Experiments

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In-Vivo Experiments

The following experiments were conducted in-vivo, due to the fact that these substances are commonly available in health food shops. The first experiment was due to pure serendipity. I have for many years mega-dosed Vitamin C as part of my anti-HIV program and typically I take all my vitamins together. I was reading an article on the web site The Nutrition Reporter which recommended the on-line Medical Database Medline for information on the latest research in Medicine. I connected to Medline and began doing searches for studies on HIV and vitamins, when the searches turned up several articles from different research laboratories world wide which identified a number of substances that I realized were available in health food stores. The flavonoids were originally regarded as vitamins, which may be why the searches uncovered these articles. In particular the flavonoid quercetin was cited separately by four different scientific articles as inhibiting the HIV enzymes reverse transcriptase, protease, integrase and vpr. This was somewhat puzzling that such an apparently powerful substance was available in Health Food Stores. I decided to buy some and try it. Similiarly for Spirulina which was also very commonly available in Health Food Stores and is not a flavonoid, but a sulfated polysaccharide.

I'm gay so I contracted HIV through sex before AIDS was even identified. I tested HIV positive in February 1986 and have been through the gamut of treatments. Before protease inhibitors were approved several years ago my T4 cell count was 70 and my viral load was in the hundreds of thousands. I began using a combination of Indinivir, DDI, and d4T and my T4 cell count quickly went up into the low 400s and my viral load was reduced to almost undetectable. These blood test results remained fairly stable for several years, but I suffered the typical problems of protease inhibitor side effects and various other intermittent problems associated with a less than competent immune system, including several cases of bronchitis, shingles, fatigue and depression. I was also diagnosed with a mild case of HIV encephalography which resolved when my medications were changed. I commenced the following experiments in March 2001.

Materials

Experiment 1:

Following directions given on the label I took two tablets of a "Hay Fever and Sinus" formula plus my usual mega-dose of Vitamin C - approx. 12 grams.

Results:

I experienced the following side effects:
Hyperventilation - longer deeper breathing
Tachycardia - faster heartbeat
Headache
Dry Mouth
Ringing sound in the head
Insomnia

Experiment 2:

On the subsequent two days I experimented by successively halving the dose of the Hay Fever and Sinus formula in order to find a dosage that was tolerable. I then switched to the lymphodram supplement for two days at what I thought were even lower doses. I subsequently only used the lymphodram supplement.

Results:

A state of "permanent overdose" occurred which lasted a week. felt extremely over-stimulated and I couldn't sleep at all. I also experienced some muscle aches throughout this week. I tried to completely avoid vitamin C during this period and of course quercetin. This was a miserable experience and I thought it would never end, but finally after a week I felt normal again. During this week I had a blood test and my T4 cell count was 320 and my viral load over 750,000! At this time I also restarted my regular HIV medications.

Experiment 3:

Two days after I came out of the state of "permanent overdose" I tried approx. 500mg of vitamin C.

Results:

An hour or so later an large amount of sweat was produced in my armpits, despite having on under-arm deodorant and not doing any physical activity. Approximately a week later I had a blood test and my viral load had been reduced by 99%.

Experiment 4:

I suspected that quercetin was interacting with vitamin C, but a search on Medline did not reveal any relevant articles. I then did a search on the World Wide Web on "quercetin and vitamin C" which located an article by Vrijsen et al [15] at the following site:

Journal of General Virology

At the time I was able to "deep link" this article, but this has since been disallowed, and you have to go to the home page. If you go to the search feature this article can be located. A copy of this article has since then also been placed on Medline. Vrijsen et al [15] stated quercetin must be ascorbate stabilized to be effective against the Polio virus. Thus my suspicion was confirmed. Because Vitamin C (i.e. ascorbate) has a half life of 4 - 5 hours, I then proceeded to dose the following: One eighth tablet of lymphodram once in the morning plus 7 grams of calcium ascorbate. Another 7 grams of ascorbate every 5-6 waking hours.

Results:

I quickly found this once again intolerable

Experiment 5:

I continued with my regular HIV medicines, but stopped taking any quercetin supplements. I continued to experiment with varying doses of vitamin C once a day in the morning only. I had already observed previously that even days after I had stopped taking quercetin, I experienced side effects just from using vitamin C. My goal was to discover a maximum dose of vitamin C that I could take in the morning that would not give problems with sleep at night.

Results:

I found 500mg of vitamin C to be most easily tolerated and did not seriously interfere with sleep. Even four weeks after I had stopped taking quercetin I continued to experience mild versions of some of the familiar side effects, in particular a mild stimulant effect, faster heartbeat and the ringing sound in the head. I continued to experience periodic episodes of more than usual sweating in the armpits. My T4 cell count at the end of this period jumped from 450 to 640. My viral load was low (approx. 260) but not undetectable. I found that the typical side effects of protease inhibitors became very severe.

Experiment 6:

I continued to use 500mg of vitamin C every day with occasional (every 1-2 weeks) extra doses of quercetin plus vitamin C for the next several months. I also in this period took some "drug holidays", including quercetin holidays (by not taking vitamin C). I used two different RT inhibitor combinations.

Results:

14th March 2002: T4 cell count: 790.
Viral Load through out this period: < 400 with one exception during drug holiday. Liver and Kidney enzymes and other blood tests were normal or near normal.

The following experiments were also conducted during this period, but have been listed separated for clarity.

Experiment S1:

After discovering that the co-factor for quercetin was vitamin C, I wondered if any of the other substances I had identified on Medline also had co-factors. A research paper on Spirulina [8] stated that the anti-viral activity of calcium-spirulan was dependent on chelation with the calcium ion, so I tried the following experiment: I took a half tablet of Spirulina (500mg) plus a 600mg tablet of calcium.

Results:

I experienced an uncomfortable sensation in the heart which lasted several hours. This was not painful.

Experiment S2:

A week after experiment S1, I took a 600mg tablet of calcium only.

Results:

I experienced the same sensation in the heart that I had experienced a week previously, even though I had not taken any spirulina.

Experiment S3:

During the subsequent weeks I experimented with calcium containing foods to find a tolerable dose.

Results:

I continued to experience side effects similar to quercetin, particularly problems with sleep just from using calcium only. I found a dose of approx. 200mg of calcium (1 cup of yoghurt) in the morning to be most tolerable.