Polypodium Leucotomos

[a.k.a. Kalawalla, Calaguala,Samambia, Anapsos]

Polypodium leucotomos extract comes from a tropical fern plant grown in Central and South America. Native Americans have used the plant extract for centuries for the treatment of inflammatory disorders and skin diseases. Recently, clinical research has shown that it has antioxidant and photoprotective properties and taken orally provides protection against the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun and other sources.-Derm Net NZ

The more I learn about supplements, the more I’m shocked and hopeful that my future with Rheumatoid Arthritis is nothing to fear. I started this blog because I’m on a quest to fix my Rheumatoid Arthritis, whatever that means. If you have an autoimmune disease then you are probably somewhat like me, always researching. I’ve had RA now for 2 1/2 years and I have come a long way. Please know that when I talk about supplements, I am in no way pushing anything, but rather, I am sharing my experience with you. I am in no way, shape or form connected with any sale of a product and since the beginning of this blog, have not made any money thus far to put towards my very expensive monthly regimen that keeps me fairly limber. I do hope that one day I can get “help” towards my costly supplements but if I don’t, I will survive because I’d rather starve than be without them. If there is a particular website mentioned to buy a product, then that’s only because I think they’re the cheapest, friendliest and fastest place to get it from, and not for any other reason whatsoever. I enjoy helping those who help me!

Today I started on Calaguala also known as “Kalawalla” from American Nutrition. It’s a blend of Polypodium Leucotomos and Samambaia Rhizome….now say that three times fast! Luckily, it’s in liquid form and this $15 bottle according to serving size, should last me ten days, which is a bit out of my means but if it works, then great! It’s also tasty thank goodness! I added it to my coffee and couldn’t even tell a difference. Each small droperfull has a naturally sweet flavor. I’m still on the lookout for something cheaper, so if anyone has any suggestions, do tell! I first heard about Polypodium Leucotomos in this months Shape magazine. It states:

Supplement your protection. Researchers have found that taking the extract of the South American fern Polypodium leucotomos (PL) in supplement form can help halt UV-induced skin damage and skin cancer. “In human studies, PL has been shown to decrease inflammation and prevent cellular mutations and photoaging,” says Leslie Baumann, M.D., a Miami Beach dermatologist.

Anything about inflammation and I immediate look it up. Just as I suspected, this extract not only does wonders for your skin but for autoimmune disorders such as Psoriasis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, to name a few. I found dozens of people on the Internet that claim this stuff works. Here’s a quote from someone on Revolution Health:

This stuff is GREAT!For the first time in 4 years I am feeling almost normal. I mean when I used to sleep my legs were tingling and felt weird. Now I don’t notice them anymore. My stamina is increasing and I can almost walk again. My eyesight is greatly improved. I think I can now drive again! It has only been 1 month. I can’t wait till the end of 6 months. I’ll let you know what happens…….

News Flash! Kalawalla is ok as I mentioned. However this is still not fast enough.

It sounds like to me, like with everything else and autoimmune diseases, there’s simply no cure-all. Once you start feeling better you expect to continue to feel better, and better and better….. but it seems like a drug or a supplement can only do so much. It doesn’t matter if you’re on steroids, chemotherapy drugs, CRAB drugs, antibiotics, or supplements. The reality is, inflammation and the disease process is complicated. My thoughts are, if you find something that’s working for you and it improves your immune system, then stay on it because who knows how you’ll do in the future…maybe even better. I also find that a lot of people give up on supplements early on whereas if their doctor tells them that for example, methotrexate may not work for four months, they’ll stick with it for four months. I can tell you FOR SURE that both Low Dose Naltrexone and Serracor-NK work for me but it took at least two months. I still have inflammation. I don’t have flares but there is still some inflammation in my fingers and wrists. The longer the inflammation exists, the more damage that is done, plain and simple. Compared to where I was earlier in the disease process which meant I was nearly unable to bath and cloth myself, I feel like a million bucks. I am hoping that soon I can stop the inflammation for good in my fingers and wrists. I’m happy that Kalawalla comes in liquid form because it’s one less pill I have to take. And I’m happy that there’s yet one more option out there for me.

Supplements are tricky too. My brother told me over the weekend, “more isn’t necessarily better”. I explained to him that each supplement works differently and that inflammation is complicated. Inflammation can be caused by a variety of things and it can cause a variety of things! My journey can feel very alone at times as I try my best to make scientifically based decisions on what to put into my body. If you think about it, if you’re seeing a doctor for Rheumatoid Arthritis, something I understand well, you start out with NSAIDS. When those don’t work you ADD Prednisone. When the RA progresses, you ADD Methotrexate or Sulfasalazine. Then your doctor might suggest to ADD Plaquenil and later, a Biologic. It’s like there’s no end to adding and adding of the drugs. Some people may think I’m taking too many supplements but the reality is, if I were on normal RA drugs, I’d be on multiple ones. At one point in time, early on in the diagnosis, I was taking Prednisone, Sulfasalazine, NSAIDS and Methotrexate. And you know what? I STILL wasn’t in remission!!! That’s why I stopped everything and figured, Heck, maybe there’s something else out there that works and doesn’t ruin my body in the meantime. RA is damaging enough to my body and I’d rather not take on all the damage that happens when you take steroids, NSAIDS and DMARDS long term. A recent article inWebMD states, “Biologics for Rheumatoid Arthritis: No Cure-all” explains that Biologics aren’t all that promising either-WebMD. So that is why I’m always touting about supplements. I think they’re safer and make you feel better…..but this is my story and my journey so it’s up to you to decide what’s best for you.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much research on PL. According to About.com,

“Studies on Polypodium leucotomos, which have mainly been animal or test tube studies, have found that Polypodium leucotomos is an antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory and immune effects.”

I’m not one to shy away from experimentations ever since LDN, a drug that sounded too good to be true, and decreased dramatically the amount of inflammation in my body. Hopefully soon I’ll know whether PL is really working. For now, all I can do is hope that total remission is just around the corner.

Serracor-NK: Reverse the Disease Process

Supplements that can reverse the disease process

Serracor-NK is a supplement that you can buy on-line from www.biomediclabs.com . This blend has tremendously improved my Rheumatoid Arthritis. First I noticed not having stiffness at night. Then I noticed getting out of bed and not feeling pain when my feet hit the floor.

Disease activity is in direct correlation to inflammation. If you can decrease inflammation, then you have less disease activity which means less destruction on joints and organs. Side effects from this supplement were only beneficial. It reduces high cholesterol, improves circulatory health, induces viral cleansing and I never expected this one… hair thinning-gone! Expect to have the same amount of hair that you had as a teenager! (Of course, individual results may vary). Perhaps my hair loss was being caused from my body attacking itself. After all, Lupus causes hair loss and even though I was diagnosed with RA, I do get a lot of Lupus-like symptoms. I had thought my hair loss was simply hereditary. I’ve always had great hair but the amount of hair I’d loose in the shower still bothered me. Methotrexate caused me to loose even more but when I stopped Methotrexate I noticed that during a flare, I’d still loose more hair than normal. Now I lose almost no hair at all. It’s amazing! Serracor-NK works by removing excess Fibrin in the body. If your inflammation is not caused by excess Fibrin, then Serracor-NK probably won’t work for you.

“Recent research has shown that fibrin plays a key role in the inflammatory response and development of rheumatoid arthritis.“-Wikipedia

For some people, experimenting with a supplement doesn’t sound like a good idea to them. I already felt that the medicines prescribed normally for Rheumatoid Arthritis are experimental, so trying supplements were a natural choice for me. A recent study in WebMD about Biologics shows that though they help with symptoms, they’re not the medical breakthrough doctors and patients were hoping for. Biologics like Enbrel are a very new choice of therapy. There are no guarantees. Although people feel safe taking a drug like Methotrexate because it has been around for a long time, I don’t find this any more consoling. Methotrexate is a drug that yes is widely prescribed by doctors but because it has been tested for so long, it is a fact and not a theory that taking this drug increases chances of cancer, digestive issues, Alzheimer’s and other disconcerting possibilities. It seems likely that at some point, you will suffer from some side effect. From my support group, Daily Strength, I commonly see people who have to temporarily stop taking Methotrexate because their liver enzymes were elevated. What this means is, their liver is getting damaged and they have to stop a medicine that is reducing pain, inflammation and joint damage, putting them behind with their therapy. I have been happily surprised that since starting Serracor-NK, I have not had to deal with a single flare. I feel healthy and can participate in most social events and activities without RA holding me back. Bottom Line: “The findings suggest that RA patients’ medical needs are not being totally met”–WebMD

After having been on traditional medications for over a year and then switching over to Low Dose Naltrexone and Serracor-NK, I can honestly say that stiffness, inflammation and quality of life have greatly improved. I do believe that I’m getting increasingly better. This kind of feeling wasn’t happening on Methotrexate and Prednisone. I would go to the gym several times a week and find myself unable to work out as hard. I lost a considerable amount of muscle and since then have been able to improve my exercise routine. If you do decide to try Serracor-NK, make sure you don’t expect miracles right away. Just like immune suppressant drugs, these things take a while. I didn’t really feel a difference until the end of the second month and even then it was a small change. By the third month I was extremely impressed and the fourth month, I felt even better. Unfortunately, you do have to take a lot of pills. That’s the downside….and it sucks. But the alternative is even worse in my opinion. I would much rather take pills everyday, all day long than have to deal with the amount of suffering caused from taking a drug like Methotrexate. For some people, they never experience side effects. I did experience many side effects and I worried constantly about side effects from methotrexate years down the line.

At the height of my RA, I couldn’t even sit up from the couch without a helping hand. Now I can run, lift a full pot of coffee and wake up early in the morning with ease and without the worry of morning stiffness.

If you are looking to avoid the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs, the side effects of corticosteroids, and the expense and issues involved in Biologics, then you have come to the right site. There are so many options out there but coming up with a plan that tailors to your disease and your body can be difficult. Immune suppressive drugs work so well across the board because they don’t have to figure out the problem. They work by suppressing the immune system to a point that the body simply stops reacting. My theory however is that your immune system will eventually try to figure out a way to overcompensate by being suppressed. This is just my theory and I am in no way suggesting that you stop your DMARD. On the other hand, for some people who are looking to find an alternative, I think these are great solutions. What if they really do reverse the disease process? All I can say is, get back to me in 10 years and I’ll let you know. Hopefully I’ll have the answer we all hope for which is yes, you can reverse the disease process if you catch it in time.

Self Induced Lupus?

Not everyone is as lucky as Pamela Anderson

A show on MTV called, “TRUE LIFE: I DON’T LIKE MY BREASTS” tells the story of four women, all of whom would prefer a different pair of breasts. In the show, two women went under breast augmentation, and another had her breasts reduced. For those women, the surgeries were successful. For another woman who had her implants done years before, she had a different reaction. Her body rejected the foreign tissue. It wasn’t immediate, but over time she developed more and more health issues to a point where she was very sick. Her doctors never suggested it could be the implants, and it simply never occurred to her. At the end, she suggested that before any woman have breast augmentation, that they check out the site: http://www.siliconeholocaust.org/

Autoimmune diseases and health issues are hard enough to deal with. This website is a good example that diseases like Lupus can be caused from outside sources. It doesn’t have to be genetics or luck of the draw. It is important that we try to do our best to be as healthy as possible. And if you know someone thinking of getting implants, you may want to direct them to this site so they can make a more informed decision.

I do feel proud that years ago I talked a woman out of having breast implants done. She had planned a trip to another country for a cheaper breast augmentation surgery. She felt her breasts weren’t big enough. She was a beautiful and very petite Brazilian woman and a mother of the cutest little girl. She had already taken time off, found a doctor and made an appointment. I couldn’t help it…..as an artist, I thought she was absolutely beautiful and that her very petite frame looked perfect. She wasn’t flat chested. She had proportionate breasts for her body. Why was she complaining? She had men falling at her feet. I asked to see her breasts because perhaps there was some disfigurement and maybe that, I thought, would help explain her desire for a curvier figure. She showed them to me, pointing out how small they were and yet they looked perfect for her frame. That’s when I felt I had to at least warn her that what she had right now could be better than what she gets. After all, any surgery is dangerous. There is no guarantee that you’re going to even wake up from anesthesia. Having any surgery shouldn’t be taken lightly. In some ways I felt bad trying to talk her out of it, but at the same time I wanted to make sure she at least realized the kind of risk she was taking. She could end up with uneven, hard breasts, or damaged nipples just to name a few. There was an entire plethora of risks she hadn’t even really thought about that could happen. At that time, I didn’t have RA and didn’t even consider autoimmune diseases like Lupus. If I had of had RA, I would have added those risks to the mix! Luckily however, she did change her mind. And I hope to this day she can look at herself and be happy with her decision and realize she is really quite lucky with the cards she had been given. So please, if you do know of someone who’s thinking about getting implants, make sure they know the facts. Not everyone ends up as lucky as Pamela Anderson.

Consequences of long-term Vitamin D Deficiency

Finding a Vitamin D source

In a recent post on Daily Strength’s Rheumatoid Arthritis group, a support group I frequently visit, someone posted the question, “What do we know about Vitamin D and RA?”. Many responded that they had been tested and had low levels of Vitamin D. One person in particular stated, “My doctor was saying the Vitamin D issue with me is beyond getting sunshine or eating fish. I’m prescribed 60,000 IU every other day when the recommended daily amount is 400-800 IU a day. There’s clearly something blocking the absorption of this vitamin. Other RA sufferers may have this trouble metabolizing it or absorbing it as well.”

“According to a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 75 percent of Americans do not get enough Vitamin D. Researchers have found that the deficiency may negatively impact immune function and cardiovascular health and increase cancer risk. Now, a University of Missouri nutritional sciences researcher has found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with inflammation, a negative response of the immune system, in healthy women.”-Science Daily

“What are the consequences of long-term vitamin D deficiency? The answer to this question has become increasingly clear in the past few years. Actually, the first evidence in support of sun exposure as a source of vitamin D was published in 1941 by Apperly, who showed in the journal Cancer Research that cancers of various types were much less frequent in populations that lived closer to the equator. Since then, additional research has shown that vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and numerous autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type-1 diabetes. The most convincing study ever published on this topic was authored by Hypponen and colleagues in the November 2001 issue of The Lancet. In this remarkable study, the investigators administered 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day to more than 10,000 infants, who were supposed to receive the vitamin D supplement every day for the first entire year of life. Thereafter, the risk of developing type-1 diabetes was calculated and a dose-response relationship was established. The results showed a positive dose-response relationship: the more regularly vitamin D was consumed, the greater the protection afforded against the development of type-1 diabetes. Children who were given vitamin D supplements on a regular basis had their risk of type-1 diabetes reduced by an amazing 88 percent! No adverse effects were noted.”-Nutritional Wellness

For Rheumatoid Arthritis, an inflammatory condition, people often produce too much tnf, a cytokine. Biologics like Enbrel work by blocking tnf protein. Enbrel blocks the action of tnf. According to Science Daily, Vitamin D also plays a role in tnf.

“Increased concentrations of serum TNF-α, an inflammatory marker, were found in women who had insufficient vitamin D levels. This study is the first to find an inverse relationship between vitamin D levels and concentrations of TNF-α in a healthy, non-diseased population. This may explain the vitamin’s role in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases, including heart disease, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.”

Need more proof? “Three clinical trials have documented an anti-inflammatory benefit of vitamin D supplementation, suggesting that vitamin D may be used as part of a comprehensive approach for the prevention and treatment of inflammatory disorders.^5,6 In one of the studies, a modest dose of vitamin D reduced blood levels of C-reactive protein by 23 percent, which is remarkable considering that CRP is considered one of the most sensitive markers for predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease.”-Nutritional Wellness

If you’d like to read more about Vitamin D3’s role on Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoporosis and more………(LINK)