recall in decades' and energy levels are much better than in many years. I'll let you know when he sees the good doctor.
We're talking about my former boyfriend. High school. A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. I sent him a note when I got my MS diagnosis, thinking it might be the last time I could coherently convey the information (I was sliding so fast). We've stayed in touch via email and phone for the past two years and, eventually, conversation turned to the likelihood of his having a cpn infection, too.
My rationale? We were thisclose for several years, those being the years I went through major lung infections, walking pneumonia, phantom chest pains and what was obviously the beginnings of this lousy infection of mine. I told him some of the things he was describing about his current life sounded exactly like the way my MS began. He had major leg cramping in his sleep, fuzzy brain, short-term memory lapses, a lack of certainty in holding items in his left hand... He also threw a couple of new ones at me: fingers feeling frozen (in his head, though they were warm to the touch) every morning upon waking, passing out in the kitchen and not remembering how he got there, an inability to read upside-down words anymore.
I sent him a birthday package in mid-September. The vitamins and supplements on David Wheldon's protocol, including NAC. He started out with one NAC daily. About a week later, I checked in on him and he said he felt fine. No reactions. He seemed disappointed, so we upped the NAC to two a day and upped his vitamin D to 2000 units a day. He called me and said he was really worried, as the frozen feeling in his fingers, causing him to put his (not really cold at all) fingers in front of the car's heater vent on the drive to work each morning, had worsened dramatically, and the fingers felt cold most of the time now. Other than that, though, he thought nothing else was going on. Except he was coughing and clearing his throat and sounded congested. I mentioned it to him and he said, "Well, I'm coming down with a cold. Like a real chest cold. It's weird, 'cause I haven't been sick in about ten years." I reminded him I'd warned him about 'NAC flu'. He was floored! Here was the confirmation of likely cpn infection!!!
And, in that conversation, he also mentioned something I'd never known before. His dad died in a nursing home. From MS.
_________________________________________________________
Chapter Two - 05 DECEMBER 2007
Did I mention this man is an accomplished musician? I have a twenty year old tape of Jimi Hendrix playing a guitar solo. At some point, it segues into my friend's hand, rather than Hendrix'. I caught the transition, but most people wouldn't. He's that good. And now it's two decades later and he's even better on that guitar. What's strange is, the playing doesn't seem to have suffered.
He does, however, complain of 'tennis elbow' with no recollection of an earlier injury. And he tells me the elbow has been borderline unbearable the past two weeks, now that he's upped NAC to a full dose of 2400mg daily. Oh, yes; the 'good' elbow is now hurting, too, when it never did before, so we talked about cpn infection lodging in places you can be totally unaware of and how the throbbing is likely an indication the infection is being addressed there.
While he says he now sleeps well again, through the night without waking, and he has more clarity and energy than he's had in many years, he groused at me last night that he's again got the same sore throat he had when starting NAC. He reminded me he 'has to be one hundred percent at work', so he hopes the abx don't take his knees out from under him when he starts. He's dragging his feet on seeing the doctor for the prescriptions, but promised to make the call this week. (A nudge about having to pay a new deductible in January got the ball rolling. Better to see the doctor THIS year than pay the deductible out-of-pocket right after the holidays!)
Our conversation turned to other things and he later asked, out of the blue, if I remembered a motorcycle accident he'd had in his early twenties. I did, because I clearly remember him refusing my offer to come to the hospital. He'd traveled a good distance on his hands and elbows (tennis elbow, anyone?) on a gravel road and had pockets of gravel under the palms of his hands, which had to be cut, like ACTUAL pockets, and cleaned out. Not the best thing for an extraordinary guitar player.
His point in bringing it up was a 'feeling' he's having. He says he can't place it physically on his body, but he is feeling like he's 'healing'. He said he feels exactly like he felt a couple of days after the bike crash, as his body got over the shock and he could feel the healing phase starting inside him. He says he's never felt that since the crash, but he feels it right now. I'd say we're on the right track here.
__________________________________________________________
Note: 06 January 2008
He's dragging his feet on going for the prescriptions. He's still on 2400mg of NAC daily, in addition to all the supps on the Wheldon protocol. Still sleeping 'better than he can recall in decades' and energy levels are much better than in many years. I'll let you know when he sees the good doctor.