New Hope for Crohn's Patients

I realize that the topic of Crohn's Disease is far removed from my usual anti-aging and male health articles, but the suffering of a dear friend of the family has forced me to address the issue. To allow a young, beautiful woman to be robbed of the full enjoyment of life that the early twenties should be is a travesty of moral decency if I could do something, yet did nothing.

Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disease in which the intestine falls under attack from the immune system. The body reacts as if it is fighting a tumor in the intestine, yet there is no tumor present. The result is inflammation, ulceration, abscesses, and fistulas. Weight loss, opportunistic infections and a considerable amount of pain is experienced by the sufferer. Depression eventually sets in as quality of life is diminished.

Treatment often includes surgery in the form of removal of the portions of the ilium. Other treatments include injecting the patient with extracts from rat immune systems, dietary avoidance, and stem cells.

The whole problem begins with inflammation. A cell becomes inflamed and signals the immune system that it is under attack. The immune system responds by attacking the cell as if it were a cancer. Now, let us look at the process of inflammation a little closer.

Inflammation begins with the expression of cyclooxygenase (COX). Immediately, Tumor Necrotizing Factor-alpha (TNF-a) is released, its function is to destroy the cell as if it were a tumor. Soon after, interleukin 1 and 6(IL-1,IL-6) are then released. The immune system is now at war with the cell.

It is not clear whether the release of COX is the result of penetration of the cell wall by an organism such as Pseudomonas auregemonas and the cell responds as if it were a tumor, or if organisms take advantage of a compromised cell.

The situation is further complicated by opportunistic infections such as those like Candida Albercans. Organisms such as Pseudomonas rapidly develop resistance to antibiotics. In order to successfully treat P. auregenomas, specimens must be taken daily and antibiotics should be changed as needed. This poses a problem when we realize that the infection is inside of the intestine.

Dr. Kim of Seoul, Korea undertook a study in which he used chrysophanol to control inflammation in rat intestines. The results were marvelous! Inflammation was reduced and in some cases eliminated altogether. The method of action was simple: COX expression was blocked, thereby heading off the whole process that caused inflammation and ultimately, an ulcer.

As I further investigated chrysophanol, and learned that it was toxic on contact to Pseudomonas and Candida. I thought that I had the magic bullet with which to end this young lady's suffering. It didn't matter if the organisms are causing the illness or if they were simply exploiting a bad situation, they had to be eliminated. I would simply order a few grams of chrysophanol and begin her on a regimen. Oops! Chrysophanol goes for up to $900 USD per gram, placing it way out of reach of realistic therapy.

Chrysophanol is used in cancer research and is an anthraquinone. anthraquinones are usually laxatives and the use of anthraquinones was not recommended in the case of Inflamed Bowel Diseases.

I turned to an herbal solution. The Coccoloba Uvifera tree produces a host of anthraquinones, including chrysophanol. I then prepared a concentrated extract of the dried leaves and soon had developed a vial therapeutically viable extract.

I asked her rinse her raw vegetables in water with hydrogen peroxide added to reduce the possability of reinfection. I then had her add a teaspoon of the extract to a glass of water and drink it before going to sleep. I asked her to do this for five days.

You can read her testimonial:

"I have suffered with Crohn's Disease for about 15 years. The past 7 years have been extremely difficult and I've tried multiple treatments to repair the damage that has been done to my intestine as a result of my Crohn's and related surgeries. Tom Greenwell, who is a close family friend, has been researching ways to help me ever since I met him. He is very knowledgable about the body and experienced in the field of natural medicine. After much research, he developed a natural treatment for me using nutrients from sea grape leaves. About 6 months ago I took 2 rounds of the treatment, and since then I've noticed a huge improvement.

Before the treatment, I was only 108 pounds (I'm 5'7) and had a lot of trouble gaining weight. Now I weigh about 117 pounds, which is the most I've weighed in about 5 years! I've also been in a lot less pain and have noticed an improvement in my digestion. I have a lot more energy overall and am able to be so much more active than before, which is a huge blessing. The treatment gave me no noticeable negative side effects.

We are about to start another round of the treatment and I am excited to see how my condition continues to improve!"

I chose to have her take the solution for only five days for the simple reason that anthraquinones block COX. Even though we were trying to block COX, it is still a vital part of the cellular immune response. If COX were blocked permanently, there was the likelihood that the patient could develop tumors in the intestine.

While she still has Crohn's and probably always will, her quality of life is improved and there is hope that she will live symptom free for the rest of her life.

I would be interested in hearing about your personal experiences with Crohn's. Please feel free to post your comments below or contact me through my profile contact.