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Egret Publishing Inc.
November 2002
In October, I saw a dermatologist with special interest
in Hansen’s disease. I presented him a list of my symptoms and asked him
whether I have Hansen’s disease. He just looked at the “spots” causally and
said no but told me to return two months later.
Apart from my problems with neurological, musculo-skeletal
systems, the trouble with my left eye was getting worse. This started when a
papule near my left ear partially disappeared. A lump underneath the skin in my
lower left cheek appeared. This seemed to move upward just below the eye. Part
of this may have gone behind my left eye, pushing eyeball outward. I was
desperate. I went back to my family doctor, requesting ROM (rifampin, 600mg;
ofloxacin, 400mg; minocycline, 100mg, according to the recommendation of UN),
plus zafirlukast to counteract ENL and RR. He said there was no proof that I
got Hansen’s disease. I said the results would be the proof one way or the
other. He said that was empirical. I said a lot of information was obtained
this way. I was willing to sign a waiver. He did not said no but it was no just
the same.
Most Hansen’s disease patients test negative by
means of PCR methods. If there are symptoms on the skin, they may test positive
clinically or histopathologically. Good living conditions in advanced countries
make the characteristic symptoms of Hansen’s disease difficult to appear or
develop to a level that will show clinically or histopathologically. I may die
of Alzheimer’s disease before the characteristic symptoms of Hansen’s disease
appear on the skin, serious enough to test positive clinically or
histopathologically. Incidentally Hansen’s disease patients do not get
Alzheimer’s disease. The two seem interchangeable. This is consistent with my
hypothesis
I had very little chance of testing positive for
Hansen’s disease but the disease was attacking my vital organs. So I went to
see another doctor. He said he might get his licence revoked, if he treated me
the way I wanted. He suggested I went to China for treatment. The cost for
non-citizens may be prohibiting, besides, China is changing its rules and
regulations fast. All the doctors in Ontario are under the same organization,
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
My argument was that people suffering from acne
could be treated with antibiotics while the pathogen was not yet identified.
Why I could not be treated similarly while I was suffering from a
life-threatening disease.
I filed a complaint at the Ombudsman of Ontario.
Someone at the Ombudsman Office replied that the College was a self-regulating
body and was regarded as private. This seems to be a grey area that the power
to license physicians is granted by the Ontario Government. I asked
Goldhawk-fightback but there was no response.
Some ALS patients south of the border have managed
to get doctors to treat them with minocycline. Physicians are under similar
rules on both sides of the border. How do they manage it?
Ching-Chee Chan, PhD
November 28, 2002
I asked my ophthalmologist for anti-inflammatory drugs
for my left eye. He said I needed an operation. I told him that my trouble most
likely caused by Hansen’s disease and I was counting on my dermatologist to
detect the infection. He thought I might have the point and passed me to
another ophthalmologist who prescribed prednisone. Within seven hours after
taking the drug, the situation began to improve and within two weeks, my left
eye looked normal. It was not a cure but the problem was dispersed and mostly
in my joints and guts.
He said I did not have skin Hansen’s disease. He was
a dermatologist and he cared only if the problem was in the skin, meaning
Hansen’s disease in the central nervous system or in the joints was not his
business. If this is the way the
medical profession is organized, I had better see an ALS specialist or
neurologist. I was rather reluctant to see neurologists or ALS/MND specialists
because they might not be familiar with Hansen’s disease especially the
complications during chemotherapy. I suppose these specialists can learn to
treat Hansen’s disease if they have to and I have to accept the risks while
they are learning.
Innovation is one way to find cures for those
incurable diseases. According to rideforlife.com, Dr. John Turnbull of Mcmaster
University Hospital Neurology Department, Hamilton, is trying the AIDS
cocktail as a treatment for ALS. The spirit is correct whatever the
outcome. According to an e-mail received, some ALS specialists in the
Sunnybrook and Women’s College Hospital, prescribe minocycline to treat ALS
patients. This is closer to my position.
Ching-Chee Chan, PhD
February 18, 2003
My problems with blood vessels started long before
my neurological problems. Since the nineteen eighties, my nose has been
bleeding, if I blow my nose hard. Inflammation of gum results in soreness and
bleeding. In the late nineteen eighties, my wisdom tooth on the right lower jaw
became inflamed and loosened. I had it extracted. A few months later, a
bubble-like tissue was growing at the same spot. I touched it while I was
brushing my teeth and it broke, resulting in bleeding. It bled day and night
and profusely whenever any physical exertion occurred. Eventually I saw my
dentist who squeezed it, causing more bleeding. The bleeding stopped during the
night and it healed. One probable explanation is that the antigens causing the
inflammation had been squeezed out with the blood.
Blood samples were taken for checking in 2000 and
2001. On both occasions, there were large red spots near the needle marks.
Later it turned blue and then black. It took several weeks for it to disappear.
The blood vessels seemed to be leaking. A blood sample was taken in the early
nineteen seventies, this had not happened.
Whatever happens in the nose probably happens in the
guts. It is subjected to the same kind of pressure every morning. I have been
suspecting bleeding in the guts since the mid nineteen nineties.
The problem in my left eye was dispersed to other
parts of the body. A lump was left in my lower left cheek. A numb spot appeared
on the left side of my upper lip. On February 10, 2003, my body was aching and
coughing started. Then the problem shifted to the left sides of my jaws,
causing pains and aching teeth, then shifted to my nose, causing thick mucous
and bleeding. After all these subsided, trouble started in my guts. It might be
bleeding, based on various indications. One red and painful spot was observed
on my left index finger sometime in February, it then turned blue and then
black. It disappeared after several weeks. One probable explanation is that
antigens of Hansen’s bacteria moved from my left eye through these body parts,
causing inflammation. The antigens will reach my heart one day. Antibiotics and
anti-leukotriene treatment may be a solution. Hansen’s disease may be a
predisposing factor for malignant transformation; a study of twelve cases of
carcinomata arising in tropic ulcers of Hansen’s disease have been presented by
Sane and Mehta (Sane SB, Mehta JM. Malignant transformation in tropic ulcers in
leprosy: a study of 12 cases. Ind J Lepr 1988; 60(1): 93-99). If malignant
transformation has already occurred, elimination of the predisposing factor
will make it easier for me to live with cancer. Now the left side of my face is
swollen, with numbing feeling on left sides of the face and the upper lip. My
neurological problems have got worse even yawning can cause muscle spasms in
the throat. I suspect the cumulative effects of inflammation of the blood
vessels leads to these neurological problems. Perhaps I should also seek help
from specialists of diseases of peripheral vascular system?
Ching-Chee Chan, PhD
March 23, 2003
I wrote letters to several ALS/MND specialists,
proposing my idea and plan. Here below is a copy of the typical letter
March 7, 2003
Dear
Doctor,
Someone
e-mailed me that you prescribed minocycline for ALS patients. I hope you can
help me.
A
Japanese team showed presence of antigen of Hansen’s bacterium in the central
nervous system during autopsy (see reprint, Goto M, Izumi S, Nobuhara Y and
Sato E. Central nervous system lesions in leprosy – immunohistochemical study
using anti-PGL-1 antibody. Int J Lepr 1992; 60: 718-719). This proves that
Hansen’s bacterium is capable of invading the central nervous system, resulting
in overproduction of TNF-alpha, leading to inflammation. Infection of Hansen’s
bacterium is a probable cause of ALS, considering similarities of symptoms of
ALS and some types of Hansen’s disease. The antigens can move in the blood
stream to other parts of the body, causing inflammation there. This is
consistent with the fact that ALS patients have inflammation in the guts,
joints, respiratory tract, eyes and misdiagnosis as Crohn’s disease (Lyme
disease and other) or vice versa.
The
prevalence of asthma among young Finnish men increased from 1961 to 1989 by
2000% (Haahela T, Lindholm H, Bjorksten F, Koskenvuo K, Laitinen LA. Prevalence
of asthma in Finnish young men. BMJ 1990; 301(6746): 266-268). Many other diseases,
such as ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, arthritis, Crohn’s disease,
Lyme disease, lymphoma, cancer (testicular, skin, breast), diabetes, diseases
of the peripheral vascular system . . . etc have similar variation patterns
(published among other subjects by myself on the Internet). This is a strong
indication that these diseases are related and caused by infection.
Some
of my symptoms are similar to those of ALS/MND and others to those complained
about by ALS.MND patients on those ALS web boards but “may not be considered as
symptoms of ALS.”
I saw a Hansen’s disease specialist and was checked for Hansen’s bacterium by means of a PCR method, targeting the DNA of Hansen’s bacterium. The result was negative. Detection of the bacterium is very hard at the present level of technical development. I noted majority of cases of tuberculoid type of Hansen’s disease diagnosed clinically or histopathologically tested negative for Hansen’s bacterium by means of a PCR method (see reprint, Job CK, Jayakumar J, Williams DL and Gillis TP. Role of Polymerase Chain Reaction in the Diagnosis of Early Leprosy. Int J Lepr 1997; 65(4): 461-464). I also saw a dermatologist. He said I did not have skin Hansen’s disease and he was a dermatologist, who cared only the skin, meaning Hansen’s disease in the joints, nerve or muscle not his business. This is consistent with the fact that the causes of many diseases are still unknown.
According to rideforlife.com, a Hamilton ALS specialist is trying AIDS cocktail on ALS patients. The cocktail may have some effect on Hansen’s bacterium and the associated viruses and bacteria but I think antibiotics are safer and more effective. ROM (rifampin, 600mg; ofloxacin, 400mg; minocycline, 100mg, see reprint) recommended by the UN /WHO or whatever latest antibiotics recommended for treatment of Hansen’s disease and thalidomide, zafirlukast and steroids as anti-inflammatory drugs to counteract ENL and reversal reaction could be tried. If results are beneficial, it may indicate a breakthrough. I am almost certain it will. I can sign a waiver. Please let me know what you think. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely yours
Ching-Chee Chan, PhD
P.S. precaution against internal or external bleeding due to vasculitis caused by ENL after commencing chemotherapy.
Section Seven: a Response
One of the ALS specialists, I wrote to, responded. His secretary called me about making an appointment to see him but made sure that I understood “no promise of treatment.” Perhaps it means only his willingness to consider my idea. It is better than nothing.
Ching-Chee Chan, PhD
April 7, 2003
Readers
are welcome to e-mail me to discuss
relevant problems.
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