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Patient News 

  

Annual Patient Workshop

 

Save the date:

Sunday

 February 16, 2014

Hilton Dallas-Fort Worth Lakes Executive Conference Center

 

 

 

Therapy Tip

  

ANA (antinuclear antibodies) are associated with a variety of chronic conditions. ANA tests may be useful as markers of Inflammation Therapy efficacy because ANAs usually disappear as the chronic intracellular infection resolves.

 

 

Recovery Reports

 

We are contacted daily by people with chronic illnesses who are looking for an effective treatment. Many ask us to provide evidence of efficacy in the form of statistics or stories. If you have recovered your health or had significant symptom improvement with Inflammation Therapy (or a similar treatment), please help us 'pay it forward' by telling your story. We will post it in the public section of our website to encourage others. Any report, short or long, with or without objective data (e.g., lab results, imaging reports) would be helpful. Please

send your story to

our email .

Thank you!  

To see the latest recovery reports,

click here. 

 

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.

 

 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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Issue: 46
September 2013
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Greetings,

 

We hope you make plans to attend the CIR annual patient workshop on February 16, 2014, in Dallas, Texas.  We will be presenting The Role of Vitamin D Deficiency and Persistent Infection in Auto/Inflammatory Diseases. Topics will explore the relationship of vitamin D, the immune system, intracellular infection and systemic inflammation.  Continuing medical education seminar for physicians is scheduled on the 15th including an evening reception for both patients and physicians.

 

CIR staff   

         

About Inflammation Therapy 
   

Vitamin D and Autoimmune Disease

The cause of autoimmune disease is unknown; the prevailing theory states that an overactive immune system produces auto-antibodies against self. A logical alternate hypothesis posits a bacterial etiology in which a persistent intracellular infection causes a cytokine release that induces signals to T cells and B cells, 1 and the antibodies they produce (to the intracellular invader) include some that attack human proteins, as well as target the pathogens. 2 In other words, when an innate immune system is forced to respond to a persistent infection, the resulting cascade of chemokines and cytokines will also stimulate an adaptive response. Hintermann explored this hypothesis: "In theory, a structural similarity or identity between the host and an invading pathogen might cause the immune system of the host to react not only to the pathogen but also to self-components." 3 Infections can act as environmental triggers inducing or promoting autoimmune disease in genetically predisposed individuals; 4 researchers have shown how antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are created in response to infectious agents. 5-8 Microbial and human metabolites often have very similar structures; and interactions between human and bacteria genomes may make it difficult for the body to distinguish "foreign" from "self". Infections (bacterial, viral and parasitic) are known to induce and exacerbate autoimmune diseases, mainly by the mechanism of molecular mimicry." 9

 

Vitamin D reduces autoimmune disease symptoms via immune system suppression. 10 Vitamin D inhibits pro-inflammatory processes by suppressing the enhanced activity of immune cells that take part in the autoimmune reaction. 11 Exposure to ultraviolet light, especially UV-B wavelengths, can impair immune responses in animals and humans. 12 Seasonal variation can have an impact on the immune response; in the summer, when vitamin D3 is highest, 1,25(OH)2D down-regulates the immune system. 13 Reduced immunity following exposure of skin to UV radiation may explain the positive latitude gradient measured for a number of autoimmune diseases (decreased incidence of disease with residence at lower latitudes). 14 As a result of vitamin D immunosuppression inflammation, clinical disease markers and symptoms of autoimmune disease are reduced but this doesn't treat the underlying cause and relapse is common. 15 Unfortunately, some researchers believe immunosuppression is a good thing. 16 Much of current research focuses on finding drugs to suppress inflammation but, according to Francis S. Collins (NIH director), 95% of these studies have failed. It seems clear a better direction is needed. 17  

  1. Chan TD, Wood K, Hermes JR, et al. Elimination of germinal-center-derived self-reactive B cells is governed by the location and concentration of self-antigen. Immunity. Nov 2012;37(5):893-904.
  2. Blander JM, Torchinsky MB, Campisi L. Revisiting the old link between infection and autoimmune disease with commensals and T helper 17 cells. Immunol Res. Dec 2012;54(1-3):50-68.
  3. Christen U, Hintermann E, Holdener M, von Herrath MG. Viral triggers for autoimmunity: is the 'glass of molecular mimicry' half full or half empty? J Autoimmun. Feb 2010;34(1):38-44.
  4. Proal AD, Albert PJ, Marshall TG. Autoimmune Disease and the Human Metagenome. In: Nelson KE, ed. Metagenomics of the Human Body. 1st ed: Springer.
  5. Berlin T, Zandman-Goddard G, Blank M, et al. Autoantibodies in nonautoimmune individuals during infections. Ann N Y Acad Sci. Jun 2007;1108:584-93.
  6. Barzilai O, Ram M, Shoenfeld Y. Viral infection can induce the production of autoantibodies. Curr Opin Rheumatol. Nov 2007;19(6):636-43.
  7. Posnett DN, Edinger J. When do microbes stimulate rheumatoid factor? J Exp Med. May 1997;185(10):1721-3.
  8. Kivity S, Agmon-Levin N, Blank M, Shoenfeld Y. Infections and autoimmunity--friends or foes? Trends Immunol. Aug 2009;409-14(30(8)).
  9. Molina V, Shoenfeld Y. Infection, vaccines and other environmental triggers of autoimmunity. Autoimmunity. May 2005;38(3):235-45.
  10. Griffin MD, Xing N, Kumar R. Vitamin D and its analogs as regulators of immune activation and antigen presentation. Annu Rev Nutr. 2003;23:117-45.
  11. Arnson Y, Amital H, Shoenfeld Y. Vitamin D and autoimmunity: new aetiological and therapeutic considerations. Ann Rheum Dis. Sep 2007;66(9):1137-42.
  12. Garssen J, Vandebriel RJ, De Gruijl FR, et al. UVB exposure-induced systemic modulation of Th1- and Th2-mediated immune responses. Immunology. Jul 1999;97(3):506-14.
  13. Khoo AL, Chai LY, Koenen HJ, et al. 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 modulates cytokine production induced by Candida albicans: impact of seasonal variation of immune responses. J Infect Dis. Jan 2011;203(1):122-30.
  14. Hart PH, Gorman S. Exposure to UV Wavelengths in Sunlight Suppresses Immunity. To What Extent is UV-induced Vitamin D3 the Mediator Responsible? Clin Biochem Rev. Feb 2013;34(1):3-13.
  15. Kim HM, Chung MJ, Chung JB. Remission and relapse of autoimmune pancreatitis: focusing on corticosteroid treatment. Pancreas. Jul 2010;39(5):555-60.
  16. Yamshchikov AV, Desai NS, Blumberg HM, Ziegler TR, Tangpricha V. Vitamin D for treatment and prevention of infectious diseases: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Endocr Pract. Jul-Aug 2009;15(5):438-49.
  17. Collins FS. Reengineering Translational Science: The Time Is Right. Sci Transl Med. Jul 2011;3(90):90cm17.

 

 

About Chronic Illness Recovery

  

How does a patient enroll in the CIR counseling program?

 

To enroll in the Chronic Illness Recovery counseling program, a patient sends us an email and asks for an Enrollment Form.

 

We then send their physician a letter of explanation about the CIR counseling program and the two professional forms to sign - Authorization to Counsel and Standing Orders for Inflammation Therapy Medications.  

 

When we've received all the necessary documents, any applicable fee and reviewed the enrollment form, the patient is notified of acceptance and registered at the Website/Forum where they post progress reports and ask questions.

 

Scientific Articles

  

Angiotensin and Systems Thinking: Wrapping Your Mind Around the Big Picture "Established thinking has confined the RAS to the control of blood pressure, but through a process of experimentation and analysis of existing data we are discovering that the RAS is involved in cancer, chronic inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, allergic diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders. Our existing mental models cannot accommodate this behavior of the RAS, nor the fact that inflammation is immunosuppressive. The cell response model explains that this otherwise puzzling behavior is caused by a failure mode of the wound response and unresolved tissue stress. Furthermore, the model predicts that this stress is caused by invaders such as cancer cells and infectious agents with the deliberate intent to avoid adaptive immune responses."

 

Quotes 

  

I am happy to be a part of CIR and such an amazing group of people. I am constantly impressed by the resourcefulness, determination, persistence, and patience found here. Thank you. ~LeAnne

 

By the grace of God I found IT and this treatment saved my life, 5 years ago I was headed for a permanent trach, disability and death. My former doctor told me that he would do everything he could to keep me comfortable...well I'm still here with no trach, no disability and definitely living a full rich life. ~Debra

 

 

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 long-term 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.