How To Speed Up Removal Of Biofilm In Arterial Plaque?

[yerrag]

There should not be biofilms in your arteries! That would be very severe... There are biofilms in the hole connecting the mouth to anus (and urethra, vagina, and skin to some degree). So there are plaques that are part of biofilms, but I don't think they've been named distinct from the biofilm itself, have they? Biofilms can cause degeneration which causes arterial plaques, but that's another story.

If I have been the subject of chronic bacterial infection that has gone on for a good decade or more without my knowing it, I would imagine that the bacteria would have lined my arterial and capillary walls, and because of the mass accumulated, they would have the quorum needed to create a strong biofilm to resist the bodies' defense system, and in so doing they would have used calcium to strengthen the biofilm as well as to serve as a protective wall. This wall, as part of the biofilm, could range from being frail to being very sturdy, depending on how well my white blood cells have stood up to the challenge of killing these bacteria. The plaque that results would be a mixture of dead white cells as well as dead bacteria, as well as live white blood cells and bacteria, meshed in with the calcium and the biofilm, all forming together as plaque. The biofilm may not be distinct, but they are a formidable structure nonetheless.

Keloid is from serotonin. So are blood pressure problems. Metergoline might be handy to try.

I've tried cyproheptadine and it's also an antagonist to serotonin. Its effect is too miniscule to have any significant effect on me. How would metergoline be any different? I've tried low-dose doxycycline for more than 2 weeks to see if I could benefit from some anti-inflammatory effects, but so far my blood pressure has stayed steady.

I believe the keloid is more an effect of hypoxia, with oxygen deficiency being a primary driver. The keloid originated from the time when I had hypoxemia arising from mercury toxicity. Existing keloids are holdovers from that past. In the case of high blood pressure, it is mainly from hypoxia, which I believe to originate from plaque that's blocking capillaries in my kidneys. So my effort is towards lysing the plaque with the help of proteolytic enzymes. Also, I need to formulate a cyclodextrin-based topical solution to aid in eating up the fatty portion of plaque. May use DMSO as the carrier, and use vitamin E as well.

 

[ecstatichamster]

If I have been the subject of chronic bacterial infection that has gone on for a good decade or more without my knowing it, I would imagine that the bacteria would have lined my arterial and capillary walls, and because of the mass accumulated, they would have the quorum needed to create a strong biofilm to resist the bodies' defense system, and in so doing they would have used calcium to strengthen the biofilm as well as to serve as a protective wall. This wall, as part of the biofilm, could range from being frail to being very sturdy, depending on how well my white blood cells have stood up to the challenge of killing these bacteria. The plaque that results would be a mixture of dead white cells as well as dead bacteria, as well as live white blood cells and bacteria, meshed in with the calcium and the biofilm, all forming together as plaque. The biofilm may not be distinct, but they are a formidable structure nonetheless.


I've tried cyproheptadine and it's also an antagonist to serotonin. Its effect is too miniscule to have any significant effect on me. How would metergoline be any different? I've tried low-dose doxycycline for more than 2 weeks to see if I could benefit from some anti-inflammatory effects, but so far my blood pressure has stayed steady.

I believe the keloid is more an effect of hypoxia, with oxygen deficiency being a primary driver. The keloid originated from the time when I had hypoxemia arising from mercury toxicity. Existing keloids are holdovers from that past. In the case of high blood pressure, it is mainly from hypoxia, which I believe to originate from plaque that's blocking capillaries in my kidneys. So my effort is towards lysing the plaque with the help of proteolytic enzymes. Also, I need to formulate a cyclodextrin-based topical solution to aid in eating up the fatty portion of plaque. May use DMSO as the carrier, and use vitamin E as well.

Metergoline is different because it antagonizes different enzymes but I take your point.

Have you tried Frolov device and breathing to increase your CP? I seem to remember your have. If you increase your CP to 28-35 I don’t see how you could be suffering from hypoxia.

 

[ecstatichamster]

By the way, I think high blood pressure is the body’s adapting to arterial stiffness and plaque, so you may be partially on the right track there. It is very protective because without it, the organs in their far reaches would lack oxygen and nutrients and would necrose.

But why are your vessels so stiff and full of plaque?

Antibiotics seem to be a good track for you. Maybe higher dosages.

 

[yerrag]

By the way, I think high blood pressure is the body’s adapting to arterial stiffness and plaque, so you may be partially on the right track there. It is very protective because without it, the organs in their far reaches would lack oxygen and nutrients and would necrose.

But why are your vessels so stiff and full of plaque?

Antibiotics seem to be a good track for you. Maybe higher dosages.

Thanks. I agree that the high blood pressure is protecting me, which is why I have resisted everyone's well meaning advice to take blood pressure lowering drugs. I believe my stiff vessels are from the 10+ (more like 13) years of hidden periodontal infection. This has resulted in plaque forming, initially affecting organs with small capillaries, and the kidneys are such an organ. Since kidneys filter a lot of blood, a lot of bacteria would end up clinging to the capillary walls there. The kidneys would be the canary in the coal mine, as plaque that builds up would manifest its effects in the kidneys first given that capillaries stiffen earlier than larger blood vessels given their small diameter. Perhaps other organs are affected, but the focus is on kidneys as blood markers on kidney health are readily available.

I'll be doing a carotid ultrasound shortly, just to see how good or bad a major artery is in terms of plaque. I'm hoping to see little or no plaque there, and that will at least tell me that at the very least my problem is with the smaller blood vessels and not the large ones.

I'm not keen on continuing antibiotics for removing plaque for now. I'm monitoring my wbc and neutrophils. Both are still high, although they have started to come down, and I hope it continues to go down to pre-hypertension levels. For example, pre-hypertension my neutrophils was at 54%. Over the years, it has steadily climbed up to 74%. 3 months after my periodontal issues were resolved, it has gone down to 64%. I'll take another CBC shortly to see if it continues to go down.

I'll focus now on the proteolytic enzymes. Will receive 2 months of supply of ZymEssence in a week. And if after 2 months no improvement is forthcoming, will continue for another 2 months of it, but by then I would have a cyclodextrin-based topical solution added to my treatment. I'm hoping the cyclodextrin would work on the fatty portion of the plaque.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I think that’s smart focusing on the enzymes. You can take 750 thousand units of serrapeptase if you tolerate it. Or more. It’s used to clean out arteries. Other enzymes can work if you can’t tolerate the serrapeptase.

 

[yerrag]

I think that’s smart focusing on the enzymes. You can take 750 thousand units of serrapeptase if you tolerate it. Or more. It’s used to clean out arteries. Other enzymes can work if you can’t tolerate the serrapeptase.

The Zymessence I'm using has 14,000 S.U. serrapeptase per capsule. At 3 times per day, it's 42,000 S.U. per day. But it also comes with bromelain and papain. I'm just not sure how S.U. compares with the units you mentioned. I may go with the serrapeptase on Amazon if these don't do their intended job.

 

[yerrag]

The Zymessence I'm using has 14,000 S.U. serrapeptase per capsule. At 3 times per day, it's 42,000 S.U. per day. But it also comes with bromelain and papain. I'm just not sure how S.U. compares with the units you mentioned. I may go with the serrapeptase on Amazon if these don't do their intended job.

42,000 units is a far cry from 750,000 units. If two months of ZymEssence doesn't cut it, I'll go with a good brand of serraptase that I can buy at Amazon. I was looking at Enerex before.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I would do that now.

 

[yerrag]

I would do that now.

I was thinking the same thing but upon backreading your Serrapeptase thread, I'm reminded that enzyme blends offer some advantages over a simple enzyme. The ZymEssence may be much lower in Serrapeptase, but the blend with papain and bromelain may give the blend the ability to lyse a wider variety of proteins in the plaque. So I'll have to find out if the synergistic effects would outplay the brute force approach with the single enzyme use of serrapeptase. Plus your experience with Serrapeptase didn't work out as you had expected, and you had to use an enzyme blend as well.

No one in this forum has yet reported on the use of ZymEssence despite his videos on enzymes being shared and watched so I'm curious as well to test his "the proof is in the pudding" efficacy of his blend.

On the other hand, I should order the Enerex serrapeptase enzyme so that I have the option of "blending" it with the ZymEssence enzyme blend. Dr. Wong's ZymEssence makes only one enzyme blend but he would package his enzyme blend with other supplements of his to deal with specific issues. So, in the case of anti-scar tissue, he would sell zinc citrate with the enzyme; for heart support, he would add arginine-EE plus TMG, Hawthorne Berry Extract, and Magscorbate.

I should probably have ordered the arginine/hawthorne/magscorbate, but it would be too costly to ship. But it's easy to make my own magnesium ascorbate and substitute the hawthorne berry extract with eating more hawthorne berries (preserved one I find in the Chinese grocery store), and as for arginine, that may be the only item I would have to find a supplement for locally. But then, I may not take any of these at all as my problem isn't really with the heart, but is about plaque in the kidneys. So a straight use of enzymes would be enough.

 

[Jib]

iSerra 250,000 SPU Maximum Strength Serrapeptase 90 Delayed Release Capsules. 642415405232 | eBay

Not bad for 50 bucks. 90 caps at 250,000 units each of Serrapeptase.

You can get Isotonix Bromelain as well. I do like their products. Perhaps any other cheaper bromelain would be fine but I like the idea of making a bromelain cocktail and downing a few caps of high dose Serrapeptase with it on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning as a routine.

High dose K2 would probably also be a good idea.

Have you tried Wim Hof breathing? It actually induces temporary hypoxia (during practicing my SpO2 has dropped as low as 65% for a short time), but the idea is that doing so as a short-term stress creates an adaptive response that enhances the body's ability to utilize oxygen. Worth thinking about.

Deep breath in, let it out, rinse and repeat. The idea is basically hyperventilating to get CO2 levels very low, then a breath in, exhale, and hold without inhaling for as long as possible while CO2 slowly builds back up. It's quite interesting. Rinse and repeat.

Ray's written quite a bit about the benefits of living at higher altitudes, and this breathing practice can likely emulate many of the benefits of living at higher altitudes by simulating the physiological responses that happen.

Much like low-dose Naltrexone, which I take, blocks opiod receptors when you take it at night, so they're more sensitive the following day.

A finger meter for measuring your oxygen levels would be recommended. It's interesting to see your oxygen levels plummeting and then come back up. It is a very short-term stress that may have a lot of benefits in the long-term. Wim Hof's world records are quite impressive as well as the study he was in:

Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans

"Healthy volunteers practicing the learned techniques exhibited profound increases in the release of epinephrine, which in turn led to increased production of anti-inflammatory mediators and subsequent dampening of the proinflammatory cytokine response elicited by intravenous administration of bacterial endotoxin. This study could have important implications for the treatment of a variety of conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation, especially autoimmune diseases in which therapies that antagonize proinflammatory cytokines have shown great benefit."

 

[shine]

Does the cyclodextrin being discussed here have anything to do with "highly branched cyclic dextrin", also known as cluster dextrin? Is that safe to consume?

 

[yerrag]

There should not be biofilms in your arteries! That would be very severe... There are biofilms in the hole connecting the mouth to anus (and urethra, vagina, and skin to some degree). So there are plaques that are part of biofilms, but I don't think they've been named distinct from the biofilm itself, have they? Biofilms can cause degeneration which causes arterial plaques, but that's another story.

@CLASH was saying the same thing you're saying. Are you saying there's no chance for biofilms to form in the internal walls of blood vessels?

It's been more than 6 months since I was fixed of a periodontal infection that lingered for 15 years before it was discovered and dealt with. This is very much the cause of my high blood pressure, which stems from the plaque formed in the blood vessels in response to that infection. When I take a CBC blood test, I still find that my wbc count is high, and my neutrophils is still high. This suggests a lingering issue with an infection, perhaps it's low-grade, and so I have to think that this infection is within my blood vessels. Would this infection be gut-based instead? Is this a moot point though? Perhaps I have to resume an antibiotic protocol (I was on 1 month of low-dose doxycycline) with minocycline, and then be on it for at least half a year. It won't matter whether the biofilm is in my guts or in my blood vessels.

Have you tried Frolov device and breathing to increase your CP? I seem to remember your have. If you increase your CP to 28-35 I don’t see how you could be suffering from hypoxia.

I should try Buteyko again and see if it would still cause my bp to go up. It was causing my bp to go up then, and I still don't think now would be any different.

Have you tried Wim Hof breathing? It actually induces temporary hypoxia (during practicing my SpO2 has dropped as low as 65% for a short time), but the idea is that doing so as a short-term stress creates an adaptive response that enhances the body's ability to utilize oxygen. Worth thinking about.

Deep breath in, let it out, rinse and repeat. The idea is basically hyperventilating to get CO2 levels very low, then a breath in, exhale, and hold without inhaling for as long as possible while CO2 slowly builds back up. It's quite interesting. Rinse and repeat.

Do you have a good link to Wim Hof breathing? Dropping the spO2 sounds out of this world, so I should try it.

Does the cyclodextrin being discussed here have anything to do with "highly branched cyclic dextrin", also known as cluster dextrin? Is that safe to consume?

I'm not yet caught up with the terminology at this point. I wish I could be an expert on it myself but I'm afraid I'm going to be leading blindly now.

 

[Jib]

Do you have a good link to Wim Hof breathing? Dropping the spO2 sounds out of this world, so I should try it.

It's that simple. I would recommend a fingertip pulse oximeter as well so you can see the changes for yourself. For the adaptive response it's probably just like exercise, where regular use is key. Short term intense stress to provide adaptations that protect against extreme stress. Makes sense to me.

Here is the study he was in:

Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans

"Hitherto, both the autonomic nervous system and innate immune system were regarded as systems that cannot be voluntarily influenced. The present study demonstrates that, through practicing techniques learned in a short-term training program, the sympathetic nervous system and immune system can indeed be voluntarily influenced. Healthy volunteers practicing the learned techniques exhibited profound increases in the release of epinephrine, which in turn led to increased production of anti-inflammatory mediators and subsequent dampening of the proinflammatory cytokine response elicited by intravenous administration of bacterial endotoxin. This study could have important implications for the treatment of a variety of conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation, especially autoimmune diseases in which therapies that antagonize proinflammatory cytokines have shown great benefit."

 

[Waynish]

@CLASH was saying the same thing you're saying. Are you saying there's no chance for biofilms to form in the internal walls of blood vessels?

It's been more than 6 months since I was fixed of a periodontal infection that lingered for 15 years before it was discovered and dealt with. This is very much the cause of my high blood pressure, which stems from the plaque formed in the blood vessels in response to that infection. When I take a CBC blood test, I still find that my wbc count is high, and my neutrophils is still high. This suggests a lingering issue with an infection, perhaps it's low-grade, and so I have to think that this infection is within my blood vessels. Would this infection be gut-based instead? Is this a moot point though? Perhaps I have to resume an antibiotic protocol (I was on 1 month of low-dose doxycycline) with minocycline, and then be on it for at least half a year. It won't matter whether the biofilm is in my guts or in my blood vessels.



I should try Buteyko again and see if it would still cause my bp to go up. It was causing my bp to go up then, and I still don't think now would be any different.



Do you have a good link to Wim Hof breathing? Dropping the spO2 sounds out of this world, so I should try it.



I'm not yet caught up with the terminology at this point. I wish I could be an expert on it myself but I'm afraid I'm going to be leading blindly now.

I don't really understand where you're coming from... Why do you think it is in your arteries? Sure toxins and bacteria could be getting in your blood, but an actual bacterial biofilm forming in your bloodstream - I don't see the relevance.

 

[yerrag]

I don't really understand where you're coming from... Why do you think it is in your arteries? Sure toxins and bacteria could be getting in your blood, but an actual bacterial biofilm forming in your bloodstream - I don't see the relevance.

It would be absurd to think of it forming in the bloodstream. But how about in the arterial walls, along with the plaque? Doesn't biofilm employ calcium as a barrier to protect itself?

 

[yerrag]

I don't really understand where you're coming from... Why do you think it is in your arteries? Sure toxins and bacteria could be getting in your blood, but an actual bacterial biofilm forming in your bloodstream - I don't see the relevance.

Hey @Waynish here's some tidbits for you:

Bacteria help explain why stress, fear trigger heart attacks
The presence of biofilm structures in atherosclerotic plaques of arteries from legs amputated as a complication of diabetic foot ulcers. - PubMed - NCBI
Linkages between oral commensal bacteria and atherosclerotic plaques in coronary artery disease patients
Bacteria Present in Carotid Arterial Plaques Are Found as Biofilm Deposits Which May Contribute to Enhanced Risk of Plaque Rupture

Or better still, https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...13i30j0i7i5i30j0i13i5i30j33i13i21.YwE6ffCPXpQ

I don't see how you could mislead by saying there's no such thing as biofilms in blood vessels.

 

[yerrag]

Does the cyclodextrin being discussed here have anything to do with "highly branched cyclic dextrin", also known as cluster dextrin? Is that safe to consume?

Not answering your question but I just wanted to let you know that I mixed 1 g of (2-hydroxypropyl)-beta-cyclodextrin with 2 g of distilled water and a serving size each of Idealabs' DeFibron and Tocovit, and applied it topically over 3 application today. It mized pretty well. I hope the SFAs and the vitamin E together with the cyclodextrin would be able to eat away the cholesteryl ester or oxidized LDL portion of my arterial plaque.

 

[yerrag]

It's that simple. I would recommend a fingertip pulse oximeter as well so you can see the changes for yourself. For the adaptive response it's probably just like exercise, where regular use is key. Short term intense stress to provide adaptations that protect against extreme stress. Makes sense to me.

Here is the study he was in:

Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans

"Hitherto, both the autonomic nervous system and innate immune system were regarded as systems that cannot be voluntarily influenced. The present study demonstrates that, through practicing techniques learned in a short-term training program, the sympathetic nervous system and immune system can indeed be voluntarily influenced. Healthy volunteers practicing the learned techniques exhibited profound increases in the release of epinephrine, which in turn led to increased production of anti-inflammatory mediators and subsequent dampening of the proinflammatory cytokine response elicited by intravenous administration of bacterial endotoxin. This study could have important implications for the treatment of a variety of conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation, especially autoimmune diseases in which therapies that antagonize proinflammatory cytokines have shown great benefit."

Thanks. I have an oximeter. I'll try it.

 

[yerrag]

I feel a need for doxycycline again. Or minocyline (haven't tried it yet). My issue has never been with the gut it seemed. With my protocol to lower blood pressure, it seemed to be going along fine, as I am getting much lower spO2 readings, indicating higher oxygenation. But the downside is my blood pressure has been on the upswing, and a CBC test this morning revealed my wbc is back to being high at 7.38, coupled with my neutrophils as well on the upswing at 71.30. It seems that I'm breaking some biofilms present in plaque, and the increased wbc and neutrophils may be a sign that a lot of bacteria is being let loose by the broken biofilms. So I think some antibiotics would help take the load off my innate immune system, and my wbc and neutrophils would not be needed as much.

I get the feeling that if one's guts are fine bacteria-wise, the antibiotic is going to find somewhere else in the body where bacteria lurks and deal with it, and right now I could need its help with these jailbroken bacteria.

Why is the biofilm being broken in the first place? Is that a consequence of the antibotics too or are you doing something else at the moment?

How is your liver on doxycycline?

After my third liver flush (Andreas Moritz protocole) I passed 2 parasites/worms.
I have no way to know if they were in my gut or in my liver, but you’re right, the gut is far from being the only place crippled with pathogens.

I strongly suspect that 15+ years of exposure to a hidden periodontal issue has brought upon plaque being deposited in my entire vascular system. Since the periodontal issue has been resolved lately, I don't expect the bacteria to just go away even if its source has been eliminated. The bacteria would have formed defense systems in and around the plaque, and the biofilms are a defense system. It would be a strong system, as it would have been strengthened by years of trying to survive the onslaught of defensive actions by the body's innate immune system. This defensive mechanism heavily involves the white blood cells, such as the neutrophils and macrophages from the monocytes. This is the reason, as I compile my wbc and neutrophil values in bloodwork over the years dating back to 2002, that I see a steady increase in wbc and neutrophil values. The plaque that's formed over the years is a steady buildup from the carnage resulting from my wbc fighting the bacteria. This plaque buildup led to the steady increase in blood pressure over these ensuing years. As the plaque builds up, the area through which blood flows get more and more constricted and more pressure is needed to drive blood through, especially through capillaries in the organs, such as the kidneys. My focus has been on the kidneys, but other organs are affected as well, even less vital ones - such as my scalp where hair grows from.

I'm currently using NAC and colloidal silver as biofilm busters, and it seems they are working. As the biofilm is broken, bacteria is released. Given the likelihood that this is occurring system-wide through my blood vessels, I imagine the bacteria released is another unslaught, and this would require the response once again from my innate immune system to produce more white blood cells. So this is what I'm seeing in my blood tests - increased wbc count, increased neutrophils, and lowered lymphocytes. The increase has brought me back to levels before my periodontal infection was resolved (when two teeth were extracted). And with the ensuing inflammatory conditions fostered, I'm once again experiencing blood pressure going back up to near previous highs.

This may be seen as a healing reaction, and can be seen as a positive, but it's also going to lead to more plaque, and if I allow this to happen, it will just lead back to the status quo. So, I may need the help the antibiotics to deal with the bacteria released from biofilms breaking down, to ease the load off my immune system, to dispense with the need to have a strong response from generating large amount of wbc, and to minimize the carnage that eventually leads to plaque buildup, which in the first place is what I'm intending to remove.

As for my liver, I don't feel anything although to answer that I may need a liver panel. When I did one 3 months ago, it almost aced it blood marker wise, although my SGOT and SGPT values, both at around 30, were at the high end of optimal values. So, there's a red flag there.

I had the same liver flush before of Moritz before. I'd done it twice as also to be sure. I was disappointed nothing came out of it, as I was hoping there would be something wrong thatI could fix that could help with my blood pressure. Crazy, I would expect stones but not parasites from a liver flush, but I guess it would have caused parasites to come off the guts.

 

[yerrag]

@yerrag
You sure you have a “biofilm”? The idea overall seems a bit over complicated from my point of view. Sounds more like you have a specific kidney issue. I would hedge more towards the issue being a dietary one in cause.

You are right with it being a kidney issue, and involving blood vessels. Not sure whether the issue is with the glomerular capillaries, or the renal artery. Regardless, it's not a biofilm issue but more with blood vessels hardened from many years (15 years +) of being exposed to high blood pressure. It has somehow forgotten to dilate, being used to being constricted.

Use of vitamin K2, together with niacinamide, and possibly far infrared therapy (lying on a mat that emits infrared energy with heat produced) has begun to lower my blood pressure significantly.

Thanks for the counter opinion!

I have to get back to you on this @CLASH . I'm back to thinking this is a biofilm issue. After my efforts to lyse plaque, it seems to be bearing fruit. I see a reduction in my RDW (from CBC blood test) and it may indicate less plaque plugging my vessels. From 13.5 to 13.1. Yet my WBC and Neutrophils went back to their highs, and my blood pressure went up as well. I think that as the plaque is disintegrating, the biofilms in it are disrupting, and this is releasing bacteria into the bloodstream. This is causing WBC and neutrophils to increase, and along with it an increased inflammatory response. But your experience with biofilms has mainly been in the gut, while I have not experienced any issues with my gut. So I think we're looking at opposite sides of our context, and your concentration on gut issues gives you a biased perspective on how biofilms can be influential in health issues other than the gut.

By the way, I couldn't find the post where you we discussed colloidal silver in passing, but since you recommend oregano oil, I thought it interesting to share this study on the synergistic effect of oregano oil and silver, although the silver used is a silver nanoparticle made by a patented bacterial process:

Synergistic and Additive Effect of Oregano Essential Oil and Biological Silver Nanoparticles against Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Strains