Therapy Tip

Benicar is under patent  

in the USA until April 2016  

but a generic form of olmesartan can be obtained  

at a significant cost  

reduction via the online pharmacy PlanetDrugsDirect. Patients who have taken brand name Benicar have noted no difference in effect when taking generic olmesartan.

CIR Counseling  

Program

 If you would like to enroll  

in the CIR counseling program, please send a request for  

an enrollment form to  

info@chronicillnessrecovery.org

1-888-846-2474  

(toll-free in the US and Canada).  

Recovery Reports

To see our latest recovery 

reports click here. 

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.  

Any report, short or long,   

with or without objective data (e.g., lab results, imaging reports) would be helpful.   

Please email your story.

Thank you!  

CIR Library Access

Have you enjoyed this newsletter?

Health on the Net  

Foundation

Greetings!     

This year, the five-year anniversary for Chronic Illness Recovery, we are celebrating many achievements. We are thrilled that Meg Mangin's article "Inflammation and Vitamin D: the Infection Connection" will soon be published in a Springer journal! Once it is published, we will provide you with a link for access.  With the help of our supporters, just look at all we have done in five years:

• Counseled hundreds of registered patients in our ongoing Nurse Counseling program.
• Sponsored four annual seminars for professionals, and three of those included continuing medical education credits for medical professionals.
• Sponsored four annual patient workshops for patients and their family and friends.
• Provided quality information in hundreds of articles available online on our website.
• Sponsored a presentation "Hypertension and Inflammation: the Infection Connection" at the American Association of Hypertension in May 2014.
• Sponsored a presentation for off-label use of olmesartan medoxomil at the Enabling Future Pharma Conference July 9-12 near Chicago, IL.

We are pausing only briefly to celebrate, because we have a full calendar for the rest of 2014. We will be sponsoring presentations at these medical conferences:

• Rheumatology News in September
• 3rd International Clinical and Cellular Immunology in September
• American Academy of Family Practitioners in October
• We will host Patient Workshops in the USA for 10 or more interested patients by request.

Contributions from supporters help us provide these ground-breaking outreach programs, in addition to our online Nurse Counseling program and our informative website. Please consider supporting CIR with a donation today. If you are able to provide a recurring donation, it would be even better! Remember, every contribution is appreciated. Here are your payment options:

• Our secure website 
• Quickly access PayPal by clicking on this link 
• Or send a check to our address at the bottom of this email  

Thanks so much for five years of success! We plan on many more...  

Belinda Fenter

Chronic Illness Recovery Secretary/Treasurer

Clinical Response to Olmesartan

Clinically, olmesartan medoxomil (Brand name Benicar®) has been noted to cause a significant reduction in elevated 1,25(OH)2D (calcitriol) within weeks of initiation, which provides further evidence of its ability to up-regulate the vitamin D receptor (VDR). [1] Olmesartan is believed to decrease excess calcitriol by several VDR-mediated effects. The up-regulated VDR:

• Transcribes CYP24A1 and CYP3A4 (enzymes which reduce 1,25(OH)2D hydroxylation).
• Represses CYP27B1 (the enzyme that hydroxylates 25(OH)D to 1,25(OH)2D) so less 1,25(OH)2D is made.

Consequently, renal control of 1,25(OH)2D production is restored and extra-renal production of 1,25(OH)2D is reduced.

A decrease in elevated 1,25(OH)2D means less systemic inflammation, as these studies of olmesartan indicate:

• Improvement of glycemic control and insulin resistance was only observed in the olmesartan group and these effects of olmesartan might be mediated by an anti-inflammatory action. [2]
• Olmesartan treatment significantly reduced serum levels of inflammatory markers; h-CRP, h-TNFα, IL-6, MCP-1 after 6 weeks of therapy. [3]
• Blocking angiotensin-converting enzyme induces potent regulatory T cells and modulates TH1- and TH17-mediated autoimmunity. [4]
• Blocking angiotensin II receptor increases bone mass. [5-7]
• The cardio-protection of olmesartan may be due to suppression of inflammatory cytokines as well as to suppressive effects of cytotoxic myocardial injury in addition to hemodynamic modifications. [8-10]

References

1. Waterhouse JC, Marshall TG, Fenter B, Mangin M, Blaney G. High levels of active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D despite low levels of the 25-hydroxyvitamin D precursor-implications of dysregulated vitamin D for diagnosis and treatment of chronic disease. In: Stolzt VD, ed. Vitamin D: New Research. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
2. Arao T, Okada Y, Mori H, Nishida K, Tanaka Y. Antihypertensive and metabolic effects of high-dose olmesartan and telmisartan in type 2 diabetes patients with hypertension. Endocr J. Jan 2013.
3. Fliser D, Buchholz K, Haller H. Antiinflammatory effects of angiotensin II subtype 1 receptor blockade in hypertensive patients with microinflammation. Circulation. Aug 2004;110(9):1103-7.
4. Platten M, Youssef S, Hur EM, et al. Blocking angiotensin-converting enzyme induces potent regulatory T cells and modulates TH1- and TH17-mediated autoimmunity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Sep 2009;106(35):14948-53.
5. Izu Y, Mizoguchi F, Kawamata A, et al. Angiotensin II type 2 receptor blockade increases bone mass. J Biol Chem. Feb 2009;284(8):4857-64.
6. Shimuru H, Nakagami H, Osako MK, et al. Angiotensin II accelerates osteoporosis by activating osteoclasts. FASEB J. Jul 2008;22(7):2465-75.
7. Araújo AA, Lopes de Souza G, Souza TO, et al. Olmesartan decreases IL-1β and TNF-α levels; downregulates MMP-2, MMP-9, COX-2, and RANKL; and upregulates OPG in experimental periodontitis. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. Oct 2013(386(10)):875-84.
8. Yuan Z, Nimata M, Okabe TA, et al. Olmesartan, a novel AT1 antagonist, suppresses cytotoxic myocardial injury in autoimmune heart failure. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. Sep 2005(289(3)):H1147-52.
9. Miura SI, Saku K. Recent progress in the treatment of cardiovascular disease using olmesartan. Clin Exp Hypertens. Oct 2013.
10. Takai S, Miyazaki M. Effect of olmesartan medoxomil on atherosclerosis: clinical implications of the emerging evidence. Am J Cardiovasc Drugs. 2006(6(6)):363-6.

Chronic Illness Recovery provides a counseling service for patients who are on Inflammation Therapy, with the authorization of their medical provider. Patients report weekly in a secure, online forum. A Registered Nurse responds to the patient's report to provide an assessment and guidance. In this way patients are assured that treatment is on track. Doctors receive the reports and responses via secure fax which allows them to monitor their patient's care and to obtain a written record for the patient's clinic file.

During the past year I've been thinking about my life and illness a lot. I've finally realized that there are so many things I didn't understand few years ago. All I saw was spinal rheumatism, infections, allergies and endometriosis. Now that I've done better with those symptoms (thanks to IT) it has become more obvious how difficult my neuropsychological symptoms are. ~Anna

I DO feel better, and believe I really am better. I just know I wouldn't be feeling this way if it weren't for CIR and Meg and RM. I'm not well yet, but I believe with everything in me that I'm on my way back because of you. I continue to be grateful every day. ~Katherine

I plan to put my story on my blog. It would be good for my customers to know what is going on and how Inflammation Therapy has helped me. I pray this may be the hope and the answer for some of them as well. ~Gracie