Life-Long Health: Learn How to Control Your Genes to Stay Young With Age

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INTRODUCTION

I) NEVER ACCEPT A GRIM PROGNOSIS.

II) The Plan for you.

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass…it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.

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I) NEVER ACCEPT A GRIM PROGNOSIS.

Prior to the year 2003, I was in top shape and engaged in body-building, riding horses and flying airplanes. I competed in various events with much younger men and did quite well. I was on top of the world. My friends called me The Guru of Anti-Aging.

Suddenly in late October 2003, while making a left turn into the parking lot at my health club, a truck ran a red light and smashed into the right side of my convertible near the rear. My car spun around; a heavy tool in the back-seat centrifuged outside the car and landed 40 feet away. Unable to move, I felt that the extreme impact had jolted me into the twilight zone.

Police and paramedics arrived at the scene.

Sir, don’t move. We’ll get you out.

Listening in on the paramedic’s jargon, they suspected a possibly broken neck and back.

Sirens announced the arrival of the ambulance and then I was rushed to Torrance Memorial Hospital. Although I was diagnosed with torn muscles and extensive connective tissue damage, X-rays and MRI revealed that I did not have fractures or a broken neck. The examining doctor told me, Thank God! The reason why you are still alive is because you have lots of muscles.

However, the injuries sustained in the accident greatly reduced my ability to exercise. One year had passed and I was still going back to the doctors, telling them Something is seriously wrong. I felt extremely miserable. Their response was always, Be patient! You had severe injuries, give your body time to heal.

And over the next 1 ½ years my health kept going downhill. I lost 18 pounds of muscle mass and walking just 30 yards and I was out of breath.

Finally Dr. Fouad Ghaly, MD, Torrance, CA, an associate, diagnosed my condition as a severe type of atrial fibrillation - an extreme heart irregularity. I was referred to a cardiologist. An echocardiogram showed 28% ejection fraction when 50% is considered the minimum for normal functions. My left Atrium was bubbled out at 6.8. A normal range is less than 4.0. Just walking 30 yards made me miserable for I was out of breath. It became clear that the impact had ruptured parts in my heart, and that the delay in diagnosing the problem had worsened the condition. Two cardioversions - electrical shock treatments to bring heart rhythm back to normal sinus - did not hold. Within days, I was back to experiencing atrial fibrillation, an unsettling irregular heartbeat.

More cardioversions and an ablation (complex medical procedure to bring heart rhythm back to normal, details further down), with various drug regimens, but nothing held for more than just a few days.

My heartbeat became even more sporadic. With this problem constantly on my mind, I had arrived at a point where, instead of sleeping with my girlfriend, I slept with a stethoscope. My treating physician finally told me that medicine had nothing else to offer. The gloomy prognosis: Three drugs and a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted in your chest, that’s essentially it for the rest of your life.

This was definitely NOT how I wanted to spend the rest of my life!

Never one to buckle when misfortune came my way, I searched for referrals from specialists who thought ‘outside the box.’

With my experience in aging research and alternative medicine (BS in Physiology from University of Munich Medical School; Ph.D. in Chemistry from SUNY, Stony Brook; Director of Research of the International Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine) – partnered with my stubborn streak, I was unwilling to accept defeat. Searching for a protocol for recovery, I consulted with various cardiac experts, German Stem Cell and Cell Extract specialists, several doctors in Japan, China and England, and who had discussed new recovery regimens in the Townsend Letter (

Because more and more data suggested that prescription drugs were only covering up symptoms, not really healing anything – actually ¾ of a million people dying annually in the US from properly prescribed drugs, according to Death by Modern Medicine by Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND (10) – we decided to not use them unless it was truly necessary, and only for short time periods.

In November of 2005 there was unanimous conclusion among the consulting doctors: Any treatment protocol to reverse my deteriorating heart condition would have to focus on first bringing my heart rhythm back to sinus, and keeping it there, while then strengthening heart functions in general, re-building and strengthening heart muscles, and burning in the re-established circuits.

Why?

Question: What is an athlete?

Answer: A bunch of muscles.

Question: What is the heart?

Answer: A bunch of muscles.

Question: When do you train an athlete?

Answer: When he/she is making the right moves (sinus instead of A-Fib).

   So, what regimen should I use for the cardiac recovery?

In earlier research projects, from optimum health to achieving maximum life spans in people and research animals, I had introduced the concept of The Multi-Factorial Approach - - combining several modalities that synergistically enhance each other. This approach was very similar to Alabama University professor Cheraskin’s definition of optimum long-term health as a state of homeostasis, achieved by correctly combining several health practices. Professor Cheraskin told me: Doing the health practices correctly will also create the conditions for optimum LBM (Lean Body Mass), which is Muscle plus Bones plus Organs. Whatever aspect of long-term health you look at - - fitness, sexuality, best immune system, fastest recovery from disease, least rate of aging - - LBM is the basis/foundation. If you focus on maintaining the best possible conditions for LBM, you have automatically created the conditions for long-term optimum health.

One of the consulting doctors suggested, Couldn’t that (my heart condition) be a case to demonstrate your and Cheraskin’s ideas?

But which modalities showed enough promise to combine them?

The answer was to focus on optimum conditions for maintaining LBM, which was activity/exercise, detoxing, supported with quality nutrition and special organ-specific formulas. The organ-specific formulas consisted of supplements specific for heart functions, and cell extracts made from young animal tissues (bovine, sheep) from heart, and immune-related thymus and mesenchyme.

After an ablation (heart rhythm back to normal, sinus), I decided to combine resistance exercises with organ-specific extracts, quality nutrition, heart-specific supplements, EECP, detoxing, and a small amount of HGH (human growth hormone), supported with meditation and breathing techniques. Here is how/why we combined the various modalities:

1) Ablation: USC Professor K. Nademanee had developed a new ablation technique, feeding a Laser probe through a vein in the leg upwards into the heart. Professor Nademanee then knocked out short circuits with the laser, bringing electrical currents in the heart back to normal. I had previously undergone this procedure, but it only lasted for a few days.

I underwent the five and a half hour procedure that required a high-tech operating room, 30 monitors, 2 doctors, 3 nurses, at a total sum of $ 82,000. The treatment was a success. But to keep the heart in a normal sinus rhythm, I had to take a drug, Amiodarone that has many bad side effects and should not be taken for long time periods.

2) Organ-specific cell extracts. Most of today’s cell extracts are based on a German treatment, Dr. Niehans Cell therapy. The rich and famous used to go to Germany and Switzerland for rejuvenating injections of embryonic sheep cells. Because these injections were very effective in special areas - - thymus cell extracts stimulated immune functions, and mesenchym, the equivalent of umbilical chord blood, helped healing processes - - Tuebingen and Heidelberg Universities collaborated on a project to pinpoint the active ingredients in these cells. They pinpointed low molecular weight peptides, nucleic acids and growth factors. Mesenchym extract has been shown to increase healing, most likely because it stimulates basic immune functions (1, 2), heart extract has been shown to strengthen heart (9), and muscle extract has been shown effective in muscle injury recovery and to increase muscle mass (1). Several US projects led to the development of very effective and well documented sublingual (liquids) and oral (tablets) organ-specific formulas (2, 9).

3) Dr. Paul Ward, PED, Olympic trainer, made me aware of the fact that his Circuit weight training had been shown to increase heart muscle in general, and built left atrium walls specifically (5, 6). He designed a weight-lifting program for me, which I followed 3 times per week. I combined an aerobic segment with resistance (weight) exercises that included six exercise machines and bench-pressing.

If I was able to re-build the left atrium heart muscle, new blood vessels in these muscles NEEDED to be formed.

4) EECP had been shown to re-vascularize heart muscle (4). Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP) is a heart-strengthening method that is used by leading medical centers all around the world. Here is how EECP works:

Picture with permission; Dr. Fouad Ghaly, MD, Torrance, California

You lie comfortably on a special bed, and a series of blood pressure cuffs are wrapped around your legs, up to your abdomen. Attached to a heart monitor, an EKG triggers the cuffs to inflate and deflate in sync with your own heart beat, pumping healthy blood throughout your body and taking a load off your heart. During the heart’s resting phase, when it normally receives its supply of blood, the cuffs inflate, pushing oxygen-rich blood toward your heart. The EECP was done at Dr. Fouad Ghaly, MD, Torrance, CA, two to three times per week. As I mentioned earlier, EECP is a magnificent method to strengthen the heart, and it also flushes kidneys and increases oxygen supply to tissues.

5) Small amounts of pro-anabolic HGH (human growth hormone). HGH had been shown to support muscle mass in literally all age groups, men and women.

6) Quality nutrition. Besides true quality nutrition, this included pomegranate extract, blueberries and strawberries, supplemented with B-complex, niacin, ,antioxidants, fish oil, folic acid, acetyl-carnitine, alpha lipoic acid, and Co-Q10, all high in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and heart-specific supplements.

To support the above modalities we included the following.

Optimum breathing techniques. There are numerous references in the scientific literature that show a connection with breathing and heart functions.

Since toxic chemicals accumulate over the years in the body, mostly in adipose tissue, and mimic estrogens (contra-indicated to re-building muscle mass) and suppress immune functions, I occasionally followed the niacin-based detox program. More about the details and detoxing in Chapter 4.

Positive thinking. I didn’t even give failure a chance. My thoughts were always on the research I was going to do after the recovery and how to give thanks.

Soon I was back to feeling normal, back to life. Regaining sinus rhythm made a big difference, even though my left atrium was still enlarged. Give it some time, was the medical consensus; along with good health practices that included heart nutrients, the left atrium could - and did –improve as well.

3-month initial recovery program:

1) Ablation. After that use the drug Amioderone to keep the heart in sinus. Even though Amioderone has numerous side effects, it has the highest probability of keeping the heart in a consistent rhythm. Started with 600 mg per day which after two weeks was reduced to 400 mg per day. At six week reduced to 200 mg per day and discontinued at eight weeks. Coreg: began with 12 mg a day and after three weeks steadily decreased to zero.

2) For a minimum of 3 months: Combine 3 types of cell extracts, EECP, hGH, fitness training, meditation, anti-inflammatory and heart-specific nutrients, and occasional niacin-based sweat detox.

Results:

100% return to normal/sinus during the entire 3-month recovery period.

Heart murmur had decreased to 1 – 2 by the end of 3-month period.

Echocardiogram confirmed excellent improvements/recovery: about two weeks after completion of 3-month recovery program, showed ejection fraction of 60%, left atrium 5.3 (down from 6.8, normal is <4.0), and all other variables in normal range.

I felt extremely good; exercise capacity back to almost pre-accident level, including running, weight-lifting and horseback riding.

After three months, I had spent $ 35,000. I knew that I would be unable to continue spending such vast amounts of money to maintain the treatment results.

So, back to the experts, and their responses were unanimous: "You have to wean yourself off the expensive parts. So, I decided to continue for another five months while slowly cutting back on the cell extracts and EECP.

At the three-month mark, I still kept feeling good. I discontinued the cell extract injections, reduced the sublingual extracts, and reduced EECP sessions to about one every two weeks.

I continued this budgeted treatment program for a total of five months. Even though I was feeling extremely good, I was worried what the next round of tests would reflect the budgeted protocol.

Face the music! It’s time for Judgment Day! Another echocardiogram was in order.

The echocardiogram was performed by USC-associated APEX Cardiology at Centinela Hospital in Los Angeles. The results showed even better improvements. Ejection fraction was 80% (defined as high performing athlete), left atrium further improved to 3.7 (now in normal range), and all other variables were also within normal ranges.

Routine examinations, besides confirming my excellent state of health, also recorded a further decrease in the heart murmur to 1 or less, hardly noticeable.

I had lost 18 lbs of muscle mass in the time following the accident. Having engaged in super-circuit training as developed by Dr. Paul Ward (5), I re-gained 12 pounds of muscle mass during, and following the recovery period.

Follow-up ECG, blood analysis and regular examinations revealed I had fully recovered and I was – still am - in excellent health.

After passing my aviation medical, I climbed into my airplane – by myself –and soared to 11,500 feet. I thanked God for this miracle, and for giving me good friends and the knowledge to be able to design this very special recovery protocol.

Addendum:

In the beginning of 2008 a Swiss microscope specialist living in northern California called me: We have a friend, 62 years old, whose heart is so bad, with an 18% ejection fraction, irregular heart beat, pacemaker doesn’t work on him; he is on an emergency list for a heart transplant. Could your recovery regimen help him?

Bottom-line: He followed a similar protocol for two 4-months periods, and he is back working on his farm, lifting hay bails, with a new girl friend and lots of smiles. His pacemaker now works, ejection fraction tripled and, naturally, he is off the heart transplant list.

We submitted a paper about the heart recovery to a peer-reviewed medical journal. While evaluating the paper, I was invited to present the recovery protocol at the 16th Congress of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). Since a presentation at a medical congress carries much more recognition than a simple publication, I did so and presented Alternative Therapies in the Treatment of Cardiac Injury at the A4M Congress at the Mandalay Resort in Las Vegas, Dec. 09.

II: The Plan for you: A short synopsis, an overview:

Chapter 1, Calculate your gene-expression-age, is a fun-way of showing you how lifestyle contributes to health and longevity. Prematurely aged? Younger than your birth certificate age? It should be obvious that this test is part of the plan to motivate you to take charge of your own life/health!

Chapter 2, Lessons Learned, is meant to give you a realistic introduction to today’s picture of health and anti-aging research. Not always pretty and logical -often even counter-productive due to the influence of special interests – this is reality! Tough! Learn from it! A key point, again, is to motivate you to take charge of your own health. Think, be logical and take charge of your own health, and health/fitness will be yours. A key point to acknowledge: There is more to health and longevity than just popping a drug for everything that ails