Dr Park's 90% Recovery Protocol (LD-IVIG / IV Saline / ART / Nutrition) - What can we learn?

[Alvin2]

After some searching around online on S.Korean websites, it appears that this doctor is highly controversial among the Korean CFS community. I found a Korean-language forum for CFS and they do not recommend him. They also mention that he's a bit infamous and controversial... I would definitely avoid going to see him.

No surprise whatsoever, anyone with a 90% cure rate would become the messiah of the ME/CFS community, the word of mouth alone would guarantee him name recognition and his theory would be known far and wide and under research by Dr Davis.
I feel my above comments are quite vindicated

 

[Gingergrrl]

Uh oh what they saying about him him on that forum?

I am curious as well! I briefly attempted to study Korean around 2013 but was not successful! I find Dr. Park's plan very interesting (not the 90% success rate which I do not believe) but I think other aspects of his plan could be helpful for certain sub-groups. It incorporates IGG, IV saline, low histamine diet, and things that I think could have value and understand why you posted this @Jesse2233.

 

[laxative_mess]

Uh oh what they saying about him him on that forum?

His comments about cytokines and microcirculation are interesting. I wonder if he has research to back that up

I'm not 100% fluent but they are mostly negative.

"I personally had no response (to his treatment). He's also a highly controversial doctor. I absolutely do not recommend him."

"I, too, went to his clinic 15 years ago. The first day I went, while I was getting the shot, I could feel that I was getting better... It was unbelievable. However, the positive effect only lasted one week. After that, I didn't feel like that despite further injections. Due to severe side effects, it took a long time for me get off the treatment completely. Absolutely do not recommend."

"I got an injection once a week. On days I didn't go to the clinic, I was given oral meds to take."

"I also got treatment at his clinic for more than 4 months. Improvements were minor. There were hardly any side effects. However, I know of a foreigner professor and another person who say they have gotten better with this treatment. Listening to their stories was what prompted me to try it myself. Unfortunately, I didn't really see much improvement. In my opinion, if you have the money, then I think this treatment is at least worth trying once. I also believe that this treatment can prevent cancer."

 

[taniaaust1]

@taniaaust1 how old were you when you had your remission?

I'd guess my remission would of been when i was about 31 or 32 years old (early 30s) . I first got ME when I was 26 or 27 years

(been trying to figure it out and the different stages I went throu to get to there)

 

[taniaaust1]

@taniaaust1 thanks for sharing your experiences!

I agree that he covers a lot of ground for different folks. I can't really think of a subset this wouldn't do some good for

I think his protocol is DIYable if you can get the IVIG/saline supported by a doctor. Big if of course

Even just saline IV is helpful to me.. I wish I could have that daily. I actually "feel" healthy after a couple of bags of IV, I forget what its like to feel healthy till have have that

 

[taniaaust1]

This is interesting to me. Did the things you were always able to do before ME include anything in the way of endurance exercise, long hikes, all-nighters, etc?

yes murph, I did one of the longest marathon runs in the world, a 100Km (62mile) race, while I was in remission without any ME after affects (other then collapsing with hypothermia and needing ambulance treatment for that towards the end of the race.. that was after 42hrs of endurance race both throu night and days throu the bush, up and down hills, very rough terrain running).

No ME flare was caused by this though I pushed my physical body beyond its limits. (i didnt have enough time to train properly enough for that race and lived too far to train with my team mates so do this endurance race when I wasnt as fit as I should of been). One thing I can say is once recovered from ME, we know how to push our healthy bodies then beyond that limit too. Doing one of the worlds longest endurance races was nothing compared to having ME!!

(I ran with blisters upon blisters uring this as I hadnt broke in my shoes properly and my toes werent even recognisabe as toes by the time I finished, I thought I was going to loose some toes from it). When I developed a groin injury during this race in which I couldnt lift one of my legs very high then at all, I just then did the last 30kms or so running sideways dragging a leg and doing the hills walking backwards. I wasnt going to stop and let my team down for nothing! You can go beyond pain once you are recovered from ME as long as your body can still function.

Even after I passed out and collapsed with the hypothermia and the ambulance officers had a silver thing around me and was trying to warm me, I just wanted to get back up and continue the race (they wouldnt let me and told me I'd die)

I did that race to prove to myself that I really was recovered from ME, I needed to prove to myself that I was completely recovered to convince myself I was safe from this disease, sadly this belief then lead to me not resting when I got sick a year later with the little virus which caused my relapse.

ah that race would tell me exactly what year I was in remission, I got a certificate with my time it took me to do for competing in that race (as I wasnt going to stop and my life was at risk, the ambulance officers after treating me some and getting my temperature out of the dangerous zone, dropped me off not far from the finish to finish it (so in truth I didnt do 10Km of the 100km). It was a big charity event and it wasnt like I was in any prize place, I was just determined to finish). I should look for that certificate I got for completing that race

 

[Gingergrrl]

I'm not 100% fluent but they are mostly negative.

Thanks for translating that and I was very curious what it said. Is Dr. Park the only ME/CFS doctor in South Korea? There are aspects of his plan that seem pretty solid to me although I do not believe the 90% success rate is anywhere near accurate. Does he ever use high dose IVIG or Rituximab? (No worries if you do not know).

 

[taniaaust1]

Uh oh what they saying about him him on that forum?

His comments about cytokines and microcirculation are interesting. I wonder if he has research to back that up

In the scientific reports from one of the old ME outbreaks, they talked about vasculitis featuring in it so yes one could say there is some research to back that up.

 

[knackers323]

@taniaaust1 what brought about your remission?

 

[Learner1]

I'm not convinced Dr. Park, is successful with a great many things. Wete his subjects actually ME/CFS?. Some of his treatments are effective for the right pstient, But for others they could be a disaster, so it's important that patients are individuals and not treated as identical widgets.

And his purported results:

Results of treatment:
90% of patients who were treated with the above regimens recovered and returned to work, or returned to school. Showed KS score from 40 to 90. The fatigue impact scale improved from 120 to 20-40. Especially, we found improvements in the cognitive functions. We found improvements in concentration and comprehension, but short-term memory is the last to recover.

--------------------

By design or by chance, Dr Park's protocol combines some interesting theoretical approaches. It uses Dr De Meirleir / Dr Chia / Dr Peterson's IVIG therapy, combined with Dr Bell's IV saline, common sense advice on sleep and nutrition, and adds in strict guidelines for aggressive rest therapy (along the lines of Kimsie's theory).

Let's look at each one, and then potential synergistic benefits.

IVIG - Dr Park uses low dose (1g) weekly IVIG (interestingly not SCIG). This is not a replacement or autoimmune dose, but perhaps its regularity, combined with its intravenous delivery mechanism, allows for build up in the body that helps reduce autoimmunity, autoinflammation, and improves pathogen clearance. The low dose likely saves on cost, infusion time, and reduces discontinuance due to side effects.

My doctor put me on 55g/kg. Others recommend up.to 2g/kg. I'm not sure a tiny dise world have much effect.

I've done a lot of shots, lab sticks, etc. I'm not a candidate for SCIG due to popular circulation in my lower body - a lymphedema patient couldnt take the extra fluid.

IV Saline - Administered at the same time as the IVIG is 500cc of IV saline. This is likely boosting blood volume allowing for better oxygenation of tissue and reduced OI. It is supplemented with high volumes of salt water througut the week.

] get saline with IVIG every two weeks and get another 750ml of fluids at the naturopath's office once a week.i notice that my lymphedema tends to flare with too much water, I have POTS, too but no low blood volume. So it seems individual. People can greatly benefit from saline only if they truly need it.

Aggressive Rest Therapy - @Kimsie posited that total rest (eyes closed, lying flat, darkness, silence), punctuated by limited activity, would reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS), improve the electron transport chain (ETC), thus allowing for better mitochondrial functioning.

Again, this is highly irregular. Resting in the dark is wonderful and can be refreshing, but this is too little too late.

Nutrient interventions can go alomg way here, especially with adequate B vitamins, B5. Nutrients greatly impact ETC function. I font see he does anything there or with gut help.

It seems that Dr Park is attacking the heart of the disease by modulating the immune system, boosting blood volume, and repairing the mitochondria (while supporting restorative biological processes of sleep and diet).

I didn't see a mention of mito cocktails consisting of plospholipids, carnitine, CoQ10., B5, manganese, BCAAs, B2, NAD+, folate, B12, B6, methionine, NAC, glycine, and glutamine.

If the IVIG results in reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines, fewer autoantibodies, and a lower pathogen load, that will certainly benefit the mitochondria by reducing the work they have to do. It may also reduce direct damage to key enzymes like PDH, or the ATP translocator protein by the aforementioned ongoing causal triggers. The same is true with increased oxygenation from better blood volume (from IV saline), and more energy directed at mitochondrial repair due to ART. Interestingly he uses prozac to support sleep which is known to have anti-enterovirus properties.

Mitochondria get repaired through amino acids, phospholipids etc. One must replemish damaged cell membranes.

I also suspect that therefore many other factos compounding our illnesses, such ss infections, SIBO, other weird. antibodies[/Quote][/Quote]