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Patient News 

Second

Annual 

Patient

Workshop

Sunday

February 19, 2012

Hilton Dallas-Ft. Worth

Lakes Executive

Conference Center

  

Please click

 here

for details. 

 

DFW Lakes

 

 

Therapy Tip

 

Stopping antibiotics makes some patients feel better and some patients feel worse. The ability to stop antibiotics without ill effect doesn't signal treatment effectiveness.

 

Treatment isn't complete until all antibiotic combinations have been used and no longer provoke herxing.

 

CIR Library Access

 

Access to our free, extensive, easy-to-read Library of Information

 (see this sample page) and Physicians' Reference Library is available to anyone, without enrollment in our counseling program. If you're interested in using this resource, please send a request to our

 email

 address along with your doctor's name and fax number (in the US or Canada) or his/her email address, so we can notify your doctor that you have access to this information.

A list of the articles in our libraries is available at this

 link.

 Physicians may use CIR libraries even if they don't have a patient enrolled in our counseling program. Interested medical practitioners should contact CIR and ask to register.

 

Survey

 

Volunteers who have a diagnosis of autoimmune or inflammatory disease or are chronically ill but who are not being treated with Inflammation Therapy, the Marshall Protocol or the Stillpoint Protocol are needed to be in the control group of our clinical study. If you meet these criteria and would like to take part in this project (which will only take a few minutes each month), please

 contact us at our

 email 

address. 

CIR is an IRS-recognized 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization.

 

Donate to CIR

in support of our educational and research efforts.

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you may phone us toll free from anywhere in the US and Canada
1-888-846-2474

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Chronic.Illness.Recovery

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We are happy to report that our website has been extended with HONcode another year. The HONcode certification is an ethical standard aimed at offering quality health information. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Issue: 28
January 2012 
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Greetings! 

 

It was wonderful meeting so many of you at the Patient Workshop last year. The evaluation forms indicated what was pretty apparent - everyone enjoyed meeting other patients and learning about Inflammation Therapy. 

 

Comments like these were typical:

"Great program and nice opportunity to meet the staff and others doing this therapy."

"It, also, was so encouraging to me personally to know that I am not alone, that there are others in the world that truly get what IT is all about and understand what it takes to get through each day."

 

We hope you're making plans to join us this year. There isn't another opportunity like this anywhere!  Presentations will include the basics of Inflammation Therapy, a primer on the science of IT, a session of Q&A with a panel of doctors, several recovery reports by experienced patients, and a choice of round table discussions on family support or methods of coping during the recovery process.

 

We're looking forward to meeting you in Grapevine, Texas next month!

 

signature            Belinda   

 

 

Patient Workshop

Our day-long patient workshop is Sunday, February 19, 2012 at the Hilton Dallas-Fort Worth Lakes Executive Conference Center. Please visit this CIR webpage for details.

 

On Saturday evening (the night before the workshop) you're invited to attend a

get-acquainted reception from 6pm-8pm in the Meritage Room located near the hotel lobby.  Medical practitioners who attend the Physicians' Seminar on Saturday will also be in attendance.  The cost for the reception is $25 per person.  We'll have hot and cold appetizers, cheeses, fruits, and desserts and a jazz trio.  A cash bar will also be available.  

 

The workshop on Sunday will begin at 7:30 with a breakfast buffet in the lounge near our conference room.  Snacks and drinks during the day will be offered. 

A buffet lunch is available for $20 (signup deadline for lunch is January 23).

 

The combination of reception, registration donation and lunch is $75 per person.

 

You may register for the workshop or lunch or reception:
-online using our Transactions Page

-with our PayPal links on our CIR workshop webpage

-mail your registration to PO Box 10756  Fort Worth, Texas 76114
-call CIR at 1-888-846-2474 (use the line 2 option)
 

 

Registrations will also be taken at the door on the day of the workshop.

 

The Hilton has given us a discounted rate of $105 per night (until January 23) if you'd like to stay over. Click this link - Make a room reservation online.. or by phone the Hilton at 1-800-984-1344 and request our discount rate.

 

Hope to see you there! 

About Inflammation Therapy 

Choosing the Second Antibiotic

 

Based on our experience counseling thousands of patients, we continue to recommend the addition of azithromycin (Zithromax) when patients are able to tolerate 100mg of minocycline every other day.

 

Minocycline and azithromycin are a very effective combination because it works by targeting different bacterial ribosomes. Minocycline blocks the 30S ribosomal subunit and azithromycin binds into the key pockets of the 50S ribosomal subunit.  These two molecules obstruct each ribosome so they can't

create the building blocks of DNA. These actions weaken the bacteria so the immune system (activated by Benicar's up-regulation of the VDR) can more effectively eliminate them.

 

The addition of azithromycin is not dependent on the patient's level of 25D and has been used safely even with very sick patients.  Although azithromycin lingers in the tissues, we have not seen any serious problems when it's increased slowly and reduced (not stopped) if symptoms flare.   In fact, azithromycin reportedly has an antiinflammatory effect and, for some patients,

it modulates the immune system response to help maintain tolerable Herxheimer reactions.  Click here to read  Antiinflammatory Therapies for Cystic Fibrosis: Therapies With Proven Antiinflammatory Effects

 

Delaying the use of azithromycin postpones the eventual use of the antibiotic combination we've found to be the most effective (minocycline, azithromycin and clindamycin). Safe practice mandates azithromycin first be used with minocycline in a two-antibiotic combination. The use of clindamycin as the second antibiotic puts patients at risk for an intolerable increase in psychological symptoms (e.g., anxiety, insomnia or a dangerous level of depression) so its use is better postponed until the patient's bacterial load has been decreased. The use of Bactrim should be delayed because it often results in Herxheimer reactions involving the kidneys, liver or blood counts.

 

Adding azithromycin to minocycline is the shortest route to the most effective three-antibiotic combination and we're confident that for most patients, it's the best choice for the second antibiotic.

New Scientific Articles 

When It Comes to Heart Health, How Much is Too Much Vitamin D? 

"We found that 25(OH)D at a level ≥21 ng/ml is associated with an increase in serum CRP. It is possible that the role of vitamin D supplementation to reduce inflammation is beneficial only among those with a lower serum 25(OH)D."

 

Vitamin D Fails Again to Affect CV Mortality

"Vitamin D has become somewhat of a panacea lately, following the failure of many other vitamins to have any impact on CVD morbidity or mortality, with many patients taking vitamin-D supplements and/or doctors prescribing it, without any real evidence of benefit. One expert has previously told heartwire the situation resembles "a massive uncontrolled experiment."

  

Angiotensin II receptor blocker and statins lower elevated levels of osteopontin in essential hypertension--results from the EUTOPIA trial.

"Synthesis of osteopontin (OPN) is stimulated by calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3). Stimulation of OPN expression also occurs upon exposure of cells to pro-inflammatory cytokines. The fact that OPN interacts with multiple cell surface receptors which are ubiquitously expressed makes it an active player in many physiological and pathological processes including, bone turnover, tumorigenesis, inflammation, ischemia and immune responses. This study concluded that olmesartan significantly decreases elevated osteopontin." 
 
 

Virus Hacks Intercellular Communications Network.
 
"What do monocytes, lymphocytes, and neutrophils all have in common? Well, yes, they are all leucocytes and part of our immune system, but what else? They all can be prompted to migrate to the site of infection by a specific class of cytokines known as chemotactic cytokines, or chemokines for short. This type of innate immune response has been around for a long, long time, so you can bet that our pathogens have evolved some effective counter strategies."

 

The Flip Side of Osteoimmunity: Crosstalk Among Stem Cell, BMP-2 and Innate Immune Cells, and the Control of Osteoblastogenesis.

"Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP-2) can direct both osteoclastogenesis and osteoblastogenesis. The preference toward bone resorption or formation/repair appears to beinfluenced by the inflammatory microenvironment. When BMP-2 is in a predominately classic inflammatory microenvironment, it tends to promote osteoclastogenesis (bone resorption)." 

 Quotes

"Thank you for providing this support line for the patients, I have found it extremely necessary."   Annika

 

"Comparisons of ct scans show that most of the (sarcoidosis) spots on my lungs have cleared up (the number had been 14) and was reduced to only 2." Duane Finch

 

"Happy new year to you all, it is good to be back in the land of the living, I was even out with my family celebrating yesterday, such an improvement for me, thanks to you all."   Emmley

 

"I am feeling so much better overall. The excessive fatigue, emotional issues and brain fog are all so much better and tolerable."   Stephanie Johnson

 

"I am planning on attending the workshop in February. I know that it will be another wonderful success! Thank you for your continued dedication to the Chronic Illness Recovery website."   Valerie

 

"Thanks, for all you've done for me this year. I haven't said it to you yet, but I am so thankful for your services not just for me but for my doctor. CIR is very different from The Marshall Protocol stuff I researched...in a good way. I anticipated being in so much pain that I put off starting the program many precious months. In hindsight.... I have made progress without much discomfort, and I wonder if my rheumatologist feels like I do -- that it's like a miracle. Have a great New Year!!"   Scunn