RHEUMATOID DISEASE FOUNDATION THERAPY FOR RHEUMATOID DISEASES by Gus J. Prosch, Jr. M.D. Lecture #1

I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE WITH YOU TODAY THE INFORMATION,

IDEAS AND KNOWLEDGE THAT THE RHEUMATOID DISEASE FOUNDATION HAS BEEN WORKING WITH AND

DEVELOPING FOR THE PAST 6 YEARS, OUR WORK AND FINDINGS ARE PRIMARILY CONCERNED WITH A NEW

CONCEPT IN THE CARE AND TREATMENT OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND IT

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S APPLICATION TO OTHER

COLLAGEN OR AUTO-IMMUNE AND RELATED DISEASES, I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I AM NOT A

RHEUMATOLOGIST, BUT I AM A GENERAL PRACTITIONER WHO SPECIALIZES IN TREATING VARIOUS

CHRONIC DEGENERATIVE DISEASES,

I HAVE ALWAYS MAINTAINED AN INTENSE INTEREST IN THE CAUSE AND TREATMENT OF ESPECIALLY

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND I AM WELL FAMILIAR WITH THE PLACEBO EFFECT AND THE DIFFERENT AND

VARIED RESPONSES TO TREATMENT BY INDIVIDUAL PATIENTS. THROUGHOUT THE YEARS I HAVE

CONTINUED TO IMPROVE MY KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION CONCERNING THE ETIOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF

THESE AFFECTED PATIENTS AND EVEN ESPECIALLY SO SINCE I BEGAN LIMITING MY PRACTICE TO THE

TREATMENT OF THE DEGENERATIVE DISEASES.

I WAS ASKED TO SPEAK TODAY ON THE ANTI-AMOEBIC TREATMENT OF RHEUMATOID DISEASE. AND

THIS IS A VERY BROAD SUBJECT. I KNOW

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THAT THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE HERE WHO ARE NOT FAMILIAR

WITH OUR WORK SO I WILL GIVE A RAPID BACKGROUND REVIEW OF OUR WORK, WHAT HAS BEEN DONE,

AND THEN GO INTO THE ACTUAL TREATMENTS AND SUPPORT METHODS BEING RECOMMENDED AT THE

PRESENT TIME.

BRIEF HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT OF THIS TREATMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

AS

A PHYSICIAN, I HAVE OVER THE YEARS SPECIALIZED IN TREATING THE CHRONIC DEGENERATIVE

DISEASES AND I

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VE HAD AN INTENSE INTEREST IN SEEKING MEANS TO TREAT RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

AND OTHER RHEUMATOID DISEASES. WORK DONE BY DR. JACK M. BLOUNT OF PHILADELPHIA, MISSIS-

SIPPI, CAME TO MY ATTENTION ABOUT SEVEN YEARS AGO, ALTHOUGH I WAS VERY SKEPTICAL, MY

SUBSEQUENT INTERVIEWS WITH SEVERAL OF DR. BLOUNT

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S SUCCESSFULLY TREATED ARTHRITIC PA-

TIENTS MADE ME CURIOUS ENOUGH TO SEEK OUT AND REVIEW THE MEDICAL LITERATURE ON ADVANCES

AND TREATMENT OF RHEUMATOID DISEASES. WHAT I FOUND CONVINCED ME THAT DR. BLOUNT

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S THEORY

AND TREATMENT MADE A GOOD DEAL OF SENSE.

THE TREATMENT ADVOCATED BY DR. BLOUNT WAS BASED PRIMARILY ON THE PUBLISHED RESEARCH

OF PROFESSOR ROGER WYBURN-MASON OF ENGLAND. DR. BLOUNT, A VICTIM OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRI-

TIS, HAD BY EARLY 1974 BEEN NEARLY TOTALLY DISABLED. HE HAD UNDERGONE REPLACEMENT OF HIS

RIGHT HIP JOINT, BUT THE PAIN AND DISABILITY HAD GOTTEN WORSE. ALL THE USUAL TREATMENTS

HAD FAILED TO ALLEVIATE HIS PAIN OR SLOW THE PROGRESS OF THE DISEASE. IN EARLY 1976, DR.

BLOUNT READ AN ARTICLE IN MODERN MEDICINE ENTITLED

“

HAS ONE MAN FOUND THE CAUSE AND CURE

OF RHEUMATOID DISEASE

”

. ACCORDING TO THAT ARTICLE, DR. WYBURN-MASON CLAIMED THAT RHEUMA-

TOID ARTHRITIS IS CAUSED BY A GERM, A PROTOZOAN, NOT UNLIKE THE LETTUCE BUG AMOEBAE.

DR. BLOUNT DECIDED TO TRY WYBURN-MASON

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S TREATMENT, BUT THE SUGGESTED DRUG, CLOTRIMAZOLE,

WAS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE U.S. HOWEVER, INVESTIGATION LED HIM TO COMPARE CLOTRIMAZOLE WITH

ANOTHER DRUG CALLED FLAGYL (PRODUCED BY G.D. SEARLE AND CO.), AND KNOWN GENERICALLY AS

METRONIDAZOLE. HE FOUND THE TWO DRUGS TO BE NEARLY IDENTICAL. THE AMERICAN DRUG HAS BEEN

USED SINCE 1962 TO TREAT AMEBIASIS AND TRICOMONAS VAGINITIS.

DR. BLOUNT KNEW THE STANDARD DOSAGE FOR TREATING AMEBIASIS OR TRICOMONAS WOULD NOT BE

STRONG ENOUGH SINCE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NOTICED BY OTHER RESEARCHERS TO RELIEVE ARTHRITIS

IF THE DRUG WAS AS EFFECTIVE AS DR. WYBURN-MASON SUGGESTED. DR. BLOUNT INCREASED THE

DOSAGE AND DURING THE NEXT TWO WEEKS HE FOUND THE SORENESS, STIFFNESS AND SWELLING IN HIS

JOINTS STARTED GOING AWAY. REPEATING THE COURSE OF TREATMENT EVERY TWO WEEKS, HE FOUND

HIS CONDITION WAS IMPROVING. AFTER TREATING HIMSELF FOR THREE MONTHS, HE ASKED SEVERAL OF

HIS FORMER PATIENTS IF THEY WOULD BE INTERESTED IN TRYING THE TREATMENT FOR THEIR

ARTHRITIC CONDITIONS. SOME 30 PATIENTS RECEIVED THE TREATMENT DURING THE SUMMER OF 1977.

MOST OF THEM HAD THE SAME GOOD EXPERIENCE AS DR. BLOUNT.

SINCE THAT TIME, DR. BLOUNT HAS TREATED OVER 17,000 PATIENTS, MOST OF WHOM HAVE BEEN

SIGNIFICANTLY RELIEVED. AFTER LEARNING ABOUT DR. BLOUNT

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S WORK, I SPENT SEVERAL MONTHS

THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATING THIS THEORY IN ORDER TO DETERMINE IF THERE WAS ANY TRUTH OR

SUBSTANCE TO HIS CLAIMS. I TOOK THE FOLLOWING STEPS TO THOROUGHLY CHECK OUT AND INVESTI-

GATE HIS WORK.

1. I REVIEWED THE AVAILABLE, BUT SCANTY LITERATURE IN THE MEDICAL LIBRARY AND CON-

CLUDED THAT NOT ONLY WAS THE THEORY OF A TYPE OF GERM CAUSING RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

POSSIBLE, BUT IT WAS PROBABLE.

2. I THEN SENT SEVERAL RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS PATIENTS TO DR. BLOUNT TO BE TREATED AND

WAS QUITE IMPRESSED WITH THEIR RESULTS.