OK - I have now been taking 2x 3000gdu of bromelain per ay for six weeks - having worked up form 1x 3000gdu for the 6 weeks before that and thought it worthwhile doing another run of slides to see if there are any discernible changes since last time.
as a quick recap
- i started bromelain for its fibrinolytic effects after finding excessive biofilm/fibrin deposits in my first run of slides performed late last year - along with findings of bartonella - that is known to cuase excessive fibrin deposits.
- the bromelain is being taken alongside my ongoing regimen of antimicrobial herbs and methylene blue - that were already targeting bartonella based on symptoms - in the hope that the addition of fibrinolytic enzymes will help break down the fibrin/biofilms and enable the herbs and my immune system to better tackle and hopefully clear the infection
- i have seen some encouraging signs to date - mainly
---dramatic reduction of biofilm in blood slides from pre bromelain compared to 6 weeks on 3000gdu
---exercise tolerance improving significantly ( an objective measure of physical health)
---capillary refill times have reduced by half ( measure of microcirculation health - relevant in bartonella due to its main pathology being driven by small vessel disease)
so this week i have performed a repeat run of slides using the same thin smear and giemsa stain process as before . results are as follows:
1, further reduction in visible biofilms / fibrin deposits - continuing the improvement trend
--before bromelain - many - huge purple stained clumps some 200+ red blood cell widths across
--after 6 weeks 3000gdu - much less biofilm - no huge clumps at all - some small flecks 2-3rbc widths
--now after further 6weeks at 2x 3000gdu - even less biofilm / fibrin - some slides now entirely clear
VIEW IMAGEVIEW IMAGEthere are still very occasional objects that look like images of blue staining biofilm i have seen in slides from dr M's T-lab reports - but are now a rarity.
VIEW IMAGE2, Regarding bartonella infected cells with vacuoles – I initially thought there were none to be seen on any of the 18 slides in this run – certainly on my first run through of all 18 I found no obvious masses of the characteristic clumps of red blood cells with vacuoles at 400x magnification
on a second run through – this time using 1000x and oil – I noticed what looked like slight occasional vacuoles – but wasn’t 100% sure as instead of being in rafts of red blood cells clumped together with unmistakable ring formations of vacuoles inside them – this time I more often saw scattered cells here and there with one or two or 3 vacuoles in them – and wondered if they could instead be artefacts of some kind – but the more I looked the more I saw – often again only in certain areas of the slides – but this time with far less vacuoles per cell – or much smaller vacuoles inside the cells – often just the suggestion of a ring of them - but each vacuole much smaller or fainter than before – and much looser packed / rarer in the red cell populations.
VIEW IMAGEThis is an interesting change from previous slides where the clumps were very pronounced and delineated from the rest of the red blood cell population - and now they appear much more loosely distributed and mixed with the rest of the red blood cell populations - and also much less infection is apparent per red blood cell.
Could this be real progress - in that less infection per cell is likely to lead to less infection overall and less infection eventually - and also less clumping together of infected cells might be expected to allow the immune system to deal with each lone infected cell better – either by antibodies binding to it, white blood cells lysing them directly (now that there is no physical barrier of fibrin protecting them)– or perhaps the liver and spleen can more effectively filter them out due to more easily flowing to the spleen and more easily recognised by the spleen now that they are not in clumps or protected by fibrin ( all methods by which the body removes abnormal or infected red blood cells)
On the other hand could this simply be just a different stage of illness –or infection cycle – as we know bartonella can be cyclically present in the blood and has some means for coordinating these events in the body of the host – after all I have only done 2 previous runs of slides with this being the 3rd - so perhaps this run is just a window on an ongoing cyclic process, shortly after a wave of bartonella in the blood – and the replication in vacuoles has only just begun – hence few and smaller vacuoles ?
Seems like it will be good to do another slide run in 2 weeks from this one – i.e. 1st week April - to see if anything has changed for good or bad at that point - and to see if we can establish if this is ongoing improvement - or just a manifestation of the ongoing cycle of the disease process.