Sorry to be negative here but I was researching the "patented MRT" test and found it listed on the Quackwatch website as a dubious test with no backing from the traditional medical community. http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelate...ests/tests.html I know many on this bb are very pro alternative medicine and anti traditional medicine. Frankly I'm sceptical of both but I do support hard science and data findings. I found the information on the MRT test on the leap website to be very scanty at best. I'm assuming this is to protect their patent and their opportunity for making a profit. If it is a true breakthrough in medicine then why not share it with the medical community. Sell it to some drug company and make your profit that way so that many more can benefit from this "breakthrough". Keeping it confined to this one website is not helping the millions of people who could benefit from this blood test within the confines of traditional medicine.I tested positive to soy, peanut and coconut on an allergy skin prick test and have eliminated these things from my diet. It has made a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE in my IBS which I have suffered with for over 20 years (C&D alternating). I was very excited about getting more info on other things that I might be sensitive to and am currently researching ways to detect other allergens. The quackwatch site guy has been published in med journals and Time magazine has also done a story on him and he's made the morning tv circuit. He is widely read and seen as a source for what's good and what's quackery. If the MRT test is truly scientifically sound, then please explain.Thanks, seeking
Is the MRT test quackery?
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I took the MRT testing with LEAP..but I made sure I called my insurance company first to make sure it was all legal...and they called me back the next day after they did there research and all was well
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It didnt matter because money wasnt involved ...When I shared my story here on the board Mike was the one that said I think I can help and even if you look back in old post he wanted to do the testing free for me...He just wanted to show that it worked for others that had the symptoms that I did but I still wanted to check with my insurance first even though the testing was not going to cost me a penny.. They gave me the medical code and I called LEAP and got my blood test....I still have a hard time with people doing stuff for me so that is why I got the insurance company involved.. I am serious the best thing that I ever did Here is alittle info below that I found about the one I took...I guess there is all kinds of information out there on the internet....The website was to
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Executive Summary:Newly Patented Blood Test Addresses Mass Market (NEW LISTING!!)Signet developed, secured multiple patents, successfully test marketed and established a startup core of providers of services and products based on Its' proprietary blood analysis technology. This was accomplished in their geographic area of southeast Florida and test-projected nationwide between 1993-2000. Seeking expansion capital for a DMA-based rollout in the top 45 U.S. DMA's. Canada, Europe and Australasia to follow. Affiliate laboratories are in place. Signet has also assembled a core of respected doctors and dieticians as advocates to support the rollout. The "Mediator Release Test" (MRT) "directs" a set of turnkey Wellness Programs trademarked "LEAP" (Lifestyle, Eating and Performance). The testing and programs will be marketed via existing small-facility and large-facility-based healthcare delivery sites. The MRT is insurance reimbursable. 260+ PPO's paid for MRT tests during the FLA. test market. LEAP will be concurrently marketed "direct-to-consumer" via a LEAP Home Care Program. An Athletic Performance Program co-developed with a Major University Sports Dept. will be marketed to NCAA and professional sports. A number of NFL players already tested. About 100,000,000 Americans suffer non-allergic food and food-additive sensitivities ("non allergy" immune responses). Over 30 million Irritable Bowel Syndrome sufferers plus migraine and non migraine headache, chronic fatigue, even ADD and Autism victims show these reactions now accurately detectable with MRT. Offending substances can be avoided and symptoms subside. Signet will also import an effective OTC immuno-modulating supplement as an adjunct for IBS, and has formulated a targeted vitamin/mineral supplement. http://www.worldweb.com/UBS/Signet.html *********************************************Here is the same Dr's opinion of IBS...he seems to stress alot about food and IBS and not talk much about the brain gut connection....seems like he needs to get some more knowledgeIrritable Bowel SyndromeStephen Barrett, M.D.Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) -- also called irritable or spastic colon -- is a common functional intestinal disorder characterized by recurrent abdominal discomfort and abnormal bowel function. The discomfort often begins after eating and goes away after a bowel movement. The symptoms can include cramps, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and a feeling of incomplete emptying.IBS occurs in about one in five Americans, more commonly in women, and more often at times of emotional stress. It usually begins in late adolescence or early adult life and rarely starts after the age of 50. In severe cases, it can result in missed work days and curtailment of social activities. Although effective help is available, many people with IBS are too embarrassed, pessimistic, or afraid to seek medical care. Even worse, some people who consult a doctor receive insufficient guidance and conclude that nothing further can be done for them.Why Symptoms OccurDuring normal digestion, foods are broken down in the stomach and small intestine so that their nutrients can be absorbed into the body. Undigested or partially digested portions -- mostly in liquid form -- then enter the large intestine (colon) where most of the water is reabsorbed. Movement through the intestines results from peristalsis, a wavelike contraction of muscles in the intestinal walls that propel their contents forward. When all is well, the end result is stool that is solid but soft enough to be excreted easily.Diet, eating habits, stress, and various environmental factors can disrupt the normal function of the intestines. If the intestines squeeze too hard or not enough, the partially digested food can travel too rapidly or too slowly through the digestive system. Movement that is too fast will result in diarrhea, because not enough water is reabsorbed. Movement that is too slow can result in constipation, because too much water is absorbed. Overly hard squeezing (spasm) can result in cramps. However, the diarrhea of IBS can also occur without pain.IBS symptoms occur after eating because of the gastrocolic reflex -- increased movement of the intestinal contents in response to food entering the stomach. The strength of this reflex can be influenced by the volume and temperature of the food and the number of calories. Large meals (particularly high-fat meals) and large amounts of cold beverages can trigger IBS attacks.Medical EvaluationA thorough history and physical examination should be obtained. The extent of further evaluation depends on the patient's age, general health, and symptoms. If symptoms have been present a long time and have a typical pattern, the doctor may rely mainly on the patient's description to diagnose IBS. If symptoms are recent in origin, testing may be needed to be certain that an infection, inflammation, or tumor is not responsible for the symptoms. The tests may include blood tests, stool tests, x-ray examinations, and endoscopy (examination of the colon with a hollow tubular instrument inserted from below).Management TipsThe first step in managing IBS should be to identify what triggers the symptoms. The factors to consider include food intolerances, eating habits, dietary factors, emotional stress, exercise habits, use of laxatives, and vitamin C intake. It may help to keep a diary that relates symptoms to daily activities.Many people with IBS have difficulty digesting lactose (milk sugar). This results from a shortage of lactase, an enzyme normally produced by cells lining the small intestine. Lactase breaks down milk sugar into simpler substances that are absorbed into the bloodstream. When there is not enough lactase, undigested lactose can ferment in the large intestine and cause nausea, cramps, bloating, flatulence, and diarrhea that begin about 30 minutes to 2 hours after consuming lactose-containing foods. The severity of symptoms varies with the amount of lactose the individual can tolerate. To determine whether lactose intolerance is a factor in IBS, the patient can experiment to see whether symptoms are related to milk intake. Laboratory testing may also be useful. If lactose intolerance is significant, lactase drops or tablets can be added to ordinary milk, low-lactose products can be substituted, or dairy products can be avoided (in which case the patient should take calcium supplements).Bloating or excessive gas can also be related to eating habits and diet. Drinking carbonated beverages can introduce gas into the intestines and cause abdominal pain. Eating or drinking rapidly, chewing gum, smoking, nervously gulping air, or wearing loose dentures can cause some people to swallow a large amount of air, some of which reaches the large intestine. Gas can also be produced by such foods as beans, onions, broccoli, and cabbage. Eating more slowly or minimizing gas-forming foods may help.Since caffeine can increase intestinal motility, people with IBS should avoid or minimize the use of caffeine-containing beverages such as coffee and caffeinated colas. Fructose or sorbitol (a sugar substitute) can induce diarrhea in some people. Since vitamin C supplements of 1 gram/day or more can cause diarrhea, patients with chronically loose stools should be advised to stop taking them.Unnecessary delay in defecation should be avoided. When an urge is felt, leaving the stool in the colon may contribute to constipation because the longer the contents remain, the more fluid may be absorbed. Use of certain laxatives can perpetuate constipation because the large intestine can become dependent on them. People with IBS should not take strong laxatives.Increasing the fiber content of the diet or taking a stool softener such as methylcellulose or psyllium may help regulate bowel movements and reduce both constipation and diarrhea. Increasing dietary fiber should be done gradually to give the body time to adjust. Prescription drugs are available to slow the movement of food through the intestines or to relieve intestinal spasm.In patients with abdominal pain, medication, a hot bath, or a hot water bottle applied to the abdomen may relieve an acute attack. Antispasmodics can also prevent attacks. If a certain type of activity is known to trigger an attack, taking an antispasmodic drug beforehand may prevent trouble. If modifiable sources of stress can be discovered, resolving them may help. Regular exercise can also help to normalize bowel action.Quackwatch Home Page
The test is on there because as you discovered information about it is minimal and there hasn't been anything really published to support the claims behind it. There is little evidence in general that food intolerance is a real phenomenon of major clinical signficance. That is, there may in fact be something to it, but it is probably fairly rare.Another point is that the best studies actually come from lactose intolerance, which although not the same thing as an immunological intolerance, suggest that people have difficulty in figuring out what foods bother them (if any indeed do).
I forgot to say that I am so glad that you feel better after you stoped eating those foods...Isnt it hard to believe how much food and additives can make us feel so bad...Mike will be here to explain their new test that has been out for only two years...Glad to you feel much better
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Flux on your statement below the Doctors I went to had all kinds of evidence what was triggering my IBS...I listened to them and now I am minus a gallbladder and every other organ in my body...Evidence is in the eye of the beholder....
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QUOTE************************There is little evidence in general that food intolerance is a real phenomenon of major clinical signficance
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Once we get a couple of well-controlled studies in the medical lit (assuming that they can be done or there is any interest in doing them) it could move out of the dubious tests to an accepted test mode. The problem is until those get published it is really hard to judge the claims. You can publish in the medical lit and not void out your patent rights.I'm not sure how good the "insurance paid for it" arguement is. Some insurance companies are moving to covering any number of alternative treatments that don't have good evidence for them because that is what patients want. Gives them a cut of the "alt. med" market. I mean when you get the choice between an insurance co that pays for your chiropractic, and massage and aroma therapy (or whatever is your bag) vs one that doesn't, considering that a very sizable number of people pay for alt. med services anyway.... it is a good way to get people to your insurance company vs someone else who doesn't cover stuff you are currently paying for.K.
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Hi!I can definitely understand your concerns and wanting to make sure you are not fleeced by yet another no-good medical exam.I felt that way too before I took it. I checked it out as Donna showed here and felt it was on the up and up- so I decided to take the test.Just to point out, it is a ture blood test, no alternative medicine involved here. I was being followed by my PCP, my acunpuncturist (who is an MD as well) AND my chiropractor- they all wanted to see this test in action, in a real patient. My acupuncturist and chiro had not heard of it, but my PCP had read about it in a journal somewhere (not sure which one). After I got my results, I started the diet program and within 6 weeks, I was off all my meds, feeling better than I ever had in my entire life (I've had GI problems since I was born) and amazing my doctors at the turnabout it health I had. It has been almost 2 years since then and no placebo effect lasts that long. Since then, my daughter, my dad, my cousin, and several family friends have taken the test- with many more checking into it and others considering it- just all based on how well I did. I wish I could show you before and after pictures of me- my family told me that before, I looked kinda grey, and in alot of pain. Now, the sparkle is back in my eyes, my skin is a healthy pink again and I am doing great! My husband and children were so grateful to MikeNL and Signet Labs for giving "me" back to them. It was really that great of a change.I understand the Quackwatch guy is well respected but he also judged a product as it was on its way into the masses.There are lots of reasons why the test is still only on one webpage, which I'll let MikeNL address. BUT no drug company will touch this test, because they make NO money from repeat customers as they do with pharmeceuticals. I, for one, was spending about $200-$300 per month on meds alone for my IBS, FM and CFIDS. Now I spend about $15 per year(my co-pay) for a bottle of Celebrex(30 capsules) that lasts me all year- adn I have some I have to throw away at the end of its shelf life.MikeNL is is the process of marketing it nationwide- that's why he is on his cross country tour right now. Like Donna, it was the BEST thing I EVER did for my health. And I have even been to UCLA as well the the best FM doc in the country for treatment.I am glad you are being so skeptical to protect yourself, we all should be. But my story speaks for itself, as does my daugher's , my dad's, my friends', Donna's, WD40's, Julia's and on and on.Flux,you really do need to come up with some better comebacks. Its the same thing you've been writing all along and it has been addressed over and over...All my best,Lisa from NevadaP.S. You don't have to believe me. I am here to try to be the kind of person I wish had told me about this years ago, so I wouldn't have wasted all that time begin so sick. But what you do is up to you. All I can do is lay out the truth and let you make up your own mind.
Hey Lisa
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I was on all kinds of medicine too...zofran, phenegran, every SSRI in the world, medicine for anxiety and depression & pain ...Still paying for all kinds of medical bills...but I havent taken one pill of any kind in along time...I was very doubtful at first...It was like no way but much to my surprize it worked as long as I work at it...and for me its real easy to stay away from the triggers for me...Every day that goes by is a blessing
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Hi Donna,Yes,I was surprised too at how much better I got! I was hoping to get control of my GI problems (including, but not just, IBS) through this test.I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER hoped in my wildest dremas that it would be the key to controling my FM and CFIDS too.I was hoping to drop maybe 2-3 meds out of my daily 15 and was shocked to find I could drop them ALL.Some people have asked me why I think it helps my FM and CFIDS too- because it hasn't helped everyone in that department the way it helped me. For me, I think its one less stressor on my body and its just enough to keep the FM and CFIDS quiet because I do get flares when I get run down or the flu or just not enough sleep.I am so glad you are on THIS side of IBS, with me, now. It truly is an amazing and wonderful thing!Hugs,Lisa from Nevada
A website for IBS information. http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/ Top of this page is a video on IBS. http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/library.htm
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Comment...1. The Quackbuster has no idea what LEAP is nor clearly ever looked at it after posting his uninformed comments over 18 months ago.Another viewpoint... ________________________________What's eating Stephen Barrett?by Burton GoldbergJuly 1998Alternative Medicine DigestHe says he's using science to protect the public from expensive fad diagnoses, but if this "quackbuster" has his way, the public will have no recourse but conventional medicine for their health problems. RECENTLY, I set myself the exercise of trying to understand what motivates a self proclaimed "quackbuster" to write a book debunking an entire field of medicine. A "quackbuster," as we've come to know over the years, is someone who is dedicated to casting aspersions on alternative medicine, regardless of whether there is any factual basis. As alternative medicine continues to grow more popular - an estimated 42% of Americans now use it - the "quackbusters" are growing more clamorous in their denunciations of our field. They have to be - they're almost a minority view.Highly visible among these self appointed "quackbusters" is Stephen Barrett, M.D., a retired psychiatrist, author of numerous books, and spokesman for the "Quackwatch" community. In his latest book, Chemical Sensitivity: The Truth About Environmental Illness, coauthored with Ronald E. Gots, M.D., Ph.D (Prometheus Books, 1998), Barrett goes after all the illness categories for which diet and chemical exposure are "falsely blamed."Multiple chemical sensitivity, sick building syndrome, food related hyperactivity, mercury amalgam toxicity, candidiasis hyperactivity, Gulf War syndrome - these are all costly misbeliefs and fad diagnoses, says Barrett. "Many Americans believe that exposure to common foods and chemicals makes them ill," he says. "This book is about people who hold such beliefs but are wrong."Not only are patients wrong, Barrett says, they are "financially exploited as well as mistreated." They are duped by "farfetched" notions and "dubious claims," by headline-crazed media and "toxic television," and by "physicians who use questionable diagnostic and treatment methods."Patients presume they are being made allergic or toxic or even being poisoned by the mass of modern chemicals, cosmetics, cleaning agents, drugs, and other human-made substances. They are mistaken, says Barrett. Their misbeliefs are especially hard to understand, Barrett says, "at a time when our food supply is the world's safest and our antipollution program is the best we've ever had."Patients' symptoms are mental (psychosomatic) in origin - "they react to stress by developing multiple symptoms." Their symptoms are not caused by chemicals or dietary factors, he says. In fact, Barrett suggests that some patients are "hysterical," others are "paranoid," and the rest have "certain psychological factors" that "predispose" them to "develop symptoms" and to seek out "questionable" doctors (meaning alternative medicine practitioners) who will attach a ("not scientifically recognized") disease label to them.Regarding Gulf War syndrome, for example, Barrett declares: "It provides a feeding trough for serious scientists, since funding is abundant, and for every charlatan with a newsworthy theory." On the matter of the dangers of mercury fillings, he states: "The false diagnosis of mercury amalgam toxicity is potentially very harmful and reflects extremely poor judgment."For the most part, of the illnesses listed above, nearly all are mere "labels" rather than legitimate illness conditions, asserts Barrett; they're not caused by foods or chemicals; there are no "scientific"" studies conclusively proving the association of diet, chemicals, and illness; and we are best advised to dismiss them out of hand, he says.In most cases and for most of the illnesses commonly associated with chemical sensitivity, Barrett says the mass of mistaken patients would be better off seeking "mental help" from a psychiatrist or other "mental health practitioner." Alternative medicine physicians and especially "clinical ecologists" (the old name for practitioners of environmental medicine, which links exposures to toxic substances with health conditions) should be chastised, investigated, put on notice, and if possible, put out of business, says Barrett.Most of what Barrett claims can be refuted, easily and decisively. That's not my intention here. I'm more interested in looking at the bigger picture - what is Barrett really saying amidst his quackbusting bluster, and why?Barrett appears to be saying that the typical American patient is stupid, hysterical or paranoid, easily duped, and generally incapable of making a rational, correct medical decision on their own. The patient is mistaken and wrong in thinking their multiple symptoms have any connection to the foods they eat or the environmental chemicals to which they are exposed. The media is irresponsible and not to be trusted as an information source about medicine, especially about alternatives. Doctors who practice alternative medicine are unscientific, opportunistic frauds or quacks, peddling flawed or junk science So who can you turn to - who is not on Barrett's hit list? Conventional doctors. Barrett doesn't say this outright, but it's the only logical conclusion. His message is the old and familiar one from the l950s: the (conventional) doctor knows best.I next pondered what could be the purpose of this book. What could be the result of debunking the connection between foods, chemicals, cosmetics, and drugs with the varieties of environmental illness (mentioned above) now afflicting millions of patients. Why does Barrett (and his colleagues) so dislike alternative medicine? What's eating him that he must disparage the field at every opportunity?The purpose has to be this: to corral this mass of suffering "confused" patients into the treatment pen of conventional medicine. But here Barrett's rationale collapses. The patients end up with nothing.Surely no person suffering unexplained allergies or general toxicity wants to be told they're stupid, mistaken, and ought to have their head examined. And surely no patient who has abandoned conventional medicine (because the one or two dozen doctors they consulted hadn't a clue as to how to help them) would be interested in Barrett's thesis. It is genuinely hard to imagine how a suffering patient could actually be persuaded by Barrett to dismiss alternative approaches when the conventional ones were not useful, or even worse, were harmful.But let's say, despite these reservations, patients allowed themselves to be herded into Barrett's allopathic corral. There would be nothing there for them. Conventional medicine has no cure or treatment for these illnesses. In fact, as Barrett repeatedly points out, for the most part, conventional medicine does not even validate the existence of these illness categories and regards a diagnosis of such illnesses as bogus medicine. Of course, Barrett does offer patients "mental help."Let's look at this setup carefully. Barrett and his "quackbusting" colleagues say they are working to protect the public against health frauds. They don't want the public to waste its money on "sham" treatments that don't work. The false labels of multiple chemical sensitivity, environmental illness, and the rest, do the public a "disservice," Barrett says, and seeking treatment for these wastes the financial resources of insurance companies, employers, and other third party reimbursers.But since conventional medicine has nothing to offer patients who "believe" they are suffering physical distress from these conditions, the patients, in effect, are left on their own to suffer some more. Barrett's plan seems to be to corral these misguided patients into the conventional medicine pen so he can dissuade them of their mistaken notions regarding their illness and make them "see" that it's all psychosomatic.Clearly the patients do not benefit at all from this scenario, so who does? The makers of drugs, petrochemicals, cosmetics, synthetic food additives, pesticides, prepared foods - in short, the massive food and chemical industry of North America benefits. They are no longer held accountable as causal factors in multiple symptom illnesses. They are let off the hook. They can proceed with business as usual. There are no poisons in their products. (See the cartoon about "quackbusters" by Harley Schwadron in "The Politics of Medicine" section, this issue, p. 106.)In the paradox of "quackbusting," the quackbusters say they're protecting public health, but in fact, they're abandoning the public to their own suffering to protect the financial interests of conventional medicine, which has no interest in or ability to produce benefits for these conditions. The "quackbusters" say they're serving the public, but the truth is they're grossly disserving patients. Thanks to Barrett's remarkable chemical insensitivity, a great many patients will be left to suffer on their own without any diagnosis or treatment, except perhaps another round of Prozac on the house.Reproduced with permissionAlternative Medicine Digest, July 1998 ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE ONLINE __________________________________"There is little evidence in general that food intolerance is a real phenomenon of major clinical signficance. That is, there may in fact be something to it, but it is probably fairly rare." ____________________________________This freqeuntly made claim is quite simply not fact, posted by those unfamiliar with the subject in toto. Documentation dates all the way from the 1980's and up through the most recent work on jejunal isolation studies in Sweden.Further disinformation: _________________________________________"Another point is that the best studies actually come from lactose intolerance, which although not the same thing as an immunological intolerance, suggest that people have difficulty in figuring out what foods bother them (if any indeed do)." ___________________________________________This is simply obfuscatory....some of the best studies deal directly with immunologic actcivation and provocation mechanisms within the bowel in response to oral challenge...and the use of immunomodulation which supresses the symptoms.LActose intolerance is well known to be symptom generating mechanism seprate and apart from the food hypersensitivity mechanisms which are involved in generating IBS symptom sets...it is a comorbidity at best....has nothing to do with the subject at hand whatsoever.If one wants to understnd food and chemical hypersensitivity and its role in symptom generation, and remission, in what is commonly called "IBS"....One can start with the Merck Manual here... _________________________________Current Merck Manual: "RECENTLY FOOD INTOLERANCE WAS FOUND TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SYMPTOMS OF SOME PATIENTS WITH THE IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME, CONFIRMED BY DOUBLE-BLIND FOOD CHALLENGE. AN INCREASE IN RECTAL PROSTAGLANDIN LEVELS WAS NOTED WHEN A REACTION OCCURRED. PRELIMINARY INFORMATION SUGGESTS THE SAME PHENOMENON MAY TAKE PLACE IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC ULCERATIVE COLITIS." ___________________________________A Disease Mangment Program, such as LEAP, incorporates needs assessment tools and protocols to isolate those patients who characterize the patient which can potentially benefit, from those who are least likely to benefit, then enter those who can benefit into the Program. In this case the population which is most likely to benefit is that which is commonly identified as "diarrheic IBS" or "cyclic D&C" subpopulations. Properly diagnosed these represent better than 2/3 of that population and this is the population where the outcomes will be the best and for whom the protocol was developed by the doctors and dieticians who developed it.And as I have distributed many times before to many people who have emailed asking for it, I have put together in emailable form a collection of abstracts of some of the many papers spanning the last 25 years of study on the phenomenon of food and chemical hypersensitivity which I have emailed those who have written and asked for it. Those interested can contact me and I will send you what I have "transferred" from old fashioned hard copies to Word documents so far.A book on the subject from a renowned immunologist and allergist expert in this field can be read, and the reader can form her own conclusions:"FOOD ALLERGIES AND FOOD INTOLERANCE: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THEIR IDENTIFICTION AND TREATMENT", Professor Jonathan Brostoff , M.D.. Allergy, Immunology and Environmental Medicine, Kings' College, Londonhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/089...r=2-1/102-64875 08-3420903[/URL]The autheor, Professor Brostoff, and a staff of other physicians are in the final editing of a new medical text for physicians on the subject as well, which should be published in 2003. The first edition "food Allergy and Intolerance" has been out of print for sometime. The new edition will provide some much needed guidance to the medical profession itself on the subject matter.This book may help further with patients suffering IBS and trying to get a handle on all aspects of symptom generation inlcuidng diet:IBS: A DOCTORS PLAN FOR CHRONIC DIGESTIVE TROUBLESBy Gerard Guillory, M.D.; Vanessa Ameen, M.D.; Paul Donovan, M.D.; Jack Martin, Ph.D. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-h...9085785-1742301 If you wish to read about the LEAP Disease Management Program and some peoples experiences with it, the following threads are recommendedLEAP and BLOOD TESTS http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...ic;f=4;t=000285 WHAT IS LEAP? http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...ic;f=4;t=000287 LEAP PT UPDATES http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...ic;f=4;t=000286 "...THE LEAP THREADS BEING MOVED..." http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...ic;f=4;t=000292 _______________________________________"Mike has just indicated that there is no funding available to begin addressing it." _______________________________________This is not what Mike said at all. Nor did Mike ever suggest anything realtive to this as an issue: _________________________________________"You can publish in the medical lit and not void out your patent rights." _________________________________________In fact the patented technolgy description was published directly to our peers, the laboratory professionals, three different times. One has othing to do with the other vis a vis new technology and limited publication....the real world issues must be addressed, those which are not experienced in the halls of academe.Mike said that the information published so far on this new technology consists of (3) articles in the American Clinical Laboratory Journals (reprints are available on request), an independednt study by a group of physicians in Europe, published in a european Allergy Journal, which demonstrates that the MRT test performed as claimed in their opinion, (reprints available on request), and that so far the first third party funding made available for studying MRT and LEAP Disease Mangement came from an AUTISM group, the Texas Center for Autistic Research and Treatment. The results of this study, in this application, must be positive since the Center is now using LEAP on their own private patients.I said that so far there have been no parties interested, private or public, in providing the large sum needed to implement a study protocol by a third party, even though one has been selected which is a well respected center for investigative studies. Not only does this center have extensive experience in FDA drug trials but their practive division (private patients) have used LEAP for IBS with success, in spite of the fact that the funding for the study is not forthcoming from any source. They are actually using it themselves based on the observed clinical outcomes on theor private patients with IBS-d...these investigators, WHO MAKE THEIR LIVING DOING PRECLINICAL TRIALS FOR DRUG COMPANIES INCLUDING IBS DRUGS.Mike said this kind of investigation does not yield such things as specifically a marketable drug in the end game, so the funding is exceedingly difficult to locate...not given up but sometimes you just have to find a way to do it yourself then. Therefore, if anything is to be done further as far as IBS goes, since this is a non-pharmacotherapy alternative and the private nor public sector have an interest in supporting it, the company will have to accumulate the money itself from operations. The daunting size of the number suggests it will take a bit to accumulate that amount of money. But it will be done. In the meantime anyone considering a Disease Mangement approach like LEAP should read all the available information published on the role of non IgE mediated hypersensitivity reactions in symptom generation, including an actual BOOK on the subject, consider the physician and dietician base using the method, talk with patients who have been through said protocols, consider the fact that over 270 insurance plans so far pay for it.Most of these plans have not, as has been suggested, done so solely to appease patients needs for alternative therapies. BUT many times as a result of MEDICAL NECESSITY REVIEWS of the IBS patients case, the technical papers on the test, the reports from physicians who have tried it so far and their outcomes, etc...what documentation is requested varies with the Plan Med Nec Review procedures. They have consistently deemed it approrpiate for reimbursement as the material presented was sufficient to meet their burden of proof of efficacy. It also seems to those involved that it makes sense to determine if the patients symptoms are being precipitated by non-allergic food or chemical hypersensitivity as if this can be isolated and removed, the symptoms should be reduced as will then the cost of ongoing care.Newness does not warant effectiveness, nor conversely does it imply a lack of efficicy. It simply means that the rules of "new" apply as they do to all new technologies, modalities, and protocols. The longer they are on the market the more information amasses. So each person has to decide on their own at what point sufficient info has amassed to satisfy them.Many physicians, dieticians and third party payers who have assessed the PROGRAM so far have decided that the existing information meets their burden of proof sufficient to allow their patients to access it and benefit from it. Also, much of the information available on IBS must be considered in the context of both the source and the fact that no one physician or group knows all that there is to know about IBS disease managment and physiology. All the info from many sources needs to be integrated by the medical community itself, and so far this has not occurred.Eat well. Think well. be well.MNL
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Can you post the full references to the papers?I can't seem to find them easily on Medline.K.
Well, I want to add my 2 cents here. Drs. with Barrett's and flux's attitude allowed me to be sick for 29 years from undiagnosed soy allergy. I am one of the people mentioned in Mr. Goldberg's rebuttal of "quackwatch" who got less than nothing from conventional doctors. I'm glad he did it, because I would have lost my temper and become incoherent if I tried to do it!My so-called doctors had no trouble overmedicating me, several times making me so ill I had to stay in bed, and my heart pounding so I thought I'd have a heart attack. It was especially frightening when I told a doctor of this reaction and she said casually, "oh, try taking a half dose". She didn't notice or care that I could have died from continuing to take that medicine!
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It's sad that the medical establishment and food and chemical industries are so desperate, not to mention completeley self-centered, that they have to resort to such low activities as "quackwatch". Wouldn't it be easier for them to change their procedures to make them healthier?? If these doctors were really interested in helping their patients, they would keep an open mind to new information and treatments of chronic illnesses. As a person with a technical background I understand, and everyone should understand, that the information on the LEAP website is designed to make the concept of the test clear to non-techies. It's a fairly simple concept. The size of the white blood cells is measured, then the blood is challenged with a pure food (or common chemical additive). If the white cells shrink they're degranulating, a positive reaction. I'm sure there's plenty of more technical information that Signet could provide to anyone who is interested. As someone already pointed out, it's a blood test, there's nothing vague or "alternative" about it, except that it's new and it often takes the medical establishment 10 years or more to accept anything new - while people continue to suffer.Also I'd like to add that Mike helped me manage my allergies and food intolerances here on the board, and taught me about the technical aspects and mechanism of it, all without ever suggesting that I should pay him or take the LEAP test. If LEAP was trying to take advantage of suffering people, he would never have done that. As a food sensitivity sufferer himself, he wants to help others end their suffering, and so do I. I can't wait till everyone in the country knows about food sensitivity, and all sufferers have been diagnosed. If we have our way, that will be in a few years. If flux, Barrett, drug companies, food processors and certain doctors have their way, it will be never. They don't care how many people suffer as long as they continue to get rich.
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Thanks, Mike and Julia.Lisa from Nevada
Julia and Lisa
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Isnt this a trip
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Have you ever in your life seen anything like this.
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..Just wanted to let you know that I am working on a positive project..My first big one ...I am a member of CVS and have been for along time and they know all about my results with LEAP and I had two mother of children with CVS to email me about all the detail....the food intolerance can trigger it and yes it is referenced..before other say it isntMike glad you are home safe with your family..and little Stephanie..They are lucky to have a caring person like you..FluxWhat is your degree in
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witchdoctor!!or Gas Intolerance...
It is good to have another viewpoint on Quack Watch since it is used so often on this BB. People will be better able to make up their own minds about the things quackwatch refers to. I am not saying one way or another about what I conclude
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I would love to know more details of this study given that I was reaching the point of believing that intolerance fails the double blind test with all the studies I have seen over a year. Is this study in anyway connected to Leap?
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It is intriguing that, in making this cincession to reality in the most recent editions of the Merck Manual, that the studies refrred to are actually quite old. I will try to find them in my files when I get a chance. The first studies of this type checking for prostaglandins as markers of proinflammatory response to dietary componenets in patients where focused on d-types and are at least 10 years or more old.This is a reflection of the degree of cuation exercised before entering something into the manual of diagnosis, as well as a reflection of the equivocal nature of defining just what exactly IBS is.If you take a symptom based approach, then a wide range of possible etiologies can fall into the diagnosis. This is part of the basis for confusion.If however a causal approach is adhered to, then each time a CAUSE, a mechanism, of symptom generation is identified which presents as IBS, then that patient is "assigned" that diagnostic code, then the population of thos with IBS would shrink by elimination.OR if the medical establishiment should somday come to an actual concensus of "this etiology of these symptoms is what we will call IBS", then the same thing will occur from the top down rather than elimination.As fopr the studies referenced, the relationship is simply the same as all the wother work done over the last 25 years which has proved that in some people, a loss of oral toelrance to some foods or chemicals in fodds occurs, and there can be several reasons for it, and several different mechanisms can be involved that are non IgE (non food allergy) related.The LEAP Disease Managment protocol uses tools, both a novel in vitro assay and careful dietary intake analysis, and stresa dna nxiety reduction therpy where indicated, to carefully isolate what foods do NOTY provoke the symptoms commonly diagnosed as IBS, and change the patients lifestyle to one which avoids those things which provoke symptoms.That is the purpsoe of DM progrma, be it IBS or Diabetes or Wound Care whatever....isolate what precipitates the problem and remove it.Since the original PGE2 studies were done, much more data exists which confirms the involvement of both mucosal and cirsulating immunocytes in symptom generation.WHY remains the matter of debate, and a matter which is basically involving multiple possible etiologies.This article explains a portion of it, as it was witten before some recent work showing T Cell invovement as well as mast cell involvement. It hjas a diagram which shows the interraction between the systems in producing loss of oral tolerance.Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics Vol. 15 Issue 4 Page 439 April 2001 Food hypersensitivity and irritable bowel syndrome S. Zar, D. Kumar, M. J. Benson http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/u...36.2001.00951.x MNL
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KMI have a bunch of the various "food and chemical sensitivity abstracts" stored as word documents...so to post either them or the titles would require a very large amount of work stripping out the titles or URLS for them on PUBMED and I jjst don't have the free time to eprform the labor. BUT if you like I can email them to you as an attachment. You can persue them at your leisure then as you wish. It would be I think a large attachement list so one would want to check their email box first to make sure there is sufficient space. I am not a tekkie so I don't know how big the file size would be but imagine maybe 100 one page abstracts or simething...how big is that? When I have sent them to people before onmce or twcie it was kicked back for insufficient space. Anyway let me know if you want them ...posting them is not practical I think.MNLPSLOL, Maurice.
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The more things change the more they stay the same eh?MNoLettuce, please.
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Hi Donna,Yes, this is what I was talking about before. When I was asked to come here and give my story as a patient ("We just want to TALK to a REAL patient and see what LEAP is like..."), I was pretty much dragged through the mud. Not a fun thing, I can tell you.I stayed away for a long time, as I do not need that kind of thing in my life. Having been sick for so long, I didn't want or need that kind of negativity. After coming back this time, I thought it was a nicer BB, but I see that, really, its not.One would think that after being so physically ill and riding that medical merry go round that all of us have, that the people here would be nicer to each other. Why add emotional pain to a group of people already in physical pain? I know I am a very different personality type (ENFP for you interested in the old Meyers-Briggs test)- but this seems that it should be obvious to everyone!Anyway,Donna, I am so happy for you that you are finally healthy! AND I am thrilled that I was able to help you in that!
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MikeNL,you are the BEST that you can perservere and explain the same things over and over. I KNOW how busy you are and being a dad with a young child is also very time consuming (in a good way!)- but still you take time here to try and show people that there something "out there" that can help them. People seem to forget that you were the "first patient", so to speak, in this and THAT'S why you got involved too. To quote a commercial, "Not only are you the president of the company, you are also a patient".
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Lisa from Nevada
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