The Mermaid's Mug

We visited a new coffee bar in the Old Quarter. It's just across the street from Delicado's restaurant where Terri and I had lunch last summer... It's a very unique, kitchy and eclectic sort of place.... With real mermaids -- okay, it's France...

There's a small spotlight shining on the Disco Ball so when you spin it, the little reflected lights spin around the room ....

A window sculpture... and art by local artists ...


Fish nets and Christmas lights... the papers on the pillars are poems written by the customers on the Wednesday night Slammin' and Jammin' event... Monday eve I went back to hear Blue Gambit, a local blues/jazz trio I like... Sunday eve is a surprise movie with free popcorn ... Something going on all the time, so I hope it's a success. Should be fun.

A February Day...

The neigbours are sleeping in...
But we go for a walk at Piper's Lagoon beach park...



Evening over the Straight of Georgia...

3. MP evidence of remission and/or cure...

(note: You may find it easier to follow this series of articles by using the Archive index on the right hand side of this page. I'm numbering the entries so you can 'click' each one in sequence.)

Here is some preliminary data from Dr. Marshall regarding the response-rate of patients with various manifestations of Th1-Inflammatory Diseases. While Sarcoidosis was the original thrust of the research and protocol, the evidence began to suggest that others might also benefit from the protocol. This has largely proven to be true as folks with various chronic illnesses have reported progress - often very dramatic. Others have struggled, especially in the beginning, seeing no sudden improvements or even a worsening of symptoms. This is explained by Dr. Marshall as the difficult adjustments our bio-chemistry and hormonal systems must go through as the bacteria are killed.

My personal experience seems to bear this out. More about that later. For now, here are two more slides:
1. Patients on protocol / vs. patients experiencing recovery (remission? cure?)



2. This slide is very interesting as it reveals some surprising resolutions of other conditions that were not originally expected. It does lend some credence to the idea that intra-cellular bacterial infection is more wide-spread and causing more illness than we realized:

4. Do the 'bugs' make us ill?

(note: You may find it easier to follow this series of articles by using the Archive index on the right hand side of this page. I'm numbering the entries so you can 'click' each one in sequence.)

Here's a quote and a link to the larger discussion about how 'occult' bacteria may be causing illness. There is a growing body of evidence explaining how sub-microscopic bacterial forms interfere with normal cell biology. They apparently have evolved a means of insinuating themselves into the cell's chemistry for their own survival, and thereby interfere with the normal inflammatory processes - (normally inflammation is part of our healing process).

I'll post more on this later...

http://www.marshallprotocol.com/forum37/3391.html

These remissions also resolved a second issue, whether such intra-cytoplasmal bacteria were pathogenic or benign. In the case of Sarcoidosis, the coccoid bacterial forms proved pathogenic. Two recent in-vitro studies have described how a similar species of intracellular bacteria directly modulated the transfer factor Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kB) in the cytoplasm, initiating a release of mRNA (signaling cytokine release) from the Nucleus. This is likely to be the pathogenic mechanism, and we have described how this mechanism can fuel the granulomatous inflammation of sarcoidosis, an inflammation which is not driven by normal lymphocyte-phagocyte signaling, but by a steady release of cytokines independent of any lymphocytic intervention.

Sally Ann and Chinese New Year

I just saw a t.v. promo for the Salvation Army in which they pay tribute to their relationship with the Chinese community in B.C. and wish them Happy New Year.

I like the Salvation Army around here. They're 'on.'

Around Nanaimo

A cool-looking coffee bar I want to visit. It's across the street from Delicado's restaurant I visited last summer with Terri:
Mermaid's Mug

This is a really talented group I've seen just once for 3 songs - definitely want to see more:
Blue Gambit blues trio

The play France and I went to at the Port Theater last wednesday - very funny and encouraging:
Ivanka Chews the Fat

2. The end before the middle...

(note: due to the way blogs are organized you may find it easier to follow this series of articles by using the Archive index on the right hand side. I'm numbering the entries so you can 'click' each one in sequence and avoid reading them in reverse order or having to scroll through large amounts of text.)

Before I take a shot at answering the question: "Do these bacteria make us ill?" I thought I'd first deal with a more pertinent question: "Does the Marshall Protocol make us better?"

Determining if a protocol or product actually cures can be difficult. T.V. ads over-flow with testimonials by seemingly-sincere people claiming to be cured from everything imaginable, by wearing this magic bracelet, or drinking that magic potion. I'm really skeptical. And I'm doubly skeptical when someone is getting rich by claiming to make sick people well. That applies as much to big drug companies and the Billion-Dollar-Medical industry as it does to charlatans and snake-oil salesmen and multi-level marketing schemes.

And while I have complete confidence that healing through faith and miracles happens all the time, I'm utterly skeptical of big-time, so-called faith healers who prey on people while making themselves famous and wealthy, and did I mention wealthy!? My version of hell has a special corner for those folks.

So how can we know that anyone's claim to have a cure for something is valid?

The Gold Standard for scientific proof is the 'double-blind' study. It's considered the best way to remove pre-conceived bias from the results. But double-blind studies are expensive to conduct in valid ways that produce reliable results - that is using large enough populations with properly-designed data collection over a significantly-long time frame.

But double-blind evidence is not the only way to prove or disprove a theory. For example in aviation, I would be pretty reluctant to participate in a double-blind study to see if an aircraft is properly designed and built. I'd prefer to know that there is good scientific logic underlying the design of the aircraft and that reasonably good predictions can be made about how the aircraft will perform once airborne, and that recent tests are confirming those beliefs. I'd also like to know a lot about the designer himself and his previous track record. In aviation, progress has been made by moving gradually from what is known to what is not known but strongly suspected. That's why test pilots always fly into the edges of the envelope to see what's just beyond. Reality is the ultimate test of truth.

Here's another point raised in that Wikipedia article:

Effective blinding can be difficult to achieve where the treatment is notably effective (indeed, studies have been suspended in cases where the tested drug combinations were so effective that it was deemed unethical to continue withholding the findings from the control group, and the general population)

So what I'm finally getting at is this. While the Marshall Protocol has not been subjected to full-out double-blind studies (for several reasons), that doesn't mean that the results Dr. Marshall presents are unreliable. The scientific evidence behind his description of the disease process, the accuracy of his predictions as to how the cure works and his ability to explain his ideas with science rather than conjecture and 'everybody knows' type statements has a the ring of truth to it. His research is drawn from studies previously conducted by many different people rather than one single source. He is not so heavily invested in one predicted answer that he is reluctant to change directions when reality demands it.

Also the results of the protocol are subject to free and open discussion thanks to the internet - those for whom it is working and those for whom it is not can thrash out their experiences.

Also adding credibility is the fact that no one is making money from this protocol. The antibiotics are familiar ones that have been around long enough to have generic versions available. The other important drug is a relative newcomer, but its manufacturer, Sankyo seems to take little interest in the Marshall Protocol. I mentioned earlier, no one sees much profit in curing a rare disease. So, ironically, Sarcoidosis proves to be the perfect disease for uncovering the mystery of Th1-based diseases. If, in fact such diseases are all related and there are millions of prospective patients out there, this dynamic will change. But not before the underlying facts will have been established free from economic bias and influence.

Other key factors come to mind when I consider the claimed results of the Marshall Protocol. One - Dr. Marshall does actually have the credentials. Two - this work is costing him a lot more than he stands to profit. Three - he's already used it on himself to treat his own sarcoidosis. That's a testimonial that bears listening to. Oh yeah, and Four - I've experienced the changes in my own health, often in surprising ways that would preclude my simply seeing what I want to see.

This posting is getting long, so I'll break here and present some of Dr. Marshall's data as well as a summary of my own experience in the next 'webisode' ...

1. Bad Things Come in Small Packages

I have been ill with a disease called Sarcoidosis for many years. The disease was initially diagnosed in 1985 or 86, but in retrospect it had been attacking me for at least 10 years previous to that. Doc hit me with the standard sarc treatment - prednisone. Then when my lung x-ray cleared up I was declared 'cured.' Unhappily this was not so.

The progression of this chronic illness is insidious, and over subsequent years it sapped my strength, caused every muscle and joint in my body to ache, produced blocked nasal passages, headaches, ruined my sleep patterns and generally reduced me to what I used to call "a one-hundred year old man."

I began doing some online research and was surprised to discover that Sarcoid was being solved. Not by any large drug research group or university science lab. They have 'bigger fish' to fry and there is no money to be made curing something that is considered a rare disease. Interestingly, this research into sarcoid is also uncovering a common link with other chronic illnesses and we may have just begun plumbing the depths of an ice-burg. It's still an unfolding story.

Anyway, I've been using the Marshall Protocol for a couple of years now and while I still have good and bad days, my health has been on a solid upward incline since the start. Here is a short update of the science behind the Protocol -- in my layman's terms. These slides and explanations are taken from the full set available at:
http://autoimmunityresearch.org/chicago2005.htm

The culprits:
The Americans have been searching for Osama Bin Laden for many years now, but can't seem to find him. Imagine if it turned out he'd been hiding inside a US Army tank all along!

That's a silly analogy, but it describes something important regarding bacteria. Chronic illnesses like Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes, Irritable Bowel and Crohn's Disease, Multiple Sclerocis and Sarcoidosis - ("my" disease) and others, are evidently caused by a form of bacteria that has infested the very immune system cells that were supposed to kill them. This used to be considered "impossible" but the evidence is mounting.

These slides published just a few years ago reveal bacteria "happily" infesting the very Phagocytes responsible for destroying them:


One Doctor whom I admire, when presented with this information, immediately responded. "So, we are infested with these (kind) of bacteria. But do they make us ill?" The answer it turns out is a resounding 'Yes!' -- and the process of how they do so is being uncovered.

I'll post more on that soon.

West Coast Chronicles finds a new home....

The previous blog site was getting 'cranky' for some reason. I deleted all my back-logged postings but still was getting 'over quota' warnings. So, I decided to just hit the cyber road and hiked over to Google blogger.

Glad you found us again.