Brain Fog cure?

February 15, 2001

Reading this got me excited.....maybe we can cure this brain fog thing...and

it sounds too easy!

I'll be adding Molybdenum to my daily herbal pill pile.

Patty

C) 1994, Dr. Stephan Cooter,Ph.D.

(Chapter 11, from Beating Chronic Illness,ProMotion Publishing, 10387

Friars, Rd., Suite 231,San Diego, CA 92120. (800) 231-1776 copyright by

Stephan Cooter, Ph.D.

At least a decade's worth of personal experimentation had led me to find

answers to my own poor health involving chronic fatigue, extreme muscular

weakness, generalized pain, insomnia, and other disgusting things. The

causes had been variously diagnosed as mononucleosis or Epstein-Barr virus,

poor health caused by lack of exercise, lupus, psychosomatic illness,

depression, slow pertussis infection, post polio syndrome, faulty brain

chemistry, and Candida albicans infection.

The chief player in resolving my problems was an essential trace mineral,

molybdenum. With molybdenum, it was possible to transform poisons into

energy.

In trying to " kill " a massive Candida colonialization in my GI track, my

mouth, and toenails, I made discoveries. The antibiotic Nystatin had made

all of my symptoms worse. First, it must have been responsible for attacking

and killing vast numbers of the fungal yeast, candida; and as Orian Truss,

The Missing Diagnosis, and Crook, The Yeast Connection, had said,

large doses of antibiotics can make an " unpleasant condition " worse. Their

hypothesis was that the yeast " byproducts " from the kill-off were

responsible for chronic pain becoming acute pain.

Neither Truss nor Crook were aware of how the garbage from yeast actually

affected the body or the brain. They only knew that sites remote from the

infection were affected: the brain, the central nervous system, the joints,

the muscles.

....Molybdenum is one way of cleaning up the garbage of our antibiotic wars.

Candida albicans is a normal inhabitant of our gastrointestinal tract. It is

supposed to be there. And if Dr. Bruce McFarland is correct, it causes no

problem when it is fed well and treated well. When does it cause a problem?

Half of the problem is created by modern medical wonder drugs: the birth

control pill which alters the hormone system and subsequently the immune

system, antibiotics, steroids, and other chemotherapies which are synthetic

ways of altering the function of the body's systems, wiping out the

ecosystem in the stomach and gut, and setting up a scenario for trouble. As

friendly E. coli, E. faecium, L. acidophilus bacteria are killed by the use

of prescription drugs right along with the alien microbes, candida fungal

yeasts begin to flourish and dominate, growing to such numbers that they may

outnumber every cell in the human body.

Two basic events take place. Our friendly bacteria no longer aid digestion

by converting food into enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals that

the body can use; so killing sets us up for subclinical and clinical

malnutrition syndromes.

The other half of the problem is industrialized, overly processed, heat

processed or chemically processed foods. Candida and herpes zoster, for two,

are junk food junkies thriving on sugar, processed vegetable oils, and

hydrogenated fats. None of these refined foods are found in nature. So how

does the body respond to hydrogenated fats? One result is that candida

digests a part of them into pseudo bile. Pseudo bile tells your appetite

center that the fat is taken care of, and you need more. So you develop

cravings for more junk as undigested fat collects in the body. Undigested

fat collects in the arteries too, and you get artery and heart problems.

Another problem of incomplete digestion results in food substances going

into the blood that shouldn't be there. Methionine becomes homocysteine

rather than glutamine and taurine. We are not allergic to foods; we are

allergic to incompletely digested foods.

Candida also converts sugars into ethanol. As a common ingredient in

prescription and over-the-counter medications, it is not bad in itself. It

functions as a free radical scavenger and antiseptic. It provides a

janitorial function for the body. But too much unused alcohol converts into

acetaldehyde. If you have adequate amounts of glutamine, selenium, niacin,

folic acid, B6, B12, iron, and molybdenum, aldehydes continue to be

metabolized into acetic acid, which can be excreted, or converted further

into acetyl coenzyme A. If these nutrients are in poor supply, aldehydes

begin collecting in the body's tissues.

So when candida is fully nourished or we are, candida furnishes the body

with a necessary part of the Krebs energy cycle necessary for the health and

maintenance of all cells. When our digestion is unbalanced, we incompletely

convert sugars into poisons and they stay poisons in our human systems. When

our digestion is balanced, or we give it what it needs in terms of

supplements, a potential poison is transformed into a source of energy:

aldehyde poison becomes acetyl coenzyme A.

Why should we love our enemies? Because our enemies are ourselves. The enemy

candida, and it is an enemy in Drs. Truss's and Crook's eyes, and in the

eyes of most of the medical profession, is our friend or becomes our friend

when we treat it right. If we attack it with antibiotics, the rest of our

friendly microbes will be unable to feed it the B vitamins, amino acids, and

minerals it needs to metabolize its poisons into nourishment for our bodies.

When we attack our microbes, we kill ourselves.

....Within days of taking 100 mcg of molybdenum three times a day, I could

feel the poisons from candida garbage transforming themselves into heat and

energy. Where I had experienced pain in my neck and shoulders, I felt

warmth. A stiff back that felt like a wall of steel was transformed into

copious sweat. My muscles relaxed and were pain free. At the same time, the

person I was who found it difficult to get out of bed, became someone who

needed 4 to 8 hours of sleep rather than 10 or 12. Where I had been confined

within a prison of fatigue, the fatigue was translated into an open expanse

of energy and possibility. An intellectual fog that had filled my head for

years scattered itself the first day I took molybdenum. I had lived with an

intellectual hangover for so long, I had no idea what it was like to

experience full mental clarity.

I was grateful for the result and hoped that it might work for others who

shared my problems. Then, in talking with a nutrient supplement company

about doing a study with other people who had either post polio syndrome

(650,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with the problem),

or others who shared the same symptoms, I had an opportunity to design a

study to my liking. I called it a Self-Help Molybdenum study.

In reading histories of placebo treatments, it became obvious to me that

" scientific " studies attempted to avoid the placebo effect that, on average,

reported a 30.6% rate of effectiveness, slightly greater effectiveness than

with the " real thing " prescription medication it would be paired against.

In other readings, it became apparent that lactose, sugar, or olive oil were

commonly used as placebos. In view of my modest knowledge of biochemistry,

this seemed outrageous to me. Lactose, sugar, and olive oil are all

bioactive substances. Lactose, for one, is so little regarded as a nutrient,

that it is the most common binder in prescription medication. Yet the Food

Pharmacy made clear that plain old sugar acts as nature's tranquilizer. Dr.

Murray has pointed out that lactose contains the two essential

building blocks, glucose and galactose, of the central nervous system and

brain. The body converts adequate supplies of glucose into N-acetyl

glucosamine, essential for all tissue building and repair. Olive oil is

known to favorably affect good cholesterol, and good cholesterol is the

nutrient precursor for our hormones and essential for the digestion of fats.

It seemed no wonder to me that placebo effects could be accounted for not on

the basis of expectation alone, but on a biochemical level. To me, this

meant that most double or single blind experiments were triple blind.

Nutrients like vitamin B12 and folic acid are so little regarded that they

have been used as placebos in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. The

greatest irony of all was not that placebos may have worked better than the

prescription medication, but that the prescription medication may have done

some of its good because of the binder hiding inside of it. All of this led

me away from the mechanistic attitudes that were behind " scientific

credibility. "

We are humans who deserve to know what the hopes are of those who intend to

help us. We are not chemical machines. So I decided to declare what I knew

about molybdenum, what effects had been noticed by Walter Schmitt, Jr.,

D.C., in " Molybdenum for Candida albicans patients and other conditions, "

and what the positive, even miraculous results were that I had experienced.

My view was and is that the name of the game is doing what is helpful in as

positive and cheerful way as possible. If positive expectation is helpful,

use it. So I maximized rather than minimized the so-called placebo effect

and wished everyone choosing to participate a similar success.

In order to assess subjective improvements, I used a scale of 1 to 10, the

lowest number indicating that a symptom was never a problem and 10

indicating that it was always a problem. People choosing to participate

filled out a symptom chart before beginning the study, and once again after

completing 30 days of chewing or sucking on a 100 mcg tablet three times a

day. The people choosing to participate all shared symptoms of chronic

fatigue, chronic muscle weakness, joint pain, muscle pain, headaches,

concentration problems, memory problems, problems with depression, and

insomnia. Participants ranged in age from 36 to 84. The average age was 54,

13 men and 18 women. Out of the 46 people who agreed to participate, 31

completed the study. The 15 non participants discontinued the study for

various reasons: in one case, the diary of symptom changes arrived but the

molybdenum had been lost in the mail. I presume that a postal clerk

somewhere is slightly less mineral deficient than before. A woman with a

panic disorder panicked and didn't start the study; a man with memory

problems forgot to take the mineral, etc.

Despite the problems, gratifying results took place for about 2/3's of the

people who did try the supplement. I had hoped for better.

Changes in Chronic Fatigue

65% reported improved energy levels

10% reported lower energy levels at the end of the study

25% reported no change

Of those who responded positively or negatively, there was a 28% average

gain in energy.

The metabolic pathway that diagrams the likely cause is--

Threonine or Ethanol--} aldehyde--} acetic acid--} acetyl coenzyme A.

A toxin, acetaldehyde, can be transformed into a source of energy, acetyl

coenzyme A provided there is adequate molybdenum in the diet or through

supplement form. One 84-year-old woman had such low energy levels that she

simply couldn't get going in the morning. At 10 AM, she had chewed on one

tablet, then cleaned her house for the first time in 5 years, went shopping

in the afternoon, worked in the garden, and was still going strong late at

night. Since she called up one participant on the survey to complain that

old women shouldn't have that kind of energy, I then heard about it second

hand. She took only 1/4 of a tablet thereafter. Three other participants for

similar reasons did the same thing. To me, that was success. For them, I

guess they were more comfortable with their customary levels of fatigue. I

enjoyed having new energy. Others were frightened by it. Others were

disappointed in having less dramatic gains, but most did experience gains.

Changes in Chronic Weakness

68% reported improved strength

10% reported that weakness became worse

22% reported no change in strength

Of those showing a response, a 24% general improvement took place. One

74-year-old woman reported being able to climb stairs that she had been

unable to climb after about two weeks of the supplement. Another reported

being able to stand up from a seated position without using his arms to push

off. Others had less dramatic changes.

Changes in Joint Pain

61% reported slight to dramatic improvements

6% reported getting worse

32% reported no change

One 67-year-old post polio survivor had been disappointed that nothing

miraculous had happened during the first two weeks of supplementation. Then,

in the third week, she experienced a pleasant " red hot " warmth where she had

had intense sharp pain before in her hip. Only two people seemed to notice a

rapid change from pain to pleasant heat.

Changes in Muscle Pain

61% reported less pain to being pain free

29% reported no change

10% reported feeling worse

Any detoxification process may result in reruns of old problems. Ten of the

people in the study experienced the brief return of old rashes, old allergic

responses, itching, acne like redness and pimples on the face, brief

recapitulations of ear aches, and migraines. In asking Dr. Schmitt for his

explanation of rashes, his opinion was that excessive copper was working

itself out of the system, excess copper being one of the normal clinical

findings for people with candida infections.

Another theoretical explanation occurred to me. It is known that mercury

collects at sites of physical or chemical injury. My feeling was that

aldehydes and ammonia may do the same thing. On one level, aldehydes, known

as fragrances, may be responsible for giving a chemical signal to foreign

microbes or to our own immune system. Aldehydes may suggest that a

chemical-decay process is taking place, so that the immune system may rush

to the site to clean up the mess. This may account for what Dr. Schmitt has

elsewhere called psuedoinfection triggered by excessive free radicals.

Providing a mineral that starts a new chemical reaction may reactivate old

problems temporarily.

Changes in Headaches

55% of the people reported fewer or lesser headaches

13% reported more headaches

32% reported no change

One 46-year-old woman, who rarely drank red wine because it gave her

whanging headaches, reported that a glass of red wine no longer had that

effect. Sulfur containing amino acids, sulfites, are used as a preservative

in wines, salad bars, and fresh vegetables at grocery stores. Molybdenum, as

Dr. Schmitt has pointed out, helps convert potentially harmful sulfites into

taurine, a beneficial amino acid. Drs. Chaitow and Treinen have pointed out

that glutamine assists in this process, metabolizing toxic accumulations of

ammonia, byproducts of our cellular metabolism, and allowing them to be

excreted out of our cells. You then have a brain working at a full, healthy

capacity.

Changes in Mental Concentration

65% of the participants reported improvements

3% reported getting worse

32% reported no change

Unexpected and unnoticed by me was something very important to four people

on the study. All four noticed a kind of emotional clear-headedness in

addition to gains in concentration. One of the four said that her feelings

were very close to the surface where she could get to them rather than her

feelings getting to her. Rather than let a grocery clerk intimidate her, she

stood up for herself and the issue was resolved. Two reported an emotional

even temperedness where small annoyances were no longer life and death

threatening situations. Another who feared social interaction reported

actually enjoying and looking forward to being with people.

Mark has said that candida in some unknown way was known to be

responsible for all kinds of neurotransmitter disruptions. I have a strong

suspicion that aldehydes and ammonia accumulations cause those mental and

emotional dysfunctions by fouling the chemical communication process.

Changes in Memory

71% reported improvements in ability to remember

No person reported getting worse

29% reported noticing no change

Autopsies of post polio survivors who died in the 1950's were reexamined by

Bruno, Ph.D. Looking at the brain rather than the already noted

damage to the myelin sheath and frayed nerve endings to muscles, Dr. Bruno

noticed pinholes Swiss-cheesing the hypothalamus. His assumption was that

the original polio infection had caused brain damage which was responsible

for the post polio syndrome. I suspect that another explanation is more

likely. As aldehydes slowly collect in the brain from auto exhaust, carpets,

glue, wood amalgams, candida infection and are not metabolized, a fair guess

would be that an autoimmune system attack is triggered by the rancidity of

the aldehyde smell. Of some surprise to Drs. Henzi and Schwyzer of

Switzerland was finding formaldehyde in the myelin sheaths of MS survivors.

The damage caused by many chronic diseases may just be triggered by

unmetabolized aldehydes and ammonia toxicity. Dr. Henzi's success with folic

acid and B12 placebos even suggests why. Sulfur containing amino acids

become ammonia and remain ammonia without adequate folic acid, B12, and

molybdenum

Changes in Depression

55% reported improvement in mood

3% reported a worsening of depression

42% reported no change

Of those responding to molybdenum, an overall 23% improvement was reported

in symptoms. One woman who had used Xanax for years during PMS mood swings

and pain, reported that she no longer felt the need to use it. One other

subject to PMS stress reported absolutely no PMS symptoms during the month

she used molybdenum. The PMS connection was a totally unexpected result. Of

course, most of the women were beyond the age where that may have been a

problem.

Changes in Insomnia

61% reported improved sleeping patterns

10% reported increased insomnia

29% reported no change

Of those responding in this area, an average 20% improvement in sleep was

reported. It might be that aldehydes and ammonia toxins foul serotonin,

tryptophan, and B6 metabolism. B6 is one of the many forms that serotonin

changes into, and B6 is necessary for metabolizing aldehydes. If there were

a B6 deficiency, aldehydes would accumulate, and serotonin levels would be

impaired, thus causing poor sleep and other neurotransmitter disruptions.

I believe that other studies with many chronic conditions, self help and

physician sponsored, should be done with molybdenum, selenium, glutamine,

chromium, vanadium, B6, folic acid, iron, and B12. Diet and alcoholism

studies are among them. Four people reported intense craving for sugar at

the beginning of the study, but nausea when sugar was consumed towards the

end. Excessive candida presence may dictate cravings in diet; reduced

candida garbage may alter such cravings, including the craving for alcohol.

The same people reported weight loses from 4 to eight pounds, and in two

cases, the loss of two inches around the waist and neck. Molybdenum is known

to play a role in fat, carbohydrate, and protein metabolism. Molybdenum

insufficiency may be a chief player in transforming metabolic toxins in our

bodies into sources of restful sleep and vitality at the same time it

reduces the waistline. Rather than strangle in our own environmental and

cellular waste, humble nutrients may help us recycle our garbage and turn it

into energy for our cells.

References

Carper, The Food Pharmacy, Bantam, 1988.

Chaitow, Leon, D.O., N.D., Amino Acids in Therapy, Healing Arts Press, 1988.

Mindell, Earl, Vitamin Bible, Warner, 1991.

Murray, , D.C., Lactose, Institute of Practical Biochemistry 1: 1,

part B.

Schmitt, Walter, Jr., D.C.,Molybdenum for candida albicans patients and

other problems, Digest of Chiropractic Economics 31: 4, Jan-Feb, 1991.

Schmitt, Walter, Jr., D.C., The clorox test: a screening device for free

radical pathology, Digest of Chiropractic Economics 30:2 & 30:3, Sept-Oct,

Nov-Dec, 1987.

February 16, 2001

Thank you Patty. I'm going to try it as well. Anything to get rid of these cotton balls eh? J