Interesting article on iron and Borrelia.
I agree with the article that superoxide radicals are an important for the immune system. This is why oxidative therapies are so effective.
However, excess free radicals are extremely damaging. Getting the redox cycle to work in balance is the key -- and cell signaling is an important part. Physicians who use oxidation to fight infection or cancer do so in a pulsed fashion. Even standard chemotherapy functions through an oxidative process.
Some pathogens are more sensitive to oxidation. Some pathogens, like Tularemia which can be airborne or tick-borne are anaerobic. Tularemia is commonly seen with the mix of pathogens that are often termed Lyme Disease.
I would say malaria is extremely oxidant sensitive, its cousin babesia slightly less so – and borrelia even less as it is pleomorphic and can change forms rather rapidly to evade the immune system. That does not mean that a pulsed oxidative therapy would not be effective with borrelia, just that it is unlikely to completely eradicate the infection without using other therapies in conjunction with the oxidation.
Any time I have ever used or been given an oxidative treatment to treat an infection, I was told to limit my antioxidants the day of the treatment, undergo the therapy and, after a few hours, to take an antioxidant to mop up the excess free radicals.
Even when you are undergoing an oxidative treatment, your body is never completely in an oxidative state. It simply means that the balance it tipped toward or more favorable to oxidation so that the immune system can utilize the extra oxygen where it is needed. If reduction were not also occurring simultaneously – even adjacent to the oxidative processes, we would surely die. The body is a complex, intelligent machine that utilizes what it is given to our advantage.
To starve the body of essential nutrients to fight an infection or cancer is simply not wise. Limiting excess sugars or excess nutrients that would feed a pathogen is wise. When starving the host to fight the pathogen, the pathogen will always win as the body simply gets weaker and weaker.
Iron is one of those essential, tricky elements where too much can wreak havoc – mostly through oxidative stress. I have read studies where Tempol or similar cellular antioxidants like Ebselen have curbed the potential oxidative issues with iron supplementation.
When someone is iron deficient, it presents a vicious cycle. If the iron deficiency is due to excess bleeding from fibroids or stomach cancer or ulcerations in the digestive tract, the blood vessels at the site of the blood loss are unable to contract without ferritin or “usable-iron” in the hemoglobin. IV or supplemental iron takes weeks to transform into ferritin and potentially increases free radicals that exacerbate the condition that caused the blood loss in the beginning – like fibroids or inflammation in the digestive tract etc. It is a real Catch 22 and hard to get out of that sort of hole once you start slipping in.
In the US, the current standard of care is to give transfusions only to the point that you are not fainting and then to use supplementation and IV iron over months and months to get the hemoglobin and ferritin levels back to normal -- very hard to do when you are still losing blood. It is a dangerous teeter-tauter ride; the fatigue can be debilitating – as is the damage to the heart and all the organs that need iron-rich hemoglobin to carry oxygen and function.
As for the concern that Tempol may prevent free radicals from being utilized by my immune system, I think that is a valid consideration. We are all striving for redox balance. I think my medical history and that of my father shows enough conditions due to oxidative stress and our SNP at SOD2 indicate that something is out of sync.
My experience thus far and from what I have read and been told by medical doctors is that between 10 mg and 100 mg of Tempol is not enough to upset the redox balance for fighting infections. Also the improved cell signaling from Tempol will help my immune system. I believe that is why Tempol is effective with cancer and with autoimmune conditions -- which are essentially an imbalance between the TH1 and TH2.
Now if I did not have this genetic profile or these conditions, I would not be bothering with Tempol – or probably very many supplements at all. My health is what forced me to look at these issues to find answers. That is probably why we are all reading and posting on this site. Probably very few of us would ever have questioned what we ate or how he care for ourselves because we would have the energy to have other life pursuits.
As for manganese, it is vital to the body in the right amount. Overexposure may lead to a neurodegenerative disorder known as manganism. Unfortunately, some people diagnosed with Parkinson’s may actually have mangansim which can easly be corrected with proper supervised chelation therapy. Medical journals are filled with case reports – and sadly, some neurologists still do not check for it.
There can also be over or under abundance of other minerals that can play a part in neurological conditions. It just felt it was important to warn people not to use supplemental manganese without a doctor’s supervision. If your body is not able to properly make SOD2, supplementation with manganese has the potential to build up and cause other, possibly neurological issues.
Below are just some of the many articles on manganese toxicity.
Quantitative neuropathology associated with chronic manganese exposure in South African mine workers. Gonzalez-Cuyar LF, Nelson G, Criswell SR, Ho P, Lonzanida JA, Checkoway H, Seixas N, Gelman BB, Evanoff BA, Murray J, Zhang J, Racette BA. Neurotoxicology. 2013 Dec 26. pii: S0161-813X(13)00189-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2013.12.008. [Epub ahead of print]
Vulnerability of welders to manganese exposure - A neuroimaging study. Long Z, Jiang YM, Li XR, Fadel W, Xu J, Yeh CL, Long LL, Luo HL, Harezlak J, Murdoch JB, Zheng W, Dydak U. Neurotoxicology. 2014 Mar 27. pii: S0161-813X(14)00051-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2014.03.007. [Epub ahead of print]
Commentary to Krishna et al. (2014): Brain deposition and neurotoxicity of manganese in adult mice exposed via the drinking water. Kumasaka MY, Yajima I, Ohgami N, Naito H, Omata Y, Kato M. Arch Toxicol. 2014 May;88(5):1185-6. doi: 10.1007/s00204-014-1221-y. Epub 2014 Mar 11.
Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity. Grandjean P, Landrigan PJ. Lancet Neurol. 2014 Mar;13(3):330-8. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70278-3. Epub 2014 Feb 17. Review.
Manganese in health and disease. Avila DS, Puntel RL, Aschner M. Met Ions Life Sci. 2013;13:199-227. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-7500-8_7.
Elevated airborne manganese and low executive function in school-aged children in Brazil. Carvalho CF, Menezes-Filho JA, Matos VP, Bessa JR, Coelho-Santos J, Viana GF, Argollo N, Abreu N. Neurotoxicology. 2013 Dec 3. pii: S0161-813X(13)00178-2. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2013.11.006. [Epub ahead of print]
Manganese and the brain. Tuschl K, Mills PB, Clayton PT. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2013;110:277-312. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-410502-7.00013-2.
Manganese in human parenteral nutrition: Considerations for toxicity and biomonitoring. Santos D, Batoreu C, Mateus L, Marreilha Dos Santos AP, Aschner M. Neurotoxicology. 2013 Nov 1. pii: S0161-813X(13)00158-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2013.10.003. [Epub ahead of print]
Manganism in the 21st century: The Hanninen lecture. Racette BA. Neurotoxicology. 2013 Oct 19. pii: S0161-813X(13)00157-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2013.09.007. [Epub ahead of print]
Teaching neuroimages: manganese neurotoxicity of the basal ganglia and thalamus. Lakhan SE, Abboud H. Neurology. 2013 Oct 1;81(14):e111. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182a6cb86. No abstract available.
Manganese neurotoxicity: new perspectives from behavioral, neuroimaging, and neuropathological studies in humans and non-human primates. Guilarte TR. Front Aging Neurosci. 2013 Jun 24;5:23. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2013.00023. eCollection 2013.