DOM'S NEWSLETTER

December 16, 2009

A Christian-based newsletter for people with Fibromyalgia (FMS), Chronic Fatigue & Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) and their families.

15 TOPICS - don't miss the RED ONES! Readers comments in BLACK. My comments in TEAL.

Dom's Quick Links: Fibromyalgia CFIDS Insomnia Search Newsletters Meds & Supplements Homepage Previous Newsletter

1. DR. NANCY KLIMAS - VIDEO ON XMRV

"I haven't watched all of this yet, but I hear it's very good. The one segment that I have watched so far has some helpful information about supplements and also sleep issues. Dr Nancy Klimas encourages people to donate to research - e.g., The ME/CFS Pocket Money Research Fund http://www.pocketmoneyfund.org/index.php."

http://cfsknowledgecenter.ning.com/video

Dr Nancy Klimas* lecture & slide presentation: **XMRV CFS/ME & You**.

A compelling and comprehensive review of the disease, the XMRV virus discussed in detail and what lies ahead. Even the most knowledgeable in attendance gained new insights into their illness and the prospect of a new road to recovery. A particularly interesting Q&A session follows the formal presentation.

The two hour session garnered rave reviews from the 150 people lucky enough to attend. It is a MUST SEE video for all afflicted with or affected by ME/CFS.

Most of the video was made in near dark conditions to accommodate the slide presentation. It has been tightly edited down to 83 minutes and divided into 12 segments for easy, and repeated, viewing.

Segment 1: Background, overlapping conditions, viruses
Segment 2: Viruses & CFS/ME, WPI & XMRV
Segment 3: XMRV, NK & T cells, latent & retro viruses
Segment 4: Retro viruses, Biomarker
Segment 5: Antibodies, what we don't know, cancer
Segment 6: Virus life cycle, immune modulation drugs
Segment 7: What's next in research
Segment 8: Research funding & advocacy
Segment 9: Testing for XMRV, Q&A: Antibodies
Segment 10: Q&A: Drug timeline, U of M clinic & studies
Segment 11: Q&A: Morton Fund, Taking care of yourself
Segment 12: Q&A: The new Miami CFS clinic

FROM DOM: Rats! My computer speakers (or maybe sound card) stopped working a few weeks ago, and my husband's computer crashed and burned last week, so I can't listen to this lecture - sure would like to! This is cutting edge information for those of us with FMS/CFIDS/ME!

2. OLIVE LEAF & GOLDENSEAL

"I get "The Blaylock Wellness Report" sent to my house by regular mail. Dr. Russell Blaylock is a board certified Neurosurgeon, author, lecturer and has a nutritional practice since retiring from his duties as a Neurosurgeon to devote his full attention to nutritional studies and research.

In his Wellness Report (I received today) he wrote, "PROSTATE CANCER RETROVIRUS LINKED TO CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME".

A recent study reported in the prestigious magazine Science provides strong evidence that CFS may be caused by an infectious retrovirus found in rodents called XMRV. Previously, cancer researchers found that this virus was linked to an aggressive form of prostate cancer. The study, performed at Whitmore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease. It has been shown that 95% of CFS patients have antibodies to the XMRV Virus.

Studies have shown that like the HIV Retrovirus, XMRV Virus does major damage to natural killer cells, a type of white blood cell vital for fighting viruses and cancer. Some molecular biologists feel this is an important discovery. Since neither vaccines nor blood transfusions are tested for this virus, we may be spreading the virus inadvertently.

There is evidence that it can also be spread by body fluids, making it a possible sexually transmitted disease. Olive Leaf Extract has been shown to inhibit retroviruses and restore natural killer cell activity.

Dom, I started taking Olive Leaf Extract 300 mg by Bluebonnet a month ago and also Goldenseal Root.

I knew both of these herb products were said to be helpful against the flu and bacterias. Over the past 18 months I have been having worsening flu like symptoms like when I came down with CFS in 1993. The flu like symptoms have been with me everyday now.

However, these two herb products have help quiet these symptoms down as long as I keep taking them everyday. I usually take the Olive Leaf Extract with breakfast and again with dinner. The Goldenseal Root I take throughtout the day. At the first hint of feeling bad and beginning with that achy all over feeling and sore throat I run for the Goldenseal Root bottle and take a capsule right away and in a while the worst of the flu feeling subsides. Now I am never without these wonderful herbs.

Dom, since I came down with CFS in 1993 my white blood cell count has always come in below normal in all my blood work. When I would ask the doctor why that was, I never really got a answer and now from what we have been reading about the XMRV Virus it appears that could be the guilty cause."

3. HYPERCOAGULATION

http://www.gordonresearch.com/category_fibromyalgia.html - "We believe that by eliminating the underlying chronic infections we all carry, we can remove a significant contributor to this chronic hypercoagulability."

4. NEW BIOMEDICAL SEARCH SITE

"I saw that you have some info on CRISP at http://www.fms-help.com/update.htm [mentioned on the Million Letter Campaign update site], so I thought you might be interested in http://www.BioMedSearch.com. This is a new site that contains all NIH/PubMed documents and also additional journals and a large databases of theses and dissertations available nowhere else for free. So, it is much more comprehensive than any other free biomedical search site."

FROM DOM: I typed XMRV in the search box.

5. LDN (LOW DOSE NALTREXONE) UPDATE

"I wanted to share what I found on a LDN site:

Reactions may occur. Detox reactions are common. One theory is that as the LDN regulates the immune system, the body begins to flush out old virus and bacteria that has gone dormant. Many people have an increase in symptoms during this time. Stick with your LDN treatment and ride out the detox. Be sure to drink a lot of water during this time.

I think maybe I have been having detox reactions today - woke up very nauseated, dizzy, headache, can't eat and threw up (I don't have the flu). This same thing happened to me a few days ago and I couldn't figure it out. I have been on LDN for 4 weeks and am wondering if I am detoxing old viruses and bacteria. If this is true then maybe this could help with the XRMV virus, lyme disease, etc. Just a wild thought. I am going to call the pharmacist tomorrow and talk to him about it"

6. MAYO CLINIC DOCTOR

This email was sent to a fibro support group leader (newsletter reader) in Jacksonville, Florida--

"I have not been to support group for well over a year, but so appreciate the informative e-mails that you forward and send out. It has been a difficult year because my FMS seems to be working overtime keeping me in what feels like a full time flare. Anyway, I thought the group might be interested in knowing that the Mayo Clinic has hired a rheumatolgist who specializes in fibromyalgia. His name is Dr. Benjaman Wang and he is the kindest, soft spoken compassionate doctor I have ever dealt with. He sat and talked with me for approx 30 minutes just telling me about the newest findings in studies about the syndrome and he believes it won't be long before there will be a diagnostic test for FMS. He even told me that he finds studying and taking care of patients with fibro fascinating! Wow! most docs don't want to see us coming because we are so hard to treat."

7. CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION SHOWS PROMISE

FROM DOM: However, consult your doctor if you have a history of kidney disease.

8. REPONSES TO READER'S EYE INFECTION

"Please tell reader #10 www.fms-help.com/12109.htm [EYE INFECTION BEGINS READER'S DOWNWARD SPIRAL] to check and see if she/he can remember back to that day if something was different. I would look at a reaction to something. Did she/he have a new mattress, new mold, move into a new house/apartment, new carpeting etc? That is exactly the reaction I have had when I have a reaction to something. My poor debilitated mom had that reaction after she took the IV bisphosphonate aridia. I cannot remember the spelling of this drug, but same class of drugs as fosomax. (along with other symptoms like coldness, stomach upset, weakness)."

9. ROMANCE SCAMMERS PREYING UPON THE DISABLED

"DOMINIE--THIS MAY BE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO PASS ON BECAUSE OF YOUR SITE CONTACTS TO LONELY FIBROMYALGIA PEOPLE LIKE ME. YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN ONE MIGHT TAKE THE BAIT (ALTHOUGH, IN REALITY WE ARE BASICALLY SO POOR THAT THEY WON’T GET MUCH FROM US ANYWAY, BUT WE DON’T WANT TO GIVE THEM ANY KIND OF INFORMATION THAT MIGHT CAUSE THEM TO MAKE OUR LIVES MORE MISERABLE THAN THEY ARE NOW)!!!!!!

To some of you this may be funny, but to me I was appalled! I decided to try out the dating disabled site. I thought that since I was disabled maybe I could meet a match on the site that would understand my disabilities and had issues of his own (which in essence might make him more understanding). Well, I did meet someone. His name was George Collins supposedly from the State of Washington. I chatted with him and then we exchanged email addresses off the site (bad choice) (because I only had 30 days free and wasn’t going to pay for the service after that). He was very nice and kind but I did notice that his grammar was not all that great, but it wasn’t awful (still that should have been a first clue). Then I thought to myself “well, at my age (56), some men at that age or above are not computer literate,” so I ignored it. Anyway, he sent me a headshot of himself and he was handsome. He had already seen my picture from the dating site. He asked for more pictures of me and I sent some more. He said I could ask him for anything. I asked him for more pictures but so far have never got them. Now he says he thinks about me all the time and I am such a sweetheart, yadda, yadda, yadda and he thinks of me all the time (really starting to get mushy and we have only be communicating since Nov 30). Anyway, one day an email came that said his father was in the hospital having a kidney transplant. I responded. The next email came and said he had lost his father and that his sister (who lived in Germany) was mad because his father left so much to him and that she was going to fight him over it. I told him to just talk with his attorney about it (sympathized with him and left it at that). WELL, this morning, I got an email from him telling me he was in England (where his father had lived and died) and that he was attaching a copy of his father’s Will. Goodness, I thought. Who would do such a thing? I wouldn’t!!! Anyway, I looked at it. I worked in the legal field in the past and noticed problems right away with the Will, but some people may not have noticed those. Anyway the Will left George a 4,000,000 mansion, a 7,000,000 shipping company and 6,000,000 cash in the bank. He supposedly left the daughter (George’s sister) the 500,000 poultry farm and $2,000,000 cash in another bank. BINGO GIRLS! MY SHIP HAD COME IN….ARE YOU KIDDING ME? A KIND, LOVING, HANDSOME, AFFECTIONATE MAN, WHO THOUGHT I WAS PRETTY AND MY 211 LB BODY WAS BEAUTIFU! WOW, I HIT THE JACKPOT RIGHT?????? WRONG!!!!!!!! Thank God I am not stupid (well, I am in a lot of ways, but not this one)! That is why I am writing this and why this is so important to ANY OF THOSE YOU KNOW. Turns out this man is a Nigerian Con-Artist. Where they use to just send scam emails asking for money to your inbox, now they are preying on dating sites and the more vulnerable you are, the more interested they are. The article I read said that they are especially preying on the DISABLED DATING sites and on women and men beginning with the ages of about 40 (it also said not to give them your real email). So, this is what I did and this is where the link below is so very important for you to send to ANYBODY that you know who does, might do or know anyone that could do any type of online dating site (whether it is for dating or for friendship or whatever). Save the site to a folder for future use – it is invaluable and free and I didn’t even become a member of the site to use it! WHAT’S ESPECIALLY USEFUL ABOUT THIS SITE IS THE AREA CALLED THE SCAMDIGGER. IT ALLOWS YOU TO UPLOAD THE PICTURE THAT THE SCAMMER SENDS YOU AND IT SEARCHES ALL THE DATABASES FOR YOU TO SEE IF HAS BEEN USED BEFORE. IT FOUND THE PICTURE THAT GEORGE COLLINS HAD SENT ME IN ONE FLAT SECOND!!!!! It of course, was not a real picture of him, but of a model or someone else that has had their face fall victim to the internet. This is just an important site to have at your fingertips for anyone who decides they might want to try internet dating, internet friendship, chat rooms, etc., it really gives a lot of good information because according to articles from Nigeria and the Russian Government, these people have scammed Americans out of Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars. Be Wary!!!! I no longer wish to take this road again, but do want to help other people with what I have learned. I am not saying that you cannot find love or friends on the internet, but the site below will certainly help in your endeavors. Send it to everyone you know that might use it or have children that might. Better to be safe than sorry. www.romancescam.com/forum/portal.php."

FROM DOM: How low will people go?! I think I saw a program about dating scams on Dr. Phil awhile back.

10. BAKING SODA CAN HEAL COLDS, FLU & CANCER

So says Dr. Mercola in this fascinating article--

FROM DOM: Wow. Alkalization is a powerful weapon!! But do not use baking soda, as it can deplete vitamins and minerals. I have been doing great with using oxygen drops in my drinking water for the past 5 months - they oxygenate and ALKALIZE your pH. The same site also has alkalizing drops that can be put into coffee or tea to reduce acidity.

11. NEED A LAUGH?

FROM DOM: See www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa4aiVbfNiE - hilarious! I can sure identify with this cat!

"Many folks use Elderberry as a broad spectrum antiviral. For instance, there are several studies about Elderberry for herpes and many other viruses."

13. HYPOTHALAMUS

From Dr. Rodger Murphree's newsletter--

"The HPA axis is comprised of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands. As for the hypothalamus, its main function is homeostasis, or maintaining the body's status quo. Because of its broad sphere of influence, the hypothalamus could be considered the body's master computer. It receives and transmits messages with the nervous and circulatory systems, keeping continuous tabs on the state of the body. It must be able to initiate compensatory changes if anything drifts out of line. The hypothalamus regulates many bodily functions."

FROM DOM: I have thought for many years now that whatever virus causes FMS/CFIDS/ME must be attacking or affecting the hypothalamus gland (in the brain). My sister-in-law who has a Ph.D. in virology told me about 20 years ago now that all my symptoms were coming from the hypothalamus. That was before I even knew I had a hypothalamus (ha).

14. VICIOUS INSOMNIA

"What a relief to find your story www.fms-help.com/insomnia.htm - it's so much of me I thought I was reading my bio. My problem is I am on my 5th day of no sleep. I am walking around in a zombie state of mind, the Ambien has quit working and so has the ativan. NyQuil works opposite on me it keeps me awake, I have tried the meditating, so I just lay there and pray."

FROM DOM: The immune powder I use may possibly help this reader. It has been helpful for my sleep since 2001, when all sleep meds suddenly stopped working! The powder balances immune function, which affects sleep. I still have to use sleep meds, but they actually work fairly well since I began using the immune powder. If you have questions, write dombush@bellsouth.net. I have heard from other people whose insomnia also improved by using the immune powder. I have skipped a day or two since 2001, but insomnia always resurfaces and becomes a major problem, along with racing thoughts, complexion problems, gas and bloating, stamina, swollen glands, etc. The immune powder is one of two MAIN things I MUST have to function and continue working (as a piano/guitar teacher www.fms-help.com/students.htm).

15. DMSO FOR PAIN

FROM DOM: A reader has had tailbone pain since taking a fall last year, and docs can't seem to relieve his suffering. Based on what he had heard about DMSO online, he asked if this could help his pain. I wrote to the DMSO people to ask them, and this is the reply I received:

"Yes. DMSO is a very powerful analgesic. And it is an anti-inflammatory. It significantly reduces almost all forms of pain. Apply three times daily to the area of pain- covering a large area. Apply by hand. The pain should stop within a day or two."

I have had excellent results from this rose-scented DMSO cream - NO COLD SORE OUTBREAKS for 5 months! That's a record with me, especially as I have gotten older (58 now). I also use the oxygen drops in water daily and that has helped tremendously too. (I have heard that other DMSO's are smelly!! This DMSO cream I use is very pleasant. I really appreciate the reader who sent me the info on the oxygen drops and DMSO cream last summer and glad I followed up. BTW, if you get the book offered on the site, you will understand how the drops and the DMSO work. They have info on the site, but there's more in the book.)