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Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)

Messages
10
I took it for awhile.

It was expensive and it had zero effect. My doctor's office did a study using it and no one had any benefit from it.

I've been in touch with 3 Shoemaker patients also who reported similar results.
 

slayadragon

Senior Member
Messages
1,122
Location
twitpic.com/photos/SlayaDragon
I heard that Shoemaker is now requiring people to get a good score on an ERMI test (suggesting that their home is clean with regard to toxic mold) before he will prescribe VIP for them.

Apparently he agrees with the contention that this sort of thing only works when people are not living in a moldy environment.

I would think that living in a place with other biotoxins also would keep it from working.

I personally doubt that it would be of any help regardless of what sort of environment people are living in. I'd be taking it myself if I thought it would have benefit.

Maybe eventually he'll report some data that it actually does something though.....

Best, Lisa
 

xrayspex

Senior Member
Messages
1,111
Location
u.s.a.
let us know if you try it lisa
i have been interested
i forget, is this related to that peptide by the lady scientist in what the bleep do we know.....whats her name, apparently judy mikovitz had talked with her too about more natural treatments...
 
Messages
47
Aviptadil (currently available form of VIP) - doesn't raise VIP blood plasma levels

My understanding is that the currently available form of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), called Aviptadil, does not raise blood plasma levels of VIP. I think it's possible this is why it's not effective for many people.

Dr. Shoemaker's theory is that Aviptadil doesn't work for some people because of ongoing inflammation, mold exposure, etc. I think it could also be because Aviptadil doesn't increase blood plasma levels of VIP. Pharma companies are interested in developing other, longer lasting forms of VIP, but it'll be a while before they are available.

One other thing to note. I believe many, many CFS/ME folks have low VIP levels (I do). I wish more doctors would pay attention to this. VIP modulates/controls many functions that are haywire in PWCs including sleep, digestion, neurocognitive functions, inflammatory control, etc., etc.

Donald Staines has written several articles in the medical literature postulating that vasoactive neuropeptide deficiencies could be the cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
 
Messages
10
I heard that Shoemaker is now requiring people to get a good score on an ERMI test (suggesting that their home is clean with regard to toxic mold) before he will prescribe VIP for them.

Apparently he agrees with the contention that this sort of thing only works when people are not living in a moldy environment.

Actually-the Shoemaker patients I was in contact with were in 'good' homes.' I don't think good or bad homes have anything to do with why this doesn't work for people.

I would think that living in a place with other biotoxins also would keep it from working.

I personally doubt that it would be of any help regardless of what sort of environment people are living in. I'd be taking it myself if I thought it would have benefit.

Maybe eventually he'll report some data that it actually does something though.....

Best, Lisa

The Shoemaker patients I'm in contact with were living in 'good' environments so there was no reason for it not to work. Similarly with the study my doctor's office did.

I agree with Lono. The current form of VIP does not raise VIP blood plasma levels which has nothing to do with living in a 'bad' environment. I very much doubt Shoemaker will report data because the results just aren't there (he is part of a group my doctor is in so they are in regular contact).

I also think VIP is important-I'm glad to know that Pharma companies are interested in this.
 
Messages
47
The Shoemaker patients I'm in contact with were living in 'good' environments so there was no reason for it not to work. Similarly with the study my doctor's office did.

I agree with Lono. The current form of VIP does not raise VIP blood plasma levels which has nothing to do with living in a 'bad' environment. I very much doubt Shoemaker will report data because the results just aren't there (he is part of a group my doctor is in so they are in regular contact).

I also think VIP is important-I'm glad to know that Pharma companies are interested in this.

Let's just hope that if Aviptadil ends up not being effective for most CFSers, that this won't prevent other researchers from looking into it for PWCs. Also, people who have low VIP and CFS symptoms will almost always also have low melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH).

VIP and MSH have many overlapping functions, so it's also possible that you might need to raise both MSH and VIP for many people to get better.

And as far as I can tell the main interest in MSH medications is in the areas of skin pigmentation, libido and appetite. Out of all the MSH functions, these are the ones I'm least interested in.
 
Messages
10
Elcatonin raises VIP

Hi folks,,, I was googling about how to raise VIP and I found this forum.

I have lyme with MCS, low VIP, high C4a, osteoporosis, etc... I am looking for how to raise my VIP... looks like I can treat my osteoporosis and low VIP (and gum recession? and brain pain??) too...

I found this:
J Pharm Pharmacol. 1996 Jun;48(6):657-9.
Elcatonin raises levels of vasoactive intestinal peptide in human plasma.

Takeyama M, Ikawa K, Nagano T, Mori K.

Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Oita Medical University, Japan.
Abstract

Elcatonin, used for treatment of hypercalcaemia, Paget's disease and osteoporosis, causes flushing of the face and hands. To determine whether this was because of increased levels of vasoactive intestinal peptide, which is known to induce vasodilation, the effect of elcatonin on the plasma levels of vasoactive intestinal peptide was studied in five healthy volunteers. After a single intramuscular administration of elcatonin (20 int units), peak plasma elcatonin levels (approx. 30 pg mL-1) were achieved 30 min after injection. Plasma vasoactive intestinal peptide concentrations rose similarly with peak levels of about 17 pg mL-1 after 30 min. Side-effects such as cutaneous flushing (most obvious in the face and hands) occurred to an extent dependent on the amount of elcatonin administered, and declined over 45 min in parallel with the fate of plasma vasoactive intestinal peptide. The side-effects of elcatonin, especially cutaneous flushing, seem to be closely connected with vasoactive intestinal peptide.

That's an old article,,, and I never heard of that medication. I wonder for how long it would raise the VIP? Enough to lower symptoms and disease process? If it improves bone health I imagine it would keep VIP elevated significantly.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for this fine forum.
 

kyzcreig

Senior Member
Messages
141
Location
Houston
It's disheartening to hear that Aviptadil is not effective in raising VIP. Are there any holistic means of treating it?
 

aaron_c

Senior Member
Messages
691
Shoemaker published some research in 2013 on VIP. It was a study with just 20 participants (there were no controls who received VIP, but there were a few hundred healthy controls who had blood tests done). In the following table "Base" means average participant results before ANY treatment was undertaken. AC2 are the results after 10/11 steps of Shoemaker's protocol have been completed (the 11th being VIP). The results:

upload_2017-5-24_22-46-6.png


All in all, it's pretty encouraging: Every test they did showed patient results moving closer to control results. In many cases, patient test results normalized entirely.

Note that this trial was done only on patients who became ill following exposure to water-damaged buildings and had not gotten better as a result of doing everything else that Shoemaker recommends. So it's a select group, less diverse than the general community of people hoping to get better with VIP. It also makes replicating the study a pain in the behind, because every participant has to be willing to go through 10 somewhat unsuccessful and sometimes uncomfortable steps before they get to do VIP.
 

aaron_c

Senior Member
Messages
691
A week ago I took VIP for the first time. I took a "normal dose" (50 mg four times a day) but only for 1.25 days before stopping it on suspicion that my TGF-beta was increasing, which according to Shoemaker is a sign that I either have current mold exposure, have Lymes Disease, or have a TH-17 / Treg imbalance (I think it's current mold exposure).


Side Effects and Benefits

These days my brain functions decently for about 1.5 hours a day. About one day after I started taking VIP I noticed my ability to concentrate improving. This lasted for three days before dissipating. For each of those three days I was able to concentrate for 3-4 hours. I also went out to dinner with old friends one night. Usually I would be hard-pressed to engage in any kind of extended conversation, but that night I found myself telling jokes and laughing in a way I do not often do.

One of the things that tipped me off to potentially higher TGF-beta was bloody stool and a particular kind of poor sleep/insomnia. This started maybe a day after taking VIP and also continued for about three days. In this time I didn't change any other part of my treatment regimen, and I think having two changes appear and disappear concurrently suggests they might have the same cause.

The insomnia I experienced was a particular kind that I get when I don't eat raw beef or get enough zinc. As far as I can tell it's actually a problem with getting taurine to say inside of cells, and zinc helps with this.

Bloody stool tends to happen to me after repeated diarrhea, but in this case that didn't happen. It comes from bleeding, usually internal hemorrhoids.


TGF-beta

I think TGF-beta may be to blame for both of these effects, although I can only explain it halfway--TGF-beta blocks the vitamin-d receptor. Vitamin D increases metallothionein, which is necessary both as an antioxidant in the gut and for the absorption and use of zinc and copper. In the past I have used vitamin D to eliminate IBS-type symptoms, and I have thought it was due to an increase in metallothionein. In any case, decreased metallothionein would reduce the availability of zinc, and it seems to me that this is how TGF-beta would have caused that particular brand of insomnia.

A third thing that suggested high TGF-beta was that I had a spell of being "extra" tired each of the three days, although less so on the last one. The first day I know that it occurred after perhaps as much as an hour of sun exposure. The second time occurred following the use of boron. The first event may have occurred after boron as well, but I can't remember for sure. Boron increases the amount of active vitamin D in our blood. I've written elsewhere why I think that the marked fatigue some of us experience when we take vitamin D pills or even just expose ourselves to the sun is probably a result of high TGF-beta. This supports that theory. Here is what I wrote about it elsewhere:

Many of us with ME/CFS get quite exhausted from oral vitamin D (see this thread). Personally, I suspect this is from an interaction between vitamin D and TGF-Beta, which "potently induce 5-lipoxygenase," at least in myeloid cells [1]. Many people with CFS have high TGF-Beta [2]. I tested this theory on myself by taking the 5-LO inhibitor acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA), which proved successful in eliminating the vitamin d-induced fatigue--although over time it failed to prevent other side effects and I had to abandon oral vitamin D3 [3].

...

Sources:
  1. Sorg BL, Klan N, Seuter S, Dishart D, Rådmark O, et al.Analysis of the 5-lipoxygenase promoter and characterization of a vitamin D receptor binding site.Biochim Biophys Acta2006;1761: 686–697.[PubMed]
  2. Bennett AL, Chao CC, Hu S, Buchwald D, Fagioli LR, Schur PH. Elevation of bioactive transforming growth factor-beta in serum from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.J Clin Immunol.1997;17:160–166. doi: 10.1023/A:1027330616073.[PubMed][Cross Ref]
  3. Sailer ER, Subramanian LR, Rall B, Hoernlein RF, Ammon HP, Safayhi H. Acetyl 11-keto-b-boswellic acid (AKBA): Structure requirements for binding and 5-lipoxygenase inhibitory activity. Br J Pharmacol. 1996;117(4):615–618. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1996.tb15235.x. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Cross Ref]
 
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Messages
25
Location
Boulder, CO
Not sure if anyone can help me understand this but about 3 weeks ago I started the VIP nose spray and it helped with energy and brain fog SO much and still does. However, I developed bumps all over my lips and a few on my face and chest after about 1 week and I had not connected the dots (so to speak) until yesterday. The spray is giving me a bad rash (omg I am SO bummed). At first I thought it was cold sores but anti viral's did nothing, then I thought infection or even fungus but MRSA ointment did nothing, and nystatin ointment seemed to soothe it a little (but not take it away)- that was of course until I used the spray again. When I stop the spray everything seems to start going away - (along with my energy and clarity).

I am going to call my doc Monday but all I can say is that its been such a long journey and I thought this was one of the major pieces and now this. Anyone having any ideas I would love to hear, could not find any other info about this online.

Thanks
 

grapes

Senior Member
Messages
362
Glad to find this thread. I have very low VIP due to a biotoxin exposure. I was following the Shoemaker protocol--thought it was mold. Then felt ready to start VIP---and oh boy, it made me SOOO tired. I would stop awhile, then restart..and once again, massive bodily fatigue.

Then saw that it made my TGF go high too. I stopped for good and still have the deep fatigue. So...based on what Shoemaker states, I probably still have exposure. For one, I don't think I fully got rid of the staph in my nose. Working on it again. Second, I think the continued exposure are chemicals in our own house from a business we are in!! Not mold. So working to eliminate exposure to the chemicals.

It's very frustrating since it holds so much promise. I just wish I knew what the deep fatigue is about. The rising TGF/rising inflammation is one thing, but the deep fatigue??
 

aaron_c

Senior Member
Messages
691
@grapes that's worrying to me that your fatigue has persisted. How long has it been since you stopped VIP?

VIP also made me quite tired, but that appears to have been related to an interaction between TGF-beta and vitamin d. I tested this by taking a boswellia extract that prevents one of the downstream effects of this interaction, and I felt better. I go into more detail about this interaction here.

I went back and did a month of cholestyramine, but that didn't seem to help. I'm currently giving losartan a try, in the hopes that it will prevent the conversion of some T-reg cells into Effector T-cells.