Appointments today included a visit to Rod for some quasi-torture that remarkably helped Tammy walk better! Rod taught me a couple of things but really, we'll have to find folks back home like chiropractors or osteopaths who can help re-adjust some neuro-muscular and/or skeletal issues.
Next was our final consult with Toby during which time we discussed all of the avenues to continue exploring as possible root causes of Tammy's condition. While mercury toxicity is the principally encountered cause of MS that LVS has seen, there are some other possibilities:
Autoimmune malfunction (u/k cause) - this is the main viewpoint taken by the medical community. There are a number of possible mechanism proposed that could lead to the body 'turning against itself' in this way, though the true underlying cause is not established. The testing we've had done that would normally indicate autoimmunity hasn't turned up anything so far, but that doesn't conclusively eliminate some kind of autoimmunity as underlying all of Tammy's symptoms. This is one area to keep in mind as we go forward with more testing and experience...
Viral infection - e.g. the borrelia virus that causes Lyme's disease. There is apparently a place in Palo Alto, California called Ingenex that is apparently one of the few places that can perform 'reliable' testing for the presence of the borrelia bacteria. Maybe we can look into this more while in California on our way home...
Neuromuscular - possibly a pinched nerve leading to secondary mal-adjustments, mis-alignments and whatever other 'misses' you can think of... The temporary improvements that we saw during Rod's treatments were dramatic. While the malfunctioning muscles could simply not be getting proper info from the brain, the improper signals could also be due to a mechanical problem in the body, perhaps due to historic injuries or the body's response to chronic stress.
Hormonal imbalance - progesterone, estrogen, cortisol and DHEA were suggested by Toby as hormone levels we could have checked to see if all is well.
Dental - we're scheduled to leave for Brisbane tomorrow morning at 6:30am to see the biological dentist Eric Davis and we should get a good sense from him about whether there are any obvious flags in Tammy's dentistry that we should pursue. And if so, hopefully some leads on folks closer to home who can help!
Along with a slightly tweaked meal and supplement plan, Toby suggested a couple of other things we could do to help strengthen Tammy's body while we seek to address the underlying cause, including:
HBOT, or hyperbaric oxygen therapy - Toby provided some references to papers describing the use of HBOT to help improve MS symptoms (this link is not one of the references, just some info on HBOT & MS). Not sure how much we can do about this one since we're not aware of any nearby chambers and non-commercial ones are quite expensive and not really at a high enough pressure to get the maximum benefit - we'll see what we can do to address this one!
Supplementation - Toby gave us a stack of papers on which he's summarized a number of publications for studies of MS managed in part using the supplements he has recommended for Tammy. We are already using most of them, but it's still nice to be able to review the scientific literature ourselves that forms the basis for Toby's and Gary's recommendations for supplements : )
For example, many of the supplements recommended here have been used by Dr. Klenner in his protocol, with some good success in helping MS patients.
What's more, while we've bought our original supply of supplements from Living Valley, we've been able to source comparable supplements from Canada at a much lower price in most instances.
To end the day, we took in Gary's lecture on Meal Planning, part 2. As usual, was very interesting and worthwhile reviewing once more the philosophy behind the LVS approach to diet. Gary recommended to the guests to read Weston A. Price's book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. We intend to read on further ourselves and compare with what we've learned and believed to date...
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