Herbal Health

The effect of CMO is absolutely amazing. Call it a remission, a regression, a relief, a reversal, a remedy, or a cure. Call it what you like, but most patients and even most doctors call it a miracle.

What do the doctors say?

Dr. Douglas Hunt (MD)-was so impressed by the results his patients got from CMO that he interviewed several dozen other patients as well, and then decided to write a book about it. Dr. Hunt says, “… rheumatoid arthritis damages tissues, causes extreme suffering, and premature death. And so do many of the other diseases that CMO reverses … If you have rheumatoid arthritis … then you know I am reporting a miracle … A MIRACLE.”

Dr. William C. Douglass (MD)-titled his article about CMO in the newsletter, Second Opinion, “A New Miracle Cure for Arthritis” and went on to say”… now we have a new star on the horizon that promises as much (or more) than the old sure-cures … This may be the cure we have been looking for … I think it’s worth the investment.”

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A month or so after one subject found relief from the terrible pain and limitations of his arthritis he wrote a brief testimonial about his experience with CMO. Excerpts from that testimonial have appeared from time to time in our CMO information packages. Now that he has been free of virtually all pain for three years, he has also consented to prepare this more detailed “before and after” account for this book. Here’s the story of his own experiences with arthritis and how his motives, both personal and professional, propelled the San Diego Clinic’s research associates to the discovery and development of CMO. This is the compelling personal account of the Director of the San Diego Clinic.

“Two years ago I was a closet cripple; bone-on-bone in my knees. Then CMO turned my life around.”

Following several years of excruciating pain from bone grinding against bone in my knees, I find it hard to believe that I’m still 95% pain free almost three years after taking CMO. It’s a miracle! Up until then, I was what you might call a closet cripple, hiding the severity of my osteoarthritis from just about everyone but the chief of our research staff. I never was a complainer. I hid my pain. I pretended, as much as possible, that I wasn’t suffering every minute of my waking day. The only time I was reasonably comfortable was when I was planted in my bed or on the sofa watching TV. Even then I couldn’t cross my legs. In fact, there were only a couple of positions I could manage where my knees wouldn’t hurt, and then only if I shifted my legs around frequently enough.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I’m going to tell you more, much more. I want you to understand why I had such a personal interest in constantly prodding our research associates into pursuing every conceivable avenue of investigation regarding arthritis. I’m sure they thought of me as some kind of possessed maniac. Remember, I was trying to hide my pain from nearly everyone. But how successfully can you hide it when you have to walk down a flight of stairs backwards?

Whenever I assisted our MDs in our patient examination and treatment rooms, I’d just scoot around like some wind-up toy on one of those wheeled stools that doctors always use. That way no one had to see my tortured walk. But I couldn’t get up without pushing myself up from the seat with my arms. (The same was true for any chair or seat.) Sometimes I’d just get stuck there on that stool for quite a while. But most of the time I’d have a table or a desk to use for additional support to push myself up. Even so, getting up from anywhere meant I’d get those stabbing pains in my knees. Once I was seated somewhere, I tended to stay put for a long time. A very long time. I was sure my butt was beginning to mould itself into a chairseat shape.

Regardless, there I was, relentless about continuing research. Whip in hand, I was ruthless about all their snivelling complaints that they had already exhausted all avenues of exploration. Mush, you huskies! For me, pain was a great motivator and constant pain was an even greater one. So I couldn’t have cared less about their calling me Dr. Strangelove. Or Robo-doc.

Most people probably thought it weird that I’d move a chair over to some object that I needed to pick up off the floor. I couldn’t bend down, of course. So I’d sit on the chair and lean down sideways to pick things up. Maybe I wasn’t so good at hiding my problem after all.

My evenings weren’t much better. I couldn’t cross my legs in bed either. If I chose to lie on my back, I’d have to prop a pillow under my knees. When I slept, it was always on my side with a baby pillow in between my knees. I couldn’t stand the weight of one knee upon the other. Even with the cushion, several times a night I’d be shocked into wakefulness by some jolt of pain. I often wondered what our neighbours thought about those late night screams.

Naturally, as a medical professional, I was aware of mostly everything in the world used to treat arthritis. And, believe me, if I heard of it I tried it. (Except for steroids and Methotrexate. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my immune system and my liver.) It didn’t matter if it was herbal, or homeopathic, or acupuncture, or gold shots, or conventional medicine, or voodoo, I tried it.

Yes, even voodoo. After several years of constant pain I even tried a couple of faith healers and a few very reputable Mexican ‘curanderos’ as well. I was assaulted by healing hands, dusted with magical powders, rubbed with potent poultices, thrashed with leafy branches, suffocated with smoky fumes, and stung by angry bees. I wasn’t about to rule anything out. But it didn’t help a bit.

I have a lot of respect for Oriental and Indian medicines. So I was hopeful when, in 1994, our researchers came up with some strange Ayurvedic medicine from India that was really supposed to work. There were many anecdotal reports of success, centuries of them. Lots of professional documentation as well. I spent months faithfully smearing my knees every night with some smelly Ayurvedic gooey tar and wrapping them in flannel and plastic to try to keep the goo from oozing out onto the bed. It oozed out anyway, just like some kind of killer alien blob of tar-like sulphured molasses, staining our sheets. What a mess! And no success.

I was also taking the whole range of vitamins and minerals, plus alfalfa, yucca, saw palmetto, juice diets, raw food diets, fasting, gelatin, shark cartilage, chicken cartilage, glucosamines, chondroitin sulfate, all kinds of herbs alone and in combination. Some were a help, but they could only dull the symptoms a bit, and certainly could not keep up with the rampant destruction of the cartilage in my knees. I must say, though, that I felt considerably more discomfort any day that I didn’t take my supplements. So I kept on with them for the minimal benefits they brought, despite the fact that they were costing me a bundle.

Anti-inflammatory pills? Knowing how hard they are on the liver, I only took what I needed to keep on functioning. I could usually get away with only one or two strong (and very expensive) time-release pills on a working day. I’d gulp one down just before brushing my teeth in the morning. You see, for the most part I could run the clinic sitting behind my desk. I hardly had to move around at all, so that let me get through the day fairly well. But often I’d need another potent pill around mid-afternoon.

When the family would go to the movies or anywhere else that required some walking, I’d have to take a double dose (despite the medical warnings not to). Even so, trying to negotiate a set of any more than two stairs was a killer. So was the inclined aisle you have to descend to get to your movie seats. Going downhill was much worse than coming back up. And going down any flight of stairs was worse than climbing up. If you’ve got arthritis in your knees, I’m sure you know what I mean. I never shopped at the malls. Too much walking. Just a few yards of walking and I was in severe pain. I’d pick stores where I could park near the door. And ones with shopping carts were a must. They were very helpful to lean on while walking or scanning the merchandise. I found that wheelchair ramps were easier to negotiate than stairs.

Handrails were a blessing for pulling myself up and bracing myself to go down the ramps or stairs. I’m sure I looked like some funny stiff-legged mechanical teddy bear trying to negotiate sets of even just a few stairs.

Picking things up off the floor near a table or a desk wasn’t so bad. Painful, yes. But at least I could do it by supporting myself with one hand while carefully bending down to pick up the object with the other hand – all the while hoping my knees wouldn’t collapse. You know, you learn to cope.

Nevertheless, in my heart I knew that someday I’d reach the point where I’d be facing a dreaded wheelchair existence. I was already often using a cane and sometimes crutches. Next would come the crutches full time. Then the walker. And finally the wheelchair. I hated the thought of being so limited. Until I got arthritis I was always quite active – tennis, swimming, scuba diving, hiking, travelling, window shopping, or just strolling around here and there. It depressed me to have given up those pleasures.

It depressed me even more to think of how much of a burden I would become to my family.

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Not really. That’s a question usually asked by elderly individuals. Actually, people of all ages have responded perfectly, even many well over 80 years old. Although arthritis becomes far more common with advancing age, even very young children are sometimes afflicted. Children as young as eight years of age suffering from juvenile onset arthritis have responded perfectly.

What causes arthritis? It seems to be initiated by the immune system’s desire to eliminate particles of damaged or unhealthy cartilage from the body. Those cartilage particles may result from physical damage or from invading organisms that have attacked the joints. Diseases like rheumatic fever and maybe even the flu virus are often responsible. (Remember those aching joints that sometimes come with a flu attack?).

In the question about rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, an immune response develops and macrophage cells are then directed to attack those fragments of damaged or unhealthy cartilage. But the macrophages that are instructed to gobble up the cartilage don’t distinguish between unhealthy and healthy cartilage and eventually a major onslaught against the healthy cartilage in the joints begins as well.

Unfortunately, there’s no ’stop button’ or ‘end program’ command in the immune system and the attacks continue even after all the unhealthy or damaged cartilage has been destroyed. They often become more severe with time because more and more of the memory T-cells that direct the macrophage attacks are generated. Thus, left unchecked, arthritis usually continues to worsen with the passage of time. Severe rheumatoid arthritis is believed to sometimes shorten the life span by as much as twenty years.

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Can it correct deformities? More often than not, it does. Deformed fingers and toes are frequently the result of the inflammation which swells the joints and pushes the bones out of place. Reduction of the swelling alone improves appearance dramatically and often allows the dislocated bones to return to their normal positions. However, extreme cases may require some physical therapy.

What about really severe cases? Although there can never be any absolute guarantee of success, even most persons previously confined to bed or otherwise drastically limited have responded dramatically. Many are no longer dependent on others for care. A number of these severe cases received additional benefit from repeating the treatment one more time. Several others found that physical therapy or controlled exercise programs were also helpful.

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Unlike all the usual pain killers and anti-inflammatory medications, CMO is a naturally derived substance. It is nature’s own immunomodulator, derived from fatty bovine (beef) tissue. As such it has no more direct side effects than that of eating a pat of butter. A later chapter deals with the safety of CMO and the toxicity of many frequently used prescription and nonprescription drugs. (Did you know, for example, that even prolonged use of the presumably innocuous medication Tylenol can damage your liver?).

So many simple non-prescription pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs can have serious side effects. Yet, doctors get pushed by their desperate patients into prescribing such truly horrible drugs as Methotrexate. The Physicians’ Desk Reference of pharmaceutical drugs (your doctor’s oversized “drug bible”) contains 4 1/2 columns of fine-print precautions, adverse reactions, warnings, and contraindications. It states, “There is a potential for severe toxic reactions.” That statement comes from the manufacturer of Methotrexate itself. It is one of the most toxic drugs ever made. And doctors know it. Yet when suffering patients plead for their doctors to “please, please do something for me,” the temptation to prescribe damaging drugs like Methotrexate or cortisones becomes altogether too strong.

But there’s no need for such drastic measures any longer. CMO halts the arthritic process without any harmful side effects. Thousands have done it already. Probably you can, too. The odds are about nine to one in your favour.

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