Follow Up on MLPNA's "April Awareness" Seminar

Some of my readers might know that on occasion, I emerge from behind my laptop and venture from cyberspace into the "real" world to lecture on topics pertaining to modalities of Alternative medicine in brick and mortar locations in front of "very real" people. Such was the case again on Wednesday, April 16, 2008. I was invited as speaker in front of an incredible audience of Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) at a seminar that was part of their continued education credits. Let me just pause here and thank Kathy Eagan, President of the Muskegon, Newago, Oceana District of the Michigan Licensed Practical Nurses Association to allow for the opportunity to share my knowledge of Antioxidants with the LPNs. It was a great pleasure giving this talk and there were some questions I was unable to answer due to time constraints and my limited knowledge on the subject of some of the questions. I promised the nurses I would post the answers right here. Read on...

The first question was about Amanita mushroom poisoning, deadly in many cases, and the benefits of Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) treatment to survival. I will yield here to Dr. Berkson, probably the outmost expert on Lipoic Acid, and let him in his own words describe what transpired. The next four paragraphs are directly quoted from Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine in which he authored the piece: Alpha lipoic acid and liver disease. (Case study) [1].

Begin Quote: My first experience using antioxidant therapy was in 1977, when I was an internal medicine resident. A man was poisoned and suffering from acute liver failure. His liver function tests were in the thousands of mg/dL, and he had propulsive diarrhea, projectile vomiting, and dreadfully painful muscle spasms throughout his body. He was the sickest person that I had ever seen. Due to the relentless muscle cramping and pain, he could not find a comfortable resting position. One of the department chiefs told me that nothing could be done to save his life except for an immediate liver transplant, however, a donor liver was not available. I was ordered to administer medical support and to just observe the patient as he went though the phases of death. I was told to take notes and prepare a report for grand rounds at the hospital.

Death from liver necrosis usually involves four separate stages: (1) ingestion of a poison, such as acetaminophen, a poisonous mushroom, hepatotoxic hydrocarbon solvent, etc.; (2) development of acute and difficult gastroenteritis with dehydration, pain, and electrolyte depletion; (3) a noticeable recovery phase in which the patient is often released from the hospital in a weakened state; and (4) increased weakness followed by coma and death. Because I did not want to see this happen to my patient, I began a search for a way to reverse his condition.

Fortunately, I remembered reading an article about a new drug that had been shown to be helpful in the treatment of severe liver damage. The drug, Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) was stocked at the NIH by Fred Bartter, MD, the chief of endocrinology. Dr Bartter was interested in this agent because he thought that because it lowered blood sugar levels, ALA might be used as a drug for diabetes mellitus and its complications.

About 30 hours after my patient had ingested the deadly toxins, the intravenous (IV) ALA was started. Within a few hours, the patient began to feel better. We were all surprised that he continued to improve, and he was soon discharged from the hospital with nearly normal laboratory values and feeling a little tired, but normal. He is still well and free of liver disease, 30 years later. End Quote.

In the article Dr. Berkson continues to explain his findings. I was actually not surprised to read the quote below:

"Dr. Bartter and I published three papers describing our successes with IV ALA, and we expected a certain amount of interest in this remarkable organ regenerative protocol. We were disturbed by the lack of attention from the American medical community. Dr. Bartter died in 1985, and I continued to study ALA as a therapeutic agent and as a nutraceutical."

It seems that liver transplants are of bigger interest to modern heroic medicinal intervention a.k.a Western Medicine than the low key, effective approach.

If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to use the comment feature below. Oh, I almost forgot. Some of tThe nurses wanted to see a picture of the Amanita phalloides mushroom a.k.a. Death Cap mushroom. Here it is, to the left [2].
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Subclass: Hymenomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Amanitaceae
Genus: Amanita
Species: A. phalloides

The mushroom is native to Europe, but by the 1970's it has become apparent that the death Cap mushroom does occur in the United States, mainly on the East and West Coasts.

Now I am going to address the second question. This was brought up when we discussed supplementation and how much of a certain fruit and vegetable one should eat to get 30 I.U., the RDA of Vitamin E. Below they are from the February News Letter. Be prepared to be amazed by the numbers:

In order to get a "fix" of 30 I.U. of Vitamin E one would have to consume any of the following: 1 tablespoon wheat germ oil, 3 ounces of almonds, 12 ounces peanut butter, 13 tablespoons soybean oil, 2 pounds butter, 2.5 pounds asparagus, 2.5 pounds spinach, 7.5 pounds baked shrimp, 124 slices whole wheat bread, 9.5 pounds broccoli [3]. Remember the amounts of any of these foods contain only 30 I.U. of vitamin E. I let you do the math and figure out how much you have to eat of each to get 400 I.U. Luckily there are fortified ready to eat cereals out there, but they might contain only one form of tocopherol.

Beste Gesundheit,

Werner

References:

1. Berkson, Burton M. "Alpha lipoic acid and liver disease.(Case study)." Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine 293 (Dec 2007): 80(5). General OneFile. Gale. LIRN. 20 Apr. 2008

2. Amanita phalloides. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides last accessed April 20, 2008.


3. Packer L,. Colman C. The Antioxidant Miracle: Put Lipoic Acid, Pycnogenol, and Vitamins E and C to Work for You.(1999). Wiley & Sons, New York. p.227