Dr. Chia's treatments

[heapsreal]

Hi Heaps!

Thanks for e link to my blog. Epivir is an antiretroviral used to treat HIV/AIDS. There is no antiviral specifically for enteroviruses, so Dr. Chia treats with various antivirals. Though Dr. C is continually doing research, I am not certain Dr. Chia is working on an antiviral. His Equilibrant, however, does have antiviral properties. As I mentioned in my blog post, he is hopeful a new Hep C drug will prove effective. He is a founder and board member of the Enterovirus Foundation. Their website will give further information regarding research: http://www.enterovirusfoundation.org/index.shtml

A post on another site mentioned by a patient she was put on epivir by dr c. Thought maybe it might have activity against other virus as well as his. Maybe Dr c was doing is own small research??

 

[RestingInHim]

That was my post on Health Rising to which you had link.

Yes, Dr. Chia is continually doing research, including patient responses to treatment.

Here is link to his EVMED. http://evmedresearch.com/index.php
Has great laymen's terminology re ME/CFS as well as his research.

 

[heapsreal]

There was another and they had there own Web page. Unless it was u? Later will try and find it.

Does chia have a preference between immunovir and Inosine or is it more to do with availability? ?

 

[RestingInHim]

There was another and they had there own Web page. Unless it was u? Later will try and find it.

Does chia have a preference between immunovir and Inosine or is it more to do with availability? ?

Bet that was Patrick's blog....http://quixoticmeblog.blogspot.com
Anyway...just curious

Dr. C said inosine is in immunovir. He didn't say, but I imagine it has to do with cost. If immunovir is as expensive as Epivir...which is about $400 / month. Inosine is over the counter and he gave me website to order it. Don't remember price but not a lot.

Heard you all are burning up down under. I'm in California & with our drought we're in for a bad fire season too I'm afraid!

2:am here. Better try to sleep. G'day!

 

[Firestormm]

Here is link to my Dr. Chia blog: http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2013/02/23/me-and-dr-chia-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/

You will find there a link to Patrick's blog also. He has written about 4 appointments so far.

Hopefully these will provide some further help for you.

Can I ask - and thanks for the blog which I read with interest yesterday - why Dr Chia did not or does not do tissue biopsies on patients to support his theory as to causation? I believe you replied to a comment that you had not had a biopsy yourself.

Presumably he believes he can still determine ongoing infection as cause via blood tests? I also understand that Lipkin may well be in touch with Chia at some point - or perhaps Chia would like to discuss his work with Lipkin?

Thanks

 

[heapsreal]

one link i found
FibroGrrlJanuary 19, 2010 at 6:13 PM
I too have had fairly high Coxsackie B titers, and am currently trying Epivir in hopes that will help, as Oxymatrine didn't do much for me. Have you heard about anyone trying it? I can't seem to find much more than a mention of it as a treatment anywhere. (Not that I don't have faith in my doctor, I'm just curious about what to expect.)
http://cfspatientadvocate.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/viruses.html

To quickly summarize my past work with Dr. Chia: I had success and continue to have success with his oxymatrine treatment called by the brand name Equilibrant. This helped me improve by about 10%. But none of Dr. C's additional pharmacological treatments did anything for me, and some had bad side affects. I've tried Rifampin, Epivir, Amantadine, and inosine among others. http://quixoticmeblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/some-pretty-big-news-from-dr-c.html

 

[RestingInHim]

Can I ask - and thanks for the blog which I read with interest yesterday - why Dr Chia did not or does not do tissue biopsies on patients to support his theory as to causation? I believe you replied to a comment that you had not had a biopsy yourself.

Presumably he believes he can still determine ongoing infection as cause via blood tests? I also understand that Lipkin may well be in touch with Chia at some point - or perhaps Chia would like to discuss his work with Lipkin?

Thanks

Dr. Chia does have some patients have stomach biopsies. I believe that because of more sophisticated blood tests, by the right labs, which reveal enterovirus infections, biopsies are not as necessary. He is very sensitive to the needs of his patients...not wanting to do anything unnecessary. He told me a biopsy wouldn't affect how he is treating me because my blood tests showed high titles for Coxackie. Also, whether or not an enteroviruses is active at the time of a blood test is irrelevant because they can be reactivated, multiply extremely rapidly, and travel to any organ in the body.

He didn't mention any discussion with Ian Lipkin, but I would guess he will talk with him at the IACFS/ME conference next month.

Hope this answers your questions. Thanks for reading my blog! If you haven't read the others I've written about my journey with Dr. Chia, so far...reading them would give you a fuller picture of his treatments. Also, the blog by my friend, Patrick that Heapsreal mentioned above, quixotic.blogspot.com also includes his journey with Dr. C so far.

All the best in your journey!
Resting still...through all the ups and downs

 

[heapsreal]

I thought Dr c didn't do biopsies routinely as its not really medically approved unless they are already in there doing an endoscopy for something else. I think it would be the gold standard but not always practical.

I guess if one fits the cfs me criteria and Dr C would think enteroviruses are the cause as well as the other testing he uses?

 

[helperofearth123]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone here can help. I've had CFS for 3 years with lots of severe food intolerances. I'm from the UK and seeing a gastroenterologist this evening. I'm going to show him Dr Chia's study where he found enterovirses in 80% stomach biopsies of CFS patients vs 20% of the controls. I am hoping he will be willing to do an endosocopy and then I plan on sending the sample to Dr Chia for him to test for enterovirus infection, in the hopes of being prescribed Equilibrant or another of his antivirals if something is found. I'm wondering about how the process of this works. I found this form:
http://evmedresearch.com/Immunoperoxidase_Staining_Request_Form250.pdf

Do I simply post the sample and that from to Dr Chia? How do I pay? Will he be able to prescribe me anything such as Equilibrant or will the gastroenterologist have to do that?

Any pointers of how to proceed here would be greatly appreciated! I'll have to pay for this endoscopy myself so it needs to be sent to the right place and I need to make sure I can get treated if something is found.

Thanks! (hoping replies come quickly as I've not left it very long before the appointment!)

Matt

 

[SOC]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone here can help. I've had CFS for 3 years with lots of severe food intolerances. I'm from the UK and seeing a gastroenterologist this evening. I'm going to show him Dr Chia's study where he found enterovirses in 80% stomach biopsies of CFS patients vs 20% of the controls. I am hoping he will be willing to do an endosocopy and then I plan on sending the sample to Dr Chia for him to test for enterovirus infection, in the hopes of being prescribed Equilibrant or another of his antivirals if something is found. I'm wondering about how the process of this works. I found this form:
http://evmedresearch.com/Immunoperoxidase_Staining_Request_Form250.pdf

Do I simply post the sample and that from to Dr Chia? How do I pay? Will he be able to prescribe me anything such as Equilibrant or will the gastroenterologist have to do that?

Any pointers of how to proceed here would be greatly appreciated! I'll have to pay for this endoscopy myself so it needs to be sent to the right place and I need to make sure I can get treated if something is found.

Thanks! (hoping replies come quickly as I've not left it very long before the appointment!)

Matt

I doubt you can arrange to send as sample in the time you have. There are multiple legal and medical limitations.

You would be better off asking your own gastro to send the sample for testing locally. That's assuming he can even get a sample. He might only be looking, not collecting.

You don't need a prescription for Equilibrant. You can order it from www. Equilibranthealth.com

 

[helperofearth123]

I doubt you can arrange to send as sample in the time you have. There are multiple legal and medical limitations.

You would be better off asking your own gastro to send the sample for testing locally. That's assuming he can even get a sample. He might only be looking, not collecting.

You don't need a prescription for Equilibrant. You can order it from www. Equilibranthealth.com

Thanks SOC, that's good to know I don't need a prescription. I won't be getting the endoscopy today, this is just a consultation with the gastroenterologist where I plan to talk about the possibility having an endoscopy to look for viruses that didn't show up in the blood tests. That's a good idea to find out if the same test can be performed locally instead. If there isn't local testing available, what are the legal and medical limitations of sending the sample to Dr Chia? Thanks again.

 

[SOC]

If there isn't local testing available, what are the legal and medical limitations of sending the sample to Dr Chia? Thanks again.

I have no idea how to go about shipping human tissue samples inter-country. Your gastroenterologist would be the best person to ask about that.

You might do some research on Dr Kenny DeMeirleir. He's an ME/CFS doc who also does a lot of testing for GI bugs. Since he, and the labs he uses, are in the EU, that might be an easier path.

 

[Sushi]

Thanks SOC, that's good to know I don't need a prescription. I won't be getting the endoscopy today, this is just a consultation with the gastroenterologist where I plan to talk about the possibility having an endoscopy to look for viruses that didn't show up in the blood tests. That's a good idea to find out if the same test can be performed locally instead. If there isn't local testing available, what are the legal and medical limitations of sending the sample to Dr Chia? Thanks again.

Also, if you are testing tissue from an endoscopy for viruses, it has been found that they can be found at certain depths of tissue, but not at others. Your gastro would likely not be aware of this. I am familiar with this through patients of Dr. De Meirleir who have had tissue tested for viruses. He learned to instruct gastros how to take the samples.

Best,
Sushi

 

[RestingInHim]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone here can help. I've had CFS for 3 years with lots of severe food intolerances. I'm from the UK and seeing a gastroenterologist this evening. I'm going to show him Dr Chia's study where he found enterovirses in 80% stomach biopsies of CFS patients vs 20% of the controls. I am hoping he will be willing to do an endosocopy and then I plan on sending the sample to Dr Chia for him to test for enterovirus infection, in the hopes of being prescribed Equilibrant or another of his antivirals if something is found. I'm wondering about how the process of this works. I found this form:
http://evmedresearch.com/Immunoperoxidase_Staining_Request_Form250.pdf

Do I simply post the sample and that from to Dr Chia? How do I pay? Will he be able to prescribe me anything such as Equilibrant or will the gastroenterologist have to do that?

Any pointers of how to proceed here would be greatly appreciated! I'll have to pay for this endoscopy myself so it needs to be sent to the right place and I need to make sure I can get treated if something is found.

Thanks! (hoping replies come quickly as I've not left it very long before the appointment!)

Matt

Hi Matt!

Have you tried calling Dr. Chia's office? They are always very helpful and will know how to direct you. As a patient of his I have realized it is unwise to take Equilibrant, or any other immune modulator, prescription or not, without monitoring by a physician. But Dr. C's office can help you with that too.

The info in my blogs about my visits with Dr. Chia may be helpful to you..
http://www.cortjohnson.org/authors/christine-mclaughlin/

Sure do hope this works out for you.
Rest well!

 

[Koivy]

I had a stomach biopsy about 8 months ago. Because I am so severely sick and because the blood work didn't reflect it, Dr. Chia ordered a biopsy. I had it done back home and there were no specific instructions...other than to take several sections and have it sent to Dr. Chia's lab. You can even send old slides, from what I was told. My biopsy came out very very positive...it was covered in enteroviral protein. He said that patients with my results are not able to work.

Here is the form you can show to your GI doc: http://www.enterovirusfoundation.org/pdfs/Immunoperoxidase_Staining_Request_Form250.pdf

And make sure the pathologist has a copy too.

 

[helperofearth123]

Many thanks for all the replies everyone! The appointment went well, the gastroenterologist said I need to take a fecal calprotectin test for inflammation and if it came back positive I should have an endoscopy and even if it came back negative I might still need one. I showed him Dr Chia's study and the immunoperoxidase form and he said that they don't usually do that because it's still research based, but that he would talk with his colleges about the possibility of doing it. For now I'll wait and see what the fecal calprotectin results are. Thanks again.

 

[Beachismytherapy]

Just a general comment about phone consults: there are legal issues involved--something like docs can discuss your case but can't prescribe without seeing you. It may vary from state to state, and Skype might change the legalities--don't know--but I have come up against this.

What I hear is that generally, to treat you, a doc has to see you initially and then once a year. Others may know more and the particulars of Dr. Chia's policy.

Best,
Sushi

I have been a patient of Dr. Chia for many years. He will not do consults on the phone.

 

[helperofearth123]

Does anyone know what Dr Chia thinks about mycoplasma infections in CFS?

 

[bdamir]

Did anyone try to take this Oxymatrine?
http://alternativemedicinesolution.com/oxymatrine/

 

[Hip]

I too have had fairly high Coxsackie B titers, and am currently trying Epivir in hopes that will help, as Oxymatrine didn't do much for me. Have you heard about anyone trying it? I can't seem to find much more than a mention of it as a treatment anywhere. (Not that I don't have faith in my doctor, I'm just curious about what to expect.)

Regarding Epivir (lamivudine): one of the people in China with the new Chinese "HIV-like" virus posted a comment on my website saying that patients in China with this new Chinese virus find that lamivudine works really well. Lamivudine can cross the blood-brain barrier, so this should be good for targeting viral infections in the brain and CNS.

Note that in spite of its name, this Chinese virus has been shown to be unrelated to HIV, and by its symptoms, I think it could well be an enterovirus. The virus I caught shows strong symptomatic similarity to the Chinese virus, and so it may be the same virus. Dr Chia actually read my website and said that my symptoms that I listed on this site are very typical of enterovirus.

Did you manage to find a good cheap supplier of lamivudine, heapsreal? And have you experienced any side effects from lamivudine?