A number of prescription drugs today, including pyridostigmine bromide, a drug that is often prescribed for Myasthenia Gravis, contains bromide, a substance that was once widely known to be responsible for causing psychiatric and nervous system disease. It has been outlawed in most countries except the United States because of its toxic effects on human health. In the U.S. though, this drug is prescribed by doctors to patients who are sick with the very symptoms that bromide exposure can cause.Can Myasthenia Gravis be reversed? How prescription drugs and environmental exposures keep patients trapped.
Myasthenia Gravis is classified as an autoimmune disease, and it is characterized by extreme weakness in the muscles under voluntary control (such as those that are responsible for the movement of limbs). In people with this condition, the voluntary muscles become rapidly fatigued due to a problem in the normal communication between the motor nerves and the muscle tissues. It is most commonly diagnosed in women who are younger than age 40 and in men older than age 60.Intermediate Syndrome and Myasthenia Gravis
Acute organophosphate poisoning involves a set of symptoms that indicate profound nervous system involvement. Some patients with organophosphate poisoning (about 20%) go on to develop something that was originally known as “Intermediate Myasthenia Syndrome” in the scientific literature because it looked so much like Myasthenia Gravis in terms of symptoms and presentation, but in the early 2000s, the word “Myasthenia” was removed from research titles and the name for this organophosphate-toxicity syndrome became known as simply “Intermediate Syndrome”. This change made it much more difficult for anyone, including doctors, to make a connection between the myasthenia symptoms that are caused by organophosphate poisoning and the myasthenia symptoms that are not caused by organophosphate poisoning.The research exploring the possibility that all myasthenia gravis symptoms are caused by organophosphate exposure or exposures to other nerve toxins like bromide / bromine has simply not been done. There’s no funding by Big Pharma to really look deeply into this problem because Big Pharma, Big Ag and Big Food all profit from not only the sale of insecticides and herbicides that contain organophosphates and bromide, but also from the diseases that these toxins cause. But the questions exist: What causes Myasthenia Gravis? And are there environmental toxins that cause Myasthenia Gravis? Are the antibodies against the acetylcholine receptors actually trying to target toxins like organophosphates or bromine / bromide that are occupying receptor sites? Or is it possible that exposure to these toxins, (especially bromine, since iodine plays such a vital role in immunity) makes the body susceptible to infection or simply to immune system dysfunction?
Recently, we did research exploring the relationship between iodine deficiency, bromine toxicity, and so-called “paraneoplastic diseases”---autoimmune diseases that are associated with certain types of cancer. Read more here about the compelling relationship between iodine deficiency and bromine toxicity and the upsurge of autoimmune diseases and cancer in the populations of developed countries. Click here to read more about cures for paraneoplastic disease.
Myasthenia Gravis: Conventional Medicine Treatments
Most patients with Myasthenia Gravis seek treatment from a conventional medicine doctor before looking for alternative treatments for their condition. Unfortunately, this tends to complicate the illness considerably, since many of the side effects of drug treatment are identical to the disease itself. The progression of events often follows a predictable pattern: Myasthenia Gravis patients develop symptoms, they go to a doctor, then the patient receives a prescription drug that initially seems to help but that actually worsens their symptoms slowly over time. When their symptoms get worse, patients often believe that the drug is still working. “Certainly my symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis would be even worse without the medication”, is the logic of what patients tell themselves in regard to the medications that are quietly worsening their symptoms. We’ll explain more below about how drugs like pyridostigmine bromide worsen symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis and what you can do to take care of yourself if you’ve already started taking a Myasthenia Gravis drug.Click here to read more about pharmaceuticals that contain the toxin bromine.
Pyridostigmine Bromide Risks: What You Need to Know
One of the most commonly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs used to treat Myasthenia Gravis is pyridostigmine bromide (also known as Mestinon, Regonol, Gravitor, or just “pyridostigmine”). Often the word “bromide”, a crucial part of the pyridostigmine puzzle and why this drug only works for a short period of time to lessen Myasthenia Gravis symptoms, is not mentioned as the specific ion used to combine with the pyridostigmine molecule to make it into a salt. And in the scientific literature, scientists tend to focus their studies exclusively on the pyridostigmine half of the salt rather than on the bromide, which is a tragic blind spot that causes a lot of harm to patients with Myasthenia Gravis. Bromide in this context is viewed by most doctors as an inactive ingredient that deserves little attention. But many years ago, bromine exposure and intentional consumption of bromide (the reduced form of bromine) were responsible for 5 to 10% of all psychiatric hospital admissions. According to the Wikipedia article for Bromism: “Bromism now uncommon since bromide was withdrawn from clinical use in many countries and was severely restricted in others.” The U.S. was not one of the countries that severely restricted the use of bromide or bromine in food, in agriculture, in cosmetics, in pharmaceuticals, on fabrics, or in any other context. The Wiki article fails to mention that fact and I would guess that most people who read a statement like this would assume that the U.S. was among the first to restrict bromine.Not so.
Most of the scientific studies that look at pyridostigmine bromide focus on the “pyridostigmine” ion rather than on the bromide ion because funding (from Big Pharma, of course) is only available to study the pyridostigmine ion. Bromide, after all, has an established list of toxic effects on the body that have even been given the disease-name that we noted above: bromism.
A lot of children’s medications and medications that pregnant women might take contain bromine or bromide even though bromine and bromide are both toxic to children and pregnant women. Bromine and bromide produce a wide range of different symptoms that are all serious and mysterious. Read more about the prescription and common over-the-counter drugs that contain bromine here. Bromide is a powerful endocrine disruptor that also has negative effects on the nervous system. If the patient taking the pyridostigmine bromide is deficient in iodine, bromide can move into the thyroid gland and into the reproductive organs to disrupt the function of both. Bromide exposure causes the neurological disease known as “bromism” that involves the following (long) list of symptoms:
- Rash
- Restlessness
- Muscle cramps / twitching
- Drooping eyelids (ptosis)
- Eye twitching
- Irritability
- Muscle weakness
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Stupor
- Delirium
- Somnolence
- Seizures
- Slurred speech
- Blurred vision
- Poor muscle coordination
- Respiratory depression
- Memory loss
- Sweating
- Increased salivation
- Brain fog
- Dark thoughts (e.g. “there is no reason to live”)
- Depression (e.g. “there is no reason to get out of bed”)
- Mood issues such as anxiety or mood swings
- Mouth and tongue sores and cuts, a sore mouth
- Cough with mucus
- Hallucinations
- Confusion
- Psychosis
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Metallic taste in the mouth
- Odd swallowing sensation (also known as “swollen glottis” in the old medical literature)
- Body odor
- Skin cuts
- No appetite or poor appetite
- Stomach pain
- Constipation
- Cherry angiomas on the skin
- Leg and hip ache that resembles arthritis
- Sinus pain
- Runny nose
- Unusual color or smell to the urine
- Acneiform
- Pustular rash
- Erythematous rash
- Paralysis
- Urethral spasm and frequent urination (may be mistaken for a urinary tract infection)
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Strange Dreams
- Tremor
- Hormone changes
- Kidney pain
- Breast tenderness / fibrocystic breast disease (this transient symptom typically resolves quickly with iodine treatment)
- Menstruation issues
- Cystitis / bladder irritation
- Asthma
- Coma
A patient who has Myasthenia Gravis who then receives a prescription for pyridostigmine bromide is already suffering, but now, he/she will likely develop any one or a combination of the symptoms. Most patients believe that these symptoms are being caused an their autoimmune disease. Read more about government-sponsored nutrient deficiencies that make populations of the world vulnerable to COVID, autoimmunity, and cancer.
How the Bromide in Pyridostigmine Bromide Causes Damage
Exposure to bromide or bromine in high quantities damages neurons (nerve cells) which leads to progressive worsening of nerve transmission. Bromide / bromnine has an elimination half-life of 9 to 12 days which is quite a long time especially for Myasthenia Gravis patients who are taking additional doses of this bromide-containing drug daily as a biologically active component in pyridostigmine bromide. Excessive accumulation of bromide mimics the symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis and it can add to the list of symptoms a patient is wrestling with. Exposure to bromide / bromine worsens a patient’s general health but patients who take this drug often believe that the symptoms of their disease have simply gotten worse. Few suspect that the drug itself is actually causing them to experience a downward spiral.After they begin taking the pyridostigmine when, in fact, a patient’s body becomes toxic from exposure to high levels of bromide. The interesting thing about bromide as a component in this medicine is the fact that death is rare from toxic exposure to bromide. On the other hand, severe psychiatric, neurologic, dermatologic, and gastrointestinal symptoms are extremely common. As such, pyridostigmine is a drug that causes Myasthenia Gravis patients to become and more and more dependent on the healthcare system over time without killing the patient. As such, Myasthenia Gravis patients who take this drug become cash cows for Big Pharma.
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The Bromide-Organophosphate Connection
Methylbromide and other insecticides that contain bromine are used in the same ways that organophosphates are used to kill insects in agriculture. Indeed, bromide and organophosphates are also interchangeable as flame retardants. Both bromide and organophosphates are prescribed as “medicines” in various contexts. And toxic levels of phosphates are present in food (in the form of organophosphate residues or phosphate food additives), as well as bromide and brominated vegetable oils (BVOs). Both worsen or even cause the symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis. In other words, exposure to bromide and exposure to organophosphates happen in similar contexts. And in fact, bromide / bromine toxicity and organophosphate toxicity also look very similar because of the biochemical connection between the two. Learn more about the biochemical connection between organophosphates and bromide here and how both organophosphate and bromide exposures can be mitigated using nutrients like Lugol’s iodine and vitamin K2.If you’ve been wondering if there’s a toxin that causes Myasthenia Gravis, bromide / bromine and organophosphates are likely candidates though mercury (which is in vaccines and amalgam dental fillings) can also cause severe nervous system damage that can mimic the symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis. You may never be able to tell whether you’ve reached a threshold of exposure to bromide / bromine, mercury, or to organophosphates or perhaps all of these toxins, but in this article, we’re going to talk about how to detoxify the body from exposure to both bromide / bromine and organophosphates.
Click here to read more about mercury toxicity and serious disease.
Bromine / Bromide
Bromine and bromide are both ubiquitous as insecticides but they’re also found in other contexts:
- in the food supply as Brominated Vegetable Oils (BVOs),
- as “inactive”, unnoticed, or sometimes even as an unlisted ingredient in pharmaceuticals like pyridostigmine bromide, dextromethorphan hydrobromide, and others
- as an ingredient in anesthetics
- as an adjuvant ingredient in vaccines,
- as a substance that is sprayed on things like curtains, furnishings, and children’s pajamas as a flame-retardant.
- It is also found in some cosmetics products.
- Some swimming pools use bromine instead of chlorine to purify the water.
- And though most of the developed countries of the world have outlawed methylbromide and other bromide-based insecticides because of its toxic effects on human health and the environment, the United States continues to allow it to be used in agriculture.
To avoid bromine / bromide and other toxins in the environment read more about how to detoxify your life here. Detoxifying your life by reducing exposure to bromide / bromine is essential, but you’ll also need to take Lugol’s iodine 2% along with supportive nutrients that we’ll outline below to recharge your iodine receptors that will heal your endocrine system. Healing the endocrine system is essential and that’s exactly what Lugol’s iodine 2% will do.
Bromine / Bromide vs. Organophosphates
But what many consumers don’t realize is that, in terms of insecticides and flame retardants, they often have two choices: organophosphates or bromides. Both are equally bad for human health. Bromide and organophosphates affect the entire body including the nerves and endocrine system through a biochemical pathway that connects one to the other via two biochemical pathways that share and connect with each other via calcium. If you’d like to learn more about the technical details regarding how bromine / bromide and organophosphates affect the human body through these shared biochemical pathways, we provide a full explanation here in this article about bromine and organophosphate exposure and autism.The shared Myasthenia Gravis symptoms that happen as a result of both bromide / bromine and/or organophosphate exposures, occur because organophosphates raise calcium levels in the blood supply. High calcium levels in the blood supply then inhibits the absorption of iodine which makes the body iodine deficient and therefore susceptible to the toxic effects of bromide / bromine exposure. While organophosphate exposure by itself is bad enough in terms of its toxic effects on human health, the fact that organophosphate exposure can make the body susceptible, in turn, to bromide / bromine exposure and toxicity further complicates the healing equation. But the main takeaways at the moment should be the following:
- If you continue to take a prescription drug that contains bisphosphonates (these are organophosphate-containing medications) or drugs that contain bromide / bromine then it will be nearly impossible for you to overcome the problem of bromine toxicity due to organophosphate poisoning and bromine exposure.
- Organophosphate exposure can cause iodine deficiency and thus bromine / bromide toxicity.
- Both organophosphates and bromide exposure can cause symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis.
- Both bromine / bromide toxicity and organophosphate toxicity can be treated at home using nutrient therapies.
- Detoxification from bromide / bromine usually takes 2 weeks to 2 months depending on the patient’s toxicity level and how quickly and efficiently their body is able to take in the Lugol’s iodine 2%. Taking supportive supplements such as zinc, magnesium, the B-complex vitamins, and selenium improves the efficacy of iodine therapy.
- Taking vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 by themselves without also taking vitamin K2 can raise calcium levels in the blood supply, which in turn lowers the body’s ability to absorb iodine. So taking vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 as stand-alone supplements that are not properly balanced with vitamin K2 can add yet another layer to the iodine deficiency and bromine toxicity problem. Only take vitamin D supplements in combination with vitamin K2, ideally in a special combined supplement, to avoid causing further issues.
- Detoxification from organophosphate exposure is possible using Vitamin K2 and trace mineral supplementation
- Vitamin K2 and Lugol’s Iodine 2% (and their supportive nutrients) work together in the body to promote general health in every system of the body
Lugol’s Iodine: The Antidote to Bromide Toxicity.
Bromide exposure from the environment (crop spraying, flame retardants on fabrics) and from food sources (BVOs) or from cosmetics can cause the initial symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis. Prescription drugs for Myasthenia Gravis can then worsen symptoms. The antidote to this problem is something known as Lugol’s iodine 2%, an over-the-counter nutritional supplement that has the ability to kick the bromide out of the glands and organs to take its rightful place in the iodine receptors found in human tissues. Lugol’s contains both molecular iodine and potassium iodide; two forms of iodine that are able to “feed” both the thyroid gland and the reproductive organs.
The AlivenHealthy Iodine Bible - Everything you need to know to get started taking iodine and more!
Lugol’s Iodine 2% Dosage
When a Myasthenia Gravis patient is ready to start therapy with Lugol’s Iodine 2%, he/she should start with 1 drop per day. Administer the Lugol’s Iodine 2% by either putting drops of it on the skin (usually on the wrist) or by putting the drops in a glass of water to drink them. Click here to read the full Lugol’s iodine Basic Protocol.The Lugol’s Iodine dosage should be increased by 1 drop daily as long as the myasthenia gravis patient is not experiencing severe symptoms of Bromism. Some symptoms of Bromism are to be expected as the bromine leaves the tissues in the body and goes into the bloodstream for removal. Put the above list of bromism symptoms on the fridge so you can remind yourself that these symptoms are a sign that the body is healing. Note which symptoms you have as the days go by so you can observe your progress with Iodine therapy over time.
As long as the patient is still relatively comfortable, continue to increase the dose. But if the patient becomes uncomfortable as a result of these bromism symptoms, the dose increase should be halted. Patients should aim to reach 20 drops of Lugol’s Iodine 2% (about 50 mg) per day at a pace that makes sense to them. Some patients actually go as high as 100 mg per day though. The 50 mg dose is not only healing, but also offers protection against further environmental exposure to bromine / bromide after the patient has successfully removed the bromine / bromide from the iodine receptor sites through regular, ongoing, daily administration of the Lugol’s Iodine 2%.
Symptoms of bromism / myasthenia gravis may get worse during the bromine / bromide detoxification period before the potassium iodide and molecular iodine occupy all of the body’s iodine receptor sites again. But, once this changeover occurs, where bromide no longer has access to the iodine receptor sites, many people experience a sudden, positive increase in health, in their mental and emotional well-being and the sense that once again, they’re awake and alive. The immune system starts to function properly, sexual libido returns, and fertility issues are often resolved (if they existed prior to the realization that bromide / bromine toxicity was a problem).
Myasthenia gravis patients must try to limit their exposure to bromide / bromine as much as possible, especially during the bromine / bromide Detoxification period and then for 1-2 years afterward. Continuing to take a daily dose of 20 drops of Lugol’s iodine can help alleviate any potential effects of accidental bromine exposure. Click here to read more about how to detoxify your environment and your life to heal disease. Administration of Lugol’s should be a lifelong routine in order to prevent the return of bromism and bromine toxicity.
Supportive Nutrients for Lugol’s Iodine Therapy
When Myasthenia Gravis patients first start taking Lugol’s Iodine, they often go through a period of Bromide / Bromine Detoxification. This period of detoxification can last from a couple of weeks to a couple of months depending on the patient’s level of toxicity. Many patients begin Iodine Therapy for Myasthenia Gravis by taking the following “supportive nutrients” that help promote a more controlled detoxification of bromine / bromide:- Selenium 200 mcg to 400 mcg daily
- Vitamin B2 400 mg per day
- Vitamin B3 500 mg per day
- Vitamin B-100 complex - take 1 per day; these supplements contain 100mg or 100mcg of each of the B-complex vitamins to ensure that the body is receiving adequate, balanced levels of each of these nutrients
- Zinc / Copper 15 mg / 2 mg; long-term zinc supplementation of more than 1 month must be balanced with the inclusion of 2mg of copper, either via a combined zinc+copper supplement or the addition of a 2mg copper supplement, to ensure that copper deficiency doesn’t develop over time.
- Sea Water Supplement - 1 teaspoon in every 8 ounce glass of water
- Himalayan Sea Salt should be used in place of regular table salt
- Shilajit - follow dosage instructions for daily administration
The last 3 supportive nutrients (sea water supplement, Himalayan sea salt, and shilajit) contain trace minerals and electrolytes that the body needs in order to take in and use the Lugol’s iodine effectively. But even by themselves without any other supplements, trace minerals and electrolytes also help restore electricity to the cells and to the nerves. Anyone who has some knowledge of manganese and myasthenia gravis should note that manganese is a trace mineral present in shilajit, Himalayan sea salt, and in the sea water supplement. The relationship between manganese and myasthenia gravis likely pertains to the fact that manganese helps the body absorb iodine.
Restoring trace minerals and electrolytes to the cells is extremely beneficial by itself as a way to provide electrons to cells that may be lacking in this basic form of electricity in patients with myasthenia gravis. Cells that are sick have a different voltage than cells that are healthy. Sick cells don’t conduct electricity or relay messages as well as healthy cells; trace minerals can help improve these problems in sick cells. And, besides, the healing cells must have enough electricity to be able to restore health to their internal organelles. Read more about how to electrify human cells here and read more about how various doctors have used electricity and magnets to cure “incurable” diseases here.
The above enumerated list of supportive nutrients is essential for anyone who wants Lugol’s iodine therapy to work properly. These supplements are usually started anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months prior to having the patient begin administering Lugol’s Iodine. These nutrients help remove bromide / bromine from the body more slowly and in a more controlled way than Lugol’s iodine. If the patient already has a known thyroid problem such as hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, the patient should take the supportive nutrients for 2 months prior to beginning the administration of Lugol’s Iodine 2%. After 2 months of taking these nutrients in the appropriate quantities, they may then start with 1 drop of the Lugol’s iodine 2% and work their way up to a dose of 20 drops daily as described above (note that the patient should also continue taking the supportive nutrients with the Lugol’s iodine). Many patients, however, find that administering Lugol’s iodine feels good and a number of them report that they actually crave the iodine. But keep an open mind about Lugol’s iodine therapy and remember that symptoms of myasthenia gravis can, in some cases, get worse before they get better.
Lugol’s Iodine 2% Dosage
When a Myasthenia Gravis patient is ready to start therapy with Lugol’s Iodine 2% he/she should start with 1 drop per day. Administer the Lugol’s Iodine 2% by either putting drops of it on the skin (usually on the wrist) or by putting the drops in water to drink them.The Lugol’s Iodine dosage should be increased by 1 drop daily as long as the Myasthenia Gravis patient is not experiencing severe symptoms of Bromism. Some symptoms of Bromism are to be expected as the bromine leaves the tissues in the body to go into the bloodstream for removal. Put the list of bromism symptoms on the fridge so you can remind yourself that these symptoms are a sign that the body is healing. Note which symptoms you have as the days go by so you can note your progress with Iodine Therapy over time.
As long as the patient is still relatively comfortable, continue to increase the dose. But if the patient becomes uncomfortable as a result of these symptoms, the dose increase should be halted. Patients should aim to reach 20 drops of Lugol’s Iodine 2% (about 50 mg) per day at a pace that makes sense to them. Some patients actually go as high as 100 mg per day though. The 50 mg dose offers protection against further exposure to bromine / bromide in the environment after the patient has successfully gotten bromine / bromide out of the iodine receptor sites through regular, ongoing, daily administration of the Lugol’s Iodine 2%.
Symptoms of bromism / Myasthenia Gravis may get worse during the Bromine / Bromide Detoxification period before Lugol’s iodine occupies all of the body’s iodine receptors sites again. But once this changeover occurs where bromide no longer has access to the iodine receptor sites, many people experience a sudden, positive increase in health, in their mental and emotional well-being and the sense that once again, they’re awake and alive. The immune system starts to function properly, sexual libido returns, and fertility issues are often resolved (if they existed prior to the realization that bromide / bromine toxicity was a problem).
Myasthenia Gravis patients must try to limit their exposure to bromide / bromine as much as possible, especially during the Bromine / Bromide Detoxification period and then for 1-2 years afterward. Click here to read more about how to detoxify your environment and your life.
The list of supportive nutrients in the Basic Iodine Protocol is essential for anyone who wants Lugol’s iodine therapy to work properly. These supplements are usually started anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months prior to having the patient begin administering Lugol’s Iodine. These nutrients help remove bromide / bromine from the body more slowly and in a more controlled way than Lugol’s iodine. If the patient already has a known thyroid problem such as hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, the patient should take the supportive nutrients for 2 months prior to beginning the administration of Lugol’s Iodine 2%. After 2 months of taking these nutrients in the appropriate quantities, they may then start with 1 drop of the Lugol’s iodine 2% and work their way up to a dose of 20 drops daily as described above (note that the patient should also continue taking the supportive nutrients with the Lugol’s iodine). Many patients, however, find that administering Lugol’s iodine feels good and a number of them report that they actually crave the iodine. But keep an open mind about Lugol’s iodine therapy and remember that symptoms of myasthenia gravis can, in some cases, get worse before they get better.
Organophosphates and Myasthenia Gravis
Organophosphate poisoning, as we mentioned above, can cause symptoms of toxicity that are nearly identical to the symptoms of bromine toxicity. In other words, organophosphates in the environment are other toxins that can also cause myasthenia gravis symptoms. It may not be possible for a patient with MG to determine whether their symptoms are caused by bromine toxicity or by organophosphate poisoning until they get all the way through the process of detoxification, but regardless, many of the treatments for these two forms of toxicity are actually very similar. While bromide / bromine tends to accumulate in the body’s endocrine glands, especially in the thyroid gland and in the reproductive organs, organophosphates accumulate primarily in the bones and teeth. You see, in bone tissues, calcium, and natural inorganic phosphate normally work together to create an incredibly strong, yet flexible crystalline structure. When organophosphates (or “organic” phosphates that contain a variety of toxic molecules attached to them) are absorbed into bone tissues, they make the bone tissues brittle. Despite this fact, organophosphate-containing pharmaceuticals like bisphosphonates are some of the most widely prescribed drugs used to treat osteoporosis (a bone disease wherein the bone tissues lose density and become very weak). As we previously discussed here, bisphosphonates cause bone tissues to appear strong and dense on x-rays and MRIs, but in reality, they don’t reduce the risk of bone fractures at all for osteoporosis patients and they may, in fact, increase the risk of a specific type of hip fracture over the course of time.Read more about bisphosphonate drug risks here.
Patients who have taken bisphosphonates also have noted that there seems to be a connection between taking bisphosphonates and the development of dementia (and indeed, scientific studies have acknowledged this connection). Vitamin K2, a recently discovered essential vitamin, can function as a kind of bisphosphonate “substitute” that actually heals bones and removes calcifications in the blood vessels and other soft tissues of the body. Scientists have also found that vitamin K2 is a powerful cure for leukemia, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, and other types of cancer, likely because vitamin K2 helps the body absorb iodine, but also because vitamin K2 ensures that the blood being produced inside the bone tissues is healthy. Read more about vitamin K2 as a natural cure for leukemia and ovarian cancer here.
When the body is iodine deficient, it becomes susceptible to bromine / bromide exposure. That’s because bromine has an outer electron shell that is identical to iodine’s outer electron shell, making it possible for a bromine ion to attach itself to iodine receptors in the body. Though bromine and iodine are very different in terms of their biochemical behavior, they are still in the same family / column on the periodic table. Both are halogens. So, if the body becomes deficient in iodine, it gets desperate for this nutrient and, because bromine looks very similar to iodine in terms of its outer electron shell, an iodine-deficient body is often willing to settle for second-best. Bromine fits the bill. So a person with an iodine deficiency is vulnerable to bromine and bromide exposures. Restoring iodine levels to normal is one way to protect the body from bromide / bromine exposures.
Organophosphate exposure is similar to bromine exposure in some respects. If the bone tissues are calcium deficient, the body becomes more susceptible to organophosphate poisoning. But taking more calcium won’t help you overcome organophosphate exposure and, in fact, this would be likely to make matters even worse. Calcium, you see, plays many different roles in the body. It doesn’t just play a role in producing strong bones and teeth. Calcium is ever-present in the blood supply, for example, as well as in bone tissues. It is also ever present in neurons and in the cells of other tissues in our bodies. There is so much calcium in the foods that we eat that it usually isn’t wise or necessary for people to take a calcium supplement. Rather, our bodies were designed to absorb calcium through sun exposure and the production of vitamin D in the skin. Initially, when vitamin D is produced in the skin after exposure to sunlight (when a person isn’t wearing sunscreen), the vitamin D must first travel to the liver for one layer of activation. Then, it will travel to the kidneys to become fully activated. After that, activated vitamin D goes to the intestines where it makes sure that calcium in the diet can be absorbed into the bloodstream.
Activated vitamin D washes its hands of calcium after calcium is absorbed by the intestines into the bloodstream. But having high levels of calcium circulating in the blood is decidedly bad on many levels for human health. Having chronically high levels of calcium in the bloodstream will eventually lead to soft tissue calcifications / calcium deposits in the organs such as the breasts, fatty tissues, skin, etc.. Maybe your blood vessels will develop a buildup of calcium, for example. That’s called atherosclerosis. Or maybe your gallbladder will develop calcium deposits, a condition known as “porcelain gallbladder”. Or maybe your pineal gland will calcify. If that happens, you might feel like you’re in a chronic state of severe jet lag where you don’t feel awake during the day, but you also cannot sleep at night. This chronic feeling of jet lag is no laughing matter. And calcification of the pineal gland is pretty common because the pineal gland is the only structure in the brain that does not sit behind the blood brain barrier. Read more about how to decalcify the pineal gland here. And read more here about how to cure osteoporosis while removing calcium deposits from blood vessels at the same time.
Click here to read more about how to get rid of breast tissue calcifications here.
Vitamin D and calcium supplements are among the least necessary nutrient supplements that people need to take but they are some of the most promoted supplements by Big Pharma and Big Food (numerous healthy or vegan foods include both of these nutrients as fortifications in their products). Our bodies produce vitamin D naturally which in some ways would technically disqualify vitamin D from even being considered a vitamin at all, though there are some complexities to that subject that are beyond the scope of this book. Nevertheless, if you have a disease like Myasthenia Gravis, get rid of your stand-alone vitamin D and/or calcium supplements and check your multivitamin to ensure that it doesn’t contain vitamin D without a vitamin K2 counterpart to balance its effects on the body. Vitamin D can make it hard for your body to absorb iodine by causing the intestines to absorb calcium from food that then circulates in the blood supply without ever finding a home in the bones and teeth. Remember, high blood calcium levels mean decreased iodine absorption and a higher risk of developing bromism and other nervous system diseases.
Besides, calcium is present in most foods. Taking calcium supplements can cause calcium levels in the blood to be too high. Most people take calcium supplements because they believe that they’ll make their teeth and their bones strong, but taking calcium supplements actually won’t help at all with strong bones and teeth. In order to build healthy bones and teeth, you need vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is the nutrient that takes calcium from the blood supply and puts it into the bones and teeth where it belongs. Without vitamin K2, your body simply won’t be able to put the proper amount of calcium from the blood supply into the bones and teeth, meaning that your blood calcium levels are likely to increase beyond what’s normal. And in this case, you also won’t be able to absorb iodine properly because your body’s calcium blood levels are too high. There’s also one more nutrient, boron, that can be incredibly helpful in regulating blood levels of calcium. Read more here about how boron is to the parathyroid glands what iodine is to the thyroid gland and how boron can help regulate calcium and phosphate levels in the blood.
Calcium and phosphate are like soul mates that are present as partners who are working together in many different contexts to promote good health. In this article, we expand in depth on the relationship between calcium and phosphates in the body. Wherever there is calcium phosphate is always working nearby.
Vitamin K2 and Organophosphate Poisoning
In organophosphate poisoning and exposure, it’s vital that the bones have access to plenty of calcium, but how you make that happen, as we mentioned above, is by taking vitamin K2, not calcium. Mainstream media would have us believe that we need to take calcium supplements or vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 (or both) to make sure that plenty of calcium ends up in the bones and teeth. But actually, neither taking calcium supplements nor vitamin D2 or D3 supplements will do anything to ensure that your body absorbs calcium into the bones and teeth. Calcium is abundantly available in most foods because our bodies need so much of it. So we don’t really need to take calcium supplements and shouldn’t. Vitamin D2 and D3 work in the intestines to ensure that calcium is absorbed into the blood supply. It does not tell the body where to put the calcium once it reaches the blood supply and if the body is deficient in a newly discovered nutrient known as vitamin K2 (as differentiated from vitamin K1), the calcium generally ends up in the soft tissues of the body. A person who is vitamin K2 deficient is likely to have weak bones, poor dental health, and lots of calcium in their blood vessels or in organs and glands. Calcification of the pineal gland, for example, is relatively common throughout the population in areas of the world where people are no longer living close to the land. Read more about how to decalcify the pineal gland here.If you are deficient in vitamin K2, then you have lots of calcium circulating in the blood supply, inhibiting the absorption of iodine (and making you iodine deficient and thus susceptible to bromine toxicity), and searching for a place to deposit itself in the soft tissues. Calcium is also present in high quantities in the bones and teeth when a person has high enough levels of this vital nutrient which acts as the watchdog to ensure that the calcium ends up in the bone tissues. Calcium is found in cells and calcium plays a role in nerve transmission as well. But without vitamin K2, the proper amount of calcium that is needed for healthy bones and teeth won’t end up in the bone tissues where it belongs. Thus, a vitamin K2 deficiency causes osteoporosis over time. One might say that osteoporosis is a vitamin K2 disease, so vitamin K2 is a powerful natural cure for osteoporosis. Indeed, when you take vitamin K2 to cure atherosclerosis (calcium buildup in the blood vessels) you are simultaneously healing your bone tissues by removing calcium from a place where it doesn’t belong (soft tissues/blood vessels) while putting the calcium in a place where it does belong (in the bones and teeth). Read more about the harmful effects of supplementing with vitamin D without complementing this supplement with vitamin K2.
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So a person with vitamin K2 deficiency likely will also have an iodine deficiency and possibly bromine toxicity as well. While iodine deficiency and bromine toxicity have an impact on the brain and nervous system as well as the endocrine system which essentially involves the entire body, vitamin K2 deficiency, in contrast, strongly impacts bone tissue health and blood health as its most salient effects. Bones like the femur (thigh bone) for example, contain bone marrow where red blood cells are manufactured so it makes sense that vitamin K2 would impact bones and blood. But research into this new member of the vitamin K complex (vitamin K1 is well known for its modulating effects on blood clotting) has recently shown that vitamin K2 can be used to cure leukemia, blood cancers, bone cancers, and reproductive organ cancers as well. Indeed, thymoma (thymus gland cancer) is a type of cancer that is strongly correlated with Myasthenia Gravis. Though it isn’t common knowledge, recently scientists discovered that that thymus gland is innervated by cholinergic, catecholaminergic, and possibly GABA neurons. This fact has led scientists to speculate that acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that is central in causing the symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis, is actually an immunomodulatory neurotransmitter, but we’ll talk about that more in another article. Read more about vitamin K2 as a cure for cancer including thymoma here.
Indeed, Lugol’s iodine is an extremely powerful natural cure for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, cervical cancer, thyroid cancer, and other endocrine cancers. Read more about Lugol’s iodine as a cure for cancer here. Lugol’s has a modulating effect on the immune system so it’s beneficial as a natural treatment for all types of cancer, but combining it with vitamin K2 allows patients to protect their bones and blood from a metastasis of cancer while protecting the endocrine glands at the same time.
So it isn’t hard to see how these two seemingly unrelated nutrients are connected and how a deficiency of vitamin K2 can cause the body to also be iodine deficient and bromine toxic. If you or a loved one suffers from Myasthenia Gravis, taking Lugol’s iodine 2% with the supporting nutrients listed above along with a vitamin D/vitamin K2 combination supplement will help you make powerful gains quickly. You can also take a stand-alone vitamin K2 supplement if you get plenty of sunlight so long as you do not wear sunscreen. Look closely at your multivitamin and make sure that it doesn’t contain vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 without vitamin K2 to balance vitamin D’s effects on the body. If your multivitamin does contain vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 without vitamin K2 in the list of ingredients, get rid of it and purchase a multivitamin that contains both of these nutrients together. Multivitamin manufacturers that aren’t up to date on the nutrient research should be boycotted and avoided.
Sunlight, Fumaric Acid, and Detoxification after Organophosphate Exposure or Bromide Exposure
As we mentioned a few times in this article, vitamin D is produced naturally by the skin when it is exposed to the full-spectrum, healing light of the sun. But vitamin D isn’t the only vital substance produced by the skin when we’re exposed to healthy, natural sunlight without garbling its healing effects by applying sunscreen. Another important substance produced by human skin is known as “fumaric acid”.Fumaric acid, like vitamin D, must travel to the liver to become activated. In the liver, it partners closely with healthy inorganic phosphates to produce energy in the ADP-ATP cycle which is also known as the Kreb’s cycle. The Kreb’s cycle is an important source of energy for our bodies. And fumaric acid plays a crucial role in this cycle. And if you don’t get enough sunlight, you likely aren’t producing enough of it. You are also unlikely to get it in your diet unless you happen to take a Fumaric Acid supplement or Fumaria officinalis / Earth Smoke Plant tea. Read more about how natural fumaric acid is used to cure other autoimmune diseases like psoriasis and multiple sclerosis here. Or read more here about Fumaria officinalis, a plant that produces a natural form of fumaric acid that is identical to the fumaric acid produced by our bodies after exposure to sunlight.
Fumaric acid has powerful anti-inflammatory effects on the nerves and brain. So it can be used by autism patients, for example, and by patients with spinal cord injuries or any type of nervous system disease to reduce neuroinflammation naturally. Read more about fumaric acid and Fumaria officinalis to reduce neuroinflammation here.
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Sunlight exposure (without sunscreen) is a key part of detoxification in part because fumaric acid that’s produced in the skin maximizes how quickly our bodies can detoxify after we’re exposed to different types of toxins. After vitamin D is produced in the skin, it goes to the liver and then on to the kidneys to become activated. Interestingly, the skin, liver, and kidneys are all considered to be the primary “organs of detoxification”.
Fumaric acid and/or herbal Myasthenia Gravis treatment with Fumaria officinalis is compelling particularly for patients who are taking drugs like Cellcept / Mycophenolate mofetil or Azothioprine because these drugs increase sensitivity to the sun. Indeed, taking these drugs makes the skin sensitive to the sun such that melanoma and skin cancer risk is significantly heightened. If, as a patient, you decide to continue taking these drugs or if you are slowly weaning yourself off Cellcept and you want to get started taking Fumaric Acid or Fumaria officinalis, start with a very low dose and increase it slowly as your dose of Cellcept decreases. Fumaria officinalis tincture is typically dosed at 20-30 drops per day, but you can start with just 1 drop and increase it daily by 1 drop until you reach the full dose.
Mycophenolate Mofenil / Cellcept for Myasthenia Gravis
Cellcept causes Myasthenia Gravis patients to become sensitive to the sun. So, while pyridostigmine bromide is a drug that causes Myasthenia Gravis patients to worsen over time due to bromide exposure and the eventual development of bromism, Cellcept is a drug that ensures that Myasthenia Gravis patients won’t accidentally discover that sunlight is beneficial to their health.Thiopurine Methyltransferase / Azathioprine for Myasthenia Gravis
Like Cellcept, Azathioprine causes Myasthenia Gravis patients to become sensitive to the sun. As such, they can’t go out in the sun to let their bodies naturally produce fumaric acid (or vitamin D). Indeed, going out in the sun while taking azathioprine leads to a significantly greater risk of skin cancers. Once again, Myasthenia Gravis patients, as a result of taking azathioprine, never have the opportunity to get well again by simply exposing their skin to sunlight (without sunscreen).
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Summary
There are two important nutrients that can benefit Myasthenia Gravis patients: Lugol’s iodine 2% and vitamin K2. Lugol’s and vitamin K2 may, in some cases, function as a cure for Myasthenia Gravis. Lugol’s iodine should be taken with the supportive nutrients listed above as well as with vitamin K2 to ensure that the body can properly absorb both of them.Vitamin K2 can provide protection from and detoxification from organophosphate exposure while Lugol’s iodine can provide protection from and detoxification from bromide / bromine exposure.
Sunlight exposure (without sunscreen) plays an important role in detoxifying the body. Myasthenia Gravis symptoms can be caused by organophosphate exposure or by exposure to bromide. A number of people who believe that they have an autoimmune disease may actually be experiencing symptoms of exposure to toxins like organophosphates or bromide / bromine. Exposure to sunlight (without sunscreen) causes the skin to produce fumaric acid, a substance that naturally increases the rate and efficiency with which our bodies can detoxify. Fumaric acid also reduces inflammation in the nervous system and brain as well as in other areas of the body. This substance can be taken as an herbal cure for Myasthenia Gravis (Fumaria officinalis) as well as in supplement form as natural fumaric acid.
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We've recently released the Living Database, the tool that Lydian and I use to store our data when we research cures for diseases. Sometimes we stumble across natural treatments cures for rare diseases in the scientific literature. If we do, we put in the Living Database. Sometimes we find links to surprising scientific data or even anecdotal reports of a cure for diseases that have been dubbed "incurable" or even, in some cases "untreatable" by doctors. And this tool, the AlivenHealthy Living Database allows us to store this information. Now, we've made the database live so our readers can use it to find cures for disease even if we haven't had a chance to write about it yet. The AlivenHealthy Living Database is an excellent tool for healers and body workers or even just for average people to use on family and friends. If you search for a disease or disorder that isn't in our database, this alerts Lydi and I to the fact that someone in the database user pool is looking for that particular disease. If our client load is low and we have time to do research into that disease, we can update the database immediately with information about diseases that interest Living Database users. Click here to learn more and download the Living Database now.Resources:
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• Karalliedde L. et al. (2006). Organophosphate-induced intermediate syndrome: aetiology and relationships with myopathy. Retrieved October 31, 2022 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16856766/
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