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'Natural' antiretrovirals?

Daisymay

Senior Member
Messages
754
Thanks, I'll look that up, sounds v interestring, whenever we take too much antivirals which for us is a low dose we have to cut back as over time we just go way down hill with it, we feel toxic, well more so than usual that is, so this could be most useful to try.
BW,
Daisymay
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Dreambirdie,

I drink World Organics Chlorophyll water too. I am never sure what is doing what, but this stuff just felt right.

Sushi
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
One more thing re: lauricidin

I just read that XMRV is "a lipid enveloped virus." So supplements that work on lipids should be able to destroy that lipid outer layer. Lauricidin (lauric acid) is from coconut oil and has been used successfully on other lipid coated viruses.
 

cfs since 1998

Senior Member
Messages
604
I just read that XMRV is "a lipid enveloped virus." So supplements that work on lipids should be able to destroy that lipid outer layer. Lauricidin (lauric acid) is from coconut oil and has been used successfully on other lipid coated viruses.

"Used successfully" only in a test tube. I looked and could not find any in vivo tests at all of monolaurin on any pathogen. Even if it does work in vivo, since its method of inactivating viruses is by dissolving the lipid envelop, it would have no effect on cells that are already infected. Thus it seems to me that it would work best on acute viral infections rather than the chronic viral infections we might have.

I've been taking lauricidin at very high doses (6-8 scoops per day) for 9 months and have not really had a response to it. I am very surprised that some have had a reaction at only a few pellets. I think it might be working better on bacterial infections, since those live outside the cell, and since I haven't had much of a reaction I must not have a problem with bacterial infections? I'm just guessing here as there's not much solid information to go on.
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
Wow! 6-8 scoops of Lauricidin! :eek::eek::eek: I can barely take a half scoop.

Just goes to show how different we are. In my case it does work on viral much better than on bacterial infections. We'll see what happens in the long run.
 

leelaplay

member
Messages
1,576
golden seal

I forgot to mention golden seal

The university of Maryland Medical Center gives a good summary:

"Today, goldenseal is marketed as a tonic to aid digestion, sooth upset stomach, and as an an antibacterial and antiviral agent. It is considered a natural antibiotic and is most often combined with echinacea in preparations designed to strengthen the immune system. "

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/goldenseal-000252.htm
 
Messages
84
anti-retro-viral

the problem about antivirals is , most of them r not antiretrovirals .. but there should be lots of non-retroviruses in a cfss body anyway and these antiviral herbs can help indirectly
 

Andrew

Senior Member
Messages
2,513
Location
Los Angeles, USA
My CFS doctor believes in intravenous vitamin c as an anti-viral. Any opinions? My experience (and the experience of a friend) led us to believe this doesn't work well.
 

Andrew

Senior Member
Messages
2,513
Location
Los Angeles, USA
I have a friend who owns a hyperbaric chamber that uses no extra oxygen. He got started by using on in a doctor office. But in his case, he noticed the benefit at the end of his first hour. He also noticed that he has to use it every four days to maintain his improvement. So he bought a used one.

At least three other people in our support group have tried his chamber. None of them felt better after the first hour. One member when to the same doctor and tried their chamber. She crashed right after this.

I don't know if any of this helps. What it indicates to me is if it helps right away and keeps helping, then maybe it is worth buying. Otherwise, maybe it's just a crap shoot.
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Vit C

Sara,

I also had a doc who recommended high dose IV vit C -- 25 to 50 grams. I couldn't tolerate it. I could tolerate about 12 grams, and I can take that my mouth.

Sushi
 

Hysterical Woman

Senior Member
Messages
857
Location
East Coast
St. John's Wort

St. John's Wort:
I did a search of pubmed on "HIV st. john's wort" and found several articles said that there could be negative drug interactions, and that this herb reduces the effectiveness of antivirals used in HIV.]


Good points, thanks for doing the search. I am after St. John's Wort because it is a natural antiretroviral, not just an antiviral. For me personally, it wouldn't react with other drugs I am taking since I am only taking a very small dose of elavil and hope to be off that soon. Also, I am not on the antivirals (valcyte & valtrex) because I cannot afford them, and I can't afford to travel back to see Dr. Lerner (who I saw twice). There are no infectious disease docs in this area that are up on any of the CFIDS/viral/retroviral information. Given that, St. John's Wort looks like a possible option for me.

Maxine
 

Hysterical Woman

Senior Member
Messages
857
Location
East Coast
CFS Since 1998

Hi CFS......,

You seem to have a good handle on the in vitro vs. in vivo question regarding herbs. When searching, I came across the following article about hypericin (in st. john's wort I think) being tested in animals. If you get a chance, could you please read this article and help put what they are saying in less technical terms.

Thank you,

Maxine

http://www.pnas.org/content/86/15/5963.abstract
 

cfs since 1998

Senior Member
Messages
604
When searching, I came across the following article about hypericin (in st. john's wort I think) being tested in animals. If you get a chance, could you please read this article and help put what they are saying in less technical terms. http://www.pnas.org/content/86/15/5963.abstract

This is very interesting research so kudos to you for finding it. I was confused by it too until I realized that the point of the paper was to contemplate the specific mechanism of action of the antiretroviral effects of hypericin and pseudohypericin (from St. John's Wort), which they had previously discovered and written about in a prior article published a year earlier. I think the prior article is more useful to us as patients:

Therapeutic agents with dramatic antiretroviral activity and little toxicity at effective doses: aromatic polycyclic diones hypericin and pseudohypericin.

When reading complicated research articles like this, even if I have the full text article I usually read the introduction and then skip to the discussion section. I just skim any parts I don't understand due to jargon and focus on the ones I can understand.

Anyway they found these compounds highly effective against a retrovirus in vivo, though the caveats to keep in mind are that this was a mouse study and that the active components of SJW were refined and injected rather than orally administered. Still could be very promising and since this article is 20 years old I will look for newer research when I get a chance.
 

ariel

Senior Member
Messages
119
I've been having a bit of a quick look around the Curezone site at what natural treatments people are recommending for HIV.

Oleander is something that is spoken about a lot. Specifically a supplement called Sutherlandia OPC: http://www.sutherlandiaopc.com

Apparently many people are using this in Africa as they can't afford the expensive antiretrovirals.

Anyone know anything about this? Or got any thoughts?
 

garcia

Aristocrat Extraordinaire
Messages
976
Location
UK
I've been having a bit of a quick look around the Curezone site at what natural treatments people are recommending for HIV.

Oleander is something that is spoken about a lot. Specifically a supplement called Sutherlandia OPC: http://www.sutherlandiaopc.com

Apparently many people are using this in Africa as they can't afford the expensive antiretrovirals.

Anyone know anything about this? Or got any thoughts?

Kathy Sykes is a UK scientist who did a series on alternative medicine and one of the things she looked at was Sutherlandia (for use in HIV etc.). The claims made for it were impressive to say the least.

I tried some a while back. Unfortunately it is an adaptogen so I can not tolerate it (I can't tolerate any adaptogens). But if you can tolerate adaptogens I would have thought it is well worth investigating further.
 

Hysterical Woman

Senior Member
Messages
857
Location
East Coast
CFS SINCE 1998/hypericin

This is very interesting research so kudos to you for finding it. I was confused by it too until I realized that the point of the paper was to contemplate the specific mechanism of action of the antiretroviral effects of hypericin and pseudohypericin (from St. John's Wort), which they had previously discovered and written about in a prior article published a year earlier. I think the prior article is more useful to us as patients:

Therapeutic agents with dramatic antiretroviral activity and little toxicity at effective doses: aromatic polycyclic diones hypericin and pseudohypericin.

When reading complicated research articles like this, even if I have the full text article I usually read the introduction and then skip to the discussion section. I just skim any parts I don't understand due to jargon and focus on the ones I can understand.

Anyway they found these compounds highly effective against a retrovirus in vivo, though the caveats to keep in mind are that this was a mouse study and that the active components of SJW were refined and injected rather than orally administered. Still could be very promising and since this article is 20 years old I will look for newer research when I get a chance.

Hi CFS...,

Thanks for the kudos. I would love to tell you I am a brilliant researcher, but mostly it was just dumb luck combined with adding your important suggestion of looking at "in vivo" stuides.

Thanks for finding the other article and for your ideas about reading the intro and discussion sections while skimming over some of the jargon.

I agree with your caveats that this was a mouse study, and that the active components were injected not orally administered. And you are right, it is an old article. I hope there is some newer stuff that might also be encouraging.

How ironic would it be to do mouse studies with XMRV mouse virus?

Thanks for your time in looking at this.

Maxine
 

Forebearance

Senior Member
Messages
568
Location
Great Plains, US
natural anti-retrovirals

Hi everyone,

I want to put a plug in for one of my old standbys: Virastop by Enzymedica. I've been taking it for years and I still love it. It still gives me a die-off reaction if I take too much, so I take very small amounts. One or two capsules a week.

It's an enzyme product that digests the protein outer wall of viruses. I'm not sure if it affects lipid-coated viruses. I remember researching that once, and now I've forgotten the results.

It's such a great product. It has no side effects except for possible stomach irritation, about like aspirin or Motrin. So you take it with a lot of water. You also take it on an empty stomach, otherwise it will just digest any proteins you may have eaten recently.

I'm impressed with the company that makes it. They also make a product called Candidase that digests cellulose, and another product that digests fats. If you take the Candidase and Virastop together, it can kill bacteria. I wonder what would happen if you took the Virastop and fat digesting product together. (I think it might be called Lipase.)

A study showed that Virastop was as effective as Acyclovir at treating Shingles. It was cited on a website called enzyme stuff. The company also has a website and they have answered my questions when I've called them. The enzymes are readily available at Whole Foods and independent health food stores.

To summarize, if I happened to get the H1N1 flu, I would take Virastop and monolaurin and I feel pretty sure they would kill it.

Forebearance