Neuroinflammation and Neurodegenerative Diseases: One Condition One Therapy

Does neuroinflammation fan the flame in neurodegenerative diseases?:

Microglial activation is the response to multiple traumatic insults whether triggered by infection, trauma or hypoxia. This common stress response can become self-feeding and can become chronic. The authors postulate that the particular presentation (PD, ALS, Huntingtons, etc) depends on genetic variation of environmental variability.

I believe and have so believed for more than a decade that all these conditions can be remitted by blocking the perpetuation of microglial activation by the use of dopamine and seotonin precursor therapy (PURSOR).

Summary

It is becoming increasingly evident that neuroinflammation plays a crucial role in the development and progression of many neurodegenerative diseases. Glia and in particular microglia are central to mediating the effects of neuroinflammation. While neuroinflammation and microglia provide an attractive therapeutic target in the treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases investigators face several challenges ahead (Appendix 2) which must be overcome before one can advocate in favor of large-scale anti-inflammatory trials in the clinic. Some of these include developing approaches to improve the access of drugs to CNS tissue as well as developing therapies that maintain or optimize the beneficial effects of neuroinflammation while eliminating or minimizing its detrimental effects.

Key Observations

1. Neurodegenerative diseases are associated with signs of chronic neuroinflammation
2. A variety of initiating triggers (some as yet unknown) associated with the different neurodegenerative disorders converge at a common intersection point - activation of microglia.
3. While the initial neuroimmune response may be aimed at limiting the disease process, chronic neuroinflammation driven by persistent microglia activation is likely to aid in the progression of the disease and the hastening of neuronal demise.
4. How the inflammatory response affects specific neuronal and glial populations and contributes to specific neurodegenerative diseases remains a critical and unanswered question

Critical challenges involved in developing neuroprotective anti-inflammatory therapeutic strategies

1. Identify internal and external factors that trigger chronic neuroinflammatory responses, with a focus on how acute immune responses become chronic.
2. Identify inflammatory mediators that compromise survival of specific neuronal populations.
3. Develop therapeutic compounds that cross the blood brain barrier (BBB)
4. Selectively target destructive inflammatory mediators without compromising beneficial survival-promoting effects and overall immune function.
5. Develop inclusion and exclusion criteria for human subjects to be enrolled in clinical trials taking into account their immune status."

A NEW YORKER Recent essay on depression and how badly it is diagnosed and treated

Louis Menand reviews two recent books about psychiatry and its difficulty diagnosing and treating depression. Kirsch, in The emperor's new drugs : exploding the antidepressant myth
maintains that the underlying thesis that mood disorders result from the imbalances of serotonin and dopamine. I do believe that PURSOR has proven this contention to be wrong. Furthermore, according to Menand, Kirsch argues that depression results from the sorry state of our world and our personal conditions and shouldn't be treated.  This is what Greenberg states in response.

The decision to handle mental conditions biologically is as moral a decision as any other. It is a time-honored one, too. Human beings have always tried to cure psychological disorders through the body. In the Hippocratic tradition, melancholics were advised to drink white wine, in order to counteract the black bile. (This remains an option.) Some people feel an instinctive aversion to treating psychological states with pills, but no one would think it inappropriate to advise a depressed or anxious person to try exercise or meditation.

The recommendation from people who have written about their own depression is, overwhelmingly, Take the meds! It’s the position of Andrew Solomon, in “The Noonday Demon” (2001), a wise and humane book. It’s the position of many of the contributors to “Unholy Ghost” (2001) and “Poets on Prozac” (2008), anthologies of essays by writers about depression. The ones who took medication say that they write much better than they did when they were depressed. William Styron, in his widely read memoir “Darkness Visible” (1990), says that his experience in talk therapy was a damaging waste of time, and that he wishes he had gone straight to the hospital when his depression became severe.
What if your sadness was grief, though? And what if there were a pill that relieved you of the physical pain of bereavement—sleeplessness, weeping, loss of appetite—without diluting your love for or memory of the dead? Assuming that bereavement “naturally” remits after six months, would you take a pill today that will allow you to feel the way you will be feeling six months from now anyway? Probably most people would say no.

Is this because of what the psychiatrist Gerald Klerman once called “pharmacological Calvinism”? Klerman was describing the view, which he thought many Americans hold, that shortcuts to happiness are sinful, that happiness is not worth anything unless you have worked for it. (Klerman misunderstood Calvinist theology, but never mind.) We are proud of our children when they learn to manage their fears and perform in public, and we feel that we would not be so proud of them if they took a pill instead, even though the desired outcome is the same. We think that sucking it up, mastering our fears, is a sign of character. But do we think that people who are naturally fearless lack character? We usually think the opposite. Yet those people are just born lucky. Why should the rest of us have to pay a price in dread, shame, and stomach aches to achieve a state of being that they enjoy for nothing?

I do not believe that pain, whether it is psychic or somatic, has any virtue at all. I, therefore, applaud his ultimate paragraph.

Or do we resist the grief pill because we believe that bereavement is doing some work for us? Maybe we think that since we appear to have been naturally selected as creatures that mourn, we shouldn’t short-circuit the process. Or is it that we don’t want to be the kind of person who does not experience profound sorrow when someone we love dies? Questions like these are the reason we have literature and philosophy. No science will ever answer them.

He also reviews Gary Greenberg's Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease an indictment of Pharma.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/03/01/100301crat_atlarge_menand?currentPage=all##ixzz0gIEGJa0j

A cute introduction to the immune system from Vimeo

FAQ for PURSOR™ Protocol                                            Ver 1.1 Feb 4, 2010

The originator of PURSOR™ and the distributor, GrandPa’s Pharmacy, have been working together for 10 years. We are thrilled that a very special,  may we say elite, group of practitioners are now helping patients with this protocol.  As a new concept becomes more widely propagated, unfortunately the basic knowledge behind it inevitably becomes increasingly corrupted.

The PURSOR ™ Protocol is safe, non-toxic and inexpensive and can remit numerous conditions. However, since it is a new treatment paradigm, those seeking out its advantages have to learn a new set of skills. Fortunately, there are practitioners who have learned PURSOR™ well and are ready and wiling to teach.

This set of Frequently Asked Questions is designed to supplement the practitioner’s training. Ideally, it will become a living document that will be frequently amended to increase its value.

Does PURSOR™ treat addictive craving?

Yes, and very effectively. Not only that, it also stops the crippling symptoms of drug and alcohol withdrawal.

How long before PURSOR™ stops craving?

The vast majority find that not only craving but other disorders markedly improve in minutes

Most people who are addicted also suffer from mood disorders. Drug and alcohol addicts say that they are trying to lessen these terrible symptoms. What happens to these symptoms?

Depression, anxiety, other obsessive/compulsive disorders and even muddled thinking also stop. Many say that for the first time they feel normal and normalcy is great.

A friend of mine told me she took PURSOR™ and her asthma stopped. What gives?

Dopamine and 5-HT are reciprocal regulators of the immune system. If the immune system is skewed in one direction, patients are prone to allergies, stuffy noses and asthma. If skewed to the opposite, autoimmune and neurodegenerative conditions pop up. PURSOR™ balances DA/5-HT which in turn stops the immune system being abnormally skewed.

What is the PURSOR™ Protocol?

Two neurotransmitters, dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) play important roles in the regulation of multiple systems. Dopamine and 5-HT are important reciprocal regulators that manage such diverse systems as mood, blood pressure, metabolism, temperature, immunology and many more.

What are the precursor agents used?

Levodopa is a natural amino acid. It survives only a short time in the brain or body because it rapidly metabolizes into DA. 5-Hydroxytryptophan, also an amino acid, rapidly metabolizes into serotonin (5‑HT).

What are these active ingredients mixed with?

A fine oil, sweetening/flavoring agents and other inert ingredients

Why do these oil suspensions have flavoring agents?

Serendipitously, Dr. Hitzig found that when these agents are included, the oil suspension tastes sweet. Continued administration and each individual suspension loses its taste. Continued use and the stuff becomes down right nasty. Hundreds of patients confirm that the change of taste correlates with maximum benefit. In essence, one can taste oneself to balance.

What are the reasons I shouldn’t take PURSOR™

·       Are you pregnant?

·       Are you planning to become pregnant in the near future?

·       Are you taking or have you taken in the last two weeks a MAO inhibitor, an antidepressant?

What subjects will we talk about before starting PURSOR™ ?

·       Are you craving drugs or alcohol?

·       Do you suffer from anxiety, depression or excessive anger?

·       How about obsessive/compulsive disorders?

·       So many people who have other problems also suffer from pain but have given up mentioning it. Do you?

·       Another symptom ignored: muddled thinking or a diagnosis of attention deficit?

·       Do you have any immune or allergic disorders?

Can you give me a rough idea what else should take place on my startup visit?

I hope that you will learn that PURSOR™ is a friendly, benign treatment. Unfortunately, many so-called treatments for craving disorders involve pain. The programs that teach you to stop cold do not talk about the pain of unrequited craving and withdrawal. Such agents as Antabuse punish you with terrible symptoms should you slip. Other newer and more bizarre treatments involve vaccinations that block such agents being active. This last approach did not stop cocaine addiction, it just markedly increased its cost.

PURSOR™ takes away the pain of craving and withdrawal as well as the psychic pain of anxiety and depression. It empowers you to think straight and not be pulled down by pain.

Just before we start PURSOR™ , you will be asked to quantify your immediate levels of:

Depression                                                      Anxiety                                                                                    Hostility

Pain                                                                 (headache, fibromyalgia, generalized, unexplained)

Confusion                                                        Craving                                                                      Nasal congestion

Prior to use, each bottle is shaken. 3 drops or so at a time of the 5-HTP suspension is dropped on a spoon and licked off. Back of the hand also works. DO NOT SWALLOW! Move the liquid around in your mouth. Report what it tastes like.

Usually, this suspension is pleasant at first. Continue with more drops until the taste changes to bland. If you continue it becomes unpleasant. Should you ignore this change with either precursor, nausea and vomiting follows. it is hard if not impossible to overdose. After the 5-HTP endpoint is achieved, do the same with the levodopa suspension. The whole sequence takes about 3-5 minutes

Why not just give us pills? What gives with the liquid?

·       Gets chemicals into brain

o       Substances that are absorbed through the stomach and small intestine are carried by the blood stream to the liver. The liver detoxifies unusual substances. In this case it metabolizes levodopa to DA and 5-HTP to serotonin. Dopamine and 5-HT cannot get into brain.

o       Absorb in mouth and no first passage through liver. The changes take place in the brain in milliseconds and work immediately

·       Permits taste to regulate amount given                          

What should I expect?

Craving for alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine in the vast majority stop in minutes. Opiate craving appears to react the same way but the numbers are not high enough to confirm. Mood disorders similarly melt away and allergic symptoms abate. You will be taught that the return of any symptom or sign indicates a need to repeat PURSOR™.

What do I do after my visit?

Over the next three days, you should be carefully supervised. I suggest that the first follow up should take place later the first day and then at least daily until you are comfortable in your self-administration. Confirm with your practitioner before starting that his/her office is trained to do this.

What else can I do to get guidance?

Tell your clinician that you are having problems. Let him or her know that you may be in touch with us at Health Innovations for help. I welcome phone calls that include the clinician and the patient with problems. Everybody benefits.

 Pietr Hitzig, M.D.

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