I was always a little skeptical of all the cofactors listed in the protocols. In an effort to reduce the overall number of vitamins my wife takes, I have tried several ways to eliminate co-factors on Freddd's protocol after my wife saw an initial 95% recovery some 2.5 years ago.
It hasn't worked. The deadlock quartet + multi B seems to reliably keep the depression/fatigue/CFS/Fibro/IBS/sleeping disorders away, but her immune system gets compromised without the cofactors. Some combination of A,D,E,C, Omega 3, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, are necessary for her to have a healthy immune system. Without them, she gets a chronic sore throat and other lingering upper-respiratory symptoms. As soon as we realize that it isn't just a standard cold, returning to the full protocol relieves the symptoms in maybe 7-14 days. This has been repeated reliably maybe 4 times.
Stop the cofactors => cold/sore throat for several weeks => restart co-factors => 7-14 day period and return to good health for months as long as cofactors are continued.
Tracking reactions to the co-factors is tricky as the reaction is really slow and even 100% healthy people may get a cold a few times a year. I had a cold over the winter that lingered for 2 weeks, so until my wife was sick for a month, I thought she was having a normal immune response. I think we will continue to work on reducing the co-factors on a slower, strategic approach to try and pinpoint the cofactors that are immune response related.
It hasn't worked. The deadlock quartet + multi B seems to reliably keep the depression/fatigue/CFS/Fibro/IBS/sleeping disorders away, but her immune system gets compromised without the cofactors. Some combination of A,D,E,C, Omega 3, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, are necessary for her to have a healthy immune system. Without them, she gets a chronic sore throat and other lingering upper-respiratory symptoms. As soon as we realize that it isn't just a standard cold, returning to the full protocol relieves the symptoms in maybe 7-14 days. This has been repeated reliably maybe 4 times.
Stop the cofactors => cold/sore throat for several weeks => restart co-factors => 7-14 day period and return to good health for months as long as cofactors are continued.
Tracking reactions to the co-factors is tricky as the reaction is really slow and even 100% healthy people may get a cold a few times a year. I had a cold over the winter that lingered for 2 weeks, so until my wife was sick for a month, I thought she was having a normal immune response. I think we will continue to work on reducing the co-factors on a slower, strategic approach to try and pinpoint the cofactors that are immune response related.