The lesson to be learnt from the present day is that of the triumph of principle over precedent, of the working out of an idea to its logical conclusions in spite of the accumulated testimony of all past experience to the contrary; and with such a notable example before us can we say that it is futile to enquire whether by the same method we may not unlock still more important secrets and gain some knowledge of the unseen causes which are at the back of external and visible conditions, and then by bringing these unseen causes into a better order make practical working realities of possibilities! -- Thomas Troward
I have a much longer writeup, but it was added to again and again, and as a result it is meandering information overload. So, this is an attempt at succinctly summarizing things. The original can be viewed HERE and a previous writeup from years ago at HERE.
In short, I have an iatrogenic condition relating to the pituitary, electrolytes, and candidiasiss that has been redacted from available literature due to ethical concerns about the experiment and its outcomes that was originally found to cause this condition - which I duplicated to save my life in 1995. The following is a brief summary.
Currently, I have spent the last two years living through a progression of symptoms that leaves me know with increasing muscle pain, joint pain, tenderness, and skin burning sensations. These fluxuate, having started quite suddenly during inactivity in the first week of July, with sudden right arm stiffness and burning and stabbing pain all along my right arm. I could not play the guitar for several months, or even put my arm around my wife at night. My shoulder joint became loose and would pop out of position with pain. My arm muscles would tear when I stretched my arm. I would often need to ice my muscles and arm in order to deal with the pain. This was not a joint issue, it was much larger. Over the following months it progressed to my chest, with the burning feeling occurring there. Then it moved to my other shoulder and arm. I could not raise my elbow above my shoulder. During this time I first sought out my neurologist and then orthopedic doctor. An EMG was run, normal. A NMR was done showing some inflammation. An MRI was done showing nothing too significant in the joint. I tried to emphasize it was muscular. I saw a rheumatologist, she insisted it was orthopedic, and would not listen to my complex history. So, I returned to the orthopedist only to be told it was definitely not orthopedic. Meanwhile, my PCP put my on Lyrica and this immediately helped with the surface pain, but not the tearing or joint pain. I could not put any weight on my elbow while lying down or hold myself up with my arms off the bed. I returned to the rheumatologist who once again insisted the problem was orthopedic. My neurologist got me an appointment with a University of Kansas rheumatologist, she said it was nothing she could identify and recommended injections prior to attempting physical therapy because the pain felt was too much to start physical therapy right away. This process of referrals took 7 months. Meanwhile, the stiffness in my right arm went away. Over the last month much of the pain has subsided. Around the first week of February, I suddenly had a return of pain in the muscles of both shoulders accompanied with burning and aching and sensitivity on pressure. This lasted about 48hours. It subsided with a movement of the symptoms to my gut. First, I had a sudden release sound in my abdomen, like a gurgling rush. Several hours later I had sudden diarhea. Then I felt great for a few days and experienced some constipation. A week or so later, I experienced fairly intense abdominal aching for about 48 hours. Then once again I felt better than ever, with only minor pains/sensitivity on pressure in the muscles of my shoulder. This was followed on Sunday, 2/24/2024 by sudden cramping and diarhea. Over these 3 weeks, I've lost 15-16 pounds. I have remained eating. Not skipping any meals. I had a CMP done on Monday, it showed high BUN, high BUN/creatinine, and low alkaline phosphatase. While these last two years have been very hard, my total history paints a fuller picture. I can explain everything, sadly, the science behind it has been redacted and is not available anywhere that I can find. I have searched for 28 years since I originally found the science, implemented the life-saving treatment that created the iatrogenic condition. My purpose is simply to document the science. If it had been available, I believe I would have been able to live a better, fuller, and longer life.
In 1995 (before Google), I went through a series of minor medical issues that ended up causing ulceration all over my stomach as verified through endoscopy, this was due to a reaction to a medication given for diarrhea (this contained phenobarbital which had previously caused an emergency appendectomy when I was 14). However, my stomach wouldn't stop burning. It was my entire abdomen that would burn, I drank more and more water over a period of weeks. I tried licorice tablets, as they were supposed to help the stomach. Soon, I wasn't eating. Then, I could no longer urinate (I had a previous episode with SIADH about 6 years earlier which I had forgotten - explained in longer writeup). I started taking potassium pills, then I took my grandmother's Lasix, my heart was beating so hard I then thought I was having a heart attack and took a nitroglycerin.
I still couldn't urinate, despite having drank an immense amount of water. I should have gone to the ER, but I had been to the ER for the burning and they just made it worse by giving my a GI cocktail that had the same drug in it that caused the burning. I tried bearing down while attempting to urinate, I then experienced extreme pain and bulging of veins in my right leg and testicle, this was followed moments later with the same effect on my left side. I passed out on the floor. The next morning, I was sweating all over and a rash would form wherever my sweat touched clothing or sheets, but I could urinate some.
If I didn't drink, my mind wasn't clear. On my drive back to Tulsa from Norman, I drank one bottle of water after eating and filled two by peeing. I went straight to the ER, said I didn't know what was going on. My BP was 210 over 150 or so. They sent me home.
Over the next week or so, I was unable to sleep and experienced polyurea after eating (next meal I ate had me peeing maybe 6 or 8 times a LOT. Within 20 minutes. Then I could think for a while. But, the situation grew until I had not slept for a week, my chest was pounding, my pupils were dilated 100% of time. I checked myself into Laureate Mental Institute.
While there they put me on Klonopin and Lithium, the Klonopin helped me sleep but I awoke with extreme chest pain. They wouldn't allow me to seek medical attention, instead they just watched me. After several hours the pain subsided. I began to eat well for the first time. However, after each meal, I would have polyuria, then I would feel intoxicated, then I would experience rapidly alternating hot/cold cycles for about 5 minutes. After the hot/cold cycles, my skin would be covered in yellow waxy film, enough to discolor a white washcloth.
I tried to explain this to the staff, no one listened for days. Eventually, the intoxicated feeling was replaced by a nausea. The polyuria worsened, and no one listened. So, I asked to read their medical diagnostic texts they kept behind the counter. I have no idea why they agreed. I started with polyuria in the index and read every page that mentioned it. There were a lot.
I came across one that also had candidiasis, I had previous suspected candidiasis was somehow related to my intestinal issues. The condition was listed as "very rare." I read all about it. It described my exact situation of uncontrolled polyuria following an infection and Intra abdominal candidiasis brought on in the original treated patients by damage from tuberculosis to the adrenals. It was called Terminal Onset Diabetes Insipidus with Candidiasis Majeure. It said the condition would rapidly lead to a stroke from dehydration. One sentence clearly stands out in my mind ' the article said the condition was all about ATP. I had no idea what ATP was at the time, but that sentence is the truth. This condition is all about ATP generation and maximizing the ATP the candidiasis can consume. The condition is caused by a change in how the heart beats brought on by a severe electrolyte imbalance where potassium reaches very high levels. The details are technical and quite unbelievable for today's medicine, but here is a short summary.
The change is caused by the bearing down to urinate while in this hyponatraemic state, somehow the AV node takes over the duties of the SA node. This causes a change in the way the heart beats, essentially switching to suction during expansion causing a slight narrowing of the inferior vena cava such that a backpressure exists below the kidneys and above the iliac veins, this in turn causes a change in polarization at the nephrons (I don't understand the exact how of that, it is hard to remember all the details after 28 years). This then basically reverses the functions of the kidneys. This fixes the inability to urinate from SIADH, but causes potassium to be retained and sodium to be lost instead of the other way around when attempting to preserve volume.
There were two remedies in the article. One was from the original experiments on the subjects with this condition and one was for modern medicine. The modern medicine fix was an ethanol IV and the stopping and restarting of the heart. I had zero chance of that in the Laureate. I tried to explain things, but obviously, they are used to people saying crazy things.
So, the other remedy involved long-term complications but would provide another 25 years if there were no major surgeries and other severe events were avoided. This solution was based on the early 19th Century experiments which were the main topic of the case study. This solution involved having the subject hold their urination to "sufficiently acidify" the body and injecting the subject with adrenalin. This induced a surge in blood pressure that caused a pseudo stroke at the pituitary causing it to take control of the electrolyte balance from the hypothalamus through directing regulating hormones.
My legs were feeling leaden, I was freezing cold, bruising easily, and feeling horrible. I asked to be let out, they didn't want me to leave. So, I decided to try and affect the remedy in the book with my own means. I said I would stay if they brought me two 2-liter bottles of diet coke. They agreed. I then sat down and drank one entire two liter bottle and started on the next one and refused every urge to urinate. Then, I used a technique of holding my breath and forcing air pressure to increase by tensing my diaphragm to increase pressure to my head.
I began to get an extreme headache. Every sound was amplified, but I couldn't move, if I even thought about lifting a finger I had a surge of pain in my head. After a time, maybe 30 minutes, I'm not sure. This resolved. Suddenly, I was warm for the first time in weeks and I Immediately had a bowel movement. In short, I implemented the remedy.
When I was released, I had to be on beta blockers because my heart rate was always racing. I experienced all types or bizarres changes in urination, brain fog, and more. It wasn't until I got a doctor in Norman to prescribe antifungals that I began a normal life. After one pill, my heart began racing again, but I could think.
The condition is extremely complex. Basically, when the pituitary takes over, it forces the candidiasis into cells and the potassium into the epidermal layer. In order to do this, it shuts down or repurposes part of the immune system that would normally attack the candidiasis. I won't get all the science right, but obviously at some point (years later) a limit in storing this pootassium is reached. At that limit, the heart beats harder and harder trying to push potassium out, but there is no more room. The article had graphs of electrolyes concentrations and how changed. When the limit is reached, the heart is damaged. Trust me I felt that moment. Increasing chest pressure over hours until suddenly while urinating a complete release of pressure and a sudden feeling of fluid in my feet, I literally though my socks were wet.
At this point, circulatory fluid is released due to the heart damage, but ankles don't swell, because the tissues are full of potassium and apopotic from the candidiasis inside the cells running the Na/K pump in reverse. But this now works to decrease/rinse the potassium out. Instead, sodium bicarbonate begins to accumulate. This leads to another transition, as the pH of the body crosses the area at which the candiasis becomes active. This leads to skin burning, intestinal issues, and more. Eventually, this reaches a limit and causes yet another transition. These last transitions have to do with the pituitary changing how hard it works. Basically, the pituitary tries to keep blood sugars below 100 at all times, but eventually, it cannot do this without effectively going into failure, so it suddenly stops working so hard. This was 2018, I collapsed on the floor and my son had to call EMS. My BP was 95/50 or something, even after two units of fluids when they released me.
It is basically a long-term battle between the pituitary and candidiasis, where candidiasis finds itself in a near defenseless host and works to slowly overcome every obstacle put in its path to consume every bit of ATP possible.
In the end, the body tissues slowly fill with salts.
Consider a cell with candidiasis inside it, where the cell has been shrunken through the Na/K pump running in reverse. The candidiasis is effectively captured inside the cell. This is just one layer of protection the body attempts to utilize.
Over the last 28 years I have suffered through about 5 or six of these major transitions. Each time, I would experience various pains and sudden weightloss with atypical dark polyuria in addition to abdominal pain and skin burning typically these would come in stages, not all at once but as a progression. There were various other symptoms but these were the ones that most concerned me.
The final stage is entered into when the heart can finally no longer maintain the backpressure at the inferior vena cava and the pressure suddenly equalizes. I spent 2021 always tired, and unable to focus. Even though I worked out, I couldn't solve some basic coding issues at work. My urine stream had been weak and intermittent for months. The day was January 17, 2022. I had taken both a THC gummy, and another vasodialator. These must have dilated my vessels enough to cause the transition. I went to pass gas when I layed down in bed and had significant pain at my perinium. The next day, I began having crampy,loose bowel movement and dark polyuria. The polyuria persisted for weeks until I had lost 25 pounds. This was all the fluid being held in the flesh below my waist by the backpressure. With the backpressure gone, the fluids and salts could no longer be held back. Notably, my waist, legs and butt were where all the weight was lost. I've been a 33-34 waist for almost my entire aduilt life since this started and went to a 31 in 60 days. I was able to solve that coding problem the week after my transition started, suddenly, I could think again.
Since that time, I have been through a LOT physically. The article I read spent a lot of time discussing how modern medicine would miss the condition as no structural or electrolyte changes would be apparent. However, the body interstitial space fills with salt and displaces blood volume, eventually restricting flow and causing veins to close off (a very painful process, btw) in the abdomen, and back. ATP is supplied through a different mechanism.
I know it all sounds like fantasy, but it is real. I thought when I got out I would be able to explain it to someone or find reference to it, but apparently it has been redacted from at least the digital world. I've never been able to find reference to the experiments or the condition ' despite the fact that where I originally found it was a modern medical diagnostic textbook (at the time that mentioned various modern tests and medications that might or might not have some efficacy. I had no idea what these were at the time but it mentioned loop diuretics, calcium channel blockers, intraabdominal dialysis, and dialysis, but ultimately, it said that given the fundamental changes in blood flow and heart function, the condition was fatal.
I don't expect you to believe me. I am simply doing my duty to my family. I'm standing in front of a train, and no one but me realizes it. It has now begun to impact my muscles. The article talked about how the candidiasis was attracted to the nerve impulses, and would eventually attack muscles if they were used frequently. Mine were hit the first week of July on the right side due to a video game I play for hours. Just clicking frequently was enough.
I have made major life decisions like getting divorced and staying with OUHSC as my employer due to this condition. I've always known it is real, even though I would block it out at times. When my fianc' asked me if there was anything she should know about me when were got engaged in 2020, I told her that I think I have this illness and if/when it comes back they won't be able to find anything or do anything. The article was very clear that anyone with this illness today would be likely abandon seeking medical attention after all the transition periods where nothing was found and where during this last phase still nothing was found. In fact, it discussed how contrast imaging and blood tests all made it worse by further descreasing blood volume and introducing yet more salts to the system.
I don't expect a cure, I don't want a panel of blood tests. The one test I know would be off is a blood gas. I'm in pain all the time. From my back to my hips to my arms. I know the approximate course of the illness from here, not the exact timeline, but time grows very short. The article said that someone today would likely just tolerate all the pain and muscle tearing having given up on Medicine, and continue eating even after their bowels had stopped and the pressure from the food would rot through the aorta eventually and they would just die in the middle of a sentence. It said even if it was caught in the final phase that the only solution was keeping blood sugar down (it rots through the pancreas first which is when it is first visible on imaging) and not allowing any fluids.
In this writeup I mention the article. Here is a general description about where I found the first article and what it contained (this is probably repeated elsewhere but I think it belongs at the beginning).
First, the article was in a diagnostic manual either general or endocrine specific, I know it was one or the other but honestly my mind doesn't recall. This was a thick medical book that was indexed in the back by every possible keyword. For example, you could look up polyuria and it would list every page that word appeared on. This was a great help in finding the article in question, basically it was the one place where polyuria and candidiasis both appeared. Second, the condition itself was labeled as Rare or Very Rare and was a much longer description than most. It was pages long and had numerous black and white photos. I can vividly recall the photos. Third, the article described the condition, and all the phases at length based on knowledge from a large number of subjects. Enough subjects that many (more than 20) of them were in the final phase at the same time. As the condition is decades long, that tells me the number of people treated this way was large. It was in a large city. It had small graphs that indicated how potassium concentration changed over time, another graph that showed how the oxygenation curve was pushed due to changes in pH and pressure. It had pictures of the experimental subjects both alive and after the disease had run its course. One picture was of a group of men eating a grand meal. Another was an almost impossible to make out night photo listed as the only photo of someone experiencing the transition to pure ketosis which happens once at night and is noted by the mechanical movement of the subject for a very brief time (hours). There were photos of people immobilzed in metal horse troughs surrounded by empty ice cream containers. The ice cream was because it was the only thing that would increase their osmolality enough to continue causing the pituitary (which is essentially turned up via increased osmolality) to continue forcing salts and sugars into their body which was the only way they were generating ATP. There was a photo of a guy doing pullups being cheered on with the caption noting exercise was not advisable during the final period and that this person died 23 days later. There were other photos that were frankly morbid which I will not go into here.
Needless to say, there was a lot of organic and biochemistry in the article. It really went into detail about changes to tissue cells, circulation, pH, hormones, blood cells, T-cells, ketoacidosis, volume depletion, shifting the oxygenation curve via pH changes and internal pressure changes,respiratory alkalosis, and more. It discussed everything from the Kreb's cycle to the Na/K pump, individual hormones, and more. There was even more than one path the subjects could take once they went through the final transition. Notably, one group was referred to as "toads." These subjects would subsist on alcohol after their bowels stopped, but to do so, their body had to be immersed in a brine solution. There were two other paths that had to do with a decision around eating and drinking. It is truly a loss to science to not have this knowledge available. It also leaves me looking like a crazy person.
There were so many things that only make sense to me after having lived through the condition. It talked about how the subjects body was essentially "locked in" at the initial point. This is because the body could no longer gain or lose fat because ATP generation was through alternative means. That while the subjects would lose and gain weight during the disease it was always just salts and water and at each transition they would return to the starting weight before the next phase began. It even mentioned how they were favored by the ladies in the final stage because they had the body of a man 25 years younger.
Since March of 2022, I have weighed within a couple pounds of what I weighed when I was 25 and this all started. In 2021, I was 35 pounds heavier. I even remember back in the early 2000's knowing I had entered a transition and returning several brand new sets of pants (33") that I knew would soon be loose and baggy due to the weight loss that was just starting. In the article it talked about how the subjects would often wear two pairs of pants because they were typically cold during these transitions and the pants would easily fit on top of each other. It talked about changes in body shape and face shape, which I have certainly seen. It discussed how muscle fibers, being just one cell (which blew my mind at the time), would still work after being apoptotic, as they shrunk and became full of just electrolytes they would conduct nerve signals more efficiently and the system would compensate by sending stronger signals leading to hyperreflexivity. And how the muscles could enlarge even in the apoptotic state by forcing salts and fluid into the muscle cell. I can remember in 2012 when I had a transition and I could barely walk I felt so weak. I couldn't go up stairs for a week or two. Slowly, my system adjusted and I eventually even returned to running and biking. I always wondered why my times were slower after that and why I was always passed on my bike by people in much worse shape than I was in while going up hills. My muscles didn't have the same strength anymore.
Strangely, there was a large section on how the condition would be overlooked by modern medicine due to the insidious nature of the illness and how modern test techniques would miss some things that older tests would pick up (for example, somehow one blood test used to be done by burning the blood and that a certain color would show up raising a red flag but modern medicine would miss the cause of this since everything is machine based). Since blood tests and imaging wouldn't show anything, the article did discuss physical changes that occurred. It talked about the body shape changes I've mentioned. Specifically, during different phases how the face would would moon shaped, or thin, or more square jawed, due to changes in hormones and body fluid. Similarly, the body would be thin or retain enough fluids to cause small breasts and an overhang of flesh around the abdomen, while the legs would undergo similar transformations swelling some with the retained fluids an salts and then shrinking during the next transition. I bought some 31 skinny jeans during my 2018 transition. I could wear them for less than half a year before they just wouldn't fit. They fit again with a month of my 2022 transition. Finally, the feet go through this as well. Initially my feet took on so much water my shoes were all tight. Then, I remember how during one of the transitions they shrunk a half size almost overnight. All my shoes were suddenly too large.
Other physical changes it noted were pretty minor. It talked about during one phase the hormones would cause more facial hair - I was actually able to grow a beard for a short time. It talked about changes in the fingernails. They would be strong due to all the extra minerals, but the flesh underneath would shrink. It was actually a painful process, in my experience. During the transitions when this shrinking was occurring, the bed of the nails hurt/ached. It would leave a single horizontal white line across my nail during these times that eventually grew out as well as vertical ridges from the narrowing. Additionally, the length of the bed of the nail shortened a small amount on each finger leading to squarer nails. The article said that toenails would become "vestigial." I remember being somewhat mystified by that, but now it makes sense. My toenails are strong, but I can tear a toenail down the center and it just comes off, only the edge is connected to my skin. It also discussed how the acidic pH of the body would cause osteopenia, which I have. It also talked about how the calcium lost in the bones would be replaced by heavier minerals somehow. I broke a rib in 2016 or so simply by resting my weight on my ribs at the top of an obstacle wall. Rib strength should be much greater than that.
The article discussed how near the end, muscles would begin tearing with any type of significant exertion and that the subjects were self-limit their physical efforts. This is where I am today in August of 2023. It has now finally begun impacting my muscles.
There was a good amount of discussion around what treatments might or might not provide any relief, from modern antifungals to intra-abdominal dialysis and calcium channel blockers. There was discussion about how any major surgery would be fatal with this condition, how starvation or ketosis was harmful and accelerated the condition, and how normal thirst mechanisms didn't work and it was possible to become very dehydrated without feeling thirsty. The article even mentioned how anyone with the condition today would be labeled as a hypochondriac and give up on medicine. I've experienced this over and over in my life. If blood tests and imaging are normal no one considers changes in the interstitial space/cellular level. I find the discussion of modern medicine and its application to be noteworthy, as it means someone in the modern world (c. 1990) had researched the condition. Why? How? Modern ethics seem to make it taboo. The article also mentioned how the disease was going to be reclassified as something else possibly into an auto-immune polyendocrine category. Finally, I have never been able to find reference to the article, the condition, or even the experiments in question. I believe the research was essentially redacted by modern ethics due to the fundamental changes it causes in the way the human body functions, the negative outcomes, and the pre-Neuremberg/informed consent time of the experiments. The final part of the article discussed how it had been looked at during the days when super soldier programs were a real thing because there are elements to it that improve the functioning of the body and mind. If you want an explanation of how/why this science was buried or lost, those are my reasons. I believe it was reclassified/lumped in with APECED and basically allowed to be forgotten.
How/why was this science lost? Without it, anyone with the condition I originally had would die and anyone with my current condition would never be diagnosed.
Total page views: 0