Dear Colleagues:
We hope you are having a great summer. It was great to see some of you at the ICAK meeting. It was an international meeting and I was able to renew friendships with some folks I haven’t seen in almost 20 years from Europe as well as the US.
For those of you that missed the June newsletter- it contained the first part of the article I am continuing with here on what we are calling Solanine Toxicity Syndrome (STS). It is available on our website where I have back issues of the newsletter and I recommend you read it first (before continuing this newsletter) as it goes into the academics of alpha solanine and the physiological effects it has on the body. Solanines can definitely be devastating and affect a sizeable minority (30-40%) of your chronic patient population. For those of you that came to our Scottsdale seminar or bought the DVD- this newsletter has an updated protocol (though the DVD has much more academic information as well as clinical tidbits).
In the last newsletter I mentioned a number of very significant changes I have already seen in patients. Another I recently had was in one patient that experienced bright red blood in his stools about twice monthly and at times he could actually feel the blood leaking in his rectal area. This had been going on for 5 years or so. Since eliminating solanine containing foods, he has had no episodes in the last 6 months.
To do this technique you need an alpha-solanine vial. We have a small supply at our office and you can purchase from us for $8 which includes shipping or if we are out we can have one shipped via AK Test Kits (1-888-323-0625) for about the same price (ships from England, where we got our supply and can take about 2 weeks). Most of these patients do not routinely test on solanine or nightshade containing foods on standard muscle testing. Sometimes they test on one or two but not always and not on each visit. You have to realize that testing with the foods will yield many false negative tests as many of our best clinical changes were on long standing patients who we have tested on nightshades (but not the solanine vial) dozens of times. The solanine vial is the best way by far.
SOLANINE TOXICITY SYNDROME- TESTING
1. Test your patient on the solanine vial (AK Test Kits). It may be positive over GV-20, GV-27 or over an area of chronic subluxations or chronic pain. Often it must be tested over the area of chronic pain or inflammation first before it shows over GV-20 or 27. It will either A) weaken a strong muscle or B) cause a strong or weak muscle to become hypertonic (in other words the strong muscle now won’t weaken when you approximate the spindle cells)
2. Check the acetylcholine vial over the same area as it most often correlates (if the solanine vial does A or B above, the acetylcholine vial will most likely do A or B also, though not always the same one, e.g solanine may do A and acetylcholine may do B). You don’t need the acetylcholine vial to confirm- the solanine will do by itself.
3. Also, if a patient is on calcium or vitamin D supplementation, see if they no longer strengthen on them if you test solanine simultaneously. This is most often the case and the supplements will typically yield little or no results on that patient, unless the solanines are removed from their diet.
4. Often patients’ positive on any of the above steps will not weaken on individual solanine foods (though they need to avoid them).
5. If step 1 is positive, see if it is negated by Thera Supreme (Mid American Marketing 1-800-922-1744). This will negate it in about 80% of cases. In the vast majority of cases, no other supplements will negate it and neither will any reflexes, acupuncture points, adjustments or desensitization procedures.
6. Have the patient stay off nightshades (potato, tomato, eggplant, pepper, paprika, tobacco, ashwagandha, gogi) until the solanine vial no longer tests positive. This could take weeks or months or could be permanent. They should read labels carefully and have 100% avoidance for optimal results (if a label says “spices” and doesn’t say what kind assume it has paprika or red pepper). Once the vial no longer tests positive (on subsequent visits), if the patient wants to you can have them add some nightshades back into their diet for 3 straight days and then retest. If the vial tests negative- they can eat the foods in moderation but keep re-checking each visit. If positive- it is probably permanent.
7. Thera Supreme appears to help rid the body of solanine. We give 3 scoops a day for the first 2 bottles and then cut to 1 scoop daily. In patients that will not comply with the diet- Thera Supreme should be taken indefinitely and results will not be optimal but will be much better than if it is not taken. The best I can theorize is that the Thera helps the body get rid of stored solanines faster. I have seen symptom improvement faster in those patients taking it. It does not fix the problem but allows symptoms to resolve faster. On patients that can’t be compliant to the diet it lessens (though does not eliminate ) the effects of solanine.
New Product
1. New Improved Thera Supreme (Mid American 1-800-922-1744). Thera has been changed to have only 8 ingredients instead of 10. The broccoli and carrot juice have been eliminated and the ratios of the others slightly changed. We found by doing this the anti-viral properties of Thera have been enhanced as have the solanine removing properties. When ordering you will automatically get a new test vial of it. With a higher % of berries, it will have a fruitier taste too. It will serve all the needs of those who were previously on it also meet the needs of solanine intolerant patients.
Interesting letter
Dr. Michael:
As always, thanks for your newsletters.
I moved from Gainesville, FL, the home of Dr. Childers, two years ago to LA. During my 26 years in Gainesville, I had the privilege of treating Dr. Childers and I'll tell you a quick story.
I had been having difficulty with my hands . . . waking up with stiffness and occasionally severe pain, exquisite tenderness and unable to close my fist no more than half way because of the degree of swelling. One morning Dr. Childers was laying supine on my treatment table and I happened to mention this pain to him, not knowing what he did at the Dept. of Agriculture.
I can still see him, clear as day. He looked at me with those bright blue eyes and said:
"Jim, did you have eggplant parmesan last night?"
I almost fell over and felt a bit spooked because in fact I did!
He told me all about the nightshades and that day he literally saved my practice of Chiropractic.
He may have passed on by now as he was in his seventies in the 1980s but he was sharp as a tack mentally and still had a full head of snow white hair. The last time I spoke with him was standing in line together at a Publix supermarket in the early 2000s. In the 1980s he had in his possession over 10,000 written testimonials from people telling him how they benefited from avoiding nightshade foods!
My patients also benefited from my experience that morning and so did several of my family members.
He recommended a 6 month trial of avoiding nightshade foods to determine if you have a problem with them but I found that most patients would notice a reduction in the severity and frequency of symptoms easily within 1 - 2 months, sometimes sooner.
It's amazing though, that some people were not willing to give up potatoes or tomatoes . . . those were the two foods that people would balk at letting go of.
Dr. Childers was a fine man and certainly one I will never forget.
All the best Michael and I look forward to Part Two on Nightshades!
Jim Barrass DC
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 either 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”.