EMail-8
I sent her an email suggesting that she take her son to see his doctor for a professional medical evaluation. This was her answer.
Sent: 1/28/01 5:43 PM To: David Gregg, krysalis@value.net
Dr. Gregg,
As for my son getting a medical evaluation, that will happen in time, but you'll have to wait a little while. He is so fed up with seeing doctors that he's not about to go to one unless he desperately needs to. But will inform you if he does. For now he is perfectly healthy and still feels great. His only remaining question is, "Will it last?" He says he doesn't want to give false hope to anyone just in case it doesn't.
My feeling is that this is for real and permanent. Time will tell. If he makes it through next Sept. through Dec., that will be the final proof. He has always gotten even worse every Fall since he was two years old! If that happens I'd say it would be book writing time for you.
Thanks again.
My Comments Concerning Motheralpha's Emails.
This is an exciting result, far more dramatic than I had expected. However, I have done research for more than 40 years and have never seen a discovery that was optimized on the first day of discovery. This is an indication of great promise. However, it never turns out this easy. There will be reversals and additional actions will have to be identified to handle them. The direction has been identified, but the hard work of perfecting it has just begun. This hard work will take the involvement of a large group of people, all thinking and contributing with a willingness to share their experiences/discoveries. Lets hope this kicks off such a start. Its contribution is that it indicates a fairly clear direction that allows others to organize their investigations/efforts. History has shown that when this type of group effort get on its way, truly profound improvements are realized. However, it is everyone's responsibility, not just motheralpha's and mine.
1. Secretin vs. Prosecretin & infusions vs. pig duodenum: As I have discussed in my autism web page, prosecretin, the form of secretin stored in tissue, is the effective form and the pure hormone, secretin will be totally ineffective. Unfortunately, the medical community is still producing publications demonstrating the ineffectiveness of secretin, apparently not understanding this fundamental point.
Historically, the form of "secretin" that was effective in helping autism was extracted from pig duodenum and used in infusions (injected intravenously). I have been told that an analysis of this form showed it consisted almost entirely of the pure hormone secretin. However, it was still effective and human synthetic secretin, which contained no prosecretin was not. I thus conclude that the extraction process itself tended to break up prosecretin stored in the pig duodenum, producing mainly secretin. However, any good chemist knows such chemical reactions can never be total. There still had to be some prosecretin, if only in trace amounts. It was this trace amount that did the job.
If this theory is correct, then pig duodenum should be far more effective since essentially all of the "secretin" contained in the tissue would be in the form of prosecretin. Even though it is there in a very low concentration, it still could be in a greater concentration than that in the infusions. One would conclude that it not only would be the most effective way to obtain prosecretin, but also by far the least expensive. However, it would be hightly desirable that the people with the capability develop a synthetic version of human prosecretin for testing.
There is a question as to how well the prosecretin in pig duodenum survives the stomach acid. This is unknown. However, it brings up another interesting point. If the pig duodenum powder is mixed with the food, even if it is disassembled somewhat, producing some free secretin, the secretin will arrive at the duodenum when the stomach acid does, thus timed perfectly to trigger the pancreatic bicarbonate flush, as required.
2. Proposed Significance to Autism: (This falls into the class of a reasonable dream.) If we make the assumption that was made above, that one form of autism and one form of Crohn's disease have the same cause, an adverse reaction to vaccinations, then one might project that this treatment should work equally well with that form of autism that has the same cause. If we also assume the major cause of autism is in fact the vaccinations, we now have a treatment that may stop the progression of autism. It is usually detected very early, 1-2 years old. I will make the very reasonable postulation that if treatment with pig duodenum is initiated as soon as it is detected, it may stop its progression and you will end up with a normal adult, not an autistic one. No such treatment exists today in any form, so this fills a total void.
3. Vaccinations: We all know the rather dramatic benefits that vaccinations have had on limiting/eliminating disease. They have become a sacred cow that tolerates no criticism. However there are many that claim to have evidence that that they can do considerable damage to a small fraction of the children and that the method of application needs a serious review. I am certainly no expert on the subject but I do have a few thoughts. In the first place, vaccinations inherently stress the system. They are designed to stimulate/stress the immune system, getting it to respond and in the process creating an immunity to a disease. Any stress to the system will always have a risk associated with it. All children are not the same. There will always be some who can not tolerate the stress and will react adversely. Unfortunately, it would appear that this adverse reaction can be very severe for some. I discussed this with Bernie Rimland and he told me some of the suspected adverse effects include autism, Crohn's disease, asthma, allergies of all types, arthritis, ADHD and diabetes to name some. There is sufficient evidence to justify a systematic investigation of this. One of the aspects that I consider to be obvious is that it may be unwise to administer them together at the same time. Each will stress the immune system in its way. Combining them will only increase the total stress at the same time and introduce the possibility of overwhelming the child's underdeveloped immune system, causing the damage. It would appear that they are administered together for economic reasons, and insufficient attention may have been given to the increased risk to the particularly vulnerable children. There is also a question as to how early in the child's life they should be given. You certainly want to give them before it contracts the disease, but only after the child has a sufficiently developed immune system to deal with them. We are not talking about the majority of children. They seem to react well. We are talking about protecting the small fraction that is vulnerable to reacting adversely. We are also talking about establishing a protocol that still gets the essential job done, but much more safely for those children also.
4. Breast Feeding: A friend of mine at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory brought up the point that as a baby first develops it depends greatly on the mother's immune system to supplement its own underdeveloped one. This is obtained through Breast-feeding. If this were then connected to the vaccination question, it would be reasonable to assume there could be a large difference in response to vaccinations by breast-fed children Vs those who aren't breast-fed. Those who aren't breast-fed would be far more vulnerable to adverse reactions since their immune system will be less able to respond to the induced stress. Thus, one obvious action that could be taken is to vaccinate children that have not been breast-fed much later when their own immune system is more fully developed. When I brought this up to Motheralpha (above), she said she did not breast feed her son. Could this have been the reason he had such a bad reaction to his vaccinations? It is only one case, but the logic is quite good. It could also explain the growing increase in such problems since more and more mothers are working and are not breast-feeding.
5. Pig Duodenum - Beyond Prosecretin?: Consistent with the context of postulating, I wonder if the pig duodenum powder doesn't go beyond providing the benefits of prosecretin. In Elaine Gottschall's book "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" she presents a very scholarly analysis concluding that one extremely important cause of intestinal disorders is the lack of the enzymes in the intestinal wall that are necessary for breaking down disaccharides into monosaccharides, the only form that can be absorbed by the blood and used in metabolism. The pig duodenum powder, being derived from the intestine of the pig, even though it is only one part, is likely to contain those enzymes. If so, and if they are not destroyed in the stomach, and if the intestinal cells can absorb and use them (a lot of if's), it will provide those enzymes to the intestine of the consumer, correcting such a problem if it exists. This might be part of the explaination of why "Motheralpha's" son not only eliminated his Crohn's disease, but was almost immediately able to eat a divesity of foods that he never could eat before. If this postulation is correct, then consuming the pig duodenum powder may turn out to solve the problem that the Gottschall diet is designed to solve, with no need for the restrictive diet. If so, one would expect it to be a superior approach in that it would also allow a greater diversity of diet, which, if used properly, could allow for greater improved health.
If this is true, it would lead one to the conclusion that it would be extremely difficult to produce a synthetic version of pig duodenum powder that would be as effective as the natural substance. It certainly would have to be more complex than prosecretin alone.
DMSO More Effective than MSM? I have postulated in my health note on DMSO that it eventually comes into an equilibrium in the body with MSM. Thus it should make little difference which you take/start with. This has been a question that I have been asked numerous times and had no evidence as to the comparitive effectiveness of DMSO vs. MSM on Crohn's disease. Along that line, I recently received the following email from a person who compared them on himself. His experiments are very early, but I thought his observations might be helpful to some.
Subject: RE: DMSO vs. MSM in treatment of Crohn's, Sent: 2/11/20 5:33 AM
From: Jim Seidman, To: David Gregg, krysalis@value.net
Dr. Gregg -
I went ahead and tried DMSO. It's only been a week, but the initial results are very promising. I wasn't in too bad of shape to start with, since I've been on a variety of medications. But I still had trouble with frequent (but not constant) pain, diarrhea, and an inability to gain weight. Well, I've been using a mere 1/4 tsp. daily of a 65% dilution of DMSO, and I've already noticed a difference. My pain, while not gone, is much less frequent.
My diarrhea is gone. I've already gained 2 pounds, which is amazing. It took about 3 days before I really started noticing improvements, but now I feel a little better every day. That includes an increased energy level. Now, the interesting this is that 1/4 tsp. of a 65% DMSO solution should only have .77 mL (about 845 mg) of DMSO. As I mentioned, I've been taking MSM for several months with very little effect. I think it's important to note that 845 mg of DMSO has had a rapid effect while 1500 mg of MSM has done so little. I'll keep you posted on my progress, but I now think that oral administration of MSM is *not* equivalent in effect to dermal applications of DMSO. It may just be a matter of how well the substances are absorbed. However, people should be aware that a lack of results from MSM does not necessarily mean they won't see results from DMSO. Thanks again for maintaining your very informative website.
- Jim Seidman
UPDATE, 2/21/01
Subject: Pig Duodenum
Sent: 2/15/20 3:43 PM
From: annette genovesi, cityheart@msn.com,
To: krysalis@value.net
I can't tell you how wonderful that pig duodenum has been both for myself and my autistic son, Adam. It has totally taken away all of his gastric upsets, which were considerable. As a result , he is so much calmer and happier. He has the fragile x syndrome , which is a genetic cause of his autism and mental retardation, so he has many different problems. The pig duodenum has totally alleviated a major physical one. I am ever so grateful. I myself have always had digestive upsets and problems. Now I find the duodenum really takes away ALL of the symptoms. Considering with my son, all of the expensive and time-consuming things I have tried over the years have been no help at all, so this is truly a miracle, as it works.
I thank you so much, and I thank my brother-in-law Robert Myers for introducing me to your site.
Sincerely, Annette Genovesi
UPDATE, 5/22/01 (Two emails from Mark)
From: Mark, Muscongas@triad.rr.com
To: David Gregg, krysalis@krysalis.net
Dr. Gregg,
I read and reread your article (http://www.krysalis-sparx.com/crohn.html). What struck me initially was the title; it had the word "remedy" in it. I went to the health food store as soon as it opened this morning and purchased DMSO cream (70% DMSO) and melatonin (2.5mg). I applied the cream in my car in the parking lot of the health food store and popped a melatonin. I followed this by having a large slice of carbohydrate-filled pizza. I've been on the Gotschall diet now for a couple of weeks and have lost five pounds.I have no energy and no stamina.
The testimonials were impressive. I'm a lot like the folks that wrote. The frustration and hopelessness are the worst part. You never know what your day will bring.
My greatful thanks to you for being a bright guy and caring enough to dig into this. I don't know if it will work for me but it's given me something to hope for and I'm tired of being a downer.
Many thanks.
Mark.
PS: Don't take melatonin and drive. I barely made it home and had an immediate two hour nap.
From: Mark, Muscongas@triad.rr.com
To: David Gregg, krysalis@krysalis.net
David,
I sit here amazed and it's been less than 24 hours. As I mentioned, yesterday I started the morning with DMSO cream and a melatonin. That evening I again applied DMSO cream and took 2.5mg of melatonin before going to bed. I awoke early this morning, at about 4:30am and went to the bathroom. I had no pain but there was the usual blood. I went back to bed and got up again at 6:30am (my normal Sunday time). Again, I went to the bathroom although without the tremendous urgency which usually characterizes my attempts when I'm having a flare-up. There was no pain, no blood, no mucous. All was normal, by far the most normal in about three weeks.
I woke up my wife and told her I was cured. I am thrilled, relieved, amazed and eternally thankful I happened across your article. Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, IBS, whatever you want to call it (my doctor has used all of them) is a debilitating disease. More than anything it becomes the primary driver of one's day. I feel free.
I'm only on day one of my cure. Maybe I'm not cured. Many days lie ahead and we'll see if this trend continues. Yes, with UC one day is a trend.
My thanks to you. You did good.
Mark.
From: Mark, Muscongas@triad.rr.com
To: David Gregg, krysalis@value.net
Dear Dr. Gregg,
Just thought I'd let you know that after beginning use of DMSO cream twice per day my total healing time was six days. I have no symptoms; I'm completely healed. I've been in perfect intestinal shape for a couple of months now. I still use the DMSO cream twice a day mostly because I don't dare not to. I was taking 2 Asacol tablets three times a day and have dropped to 1 Asacol tablet twice a day. Soon I'll stop taking it.
DMSO has been a miracle. It's a shame that GI doctors don't include it in their recommendations for patients. There are a lot of people that could be helped and I'm telling as many folks as I know.
Many thanks.
Mark.
Subject: It Works!
Received: 11/28/01 11:01 AM
From: Dan Jason, djason@pacbell.net
To: dwgregg@krysalis.net
Dear Mr. Gregg,
I want to thank you for your research on Crohns. My daughter has had severe abdominal pain since she was a small child that continually got worse over the years, and reached a point that she was unable to go to high school. Due to pain she went to high school half of her freshman year, 2 months of her sophomore year and has not gone at all this year (her junior year). She has been on a home study program and has largely missed out on all of the normal social things high school kids do.
We have tried everything that medicine has to offer (and spent thousands). We started with local doctors who sent her Children's Hospital. From there she was sent to Stanford. She has been scooped, x-rayed, had MRI's, sent to pain management counseling, put on special diets, and given a variety of drugs. We even tried a Naturapathic doctor. She was diagnosed as I.B.S from one doctor, Colitis from another, and one even thought she might be in early stages of Crohns. Nothing they tried worked and we were told she would have to live with it. This weighed heavy on my heart, a parent who could do nothing to help his child.
Then I was told about your web site by an acquaintance and after reading your information and speaking to you I went out and immediately tried DMSO on my daughter. The results have been staggering! She has not had any pain to speak of, and when she feels anything coming on she puts DMSO on topiclly and it aborts the pain cycle. At first we thought it was too good to be true. It has now been six weeks and it still works! She can't wait to go to high school her senior year. I am forever indebited to you for giving my daughter her life back. I now have her taking your sparx product to increase the overall health of her intestine and hopefully in time she will not have to use the DMSO at all.
Respectfully,
Dan Jason
This is an email addressed not so much to me as to the readers of this web page.
Subject: More Success!
Received: 11/23/02 12:36 PM
From: Kim & Roy, hetzlerk@bellsouth.net
To: dwgregg@krysalis.net
I believe that because of improvement in all three areas of CD, IC, and rosacea, in my case, all forms of inflammation, based on Dr. Gregg's theories, that his research extends beyond the scope of improving intestinal health for CD sufferers. I believe that his research has revolutionized the way we should look at and treat acute and chronic inflammatory diseases not as an autoimmune response but from a biochemical standpoint.
I am 35 and was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease (CD) at 18 with severe anemia. A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis (IC) after 3 years of bladder pain. I also have mild rosacea. During an acute CD attack a few weeks ago I read Dr. Gregg's theories 2-3 times, made notes and read over the information again. It made sense to me that DMSO would help my CD and maybe the IC pain. Well, I applied the cream twice a day for the first two days and once a day thereafter. The first thing I noticed was decreased abdominal pain within 1 hour of application. The next morning the redness from rosacea had diminished significantly. My bladder pain was also reduced to a tolerable level.
I was excited and again reviewed the literature from Dr.Gregg's site then purchased Melatonin. After the first night the difference was absolutely astounding! My abdominal pain was literally gone. Now, I am not one to believe in quick cures but the results spoke for themselves. I am now symptom free after less than two weeks of DMSO (1 tspn once a day) and Melatonin (3mg) at night. Here are several points from my experience affirming aspects of Dr. Gregg's theories:
First, the "smell" generated from the use of DMSO was very strong initially but then disappeared after about a week. This suggests his theory that the smell diminishes with improved health holds true because as I felt better and time passed the smell was less noticeable.
Second, the idea that one "type" or cause of CD can kick off another. This comes from how both products helped me in an acute situation in very different ways.
Third, the idea of the importance of diet. Because I had been using diet to manage my disease for 5 years I looked into the carbohydrate specific diet and made even more changes. I also bought Acidophilus (which I had used before) to help with digestion. Both these changes have improved my intestinal health and helped the healing process.
Fourth, Dr. Gregg's site was the first place I'd ever heard anyone speak of the "brain fog". I too have been plagued by that very troubling symptom for some time and have been frustrated with my loss of ability to focus mentally the way I used to. This upsetting symptom has cleared considerably after just two weeks! I cannot wait to see how things are in another two weeks.
Fifth, my energy and appetite have increased dramatically. I have felt better and been more active than I have in a long time.
Sixth, and proof of number five. A few days ago I spent 7 hours each day for two days in a row raking leaves! The most amazing thing that I still cannot figure out is why my "allergies" are not bothering me. For years now I would have a sinus infection within 48 hours of that much yardwork and just feel miserable. Is this proof that DMSO also helps allergies?
Because so many people have had positive experiences as a result of Dr. Gregg's research, controlled studies investigating the results of biochemically based treatments for inflammatory diseases and responses within the human body should be pursued further.
Thank you Dr. Gregg.
Best Regards,
Kim L. Hetzler M.Ed.
This is an email addressed not so much to me as to the readers of this web page.
Subject: Success with Ulcerative Colitis
Received: May 11, 2004
From: Fred J. Fokkelman, (The Netherlands)
Email: f.fokkelman@hccnet.nl
To: dwgregg@krysalis.net
Now that I have used DMSO for about 3 weeks, for my Ulcerative Colitis, I feel things are really changing. What I thought to be another fake oil has become a true miracle product for me. Now my pain is almost gone and subsiding almost every day. The most important change is that I feel my intestines are starting to work normally again. For years I had diarrhea when I woke up in the morning or ate something afterwards. This was very annoying and unpleasant. But after visiting many doctors and taking many pills, DMSO has changed all this. My stools in the morning are normal and I can wait without running to the toilet. I can advise everybody to try DMSO because it might change their lives for good. I will now use it oonly when I feel an inflammation coming up as a last resort measure. The feeling that I have this product does make me feel more confident and secure. At last I have found something to beat my Ulcerative Colitis.
UPDATE (email), 9/15/06
Dear Dr.Gregg,
I know you must get hundreds of letters like this, but I wanted to express my gratitude for literally saving my life with your web site. Like your friend Barbara, I too have been plagued with Crohn’s Disease for all of my adult life. At age 27, I had 15 inches of my intestines removed and now at age 60 was considering even more drastic surgery that would have been life altering in terms of my quality of life. The connection of my old incision had narrowed so much and new disease was found on the other side that the surgeon was planning to remove the whole large intestine between the right and left sides. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to the prospect of two surgeries and having liquid stools 6-10 times a day for the rest of my life, which is what they predicted.
I decided to do an Internet search on alternative treatments for Crohn’s and landed on your site first. I was impressed with what you said and it made sense to me. The one sentence that really stuck out in my mind was the one that said DMSO and MSM are basically the same, one leading to the other. The health food store that I frequent had already recommended that I use MSM with my glucosamine for arthritis, so I already had it, but was not taking as much of it as the bottle recommended. I also had not made the connection between my Crohn’s pain and the MSM. It has worked like a charm!!! I have never felt this good in my entire life! If I start to feel a little twinge of pain or discomfort, taking an MSM soon relieves it. Other benefits are that I am no longer bloated or gassy. I’m not sure if that is the effect of the MSM or that I also started taking acidophilus on a regular basis at the same time.
I have sent your web address to all my friends as well as to my doctors. You have changed so many lives without realizing it. I can’t thank you enough for your humanitarian effort and giving me my life back! I have not tried the DMSO because the MSM seems to be working just fine. I did buy the Melatonin, although I’m not sure how much to take. The health food store said that since it is a hormone, it should not be used every day. What is your feeling since I am not using it as a sleep aid?
Please continue to publish your findings on this and other debilitating illnesses. You are such a wealth of information and your approach as a chemist has been so enlightening. You have made a complicated subject easy for the layperson to understand. Thank you for taking the time to publish you findings on the Internet so that others like me can benefit.
Very truly yours,
Sharon
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