Paul Anacker, J.D.
For the last six months I’ve
taken part in a series of ongoing evaluation trials
of new and pending Tango Advanced Nutrition formulas.
Before I share my thoughts on these formulas I think
it would be helpful to begin with an overview of my
recent health history.
Onset
of Acute Pancreatitis
In August 1995, I was hospitalized with an extreme
case of acute pancreatitis. I remained in the hospital
for almost five months, including 110 days in the intensive
care unit. My problem was caused by a blockage in my
pancreatic duct, about a quarter of the way up from
the common bile duct (Fig. 1). Because of this obstruction,
pancreatic fluid that would normally be released into
the intestines was blocked, building up in the pancreas
and leading to the formation of several pseudocysts
that eventually became infected abscesses. My surgeons
attempted to perform endoscopic surgery to open the
duct and insert a drainage stent, without success.
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During my first hospitalization the
doctors warned my folks that I wasn’t likely
to survive on at least five separate occasions. When
I was released at the end of 1995 my abdominal muscles
were left cut apart and I left the hospital with five
drainage tubes sticking out from my abdomen. Because
of the severity of my pancreatitis (and the resulting
diabetes), my doctors said that I had about eight years
left to live.
After several years my Ventura surgeons
finally gave up on me and sent me to the U.S.C. medical
center in Los Angeles. My case intrigued the Director
of the Pancreatic and Biliary Department and he took
me on as a patient personally. Eventually he also gave
up, telling me that the only remaining option was an
operation to remove 80 percent of my pancreas and my
spleen also. I resigned myself to having the operation,
but fortunately the only surgeon who could perform
this delicate operation was on vacation for a month.
Trying
for a Natural Solution
While waiting for the surgeon to return from vacation
I decided to put my research skills to good use. I’d
already given conventional (Western) medicine a chance
to try to heal me; now I decided to see if there was
a natural approach to saving my pancreas and spleen.
When I reviewed the medical literature
I discovered that several alternative doctors hypothesized
that pancreatitis is a form of fibrosis (cross-linking
of tissue). On the basis of their work I began to take
four natural substances that, at that time, were believed
to prevent, and perhaps reverse, fibrosis – EDTA,
PABA, DMSO and MSM.
This was in October of 1998, and
I’d already been living with a drainage catheter
poking out of my pancreas and through my ribs for almost
two years. To keep my catheter from clogging I had
to irrigate it with a saline solution four times every
day. Now, in addition to taking the four natural substances
orally, I also added them to my saline irrigation solution.
Much to the amazement of my doctors,
once I began treating myself I felt good enough to
put off having the surgery. In fact, despite continuing
to have chronic pancreatitis and being in constant
pain that sometimes could debilitate me to the extent
that I would have to stay in bed, I didn’t need
to return to the hospital, let alone visit an Emergency
Room, for another eight years.
Heart
Problems
My next hospitalization occurred in November 2006.
At the end of October I began to feel weak, and if
I exerted myself I became dizzy. A week later, I was
growing weak and dizzy just lying in bed, so I checked
myself into the hospital for a series of tests. An
Adenosine-Stress (AS) test revealed that my Ejection
Fraction (EF), a measure of how much blood the heart
is actually pumping, was down to 38 percent (by comparison,
a healthy EF is 70 percent). An echocardiogram confirmed
the decline in my ejection fraction, though it indicated
an EF of 47 percent, not as bad as 38 percent, but
still serious. Reviewing my echocardiogram numbers
my MD said they were very close to the 48 percent EF
rate measured by a Thallium-Stress test I had back
in 2002.
“An
Adenosine-Stress test revealed that my Ejection
Fraction, a measure of how much blood the
heart is actually pumping, was down to 38
percent (by comparison, a healthy EF is 70
percent).”
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Trying to understand why my heart
was so weak I decided to take a look at the supplements
I was taking. For several years I had been taking 1600
mg a day of Red Rice Yeast Extract to help control
my cholesterol levels. Red Rice Yeast Extract contains
lovastatin, the same active ingredient found in pharmaceutical
statin drugs, such as Lipitor® and Zocor®.
In addition to lowering cholesterol, statin drugs have
the undesirable side effect of depleting Coenzyme Q10
(CoQ10) levels in the body.
CoQ10 is concentrated in the myocardium,
or heart muscle. Its role in the heart makes sense:
the heart, one of the body's most energetic organs,
beats approximately 100,000 times a day and 36 million
times a year, and depends on CoQ10 for “bioenergetics.”
My test results led me to suspect
that the Red Rice Yeast Extract I’d been taking
may have severely depleted my CoQ10 levels and contributed
to my heart weakness. I stopped taking the Red Rice
Yeast Extract and added CoQ10 to daily supplement regimen,
along with CardioPhase, a Chinese herbal formula available
from Tango Advanced Nutrition.
A follow-up echocardiogram on Dec
1st showed that my ejection fraction had returned to
normal, at 70 percent. This is an extremely fast turnaround!
I don’t know whether to attribute this to the
CoQ10, the CardioPhase, or both. But if I had it to
do over again, I believe I would start with the CardioPhase,
because it is much less expensive than CoQ10.
Of course, my doctor had a completely
different explanation when I met with her on Dec 22nd.
When I told her that I was taking both CoQ10 and CardioPhase,
she told me that the original report from Nov 7th echocardiogram
now showed an EF of 70 percent. There had been a mistake
someplace, either in what they originally told her
when I was in the hospital, or in the report of the
hospital results she now had. Since echocardiograms
are pictures “read” by experts, perhaps
the earlier “reading” was revised as a
result of the later “reading.”
Honestly, I’m not exactly sure
where the mistake was made, but as a result I’m
far less trusting of the accuracy of even the diagnostic
tools of conventional medicine. However, a couple of
other results cannot be simply “explained away” by
conventional MDs claiming a mistake in test results.
Persistent
Glucose Problems
Following my discharge from the hospital in 1995, my
blood glucose readings have been consistently high,
averaging about 300. I attribute the problem to the
constant pain and illness from my chronic pancreatitis.
Indeed, prior to 1998, when I was in the hospital for
two weeks, my doctors had complete control over my
nutrition and insulin dosage, and even they couldn’t
get my readings below 300.
The good thing was that, because
of all the supplements I was taking, I had been able
to avoid many of the adverse effects that result from
high blood glucose levels, such as cataracts, diabetic
retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, nephropathy, atherosclerosis
and osteoporosis. In fact, after 10 years of high blood
glucose levels my ophthalmologist was shocked to find
that I had no signs of diabetic retinopathy (he was
so amazed that he checked twice, more thoroughly the
second time). The peripheral neuropathy of my feet
and lower legs had been getting better over the years.
And, of course, the MDs had just given my heart a good
bill of health.
However, now my doctors were becoming
alarmed at my elevated blood glucose levels and high
hA1C test results. The glycosylated hemoglobin test
(commonly referred to as hA1C) measures the average
blood sugar level for the previous 3 months to determine
overall diabetes control. According to the American
College of Endocrinology hA1C levels should be under
6.5 for optimal health, but even keeping hA1C at or
below 7 percent can help to minimize long-term complications
associated with diabetes. My hA1C was up to 11.4.
To make matters worse, since I’d
stopped taking Red Rice Yeast Extract my cholesterol
levels were elevated and my blood pressure had shot
up to 165/95 during the past few months. I was sent
to a “diabetic specialist” who warned me
of the cardiac complications that can result from constant
high blood glucose. She increased my insulin regimen
and wanted me to consider taking two prescription drugs – Actos® and
Avandia®. However, since I have an intense aversion
to synthetic drugs, I searched for information about
those two drugs. That turned up some disturbing information,
including warnings from the FDA about prescribing Actos
and Avandia for patients who were taking insulin. As
it turns out, these drugs greatly increase the risk
of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) when combined with
insulin.
Once again, I chose to add some more
natural supplements to my regimen. In particular, I
added MetaPhase and Herbal Boost from Tango Nutrition.
Additionally, I began using two new formulas that Tango
was providing to clinicians and diabetic patients as
part of their ongoing evaluation program. The first
was an advanced glucose management formula. The second
was an herbal formula designed to normalize and restore
blood pressure to healthy levels. I began taking these
on December 22, 2006.
I had more blood tests done in mid-January
2007. A week later I met with my primary doctor (who
is, by the way, a first year intern DO, not MD, and
supportive of my decisions to use natural substances
instead of synthetic drugs, but has to deal with the “attending” MDs
who supervise her and push the synthetic drugs). After
approximately one month on the new supplements, my
blood pressure had dropped to 123/77. More importantly,
my hA1C level had been reduced from 11.4 to 7.7, and
my 30-day blood glucose average was down to 146 (from
my previous level of over 300). My cholesterol also
significantly improved – I don’t remember
the numbers right now, but they were low enough that
my doctor said they were not of any concern.
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About the Author: Paul
Anacker, J.D., has been involved in the natural
health field for 30 years, beginning after a
meeting with Jack LaLanne in the mid-60s, and
continuing as Paul studied the works of Dr. Paul
Bragg while attending UCLA in the 60s. Over the
years Paul has served as a researcher and consultant
to leading figures in the field of alternative
medicine. In the mid-80s Paul served as lead
editor and co-publisher of the groundbreaking
book, Biological Aging Measurement: Clinical
Applications by Ward Dean, M.D. In the late 90s
he also served as a formulator for Body International,
Inc. and assisted in designing formulas for leading
supplement companies. |
Summary
Throughout the past four months,
I have tried to convince the MDs to treat me, not my
numbers. I believe the underlying cause of these numbers
is the chronic insomnia caused by the pain of chronic
pancreatitis. Instead of listening to my concerns,
the MDs continued to attempt to treat my numbers with
synthetic substances. However, I do not believe that
my recent health problems are caused by a lack of some
synthetic drugs that have been in existence for less
than 10 years.
As I mentioned previously, I have
a high disdain for synthetic drugs and the numerous
side effects associated with them (in many cases, the
side effects are more serious than the condition they
are intended to treat). My philosophy is that our bodies
evolved over millions of years in concert with nature
and its abundance of natural healing substances. Consequently,
our bodies have numerous metabolic pathways for these
natural substances, and their safe use has been well
established over several millennia. Fortunately, now
that my numbers
are down, my primary doctor can treat my insomnia without
flack from her attendings.
In closing, I hope this information
is helpful to you and your readers. Thanks again for
allowing me to participate in the trials of your products,
and I will keep you updated with future reports on
my ongoing progress.
