I had tetanus. I got it on August 15, 2004. (this is background) The ER
diagnosed me as Paranoid because I was screaming from the muscle
contractions which they couldn't see, and the site of the injury was not
swollen and didn't indicate the severe problem within.
So, it took me nearly 6 months to get adequate Metronidazol to kill the
clostridia bacteria. Metronidazol is the specific antibiotic recommended
for tetanus, particularly if the person is allergic to penicillin as I am.
The delay and interim doses which were not adequate showed me
something that I want to share with you.
The ER prescribed on October 7, 2004, a week's worth of the antibiotic
Erythromycin. They later said they did that to calm me down, not
because they thought I had tetanus. It helped. But it ran out and it took
me quite a few days to get more. When I did, I again improved, but ran
out before the symptoms were totally gone, and I couldn't get more. The
dose had been about half or less of what is recommended for Tetanus.
Then in February I got some more, but again only a fraction of the
recommended amount.
Finally at the end of March, 2005, I had 17 days of the 500mg
Metronidazol every 6 hours, prescribed by the doctor for the homeless,
whom I was able to see because the privy pit caused my home to be
foreclosed -- (I'm praying for a miracle).
Okay, so ever since the full course of Metronidazol I no longer have the
diarrhea I had had for a dozen years. (An excellent nurse practitioner
whom I saw in 2003 said that with the kind of B12 deficiency problems I
have, I could expect to have diarrhea for the rest of my life.)
Each of the small courses of antiobiotic changed the texture of my stool
(this is so gross, but it is also the only way of telling you this) but the
changes didn't last.
This last course of Metronidazol has changed the texture, and it has lasted.
Okay, so that means that among other things, when I eat corn now, it no
longer comes out looking exactly like corn.
And, I seem to be regaining some balance and not bumping into doorways
as much.
But, regaining balance could be because the homeless doctor also put me
on a B12 shot a day for about two months because after the
metonidazol/tetanus I had a lot of trouble with my feet going numb and
feeling like they weren't touching the floor, which made it feel as if I was
falling.
The B12 helped enormously, way more than I would have thought
possible, even being a major believer in B12.
So it could be that I'm not bumping into walls and doorways as much
because the B12 is restoring my nerves... or... maybe it has to do with
killing something that was living in my gastro-intestinal system.
I asked the doctor if he thought I could have had h.pylori. He said, no,
that h.pylori tended to be associated with ulcers, which he didn't think I'd
had. But, he added, there were other things rather like h.pylori that it
could have been.
Here's my point, I had three small courses of antibiotic that did not affect
the h.pylori or whatever in any lasting way. It was only when I had a
really major course that there was a significant change for the better. The
problem is that doctors overall, at least in my experience, are not keen to
prescribe antibiotics, much less large doses of them.
What if, I wonder, there was something like h.pylori that was causing all
my neuro symptoms??? And, what if my mom had it, and it was the
reason she was diagnosed in later life with pernicious anemia?
I don't know the answers, but I saw an article somewhere that said they
were looking at antibiotics in relations to ALS... this experience of mine
made me really start thinking about that.
Karen Kline August 6, 2005
Post Script: If you have had diarrhea a long time, then you might benefit
as much from taking B12 as I did. (By that I mean that the nurse
practitioner appeared to view my diarrhea as a symptom of B12
deficiency.) And, for the record, methylcobalamin lozenges are just as
effective as B12 shots. (I added this because I was surprised at how many
people were visiting this page.)
Karen Kline August 16, 2005
Also worth considering - During the time that I couldn't get any more
antibiotic and I was still having tetanus symptoms (luckily not the muscle
contractions in my back which I found I could keep from happening by
staying really still) I was taking 12 to 15 of the 500 mg vitamin C with
rose hips, the cheapest variety at Wal*Mart because I was so
impoverished, with a huge mug of tea and saltines and additional water,
three times a day. So that was about 18 to 23 grams a day. That much
vitamin C causes diarrhea, so it's a bit daunting to take that much once
you realize what's going to come of it. But, here's the thing: those large
doses of vitamin C also caused a change in the texture of my stool. (At
the time I had no idea what that meant, or if it meant anything at all. I just
happened to notice.)
Okay, so then a woman wrote to me who'd seen some of the things I'd
posted on a homeopathic site, where the people had been major rude to
me, I forget why, maybe because they expected me to improve from
homeopathics, and I didn't.
The woman wrote saying that a friend of hers had gotten tetanus and had
been treated immediately, and was vastly better, but had some lingering
problems from it.
She was (and is) a herbalist, and was worried about me when I told her
what I was still experiencing. So, she sent me this huge box of home
grown oranges, grapefruits, kumquats, HUGE lemons, two jars of their
honey, a tiny bottle of Oil of Oregano, and a small packet of propolis.
She said that the Oil of Oregano is a natural antibiotic, as is the propolis.
Bees make propolis to protect their hives.
I forget what she told me to eat with the Oil of Oregano, but I did... it
tasted really Italian, like pizza or highly spiced spaghetti. She told me to
have the propolis with honey.
Okay, so when I took the doses she recommended the red lines under my
fingernails faded, except for the thick one on my right thumb and the
bright one on my left ring finger. The fading was such a relief. (The lines,
as I understand it, are called "splinter hemorrhages" and reflect blood
infection.)
I also had red lines (they were not bright, but more a taupe/red) under my
toe nail where the darning needle puncture had been. They too decreased
a bit. I began to feel better. But, even though I was still soaking my foot
in Epsom salts and using compresses of Epsom salts, both of which
clearly helped, all of this did not totally get rid of the lines - or the
infection which the lines apparently indicated. (The line on my right
thumb had a reddish spot near the top of my thumb that was about the
size of a lentil.)
When the homeless doctor gave me the Metronidazol, the lines faded a
great deal more, but the lentil sized spot did not go entirely away, though
it did grow smaller, and the line became wider and less distinct.
But, I continued to tire easily and my eyes would burn a lot, which I
associate from childhood with infection.
About this time a friend of mine sent me an article on Linus Pauling and
Vitamin C. The article was saying that vitamin C could cure some types
of cancer. I was open to believing this because by this time I'd found a
study done in Bangladesh in 1984 that showed that vitamin C, when given
to people with tetanus, reduced the severity of the symptoms and none of
the people who had the vitamin C died of tetanus. Tetanus kills about
40% to 60% of the people who get it.
So, what I think, what I really think, is that if I had taken a larger dose of
the Oil of Oregano and the propolis, or taken a full 30 grams of vitamin C
for five days or maybe even a week, that it would have killed the
clostridia and the blood infection and I would not have needed the
Metronidazol.
The reason I think that is that the vitamin C appeared to control the
tetanus. I had to keep taking the vitamin C because when I stopped the
symptoms worsened. Plus, at one point I got a horrible toothache and
infection where my dental implants were: I had completely failed to brush
my teeth during the months when I couldn't stand long enough for that
kind of thing. (You would not believe how dirty I was after the months of
not being able to shower for more than a minute or two because of how
my muscles would tighten in this really frightening way. A minute is not
enough to wash my hair and body! I was crusty dirty.)
Okay, so the pain from the swelling and the infection in my gums was
terrible. Ibuprofen didn't knock it out at all. It helped, but it didn't knock it
out.
This is when I learned that Vitamin C got rid of the swelling and that
meant it must have been getting rid of the infection. So from then on I
took the 12 to 15 tablets of 500 mg vitamin C regularly to keep the
infection away, up until I had the Metronidazol.
The homeless doctor said that much vitamin C could be dangerous.
Strangely enough he didn't seem nearly as worried about the huge
amounts of Ibuprofen I was taking. (If you ever have to take a lot of
Ibuprofen, be sure you take it with at least a couple of Saltines and a lot
of water and tea and other liquid. It is really important to do that because
otherwise you can have a really health devastating reaction to the
Ibuprofen. I think this is true of all pain killers. So, be sure to remember
to take pain killers with some food and LOTS of liquid.)
The upshot of this is that I now have a supply of several bottles of
vitamin C on hand because I am sure, I mean SURE that if the bird flu
hits, the vitamin C will work much better than Tamiflu or any other new
drug or vaccine that is around or in short supply at the time.
I think it is wise to have such a supply and I started a page on the bird flu,
but I have had so much stress recently because of the foreclosure of my
condo and its sale without any notice to me of the foreclosure judgement
or sale, that I haven't completed the page. Basically, though, this page,
right here, tells you why I believe vitamin C could be a life saver,
especially if things grind to a halt and getting any kind of help to include
healthcare is nearly impossible. (Like it was impossible for me to get help
with my tetanus for so long. But I survived.)
Remember, if you are a smaller person than me, which most likely you
are, you should take a proportionately smaller amount of C. But I don't
know what that amount would be. You would need to work it out. As you
do that, as you work out what amount is best for you, do it gradually, and
keep notes so that you can see what you did and the effects. (I'm six feet
tall and I weighed about 280 pounds. So that is pretty huge. You should
not take as much vitamin C as I was taking if you are smaller than me.
Equally, if you are larger it doesn't mean you should take a great deal
more. The difference for me came when I took 60 of the 500 mg vitamin
C a day, instead of 45. Pauling's article had suggested the equivalent of 52
a day.) Also, I understand that the way vitamin C works, is that it
combats whatever... so don't take it if you are well, because that would be
bad for you because there would be nothing for it to combat. Do you see
what I mean? This is really important to remember. Do not take it in such
large amounts in an attempt to stay well, because that is not how it works.
Taking it that way could make you sick.
I believe the amount that Pauling himself took daily was 3 grams. He lived
to nearly a hundred.
Finally, I wonder if Celiac Disease and Irritable Bowel would respond
equally well to high doses of vitamin C.
Karen Kline 7/1/06
diagnosed me as Paranoid because I was screaming from the muscle
contractions which they couldn't see, and the site of the injury was not
swollen and didn't indicate the severe problem within.
So, it took me nearly 6 months to get adequate Metronidazol to kill the
clostridia bacteria. Metronidazol is the specific antibiotic recommended
for tetanus, particularly if the person is allergic to penicillin as I am.
The delay and interim doses which were not adequate showed me
something that I want to share with you.
The ER prescribed on October 7, 2004, a week's worth of the antibiotic
Erythromycin. They later said they did that to calm me down, not
because they thought I had tetanus. It helped. But it ran out and it took
me quite a few days to get more. When I did, I again improved, but ran
out before the symptoms were totally gone, and I couldn't get more. The
dose had been about half or less of what is recommended for Tetanus.
Then in February I got some more, but again only a fraction of the
recommended amount.
Finally at the end of March, 2005, I had 17 days of the 500mg
Metronidazol every 6 hours, prescribed by the doctor for the homeless,
whom I was able to see because the privy pit caused my home to be
foreclosed -- (I'm praying for a miracle).
Okay, so ever since the full course of Metronidazol I no longer have the
diarrhea I had had for a dozen years. (An excellent nurse practitioner
whom I saw in 2003 said that with the kind of B12 deficiency problems I
have, I could expect to have diarrhea for the rest of my life.)
Each of the small courses of antiobiotic changed the texture of my stool
(this is so gross, but it is also the only way of telling you this) but the
changes didn't last.
This last course of Metronidazol has changed the texture, and it has lasted.
Okay, so that means that among other things, when I eat corn now, it no
longer comes out looking exactly like corn.
And, I seem to be regaining some balance and not bumping into doorways
as much.
But, regaining balance could be because the homeless doctor also put me
on a B12 shot a day for about two months because after the
metonidazol/tetanus I had a lot of trouble with my feet going numb and
feeling like they weren't touching the floor, which made it feel as if I was
falling.
The B12 helped enormously, way more than I would have thought
possible, even being a major believer in B12.
So it could be that I'm not bumping into walls and doorways as much
because the B12 is restoring my nerves... or... maybe it has to do with
killing something that was living in my gastro-intestinal system.
I asked the doctor if he thought I could have had h.pylori. He said, no,
that h.pylori tended to be associated with ulcers, which he didn't think I'd
had. But, he added, there were other things rather like h.pylori that it
could have been.
Here's my point, I had three small courses of antibiotic that did not affect
the h.pylori or whatever in any lasting way. It was only when I had a
really major course that there was a significant change for the better. The
problem is that doctors overall, at least in my experience, are not keen to
prescribe antibiotics, much less large doses of them.
What if, I wonder, there was something like h.pylori that was causing all
my neuro symptoms??? And, what if my mom had it, and it was the
reason she was diagnosed in later life with pernicious anemia?
I don't know the answers, but I saw an article somewhere that said they
were looking at antibiotics in relations to ALS... this experience of mine
made me really start thinking about that.
Karen Kline August 6, 2005
Post Script: If you have had diarrhea a long time, then you might benefit
as much from taking B12 as I did. (By that I mean that the nurse
practitioner appeared to view my diarrhea as a symptom of B12
deficiency.) And, for the record, methylcobalamin lozenges are just as
effective as B12 shots. (I added this because I was surprised at how many
people were visiting this page.)
Karen Kline August 16, 2005
Also worth considering - During the time that I couldn't get any more
antibiotic and I was still having tetanus symptoms (luckily not the muscle
contractions in my back which I found I could keep from happening by
staying really still) I was taking 12 to 15 of the 500 mg vitamin C with
rose hips, the cheapest variety at Wal*Mart because I was so
impoverished, with a huge mug of tea and saltines and additional water,
three times a day. So that was about 18 to 23 grams a day. That much
vitamin C causes diarrhea, so it's a bit daunting to take that much once
you realize what's going to come of it. But, here's the thing: those large
doses of vitamin C also caused a change in the texture of my stool. (At
the time I had no idea what that meant, or if it meant anything at all. I just
happened to notice.)
Okay, so then a woman wrote to me who'd seen some of the things I'd
posted on a homeopathic site, where the people had been major rude to
me, I forget why, maybe because they expected me to improve from
homeopathics, and I didn't.
The woman wrote saying that a friend of hers had gotten tetanus and had
been treated immediately, and was vastly better, but had some lingering
problems from it.
She was (and is) a herbalist, and was worried about me when I told her
what I was still experiencing. So, she sent me this huge box of home
grown oranges, grapefruits, kumquats, HUGE lemons, two jars of their
honey, a tiny bottle of Oil of Oregano, and a small packet of propolis.
She said that the Oil of Oregano is a natural antibiotic, as is the propolis.
Bees make propolis to protect their hives.
I forget what she told me to eat with the Oil of Oregano, but I did... it
tasted really Italian, like pizza or highly spiced spaghetti. She told me to
have the propolis with honey.
Okay, so when I took the doses she recommended the red lines under my
fingernails faded, except for the thick one on my right thumb and the
bright one on my left ring finger. The fading was such a relief. (The lines,
as I understand it, are called "splinter hemorrhages" and reflect blood
infection.)
I also had red lines (they were not bright, but more a taupe/red) under my
toe nail where the darning needle puncture had been. They too decreased
a bit. I began to feel better. But, even though I was still soaking my foot
in Epsom salts and using compresses of Epsom salts, both of which
clearly helped, all of this did not totally get rid of the lines - or the
infection which the lines apparently indicated. (The line on my right
thumb had a reddish spot near the top of my thumb that was about the
size of a lentil.)
When the homeless doctor gave me the Metronidazol, the lines faded a
great deal more, but the lentil sized spot did not go entirely away, though
it did grow smaller, and the line became wider and less distinct.
But, I continued to tire easily and my eyes would burn a lot, which I
associate from childhood with infection.
About this time a friend of mine sent me an article on Linus Pauling and
Vitamin C. The article was saying that vitamin C could cure some types
of cancer. I was open to believing this because by this time I'd found a
study done in Bangladesh in 1984 that showed that vitamin C, when given
to people with tetanus, reduced the severity of the symptoms and none of
the people who had the vitamin C died of tetanus. Tetanus kills about
40% to 60% of the people who get it.
- What I learned from the Linus Pauling article that surprised me, was
that the amount of vitamin C that I had been taking was not really
enough. The article was suggesting about 26 grams a day. (I think
this varies in relation to the size of the person.) I'm huge, I'm six feet
tall and by this time I'd gained quite a lot of weight from hardly
moving at all for about a year, so the amount of vitamin C I was
taking was short of being enough by several grams.
I decided to try taking a full 30 grams a day for 5 days, to see if that
made a difference. (Two of the 500mg tablets equal one gram.)
It made a difference. My eyes stopped burning and the remaining
lines got really faint. They still aren't totally, completely gone, but
they are not so visible that anyone who did not know where to look
could see them.
So, what I think, what I really think, is that if I had taken a larger dose of
the Oil of Oregano and the propolis, or taken a full 30 grams of vitamin C
for five days or maybe even a week, that it would have killed the
clostridia and the blood infection and I would not have needed the
Metronidazol.
The reason I think that is that the vitamin C appeared to control the
tetanus. I had to keep taking the vitamin C because when I stopped the
symptoms worsened. Plus, at one point I got a horrible toothache and
infection where my dental implants were: I had completely failed to brush
my teeth during the months when I couldn't stand long enough for that
kind of thing. (You would not believe how dirty I was after the months of
not being able to shower for more than a minute or two because of how
my muscles would tighten in this really frightening way. A minute is not
enough to wash my hair and body! I was crusty dirty.)
Okay, so the pain from the swelling and the infection in my gums was
terrible. Ibuprofen didn't knock it out at all. It helped, but it didn't knock it
out.
This is when I learned that Vitamin C got rid of the swelling and that
meant it must have been getting rid of the infection. So from then on I
took the 12 to 15 tablets of 500 mg vitamin C regularly to keep the
infection away, up until I had the Metronidazol.
The homeless doctor said that much vitamin C could be dangerous.
Strangely enough he didn't seem nearly as worried about the huge
amounts of Ibuprofen I was taking. (If you ever have to take a lot of
Ibuprofen, be sure you take it with at least a couple of Saltines and a lot
of water and tea and other liquid. It is really important to do that because
otherwise you can have a really health devastating reaction to the
Ibuprofen. I think this is true of all pain killers. So, be sure to remember
to take pain killers with some food and LOTS of liquid.)
The upshot of this is that I now have a supply of several bottles of
vitamin C on hand because I am sure, I mean SURE that if the bird flu
hits, the vitamin C will work much better than Tamiflu or any other new
drug or vaccine that is around or in short supply at the time.
I think it is wise to have such a supply and I started a page on the bird flu,
but I have had so much stress recently because of the foreclosure of my
condo and its sale without any notice to me of the foreclosure judgement
or sale, that I haven't completed the page. Basically, though, this page,
right here, tells you why I believe vitamin C could be a life saver,
especially if things grind to a halt and getting any kind of help to include
healthcare is nearly impossible. (Like it was impossible for me to get help
with my tetanus for so long. But I survived.)
Remember, if you are a smaller person than me, which most likely you
are, you should take a proportionately smaller amount of C. But I don't
know what that amount would be. You would need to work it out. As you
do that, as you work out what amount is best for you, do it gradually, and
keep notes so that you can see what you did and the effects. (I'm six feet
tall and I weighed about 280 pounds. So that is pretty huge. You should
not take as much vitamin C as I was taking if you are smaller than me.
Equally, if you are larger it doesn't mean you should take a great deal
more. The difference for me came when I took 60 of the 500 mg vitamin
C a day, instead of 45. Pauling's article had suggested the equivalent of 52
a day.) Also, I understand that the way vitamin C works, is that it
combats whatever... so don't take it if you are well, because that would be
bad for you because there would be nothing for it to combat. Do you see
what I mean? This is really important to remember. Do not take it in such
large amounts in an attempt to stay well, because that is not how it works.
Taking it that way could make you sick.
I believe the amount that Pauling himself took daily was 3 grams. He lived
to nearly a hundred.
Finally, I wonder if Celiac Disease and Irritable Bowel would respond
equally well to high doses of vitamin C.
Karen Kline 7/1/06
| Diarrhea If you have had long term diarrhea, this account of the effect of Metronidazol on my diarrhea may be of interest to you. |
Diarrhea
http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com
Your fingernails reflect your health --
Learn some warning signs --
Karen Kline
Your fingernails reflect your health --
Learn some warning signs --
Karen Kline
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |