Healing ALSBy David Steenblock, BS,MS,DO

Mission Viejo, CA

There are three major problems to fix

Chronic inflammation of the terminal ileum Acute and chronic inflammation of a spinal nerve Mutated and or damaged prions that are poisoning the spinal cord

GUT INFLAMMATION Virtually no patient with ALS complains of intestinal tract problems so doctors don’t believe the gut has anything to do with ALS.Need specialized laboratory testing to determine all of the problems in the gut.Tests needed:1) Comprehensive Digestive Stool Test (CDSA) – to determine what “bad” bugsare present in the gut and what to use to get rid of them.2) Quantitative Urine Organic Acid Test (to verify and monitor the neurotoxins present)3) Toxic element Challenge test using DMSA to determine heavy metal poisons

SPINAL NERVE INJURYALS MOST OFTEN OCCURS SOON AFTER AN ACUTE INJURY OF A SPINE THAT ALREADY HAS PRE-EXISTING DEGENERATIVE JOINT DISEASE (IN MY EXPERIENCE).

THE SECRET CAUSE OF ALSGut inflammation is due to a microbial biofilm part of which is yeast. As yeast hyphae penetrate into the gut, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Gamma Interferon and other cytokines are produced in the gut wall.The gut wall becomes more permeable.Another part of the biofilm are gram negative bacteria which deposit fragments of their outer cell wall (endotoxins=lipopolysaccharides) into the gut wall. White blood cells called monocytes and small cell particles called platelets circulate through the gut wall continuously to pick up serotonin and carry it to the nervous system.The gut inflammation and the cytokines produced cause a problem with the conversion of tryptophan in food into serotonin. Thus little serotonin is absorbed into the body and the nervous system becomes susceptible to injury because of the lack of serotonin.

SECRET CAUSE OF ALSThe white blood cells called monocytes are the fraction of the white cells that carry the bone marrow stem cells that heal your body.Both the monocytes and stem cells acquire damage from the endotoxins, the Tumor Necrosis Factor and the Gamma Interferon as well as neurotoxins from other bacteria such as clostridia (about 80% of ALS patients have clostridia) all of which are in the BIOFILM that is lining the wall of the terminal ilem and ileocecal valve area i.e. the cecum.These injured monocytes and stem cells then circulate and do not cause a problem until there is an injury of a spinal nerve. Once that occurs these monocytes and stem cells rush to that injury site to assist in the healing. Because this is a spinal nerve injury the spinal nerve itself produces a huge amount of Tumor Necrosis Factor and gamma interferon. The monocytes and stem cells thus are subjected to repetitive injuries from these cytokines – first in the gut and then in the spinal nerve. It is these injuries that damage the prions in these cells.

NON-INFECTIOUS PRIONS ARE THE CAUSE!

PRIONS are usually considered to be infectious proteins and as such are the cause of terrible diseases such as Mad Cow Disease Creutzfieldt-Jakob disease, etc.No one has ever been able to transmit ALS from one person to another so it is not an infectious disease. The normal body has normal non-infectious prions however but these can be damaged by major physical stresses such as occurs in the gut and spinal nerve of patients with ALS. These damaged prions enter the cord via the injured spinal nerve.Research is now showing that damaged prion proteins can spread in the nervous system in a migratory fashion and these damaged proteins can cause a great amount of damage via a glutamate excitation.

Treatments that work

Cleanse the gut. Easier said than done. Antifungals, antibiotics etc. depending on the test results.

5-HTP 100 mg three times a day is helpful in increasing the amount of serotonin in the blood. This will help the nervous system. Best taken on an empty stomach. Can be taken all at once at bedtime to help with sleep.Melatonin in doses as high as tolerated (up to 300 mg per day have been used) since this helps decrease the inflammation.Naltrexone 3-4.5 mg at bedtime to help the immune systemProbiotics such as VSL #3 One to three caps 2 to 3 times per day i.e. as much as you can tolerate. Side effects are gas, bloating and cramping. Decrease dose as needed.

Treatments that work for ALS

Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors- inhibit the histone deacetylase enzymes which means that histone acetylases work better. Histone acetyl transferase acetylates (adds an acetyl molecule) to the lysine residues in core histones which leads to a less compact and more transcriptionally active chromatin. These HDAC inhibitors have anti-cancer effects with little to no toxicity, have anti-inflammatory and anti-pain activities.The ones that are useful and available are Butyric acidPhenylbutyrateNicotinamideKetones- See Ketogenic diet under www.stemcellmd.org Sulforphane- 3 day old broccoli sprouts, cruciferous vegetablesCurcumin

Treatments that work for ALSThe spinal cord and cecum both suffer from a problem with chronic lack of adequate oxygen. This may be due to the inflammatory processes but in the cord is most likely due to the chronic damage from arthritis and other degenerative conditions which have impinged the spinal arteries leading to marginal oxygenation.A test called “Nocturnal Oximetry” should be done and if there is intermittent lack of oxygen at night while sleeping, oxygen should be prescribed and the patient given oxygen to breath during their sleeping hours. This helps take away some of the free radical stress that is occurring in the gut and spine.

Daily treatments with Hyperbaric Oxygen is helpful but only if used in combination with a proper treatment of the gut and spine.

SPINAL NERVE TREATMENTSThe injuries to the spinal nerve that damage the prions and allows them into the cord must be fixed and further injuries must be prevented.If the patient does not complain of pain in the back then the physician should carefully examine their back while looking at a CT exam of their spine. Generally over the area of the spine that has DJD the doctor will be able to palpate the area that the spinal nerve is injured. This painful area then is treated with an injection of the buffy coat from an iliac crest bone marrow aspirate.You may need only the buffy coat from one 50 ml conical centrifuge tube so up to six more 50 ml tubes of bone marrow aspirate can be drawn and given intravenously to the patient. If there are more sites of injury than one, you may need to use more bone marrow to make more buffy coat for more extensive injections.

STEM CELLS ARE GREATBone Marrow aspiration is safe, simple and often of great help in these cases.First of all the buffy coat from the bone marrow is easily prepared and this should be injected into and around all inflamed spinal nerve areas that either can be seen on X-Ray or palpated. This should be done soon after arrival in the clinic so the attending physician can determine if another treatment of the same is needed before the patient leaves.If all of the first day’s bone marrow is used to treat the spine then the next day’s bone marrow should be given back to the patient intravenously in order to help heal the gut and the injured spine via the blood rather than a direct injection as was done the day before.

IF the patient still has a good amount of abdominal fat then a liposuction could be performed and the stromal vascular fraction given to the patient intravenously (not into the CSF though). If a stem cell lab is available then either or both the bone marrow and/or the fat can have the stem cells isolated and grown in tissue culture and then in 1 to 3 weeks the cells could be injected into the CSF.

More treatments that helpMany patients with ALS have chronic back pain. For this I recommend the use of daily injections (subcutaneous or IM) of 1 ML OF ADENOSINE1/2 ML OF HYDROXYCOBALAMINE½ ML OF METHYLCOBALAMINEIF FOR SOME REASON THESE ARE NOT HELPING, AFTER TWO WEEKS OF USING THIS COMBO AND YOU ARE STILL HAVING PAIN, I WOULD ADD ONE ML OF KUTAPRESSIN PLUS 1 ML OF LIDOCAINE TO EACH INJECTION. THE KUTAPRESSIN IS A GOOD ANTI-INFLAMMATORY FOR THE NERVES.

MORE TREATMENTS THAT WORKSome patients will be dying literally when someone that cares for them reads this.These patients often will be suffering from the “bulbar” form where the swallowing centers are being affected and they are in danger of aspirating.If these patients can not fly or travel out of the country or to California they really have little chance unless they find a physician who has the knowledge to do at least one bone marrow treatment and preferable two immediately. The spinal nerve injury needs to be injected with stem cells immediately and then observed for two days. If no improvement it should be repeated since the physician at times may have a hard time finding the right location to inject the stem cells.

Once they are better then the proper testing mentioned earlier should be done and the patient treated according to the results of the testing. The use of stem cells into the CSF and or intranasally should be done ASAP as well.

CRITICISMS OF THIS PROTOCOL

It is always amazing to me how terrible and verbally abusive my critics can be. This protocol is offered to the world in hopes that others will take this information and either prove it or disprove it. After 40 years of practice and examining and treating many ALS patients I am convinced as to the validity of what I am putting out here. However, since no one else has ever put the pieces together in this fashion I am constantly being confronted with statements like “it can’t be true, since I have never heard of such a theory” or “Dr Steenblock has run afoul of the law and is on probation”, (multiple attacks by the establishment for being the first to use many treatments such as hyperbaric oxygen for stroke patients). However, I still have a legal full medical license to practice medicine in California. Another question is how many patients have you treated in a double blind fashion and what are the results?My answer is that I have not treated many and many of my patients have died BUT the fact is my record is as good or better than anyone else in the world in regard to these patients. The bottom line is that this is a new protocol but one too valuable to keep in the research lab while patients are dying. The big question is – Does it cause harm? The answer is NO! Does it do good? The answer is a resounding YES!