Happy New Year

Happy new year to everyone. May 2012 be the year of AI breakthroughs.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

I am happy to report that the progression of my wife's motor neuron disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS) seems to have stopped and she has even regained some lost functionality. This is amazing considering that there is no FDA-approved cure. She owes her improvement to a common, highly oxidizing chemical known as Sodium Chlorite (NaClO2). NaClO2 is a bleach-like disinfectant used in the food industry and elsewhere. My wife has been taking a diluted solution of NaClO2 for the last four weeks and, aside from the side effects of fatigue, nausea and headaches, she's seeing significant improvements in muscle strength. What's amazing about this is that, a couple of months ago, her disease was progressing so fast that her neurologist pretty much told her to prepare to die.

A Hypothesis

There is a half-baked theory among the cognoscenti that the chlorine in NaClO2 combines with taurine in the body to produce TauCl, which acts to reduce inflammation. I personally don't buy this theory. I've been researching how the body's immune system handles infection and I found that, in case of attack by a pathogen, the immune system manufactures hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at the site of the infection. Now, H2O2 is a very unstable and highly oxidizing compound that is used as rocket fuel in high concentrations. H2O2 wants to get rid of its extra oxygen atom to obtain the much more stable H2O. So its fair to assume that H2O2 immediately reacts with other substances in the blood. The resultant oxidized molecules apparently serve as chemical messengers to summons white blood cells (neutrophils) to the site of infection and this is what starts the inflammation.

Apparently, in the case of ALS, a malfunctioning immune system erroneously attacks its own motor neurons in the spinal cord. Nobody knows why but, if we can somehow trick the system to stop its production of H2O2 in the spinal cord, the inflammation would subside and this would give the neurons time to regenerate. We would have a therapy that would at least slow down the progression of the disease. I am proposing that the way to do this is to increase the number of immune messenger molecules in the blood so as to fool the system into thinking that it does not need to produce any more H2O2 in the spinal cord.

I believe that NaClO2 and H2O2 are similar in that they want to get rid of their extra oxygen atom. I may be wrong but I hypothesize that the intravenous injection of a weak solution of H2O2 directly into the blood would do wonders for ALS patients. Indeed some ALS patients who have undergone H2O2 therapy have reported excellent results. The problem with either sodium chlorite and hydrogen peroxide is that they are not proprietary compounds that the pharmaceutical industry can make money with. So there is no money in it for them. So ALS patients are on their own.

It's slow going but if my wife's condition continues to improve, I should be able to get back to my research soon. I'll keep you posted.