Letter from the publisher

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Nov, 2003 by Jonathan Collin

This issue of the Townsend Letter is focused on multiple sclerosis and neurologic disorders. The Townsend Letter has covered multiple sclerosis by various authors over the years, for reasons known only to the powers-that-be, none of these authors have contributed any writing to this issue. Partially that may be due to the author's death (it's always difficult to write from the grave); partially communications being what they are, one doesn't always let the right people know about about a writing project in a timely manner. Please don't let these introductory remarks steer you away from our Townsend Letter writers who have tackled multiple sclerosis and related neurologic disorders. If there was any group of patients more deserving of support from the orthomolecular and natural medicine community (I don't know how you would rate such a thing), multiple sclerosis patients would certainly deserve to be given highest priority for receiving vitamin therapy. As a practitioner who has had the opportunity to work with a few individuals during the long course of their multiple sclerosis process, the remitting aspect of the disease (when symptoms appear to magically disappear) certainly seems to be capable of responding to orthomolecular approaches. And as many practitioners are also aware, the latter stages of multiple sclerosis seem very difficult to modify with vitamin therapies. Why is that?

One clinician who had a clinic dedicated to orthomolecular approaches for multiple sclerosis is the physician, Dr. Hans A. Nieper, of Silbersee, Hanover, Germany. Dr. Nieper died a number of years ago but his clinic did treat several thousand patients in the 1970's to the 1980's with a remarkable system of therapy largely unknown outside of Germany. Many of his patients were American and from European countries beyond Germany--there was a multiple sclerosis "underground" that promoted his treatments around the world. Dr. Nieper's theories focused on mechanisms to modify the abnormal capacity of myelin to conduct electrical signals. He utilized a component called colamine phosphate (2-amino ethanol phosphate) known in the Nieper clinic as "EAP." Mineral based forms of EAP were used extensively to "correct the chemical and electrical defects in the cell membrane system." Nieper's work also focused on using other forms of calcium including calcium orotate. A review of this work by Nieper was published in the December, 1987 (#53) issue of the Townsend Letter. Further articles by Nieper have been published by us and are indexed on the townsendletter.com website. Parties interested in obtaining "EAP" and similar preparations prepared by Nieper are directed to the German company Koehler-Chemie of Alsbach, Germany and to distributors of Koehler products (in the US call 800-882-3876).

One patient advocate for orthomolecular treatments for MS, Dale Humphreys, has written about the role of injectable Vitamin B1 and Liver Extract for MS (see February/March 2000 issue of the TLfDP #199/200). Humphreys writes about this treatment from a different perspective; as a patient with MS, he has had the benefit of receiving this treatment and has maintained long-term remission from the MS process. The treatment is based on the work of orthomolecular pioneers, Dr. F.R. Klenner, MD of Reidsville, North Carolina, and H.T.R. Mount, MD of Ottawa, Ontario. Dr. Klenner's paper on the "Response of Peripheral and Central Nerve Pathology to Mega-doses of the Vitamin B-Complex and other Metabolites," was originally published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition in the Fall, 1973. The bold quote of Dr. Klenner's is striking: "Any victim of MS who will dramatically flush with the use of nicotinic acid and who has not yet progressed to the stage of myelin degeneration, as witnessed by sustained ankle clonus elicited in the orthodox manner, can be cured with the adequate employment of thiamine HCl and other factors of the vitamin B complex in conjunction with essential proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and injectable Liver Extract ..... We have had patients who did demonstrate bilateral sustained ankle clonus, and who were in wheelchairs, and who returned to normal activities after 5 to 8 years of treatment." Dr. Mount's paper (originally published in the CMA Journal in June 2, 1973, Vol. 108, and reprinted in the TLfDP, pg. 60-62, #199/200) reported the results of concomitant use of Vitamin B1 and Liver Extract injections. Patients in the early stages of disease "responded well and in a time span appropriate to the presumed underlying pathology of demyelination. Patients in later stages responded more slowly." As Humphreys has reported in a number of letters to the Townsend Letter, attempts have been made by the FDA to limit access to injectable Liver Extract; however, a number of companies are still able to provide the injectable form. For reference to Humphreys work, see the index on townsendletter.com website.

Most recently Dr. Jonathan Wright reported in his Nutrition and Healing Newsletter in October 1999 (reprinted in the Townsend Letter, Oct. 2000) about the potential benefit of histamine in the treatment of MS. Based on the observations of another deceased physician pioneer, Dr. Hinton Jonez, MD, a general practitioner in Tacoma, Washington, injectable histamine was employed to counter the allergy mechanisms of multiple sclerosis. Jonez based his method on the appealing idea of a Mayo Clinic physician, Bayard Horton, MD who proposed in 1946 to treat fire with fire, giving histamine to patients who were having histamine-based allergic reactions. Dr. Jonez liked this theory and began the novel approach of administering histamine as an IV to patients (histamine was available in 1946 as an injectable item; it is no longer available for IV administration). Unfortunately Dr. Jonez' work was not pursued by other MS researchers and largely was lost to further clinical evaluation after the 1950's. A patient with MS, Elaine DeLack, uncovered Dr. Jonez' work and experimented with receiving histamine for her disease. Ultimately, DeLack determined a proprietary form of histamine called "Procarin" which is administered transdermally rather than by injection. Dr. Jonathan Wright has conducted a limited study of Procarin indicating a moderate response in symptomatology. Procarin is now available in the US from compounding pharmacies. The study on Procarin by Gilson, Wright, and DeLack has been published by Alternative Medicine Review in 2000 (available online). Wright's paper also indicated important MS supports with injectable Vitamin B12, adenosine monophosphate, Padma (a Tibetan herbal combination) and DHEA.