Which treatment has best results

[LOCO]

Hello, thanks you all so much for helping poeple with COPD, i am one of them (you's), I have never smoked but I have x linked immune deffeciency, in other words I cant fight bacteria, and thanks to having so many flue's, well I now have COPD, always taken care of myself, but my condition is worsening, my older brother also has my identical condition, my lungs are not to bad, I don't need air, am not coughting blood (tiny specle), but my cough is becoming more prominent and am cougthing alot more often, when I first got the news of what I had COPD, i was spitting out a full cup of spetum from my lungs, thanks to exercising like a olympion and putting on so much muscles, I have been able to reduce the spetum from a full cup to 1/4 cup, and have been like that for 2 years, but the desease is catching up to me and now a spit half a cup per day, i know i am not in the worse condition for poeple suffering from COPD, but i am cougthing like every half an hour, I would like to attack my COPD early with stem cells, rather then waiting to long, I already wake up with alot of pain and everything and it is getting worse, I have done everything I can from healthy foods, carrot drinks, garlic and others tablets, H2HO to excercise (which was the most effective of all for me) but none of that will take me any further, I just had a CT scan done and will now be going to my lung dr,

I have read pretty mucho everything on the forumn from general disscusion and pulmonery desease, to research being done.

but I have no idea of the price for this type of procedure.

was wondering if you could recommend me the best doctor, I read good stuff about Dr. Grekos.

and was condisering him, can someone please give me his contact details or tell me where to find it.

and there are alot of other doctors out there so if you know someone else with a better treatment please tell,

thanks again.

will be getting this done mid way next year, but i want to set up an appoinment now,

as I am a bit short on cash, I need 9 months to gather. and would like to know a rougth sketch of how much i should gather up, becuase i may need to get an extra job if it is far over and wont be able to reach with my monthly savings.

note I'm not that much on a tight budget so if something costs a little more lets say $40000 but is alot better then please do tell me.

I will try to find the money somehow from selling my car, a personal loan and extra job if I have to.

thanks again everyone.

[barbara]

Dr. Grekos is currently charging around $65000.00 for the procedure he does. I will send you by private message a list of other clinics that you might also wish to research and evaluate for your condition. I believe it is important to consult with more than one doctor and also to find out about follow up care. There are some clinics that truly seem to forget about a person once they return home. Have you tried any natural supplements to alleviate any of the symptoms?

[LOCO]

yes babara i have tried some natural supplements,

such as nebulised H2HO, garlic tablets, fenu greek, MUlti vitamin with omega 3 fish oil, vitamin c, olive tree oil tablets, olive tree oil. calcium supplement, anyways after everything my condition has worsend, i was thinking of try some pineapple tablets to try to calm down the swelling but then i read about stem cells in about.com where you where in an interview.

note also bought curcumin but haven taken it yet, but will

and so instead have concentrated my efforts here, and went to the docots got an appointment next week becuase someone cancelled, so good timeing otherwise it takes a month to see the lung specialist.

i will ask him to do some test to me, test my lung capacity and look at the ct scans for the damaged parts, after that i will upload them here the result and what he said, and after i get the stem cells done i will tell everyone here, after 6 months i will go back to the specialist get his new report and upload a new CT scan to show everyone if it has helped me, and by how much,


Also i noted that with the garlic antibiotics tablets, the problem is after taking them for 1 months there effectiveness wears of, and then i need to take double the ammount for it to continue the effect, but i have now stoped taking it, my older brother who has the same condition i do but a bit better, also noted the same, i believe our bodies are getting rid of the garlic somehow besides sweating it out as much, becuase i used to take it and had garlic sweat, but not anymore, seem that my body has addapted to it.




oh and one more thing i got to see this girl soon and my COPD, well is there anyways to stop the cought from being so strong???

and get rid of it for 1 week??

thanks and regards William.

[Technocracy]

Hi William

I have a few suggestions of things that can help. Eat one cup of fresh pineapple every day or drink 6 ounces of Pineapple Juice every day. It thins mucus. Here are a few other things that do work.


N-Acetyl Cysteine (also called NAC)
Vitamin D3 (at least 6,000 iu daily)
Clear Lung ( a product sold at Seachange at the link at the top of the screen)
Curcumin is also good to take but you have to take at least three or four twice a day to reduce inflammation.
Mucinex is also a good one to take

Sounds to me like you have chronic bronchitis as part of your COPD.

[barbara]

I was advised to NOT eat any fresh pineapple for at least a month after stem cell therapy, but it is fine prior to treatment. I take 1200mg of NAC in the am and another 1200mg in the pm. I also take 6 capsules of 450mg curcumin prior to eating in the morning and 3 more capsules right after eating. Make sure any curcumin product you purchase has 95% curcuminoids or it is useless for our condition. This needs to be continued for quite some time to see results, but my stem cell doctor says it will absolutely cut down on mucous and reduce or eliminate cough when using these high dosages. You cannot overdose on either of these supplements. I also participate in the Stem Cell Advance treatment protocol which I highly recommend.

[LOCO]

Thanks guys I will do the therapy mid way next year,

but for now i will try you suggestion of the natural stuff and will report back to you in a weeks time,

i'll try one thing at a time.

will edit this post in a few days to say which ones i will try over a weeks period.

just need time to gather the stuff. or maybe if i can do it today, but few days max.

[LOCO]

that is correct i have cronic bronchitis, also have COPD, is there much of a difference between this two???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_bronchitis

i thought that they were pratically the same, but then again i have not check up much on it.

i pretty much have everything in my life except cancer so far, but from what i understand it will be coming for me, like 50/50% chance of getting cancer thanks to my immune problem.

and my luck is really bad, from the desease i catched, like swine flue and others, i never even won at the casino, for the 10 times ive been there, like spend $50 and well that pretty much it i never get to double it, other wise i would walk and say i won, except everyone else in my family has, i know this is no bases to specualte my luck from, but haha.

and I seen many poeple worst then, alot worst, so for me this isnt such a big problem, thanks god and not so bad yet.

[Jeannine]

Loco

You need to join our other forum for people with COPD to learn more about what to do about your lung health.

It's at http://www.copdliving.com

You have to register but it only takes a minute or two.

PS: If it helps any - I have lots of bad luck too. :)

[LOCO]

Well I'm back, I talked to the lung specialist 1 week ago, took him my CT scan of my chest, and he said that i don't hace copd. but i have cronic brochitis, the CT can showed that i only had it in the middle right lung, and he told me he could cure me, using a laser treament and antibiotics. i was actually planing on posting today about the treatment that i am better or cured, but when he actually went into my lung he found out that the problem was worst. and more then half of my right lung is scared, and the bottom of my left on aswell, so no cure, he said becuase of my immune defienciency i have this problem, and well he gave me some medecine which is new, forgot the name, its a new antibiotic to fight viruses in the lungs, but no cure, he cleaned out my lungs, and will be in the hospital for whole of next week putting antibiotics in my arm, so that is pretty much where i am at, will call nepsis tonight and ask if the stem cell fixes scars in the lung, have called before going to this doctor so that i could ask him about it, but then he said he could cure me and i told nepsis that i will let him know how it goes, so i will email him now.

just thought poeple may want to know where i am at.

thanks again for your support.

[barbara]

Loco - I am sorry to hear that you will be in the hospital next week. Sounds pretty miserable to me. Please continue to let us know what is going on. I would also like to know the name of the drug you are talking about. Perhaps, you could ask your doctor to give you the name again. Chronic bronchitis is usually included in the definition of COPD. You are really thoughtful to have sent us an e-mail while all of this is going on. Get well soon!

[Jeannine]

loco

When you said the doctor will clean out your lungs - how do they do that?

I've never heard of this before. Sorry to hear the bad news about your lungs. I have scarring on my right lung which I believe comes from a bout of pleurisy I had in my late 20s.

You aksed about the difference between chronic bronchitis and emphysema (the term COPD is used to describe both).

Bronchitis is usually a cough that doesn't go away and large amounts of mucus accumulate in the lungs;whereas emphysema is a destruction of the alveoli which is accompanied by some mucus but not copious amounts.

Most people diagnosed with COPD have a mixture of both with some having more loss of alveoli and others having a chronic cough.

In my case, I don't have a cough and I do have small amounts of mucus at times and I also have loss of alveoli which requires that I use oxygen to keep my saturation above 90%. I prefer to keep it at 95% or higher.

[LOCO]

The medecine is called azithromycin,

i will be taking 1 every 3 days,

also am looking into buying igA antibiodies,

there seem to be a ew places around to buy the stuff,

so that will be the next thing i do, cost is around $1300 per month it seems, but worth it for me becuase i dont have any.

and lastly is the stem cells, for lung regeneration. after i get rid of the infection, and am fighting off infection in the lungs, i need to find this iga which is the most important for me, but there seems to be plenty of places around.

the washing im not sure what that was, but it was hard on the lungs, they bought a camera and the cleaned out the lungs main tube with water or something, the doctor said he will do that to me once a year, followed with a week of antibiotic in the hospital, which is what i am doing next week,

also washing didnt herlp to much

i will keep informed on pregress, and what is happening.

regards William

[barbara]

WOW William - Sounds like you are getting the works. I hope you get feeling better soon. Perhaps, the washing you described will have long term benefits. Sometimes, we don't see immediate results and get impatient. It's the same with stem cell therapy. It would be nice to have a magical pill though that worked instantly.

[Cynthia]

LOCO - Glad to see you are doing better. Be sure to eat plenty of plain youghert when on anti-botics or take a probiotic supplement to keep your GI tract healthy from the antibotics.

[Jeannine]

Cynthia

That is so true. I got into some serious trouble last winter with antibiotics (in fact it was with azithromycin) it killed all of the good bacteria in my intestines and I wound up with cdiff and colitis. I spent 16 days in the hospital, lost 20 pounds and was laid up for two months. My doctor swears by Florastor which I took the last time I was on antibiotics in June and had no problems. You can order Florastor at the Walgreen Pharmacy. For some reason it's not sold off the shelf. Drinking the DanActive is also a good way to get the good bacteria

[Cynthia]

Jeanine - do you still take the probiotic Florastor? It's not a bad idea to take it all the time. Because anything with sugar with cause the bad bacteria to thrive. It's that bad bacteria that weakens the immune system. I avoid all "mycin" antibiotics b/c they can cause hearing loss. maybe not all of them but its a class of drugs called aminoglycodes(sp)
The highest potency edible probiotic is called Bio-K sold at Whole Foods. One teaspoon is equal to something like 100 cups of regular plain youghert. It comes in a little white bottle with green label. It's from Canada. It comes in dairy & soy version. It can also be put into a feeding tube. Great stuff - sorry to be getting off the subject here.

[Jeannine]

Cynthia

I still take one Florastor each day. I will look for the Bio-K you mention at the local Trader Joe's. We don't have a whole foods nearby.

[valhalla]

Dear LOCO,
I had treatment for cardiomyopathy last month in El Salvador. The price was
$ 18,000. For $ 6000 more the physician also treated my COPD. How much it
would be for COPD or chronic bronchitis alone I do not know. If you would like
to ask Dr. Vina's contact man, you can email me directly at amagi101&verizon.
net and I will give you his email address.
Or you can google Don Margolis who is very helpful and contact him. (I can give you his address too, if you need it.)

Best Regards,
Valhalla

[barbara]

Valhalla - How are you feeling after your treatment? Were you given any time frame that you might see some results? I believe the cost is $18000.00 for COPD treatments (you get two I am told if you wish). Don Margolis charges Dr. Fernandez (and the others on his site) and that is how he makes his money. As I have mentioned before, he is like a broker or agent and will restrict you to working only with the companies that pay him to broker clients to them. There is nothing wrong with this as long as clients understand what his service is. You may or may not be able to negotiate a better price by going directly to the doctor or clinic itself. For some this would be worth a try, for others, they may wish to just use his service and let him deal with the arrangements; just don't be fooled into thinking that his service deals with all clinics. Clinics, of course, are passing on the extra cost to patients.

[valhalla]

Dear Barbara, Thanks for feedback. I was told that I would l feel improvement
in the COPD after 15 - 21 days. Hard to tell. As far as the cardiomyopathy
goes, I do seem to have a bit more energy, but it is hard to tell whether
that is a fact or optimism. Real changes, if any, should come in 3 - 6 months,
so we'll see.
I was in direct contact with Dr. Fernandez Vina, whose English is poor, but his
spokes-person/patient coordinator is bilingual and translates for him. He is also fast coming back with replies. It does seem that Dr. Vina's standard fee
is 18,000.
When having decided on Dr. Vina, I did get another call from the people in
the Dominican Republic who had quoted me 65,000. I did let them know that
Dr. Vina's price was the deciding factor. Market competition is in the best
interest of the consumers, and physicians also ought to be reminded of this.
Best Regards,
Trude (Valhalla)

[barbara]

Treatment seems to get more expensive all the time. Hopefully, as the business gets more credible competition and therapies are refined and some of the unknowns are removed, prices will become more practical and affordable.

I do hope you will keep us informed of your progress and I am wishing huge improvements on you.

[LOCO]

Thank you all for your support,

I have a plan at the moment for attack of my cronic brochitis,

already with the antibiotics feel a huge improvment,

at the moment I am going to attack this in stages,

1st go to the hospital get rid of the infection, that will end next week, (friday), so I'll recieve 5 day of antibiotics.

2nd and most important then anything else I need igA,
otherwise I will continue to get worst, becuase im a not solving the problems of my infections,

3rd stem cells, i will get a loan for this, and do it within 9 months, hopefully in the next few months if everything goes as plan with best possible outcomes, (personal details)

here is an email from my mother to my doctor, she wanted to know what I had,

William has got scaring in the low left lung, the middle and low right lung; that these mean that these parts of the lungs are either dead or not useful for breathing? THEY ARE JUST INFILTRATED WITH INFLAMMATORY CELLS ? WILL IMPROVE ON TREATMENT.

b. Has he got fibrosis or COPD? NO FIBROSIS AS YET, NO COPD BUT BRONCHIECTASIS ? DISTORTED AIRWAYS.

c. William?s breathing is very shallow and fast. Will it improve after yesterday?s treatment? I was reading that this shallow breathing can affect the heart, the heart can get bigger, this was a condition that my father had, a bigger heart, and do you think that as prevention will be better to check his heart next week too? SHALLOW BREATHING IS STILL PERSISTENT AS THE LUNGS HAVE NOT COMPLETELY RECOVERED. WILL DO MORE HEART TESTING FOUR WEEKS WHEN HIS LUNGS MORE SETTLED, BUT EARLIER IF SOMETHING DECLINES ? NOT AT THIS STAGE THOUGH.

d. William is still bleeding, will the bleeding stop or it will continually keep bleeding. THE BLEEDING IS DUE TO THE INFLAMMED AIRWAYS RELEASING THE PUS AND THE RAW SURFACE IN CONTACT WITH THE AIR ? SHOULD SETTLE AFTER TUNE-UP TREATMENT. SCAN WAS GOOD, NO ABNORMAL BLOOD VESSELS TO EMBOLISE. TUNE-UP IS THE BEST WAY TO GO.

[barbara]

My lungs hurt just reading this. You take care Loco and GET WELL SOON as I have said before. You are very smart to take the bull by the horns and do something before the condition progresses even more.

[Jeannine]

Loco

your doctor sounds like he's pretty confident your condition will improve.

I like how he is taking you in for a tune-up. I have never that term used before for the lungs nor have I ever heard of the doctors going in and cleaning the lungs. I wish they would do that here in the US as I am positive my lungs could use a complete overhaul. LOL

[LOCO]

Hello guys I'm back, the tune up went well, was in hospital Mon - Mon (1 week),

I feel alot better, I only cough about 2 times a day now, when I feel like it, just as to empty my lungs, my body has gotten rid of the urge to cough uncontrollably, the mucas has now turned into a sort of clear slime, and is alot less, still tiny bits of mucas in the middle of the slime, my left nose is infected and now they want to clear that out, becuase the same bacteria in my lungs is in my nose, great.... more work.

anyways just thought i would tell you how i was,
my plan at the moment, is in 4 steps.

1. clear out my nose, that way it will stop drainig to my lungs.

2. get IGA becuase i am IGA antibodies deffecient. (one of the more important, should get it by begenning of next year.

3. Stem cell treatment (it will have to be done mid way next year, the money I had coming did not go through, will wait to save up for it next year)

but the good news is I am alot better, and am hoping i could hold this position through the holidays. (I want a good healthy holidays for once)

everyone thank you for your support, will still be needing it and will keep you's informed and come here regularly, I haven't seen the doctor again so I will ask him what the cleaning procedure he did was.

Regards William.

[Jeannine]

LOCO

Good to hear from you and I am happy to see you're feeling better.

[barbara]

Yes, very good to hear from you. I still think that cleaning procedure sounds extremely interesting and from all indications it certainly helped you.