Treating potbelly syndrome & heart disease
There are lots of reasons why I can't tell you how to treat your health problems. I can, however, tell you what I would do if I had better health insurance, or a lot of money.
 
I'd think about my disease model. For most of my life, I didn't know that I had a "disease model." I did, though, and it nearly killed me. My new disease model is the infection-cortisol model. (Click on Disease Models link at the left.)
 
I'd study my treatment options. Below is a table comparing some well-known treatments. They may benefit symptoms, but there is no proof that they will cure obesity, type 2 diabetes, or heart disease. In fact, few people would even claim that they did.
         The antimicrobials option has a slim advantage over the others. The advantage is that no one has proven that it doesn't work; it's effectiveness is unknown.
 
 
I'd pick a treatment option. I don't have diabetes, yet, but I'm obese and I have several kinds of heart problems. Since a slim hope is better than none, I've given a lot of thought to the antimicrobials option.
         I'm pretty sure that my health problems stem from a Chlamydophila pneumoniae (CPN) infection. If I were free to direct my own health care, I would choose to be tested and treated in accordance with one of the antimicrobial protocols (Vanderbilt or Wheldon) described at www.cpnhelp.org.
 
I'd think about what I want to have treated. Treatments can be aimed at symptoms, intermediate causes, or primary causes. I've had my symptoms treated competently for 60+ years, and they get worse every year. I think it's time to work on the causes of my health problems. (Click on the Targets link at the left.)
 
I'd look for a doctor who took me seriously. I'd look for a doctor who was an apostate, i.e., one who had lost faith in the lifestyle model of disease. If I was lucky, I'd find an infectious diseases specialist who had read The Potbelly Syndrome. (See Doctors link at the left.)
 
I'd put together a treatment plan. Eventually, there will be clinics where you can check in, have a bunch of tests done, and leave a day or two later with a comprehensive treatment plan. Then, as your treatments progress, your plan would be updated.
         Since those clinics are still in the future, I'd re-read The Potbelly Syndrome and study this website again. Then I'd work with my doctor to prepare a detailed treatment plan, including all foreseeable tests and treatments. As my tests and treatments progressed, my doctor and I would update the plan.
 
I'd have my infectious burden evaluated. I would want to know what kinds of infections I had before my treatments began. That knowledge would guide my doctor's choice of antimicrobials, and it would give me a baseline against which I could measure my progress later.
         It wouldn't be practical to be tested for all of the germs that might be making me sick, so my doctor and I would make a list of likely culprits. I'd make sure that CPN and cytomegalovirus were near the top of the list. (See Diagnosis at left.)
         My doctor should know where to have such tests done, and how to arrange for blood draws, shipping, etc.
 
I'd choose which germs to focus on. When the test results came back, my doctor and I would decide which germs we were going to focus on.
         On the Aging page (under Infections at the left), I described how germ X facilitates the survival of germ Y, and Y facilitates the survival of germ Z, and so on. In this scenario, germ X is a primary germ, and germs Y and Z are "opportunistic" germs that may disappear if X is eradicated.
         Obviously, we would want to eradicate primary germs if we could. The trouble is, we don't know enough to classify primary and opportunistic germs very well. I suspect that CPN is a primary pathogen, but I don't have any solid evidence to support my suspicion.
         Whichever germ we focused on, I would join support groups for people battling that germ. I'd read their newsletters and join their discussion groups. If the germ was CPN, I'd log on to www.cpnhelp.org and pick the brains of people who have been struggling with CPN for a long time.
 
I'd have a physical exam. I'd get a thorough physical examination, and save the info on my weight, waist circumference, blood sugar, blood pressure, C-reactive protein (CRP), morning and afternoon cortisol, ALT, AST, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol,  etc.
 
I'd start the antimicrobial treatment. The details of the treatment would have to be worked out with my doctor, but I would expect the treatment to take months, and possibly years.
 
I'd have another physical exam. Several months after starting the antimicrobial protocol, I'd have another physical exam and see how the results compared with the physical I took before I started treatment.
 
I'd have my infectious burden re-evaluated occasionally. Even if I was pretty sure that we had eradicated the germ we focused on, I'd remember that I'm surrounded by people who are still infected with it. If I was reinfected, I wouldn't worry too much. My middle-path germs took decades to wreck my health, so getting re-infected probably wouldn't hurt me for a while. By then maybe we'll have better antimicrobials.
         If retesting suggested that we needed to focus on other germs, I'd look for support groups working against those germs.
 
Summary
If you decide to follow a course of treatment similar to the one I described above, you can see that you have a lot of problems ahead of you. The problems are not technological--we have the technology needed to identify and treat most germs.
         The problems are not financial, either. The giant health maintenance organization (HMO) that I belong to has spent a fortune treating my symptoms, and unless I give my giant HMO a break by dying soon, it can expect to spend several more fortunes on me. It could have tested and treated me for CPN for a small fraction of what it has already spent.
         No, the problems you will face are not caused by technological or financial restraints, they are caused by the medical establishment's obstinate adherence to the lifestyle model of disease.
         Good luck.
 
Disclaimer
www.potbellysyndrome.com is owned and maintained by Russell Farris, and the information contained here is based upon the research and personal and professional experiences of Russell Farris. It is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or other health care provider. Any attempt to diagnose and treat an illness should be done under the direction of a health care professional.
         Russell Farris does not advocate the use of any particular health care protocol but believes the information in this website should be available to the public. Russell Farris is not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of the suggestions, preparations, or procedures discussed in this website. Should the reader have any questions concerning the appropriateness of any procedures or preparation mentioned, the website owner strongly suggests consulting a professional health care advisor.
 

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