Dear Colleagues.
I hope you all are well. Looking forward to seeing a number of you at the ICAK meeting this month. Also the summer is a great time to visit CO and avail yourself of our one on one personal seminar here in Grand Junction (see last page of the newsletter for details).
For over six months I have been studying and applying a new technique that has helped quite a number of chronic patients. Personally it has greatly increased my hip range of motion (much more so than great weekly AK treatments and other forms of bodywork), as well as eliminating some chronic knee and SI pain I have had. On other patients, it has eliminated post surgical wrist swelling in one, greatly decreased disabling shoulder and neck pain in another (this pain was unresponsive to multiple surgical interventions), chronic bilateral knee pain scheduled for 2 surgeries was eliminated, a juvenile RA patient became asymptomatic, etc. The results have been exciting but in some ways I think the results are even better in asymptomatic patients as it can help prevent arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis and many other conditions in certain patients (though of course you can’t prove that).
In muscle testing we are only as good as taking a great history, knowing what to test and how to interpret the test, testing accurately and without bias, having top quality test vials (if applicable), and top quality therapeutic remedies (if applicable). In this case I was partially aware academically of these phenomena but unable to find the problem with AK (and worse, I thought I could find it, but in reality was missing it 90% of the time).
I am going to call this condition SOLANINE TOXICITY SYNDROME (STS). In this issue of the newsletter we will cover some of the basic
academics while in the July issue we will cover diagnosis and treatment. STS appears to affect about 1/3rd of the chronic patient load of my practice and other doctors of whom I have shared with this technique. Alpha-solanine is a glycol-alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants. The ones that might practically affect us (much of this family we do not eat) are in tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers, paprika, tobacco, gogi berries, and ashwagandha. The amount of solanine present in the above vary tremendously depending on growing conditions, time harvested, storage conditions, cooking techniques, etc. Much of the academic work can be creditied to Dr. Norman Childers who has been researching nightshades for about 50 years, especially in farm animals.
Historically most solanine containing foods were not considered edibles before the 1800’s (except in some parts of South America). Even foods like kim-chee did not have peppers in them 100 years ago but just utilized a salt brine. Solanine containing foods were mainly used for witchcraft a few hundred years ago, not regular ingestion. Now it is rare people go a day or even a meal without some form of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, etc. Solanines are not water soluble, are not destroyed by cooking and are not broken down inside the body but must be excreted as alpha-solanine.
Different people have different degrees of sensitivity to them, and different efficiencies in being able to excrete them. How or in what way they will affect you will be a matter of genetics, as well as lifestyle and nutritional status. If you test positive for this problem, the probability is very high that at least 50% of your blood relatives may have it too, to varying degrees.
The average daily intake of alpha-solanine is approximately 13mg and the average daily excretion is 5% the first day and 1-2% daily thereafter with a half-life of about 1-2 months. Considering that is for one day’s dose, it is estimated that the average body burden is at least 50mg. It can be much higher in people like myself who have a history of pouring salsa on about everything they eat. Alpha-solanine is stored in most organs (with a special affinity for the thyroid gland) as well as most soft tissue including skeletal muscle.
Alpha-solanine is classified as a neuro-toxin. Interestingly most “foods” that contain alpha-solanine also contain at least 5 other neurotoxins including atropine and nicotine. Acute solanine poisoning can happen from ingesting green or sprouted potatoes or green tomatoes with symptoms including cramps, diarrhea, dizziness and sleepiness.
We are more concerned with “chronic poisoning”, what we are calling STS. Solanine acts as an acetyl cholinesterase inhibitor (similar to Malathion, Parathion and other “nerve gases”) allowing acetylcholine to build up in the synapses.
On a practical level it can do the following in sensitive patients; 1) act as an endocrine disruptor especially to the thyroid, 2) cause chronic joint pain, arthritis (all forms), joint inflammation- this is due to solanines ability to remove calcium from the bones and deposit it in any weak or genetically predisposed area of the body, 3) for the same reason it can be a major contributor to osteoporosis (since it removes calcium from the bones) and arteriosclerosis (it can deposit the calcium in the blood vessels), 4) “leaky gut” as well as IBS,
5) appendicitis, 6) birth defects including spina bifida, 7) depression (correcting it in one patient stopped their strong suicidal tendencies), 8) migraines, 9) can greatly interfere with calcium and vitamin D absorption, despite supplementation.
I had the opportunity to test some professional ballplayers who needed “Tommy John” surgery and they all showed STS and I personally think it made them more injury prone. I have seen it be positive on almost all arthritics too.
From this brief description above you can see the potential of how problematic this can be.
Most of the patients that “suffer” from STS do not routinely weaken on manual muscle testing of tomato, potato, peppers, etc. They may weaken on them sporadically but not each one and not every time, so it is very easy to miss the problem. I knew I suffered from occasional headaches from nightshades but had no idea they were causing so many other problems in me also.
In the next issue we will talk about a simple diagnostic technique I developed and the therapies that help. Our new 2009 DVD (see last page of this newsletter) goes into this technique in more detail as well as all the other parts of our protocols to treat “difficult patients). You may also want to read more about them in books by Norman Childers or Michael Fowler.
At this point I am screening all patients for STS- partly because I am still researching the problem and trying to understand it better and partly because recognizing it can really help your patients health both short term and long term. STS and TSS (theobromine sensitivity syndrome) can be major causative factors in a significant number of your patients.
Available Info/Products, etc.
1.DVD- Treating The Complex Patient 2009: This DVD seminar, approximately 6 hours long will teach the physician a simple to apply, effective protocol to treat patients with chronic fatigue, allergies, chemical sensitivities, intestinal dysbiosis, (fungal, bacterial, parasitic, and viral infections), food sensitivities, altered intestinal permeability, toxic metal problems, endocrine dysfunction, nutritional imbalances, chronic pain and subluxations. Knowledge of basic muscle testing is helpful. A complete protocol is taught that you can use to treat even the most chronic patients. The 4 DVD set is suited for both the novice and the advanced practitioners in our work and has many changes from previous DVD’s. A complete set of advanced notes accompanies the dvd set. This dvd set supersedes our previous ones. The price is $250 and can be paid by check to our office or paypal to noach2343@aol.com. There is a paypal link on our website www.michaellebowitzdc.com to pay.
2. Clinical Indications of Thorne Research Products: This handout has both academic and clinical observations on well over 100 products I use in my office. Approximately 65% of the products I use are by Thorne Research. Reasons are given. This handout is free and is available in written form or on CD-Rom. You may wither call our office for a copy or download it from our website: www.michaellebowitzdc.com as you can download it.
Clinical Indications of Supreme Nutrition Products can also be downloaded from our website or obtained by calling Mid American Marketing 1-800-922-1744.
3. Personal Seminars with Dr. Lebowitz: Dr. Lebowitz teaches seminars to one or two doctors at a time in his home/office in Grand Junction, CO. These classes are tailored to meet your individual needs and can be as basic or advanced as you would like. Treatment for you and/or your family can be included in the teaching. Colorado continuing education hours can be provided. Best days are Sundays or Mondays. Call to schedule exact dates. Cost is $300 for one physician or $500 for 2 physicians coming together.
4. Test Kits for Dr. Lebowitz protocol. Call AK Test Kits at 1-888-323-0625 or see our website http://www.michaellebowitzdc.com for more details. Info is also available on CD-Rom. These new kits will greatly simplify and speed up your testing making you more efficient and accurate in patient assessment.
5. Lasers we use in our protocol (rectangular beam output 635nm 5mw) Laseronix 1-808- 879-9391. The one we use is called “the Desensitizer”.