| Inflammation Therapies |
|
In addition to their stated differences, each protocol may be modified by the prescribing physician to meet the needs of individual patients. For example, “At Piedmont Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, when laboratory is positive, portions of Marshall Protocol are used to treat certain pain syndromes.” And “My application of Dr. Brown's protocol has changed significantly since I first started implementing it.” Dr. Joe Mercola It is, therefore, more accurate to refer to these protocols as a group with the generic term inflammation therapy. You may have discovered one or more of these protocols and wondered how they’re different. Antibiotic Protocols Antibiotic therapies are based on the theory that inflammatory diseases have an infectious cause. They use long-term antibiotics (sometimes IV or high doses), particularly from the tetracycline or macrolide families, to attack the disease process at its source, namely the infectious agent. Antibiotic protocols are tailored to the individual patient and have been developed in various forms by many prominent medical practitioners such as Cécile Jadin, Gabe Mirkin, Garth Nicolson, J.J. Burascano, Jacob Teitelbaum, Stuart Weg, Markus Sorin, A. Robert Franco, Rima Kittley, Charles Stratton, David Weldon and Michael Powel. McPherson Brown Protocol This is perhaps the best-known antibiotic protocol. It was developed about 50 years ago by Thomas McPherson Brown M.D. (1906-1989), an eminent scientist who helped establish the American Rheumatism Association and a well-known rheumatologist who practiced in the Washington, D.C. area. For 30 years, Dr. McPherson Brown successfully treated over ten thousand patients who had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, with pulsed antibiotic treatment (using Minocycline and Clindamycin). His research was done at the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins and the Rockefeller Institute and about 1/3 of all early stage rheumatoid arthritis patients on this treatment reported long term (and perhaps permanent) remission. His antibiotic therapy has been shown by Harvard researcher, Dr David Trentham, to be successful in the treatment of scleroderma, an often fatal autoimmune illness. The Roadback Foundation has helped promote education and research on this approach. The Harvard Protocol Henry Scammell chronicled the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas McPherson Brown. In his book, Scleroderma: The Proven Therapy That Can Save Your Life, he describes the Harvard Protocol which uses a variation of Minocycline dosing. Marshall Protocol The Marshall Protocol (MP) was developed during 2001-2004 by Trevor Marshall PhD with Belinda Fenter and Meg Mangin R.N. The MP is an outgrowth of antibiotic protocols and uses many of the same antibiotics in a low-dose, pulsed fashion. There is increasing evidence that hard-to-detect forms of bacteria are involved in autoimmune disease and this is the concept on which the MP is based. See History of Cell Wall Deficient Bacteria (L-forms). The key difference between the MP and other antibiotic protocols is the use of olmesartan medoxomil (Benicar), an angiotensin II receptor blocker, which has been found to be useful because it helps to interrupt the vicious cycle of excessive inflammation caused by the CWD bacteria. Much data that supports this theory and approach has been in the scientific literature for years. For instance, the standard medical textbook, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine confirms elevated angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), and 1,25-D in sarcoidosis. Benicar also provides a helpful anti-inflammatory effect by slowing down cytokine production via the inflammatory pathway Nuclear factor Kappa Beta. Another distinctive feature of the MP is the necessity to avoid sources of vitamin D (light exposure, supplements and food) because 25-hydroxyvitamin D is theorized to suppress the immune system. Stillpoint Protocol The Stillpoint Protocol is an “approach to persistent bacterial infection” which was developed by Greg Blaney M.D. who was an early practitioner of the Marshall Protocol. It combines “low doses of specific antibiotics with an angiotensin receptor blocker, as well as careful application of homeopathics and in some circumstances, osteopathic treatment."
|