Posted by bleauberry on January 14, 2014, at 14:29:03
Cholestryramine is a prescription medicine.
I wanted to take a moment to mention it because I believe it has good potential to improve psychiatric symptoms. It has done that with me, despite my skepticism, so I know it isn't misguided.
It is my belief that many of the chronic ailments we suffer are caused by biotoxins. These tiny molecules wreak havoc throughout the body, brain and glands included. As I was studying the topic, I discovered that there were so many of these toxins and all of them disrupting various biochemical pathways in multiple ways, it was impossible to put it all together in one nice presentation. I wanted to. There is just too much.
To see the same sorts of reading material, just type "cholestyramine lyme" or "cholestyramine toxins" or whatever your interest is.
There is very little hard scientific data in this area. We do not have tests for many of the toxins and we only know some of how they wreak havoc. We have to rely on anecdotal reports, which come in the way of physician blogs, specialist blogs, patient blogs, patient forums, pubmed library of science, and anything you can find actually. The more input, the better, because that I think yields the best overall big picture view.
Mold spores. Lyme disease. Trace pesticides/herbicides. Petroleums/plastics. Air born. Water born. Food born. Pathogen born. 20% of the population does not have the proper genetics to excrete these effectively, so they are at high risk of accumulation and illness. The mood center of the brain is not immune to these potent neurotoxins.
Some of their names, though I counted over 30:
One very similar to Clostridium Botulinum (Botulism) C2 Toxin
Endotoxins of all kinds resulting from the death of bacteria
Glycosylphosphatidylinositol
Quinolic AcidMy depression. I kept telling the doctor "I feel sort of poisoned in a way, sort of, and whatever it is makes me so depressed." Do you feel that way?
The faulty gene that can cause biotoxin and neurotoxin accumulation is HLA-DR7.
One thing in common with so many of the chronic ailments out there....is depression. Sometimes it might be the only symptom.
Maybe, just for thought, poop-outs and medication sensitivities and exaggerated side effects and failures could be partially explained by the overloaded presence of neurotoxins?
Since there is no way to test, the proof is in how the patient feels following treatment.
The toxins dumped into bile, much of that is then reabsorbed in the gut, and the sickness goes round and round with no end. Meds can help to feel better, but the sickness itself goes on to ravage more.
Since most of the toxins store in fat tissue and are fat soluble, Cholestyramine binds them in the gut and takes them all the out, preventing reabsorption. Through natural processes, time, and equilibrium, the other stored toxins will make their way to the cholestyramine trap.
I like to go for a cure. Unfortunately this falls just one step short....where are the toxins coming from? We can mop them up and keep symptoms away, but they are going to keep coming. From where are they coming? We have to find out.
I saw a report that said 50% to 70% of american homes have a level of mold spores high enough to cause human symptoms. The ones with the weak gene are most susceptible. Mold toxicity would be totally unsuspected by probably everyone including me, but happens to look a lot like Lyme disease and I had no idea it was so common until I did some reading.
I had a bizarre amazing reaction to Diflucan (antifungal) at one time, and something very similar to an addiction drug withdrawal when I stopped it....weak, deep deep dark depression, and a craving for another dose to make it all go away. Totally weird because diflucan does not have any of that related to it. It just isn't that kind of a drug. So what the heck? Thinking about the mold/fungal thing....hmmm....you can sort of see some possibilities in there, maybe? The amazing reaction? The deep depression when the med was removed and illness kicked in again?
A few months ago, doc put me on 3 new antibiotics. One he said was probably too harsh, most people can't take it, but try it. At the same time I started daily cholestyramine. It would absorb all the toxins and death resulting from those antibiotics. Hopefully no Herx reaction.
Well, there was no Herx reaction, and I handled that harsh antibiotic like a piece of candy! It wasn't until I stopped the cholestyramine, that I could start to feel all the toxic crap building up pretty fast.
What's my first symptom when that happens? What's the worst symptom when it gets really bad? Same answer to both. Depression. Bad. No motivation. Not much hope. Weak. Often the racing heart thing, or the anxiety thing right out of bed. Tears are right there ready to cry. Cholestyramine mops up some junk, and all those psych symptoms just go away.
Cholestyramine is a prescription powder to mix in water or juice and its primary intent was to lower fat and cholesterol. For toxin removal, I prefer to take it about an hour before or after a meal. I don't want it absorbing my nutrients. Don't take it near your meds or supplements because it might absorb those.
So if a depression patient has a neurotoxin issue going on then cholestyramine should help. If instead, there is hidden inflammation, it should also help, because that inflammation has a decent likelihood of coming from toxins. If the patient has unknown lyme disease, similar disease, or mold issues, it should help a lot, because most of the symptoms of those infectionos are due to the toxins not the bugs themselves.
How would a depression patient know if they had a toxin issue? Take cholestyramine every day for a couple weeks and see how you feel. That's it. No change: ok, what's next? A bit longer probably? Feel better: Bingo. You're on to something. And whatever it is, you are already feeling better.
Anyway, I had a lot of skepticism on this drug as I studied it. But pretty much anyone in the lyme world or chronic illness world....and depression is at the top of the list with most of these folks under difficult psychiatric care....this drug really helps a ton of people.
A Dr. Shoemaker seems to have done some research on the use of cholestyramine in this application and he writes a lot of interesting stuff about it. For curious minds, just type his name in a search box, with cholestyramine or lyme. But you will stumble on quite a bit of other interesting stuff as well. And a ton of information to fill in the gaps of what I have said here, or to further clarify what I have said.
Side effects are mild for me, gastrointestinal only. The drug does not absorb into the body. I see it as basically a prescription gut cleaning fiber on steroids. It tastes ok, lemonish, I mix with a little fruit juice, and the texture is a little bit gritty but not bad.
Ask your doc if you can try. See what happens. Script shouldn't be hard to get. If you happen to need some help in the fat or cholesterol department, then it is a no brainer anyway. Instructions say twice a day, but honestly, even as toxic as I am, one a day does fine.
My fear is that if too much toxicity is removed too fast, the psychiatric drug we are taking might no longer be needed, but of course we can't just stop it, but in that period where the toxins are gone, everything is going to change....the blocked receptors will re-open....the contaminated serotonin will be cleaner....the contaminated dopamine cleaner...excess glutamate damped down....on and on.....but maybe, since most of us struggle with our meds not working good enough, with toxins reduced they should work better, right? Side effects less, maybe?
I thought it was worth putting out there or I would not have bothered to write this much. I hope someone can find it useful or hopeful.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1058551
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140104/msgs/1058551.html