What Causes COPD Progression After We Quit Smoking?
First of all, COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a family of diseases including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis and more recently asthma.
If you are or were a smoker or you were around smokers on a regular basis, you may have been diagnosed with one or more of these COPD diseases. If you ask what caused your COPD they will tell you that smoking or second-hand smoke caused your COPD.
If you quit smoking or are no longer around smokers yet your COPD continues getting worse and you ask why your COPD is progressing even though you no longer smoke, they will tell you that it is a mystery and they do not know.
Reversing My Mother's Emphysema
My “all-day-every-day” observance of my mother gave me an advantage over the doctors who saw her for about 5 minutes every 3 or 4 months. I noticed things they could not and did not see. I watched this disease progress steadily long after smoking cessation. What if smoking planted the seed in the lungs that is COPD and now, continued smoking is not necessary for disease progression? It is like planting a garden. Once the plants are growing, no more planting is necessary. Once COPD is progressing, continued smoking is not necessary for disease progression.
When I realized all these pathogens were growing naturally on tobacco in the fields I realized they were the most logical cause of COPD progression. More importantly, when I developed a treatment regimen that would eradicate a mycobacterial infection in the lungs, my mother's COPD was completely revered. Her emphysema was completely eradicated!
Treatment Regimen That Reversed My Mother's Emphysema
I borrowed a restrictive diet developed by a cancer researcher that would starve all pathogens invading the body. I realized this should include the mycobacteria that I believed had infected my mother's lungs and caused her emphysema.
I then began adding supplements that would restore her body to a state of optimal health. I also added two supplements that would attack the two primary symptoms of COPD which are inflammation and excess mucus production. Lastly, I added supplements that would attack the mycobacteria directly.
In my short study of mycobacteria I found they were also referred to as "opportunistic fungi." The reason was that they act very different from other fungi. Mycobacteria emulate human cells preventing our immune system from seeing them as foreign.
Mycobacteria also adapt very rapidly to any treatment aimed at eradicating them. For this reason, I cycled through a list of 4 anti-fungal supplements using a different one each month for 4 months then starting over at the top of the list.
I don't understand why the pharmaceutical industry is not examining this logical approach to the COPD diseases and develop 4 or 5 antifungal medications that might help reverse these diseases much faster than the supplements.
My mother after her complete recovery from COPD and emphysema in December 2008.
It did take 17 months for my mother's complete recovery from End Stage Emphysema using supplements.
At her worst, she was on 4 liters of continuous supplemental oxygen and still gasping for air most of the time. She weighed only 77 pounds down from her usual 103 pounds. She could only eat a tiny portion of food at each meal. When prompted by me to eat more she would tell me that if she ate another bite she would not be able to breathe.
My mother in the early stages of recovery. The first picture she would let us take September 2007.
What is "Barrel Chest"?
There is a condition well known to pulmonary physicians called "barrel chest." This occurs when the mycobacterial infection continues proliferating, generally for decades, occupying more and more of the lung volume.
In an attempt at adapting, the body will distend the lungs creating additional lung volume for normal gas exchange (breathing). Over time, this causes the barrel chest appearance. The lungs actually distend into the stomach area which causes the continually decreasing meal size which in turn causes the "skin and bones" appearance common in End Stage Emphysema or Stage IV COPD patients.
COPD Focus Group
I started a group on Facebook that quickly grew to more than 2300 people. It is such a large group, providing individual attention and help can become cumbersome and difficult.
A small group approached me interested in receiving one-on-one direction as they progressed through the protocols to recovery. I agreed and now the COPD Focus Groups meet at different times during the week for about an hour and a half. COPD Focus Group members are also provided with a personal phone call from me so we can work through any personal issues they may experience during recovery. These phone calls have provided noticeable improvements in the COPD Focus Group members. Each COPD Focus Group is limited to a maximum of 10 members so individual help is always available.
For additional information regarding membership in the COPD Focus Groups please visit the COPD Focus Group Page.
Tobacco Control Studies Reveal the Cause of COPD Progression
Tobacco Control Studies now show the presence of fungal and mycobacterial spores in the exhale of smokers. If they are exhaling these spores they must have first inhaled them. This means they must be present in the cigarettes you smoked.
If we research the growing and harvesting of tobacco we find there are 7 fungi and mycobacteria (opportunistic fungi), 6 bacteria and 3 oomycetes (water molds) that grow naturally on tobacco in the fields. Pictures of blue mold growing on tobacco leaves in the field and on tobacco leaves in the curing stage, tell us these infected leaves are not discarded and are instead ground up and put into cigarettes.
Blue mold growing on tobacco leaves in the field.
Blue mold on curing tobacco leaves.
It is then easy making the connection between this mycobacterial infection in the lungs and COPD. This mycobacteria embeds itself into the lung tissue and begins proliferating whether you quit smoking or not. It proliferates very slowly, usually over decades, before causing any noticeable medical issues the first of which is generally "shortness of breath" or dyspnea. That usually triggers a trip to the doctor and the subsequent COPD diagnosis.
Mold on Curing Tobacco (University of Kentucky College of Agriculture)
Hypothesis Describing the Cause of the Progression of COPD
No one that I found understood what was causing the progression of COPD, I worked on developing a hypothesis that I believed described the disease progression of COPD.
To review my Hypothesis Describing the Cause of COPD Progression click the link. I hope you will find it enlightening.
The truly interesting thing about this hypothesis is that COPD fits perfectly into the disease model implied by this hypothesis. Let me say it another way, if the hypothesis is true and valid then alternative treatments that support this hypothesis should affect the disease in a positive way meaning the patient’s condition should improve.
Imagine my excitement when these alternative treatments began working and my mother began improving after deteriorating down to End Stage Emphysema, requiring 4 liters of continuous supplemental oxygen, weighing only 77 pounds and only able to eat about a cup of food at each meal. She could only sleep about an hour at a time before waking in the middle of an exacerbation (shortness of breath).
Improvements Begin Showing
After only three and a half weeks of alternative treatments that supported the hypothesis, my mother was making improvements for the first time since her diagnosis more than two and a half years earlier! I was amazed and even shocked a little. I was worried I was imagining her improvements so I called my brother who quickly arrived and verified that she was definitely improving!
My research continued but once I started seeing verification that this hypothesis was likely true, I began searching for alternative researchers that were having success with treating other diseases that had a similar disease model. That is they were likely the result of a proliferating pathogen of some sort. If you think about it with an open mind you will realize that cancer is one of these pathogens.
I found that restoring the body to optimal health helped strengthen the patient’s defenses in fighting this disease, more specifically, attacking this unknown pathogen. I found that restoring the immune system was possible if certain important steps and alternative treatments were used. I found an effective method of amplifying the immune response so the immune system could destroy any invading pathogen including the one I believed was proliferating in my mother’s lungs.
My Mother’s Complete Recovery from COPD
Seventeen months after those first signs of improvement, my mother had completely recovered from COPD and emphysema. It was an extremely long journey with many challenges but in the end my mother had gained her weight back and once again weighed 103 lbs. She no longer required any supplemental oxygen even though she carried a portable oxygen tank in the car with her for another month, just in case. The sum of all the alternative treatments contained in the 30,000 pages of information I had compiled, had apparently killed this pathogen and done something all my mother’s doctors said was impossible, they had completely reversed her COPD and emphysema!
Don't Blame Your Doctor
When a patient is diagnosed with COPD an ICD-10-CM (International Classification of Disease, 10th edition, Clinical Modification) diagnosis code is assigned. This specific code is then associated with acceptable treatment codes from the CPT-4 (Current Procedural Terminology) treatment code list.
If a doctor realizes the CPT-4 treatment is not working, he or she cannot just try another approach without first being designated as a research physician. The alternative treatments they planned on using would need approval from the medical board and possibly the AMA and any other government or regulatory body that oversees these acceptable alternative treatments.
If your doctor read the above information and decided that it made more sense than what he or she was taught and starts instructing you to follow what I am saying here, they would possibly get censured by their local medical board and in the most drastic cases even stripped of their license to practice medicine.
This is why when you ask your pulmonary doctor if it is possible to reverse emphysema or any of the other COPD diseases they will generally say NO.
It is totally up to you in deciding whether you will try the methods I used in reversing my mother's emphysema or not. Take a long hard look before you decide. Your life may very well depend upon it.
Writing the Reverse Emphysema Book
I had no intention of writing a book but a good friend of mine, we’ll call him Steve, had severe asthma and allergies and had suffered with these illnesses most of his life. After my mother’s recovery I called Steve and told him about these alternative treatments. I thought he might try them for treating his allergies and asthma. He called three days later with the great news. He could already tell a difference. He told me the night before was the first time that he ever remembered when he was not wheezing when he laid down for sleep! He was really excited. I don’t remember him ever being that animated.
Steve was the one that did not just suggest I write a book detailing the treatments I used for my mother, he insisted I do so! He kept reminding me of all the people who were suffering with COPD and did not know of any way out.
Reluctantly I wrote the book. I was not a trained, professional writer so I was getting into an area I knew nothing about. My only thought was that people will be so happy when they realize there is a way out of this horrific disease and it is not death like it is if you are using only the medical protocols including their prescribed medications.
The part I was really shocked about was the attack of the internet trolls. I guess some of them are in the medical industry and some are in the pharmaceutical industry. These people attack the people who have used the alternative treatments and reversed their COPD and emphysema. It isn’t like the medical or pharmaceutical industries have any solutions. You can even ask them if you use nothing but their drugs will you survive this disease. If they are honest they will tell you, “no.”
Since we know this by their own admission, wouldn’t you think they would welcome any potential alternative treatment that might provide some relief and healing to the patients they are unable to help with their drugs? You would think so but they don’t.
Not to worry, if you follow the protocols and recover and want to provide us with a testimonial, we have no problem with you using an alias so long as you provide us with your actual identity. This will prevent any of the internet trolls from harrassing you and still allow for the message to spread.
This has been a problem for those people who have spoken of their improvements. One lady, Darlene Sprect Brehm, who also uses the aliases Sarah A. and Darlene Beeker, waits for a posting from someone using the alternative treatments and experiencing noticeable improvements. Darlene will then let them know if they do not say something negative about me or the book she will publicize personal information about them.
She did this to one woman I remember vividly. This woman left her job due to her worsening COPD and ended up on disability and food stamps. She happily announced her improvements after using the alternative treatments for nearly a year. She was so happy because she was returning to work. She is a very proud woman who had worked hard her whole life.
Darlene publicized that she was on welfare and embarassed her so much she left the group and will not respond to requests for her return even though we kicked Darlene and all her aliases out of the group.
This is precisely why I do not have more testimonials at this time. More than 100 people were harassed by Darlene and left the group after her harassment. She also makes similar threats to the people who provide good feedback on Amazon regarding the book. I know someone personally who was harassed by Darlene repeatedly. After Darlene harassed people and they complained to me, I kicked her out of the group. She had multiple aliases, one even being her dog's name. I am sure God will take care of Darlene at the proper time.
