The dreaded cough is back, after a welcome absence of months. Since by now I know that whenever I get even the slightest cold it goes right into my chest and turns into bronchitis, I pay attention to the signals. On Wednesday evening, the signals told me to begin taking an antibiotic. In the nick of time! Luckily, I don’t have any English classes until next Tuesday, so I have plenty of time to get over this thing. I feel fine but have an occasional annoying cavernous cough. No biggie. The antibiotic will zap it.
More importantly, Sherlock and I have a new protocol. After our Biocurcumax experiment ended on Tuesday (when we had our blood and urine tests done), we went back on the C3 Complex curcumin (Doctor’s Best), eight grams a day (no change in quantity).
New item: we have added 500 mg of EGCG, which we will increase to one gram next week. We are testing the synergistic effect of curcumin and the green tea extract, in other words. For a couple of months, as usual.
The protocol also includes (no change from previous protocol): omega-3 oil capsules (I take flaxseed, she takes fish oil), one gram a day. Also, vitamin D and, for me, an occasional multivitamin (B vitamins, mainly). We are still following the “atomic bomb” theory. That is, we take all this stuff once a day (early evening).
Now, as my faithful blog readers may recall, I suffer from rosacea, an inflammatory (inflammation-cancer connection…?) condition of the facial skin, which I inherited from my father, instead of his lovely green-gray eyes! This means that I have occasional flare-ups. Usually they aren’t too bad, I merely look a bit flushed. While I was taking Biocurcumax, though, I noticed (hard not to! This is what I looked like: 
) that my flare-ups were absolutely…dreadful. I wore cover-up to work, but that didn’t disguise it completely. Well, today is my fourth day without Biocurcumax, and my facial flare-up has already died down a bit. Hmmm.
So my questions are: was the flare-up (as I have suspected all along) related to my Biocurcumax intake? Could it be seen as a good or bad sign? For obvious reasons, I hope it was a GOOD sign, a sign, that is, that my immune system was kicked into high gear to attack the myeloma. Wishful thinking, eh. We will have no way of knowing until we get our test results next month.
Everything WILL BE alright! I just know it 😉
All the best to both of you!
Robert
Hi margaret.
You’ve probably seen this study before regarding rosacea, but if you haven’t, you might find it interesting. I notice that more and more lotions and creams are including nicotinamide/niacinamide as part of their ingredients to improve barrier function. Perhaps the supplement plus the topical application would have a synegistic effect.
Art
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16871775?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Hi Margaret
I’ve been checking in more than usual to see how you are. So glad that you have a few days off. I hoped maybe all that crying from the Sicko movie might have helped you wash away some of the bad stuff. Too much to ask for a movie about bad healthcare to make you better..smile
about rashes
there was a brief discussion on the ACOR list about the rashes being a good thing or a bad thing, which led into what to do about the rashes. However the discussion started, I believe, with a study that it was a good thing. Same thing happened to me with feverfew, with ugly face rash; only also felt bad as well and stopped taking it.
wish you well
Hi again, Margaret.
I just found this brand new PubMed study from Italy using silymarin and MSM, a common ingredient in many over the counter glucosamine formulations. This combination was beneficial for rosacea. Silymarin itself is “very interesting” and possibly one you might like to do some research on. I had to copy and paste it because I think the link was not going to work.
Art
Combined effects of silymarin and methylsulfonylmethane in the management of rosacea: clinical and instrumental evaluation.Berardesca E, Cameli N, Cavallotti C, Levy JL, Piérard GE, de Paoli Ambrosi G.
San Gallicano Dermatological Institute, Rome, Italy.
Objective This study aims to evaluate a topical treatment based on silymarin/methylsulfonilmethane (S-MSM) to improve erythematous-telangiectactic rosacea. Methods Forty-six patients affected by stage I-III rosacea entered this double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Subjects were treated for 1 month. Clinical and instrumental evaluations were done at baseline, after 10 and 20 days, and at the end of the study. Itching, stinging, erythema, and papules were investigated clinically as well as hydration and erythema instrumentally with capacitance and color measurements. Results A statistically significant improvement was observed in many clinical and instrumental parameters investigated (P < 0.001). In particular, improvement of skin redness, papules, itching, hydration, and skin color occurred. Conclusions The combination of silymarin and S-MSM can be useful in managing symptoms and condition of rosacea skin, especially in the rosacea subtype 1 erythemato-telangiectatic phase. The action can be considered multicentric and multiphase because of the direct modulating action on cytokines and angiokines normally involved and up-regulated in the case of such skin condition.
PMID: 18254805 [PubMed – in process]
Sorry to hear about the cough, Margaret.It’s a worry when it won’t
go away. I had bronchitis in November and it lasted 4 weeks,coughing every night. Every blinking night!
Here in UK we are entitled to consult a Pharmacologist free of
charge as part of the National Health Service so that’s what I did.
After a couple of questions she said the best thing is to see
my doctor and get some anti-biotics.
Well, Margaret, I thought what’s the point in reading Michael
Gearin-Tosh if you’re not going to make use of it,
so I said “I do not wish to compromise my immune system”
which set her back somewhat . She rummaged around her
shelves and produced some gooey concoction all sugar
and glucose and lemon juice.
I said “I have a sugar intolerance”, which brought the
consultation to a rapid conclusion.
That afternoon I visited a local health shop accompanied
by my wife Annie.The assistant produced a small bottle of
Ivy-Thyme complex manufactured by Bioforce.Switzerland.
15 drops three times a day.Annie was quite impressed by
the assistant’s knowledge and also by her kind and courteous
manner.
Any how I took my first fifteen that evening,and three times
the day after, and for the first time in a month I had an
undisturbed night with no coughing.Relief!
I kept up the dosage for a few days until I felt my chest
was clear, and have not had a return of the bronchitis since.
My little bottle is still in the kitchen and I shall keep it.
Anti biotics to me is like a sledge-hammer to crack a nut,
whereas this simple herbal remedy put me right without
any damage.
A.Vogel, Ivy-Thyme complex, Manufactured by Bioforce,
Switzerland. There is bound to be an outlet in Florence.
I hope this little tale is of help to you.
Take care and good health!
Old Bill.
I can’t thank everyone enough for providing me with more hope then I thought was possible. I never knew that there was such little support in the U.S. for melanoma, very limited funding.
Sometimes I wonder if what is said is true about these companies not wanting to cure us, just prolong our lives to be dependent on them.
Margaret, Thank you so much for helping me. I wish I could rip this stuff out of everyone in the world and throw it into an abyss that it could never escape from. I hope your feeling better.