Natural Fibrinolytics

[Guest guest]

Someone asked a question about natural fibrinolytics recently.

I've been working on this subject for over 15 years now -- twice as long as

anyone else so far as I'm aware -- and below is part of the introduction to my

notes. These are a summary of thousands of hours of work so I hope that members

will find them helpful and any feedback would be appreciated.

Best wishes, Rob

Hypofibrinolysis & Toxification

Fibrinogen is a plasma protein, ie it is dissolved in it. Hypofibrinolysis is an

underactive breakdown of fibrin, a sticky substance formed by thrombin from

fibrinogen.

There was a family history on both sides of thrombosis and my ESR (erythrocyte

sedimentation rate) had been measured on two separate occasions at Northwick

Park at 1, so my blood was thick. Not only that, I was also experiencing

intermittent claudication in my leg muscles. The usual blood thinners, like

aspirin or bromelain, did not help, so it seemed unlikely that the problem was

platelet aggregation.

I became convinced in 87 that accumulations of fibrin in smaller blood vessels

were impeding blood flow and the transfer of nutrients and toxic metabolites

through the blood vessel walls. In February 88, I read that researchers were

using the steroid Stanozolol as a fibrinolytic and asked my GP to prescribe a

course of it. I experienced strong tingling sensations where the claudication

had been worst and some improvement in walking range, but the process petered

out after a few weeks and there were side effects, so I resolved to find better

agents. I have since investigated the usefulness of about 80 substances, mainly

minerals, vitamins, amino acids, phytochemicals (plant extracts), and essential

fatty acids. I change one variable at a time, make close observations and keep

careful records.

If a fibrinolytic worked, I seemed to get eye and eyelid redness and irritation

in a characteristic pattern. Then I noticed that some, as diverse as B12 and

rutin, would also give rise to the same skin eruptions - small weals that itched

and burned - on my forearms and particularly on my lower legs. My socks also had

a strange burnt smell from substances in the sweat. Furthermore, the eye and

eyelid redness was being produced partly by the tears, which I could feel

burning the tissues, and the effect was greater during a hot bath. After reading

up on toxins, I realised that these were intermediate substances produced by

phase 1 detoxification, which are in a more toxic form than they are in when

stored.

I also noticed that, particularly in the mornings, there was some balanitis and

I now know that the same or its female equivalent is often reported on Internet

groups by sufferers attempting detoxification. Like eye redness, this was being

produced by toxins in the blood and their effect was dose-related and visible on

all sensitive tissues. Rinsing with water partly relieved the problem, so some

of it was also due to released toxins in the urine and of course the

concentration increased overnight. It all added up. Toxification explains the

great increase in FMS in developed countries in recent decades and why sufferers

typically have chemical sensitivities and a reduced tolerance of alcohol and

tobacco smoke. We are now surrounded by thousands of toxins, so that our bodies

are suffering from toxic overload at the same time as we are eating denatured

food, in which many of the nutrients that we need have been damaged or removed.

The process of removing fibrin was accompanied by fatigue, closure of my left

sinus and then increased bronchial and nasal mucus. I then reasoned that the

fibrin also contained the microorganisms that were responsible for recurrent

flu-like symptoms and that my immune system seemed incapable of eradicating. I

later discovered that fibrin affords not only a hiding place from the immune

system but also an anaerobic environment, and that this is so amenable to some

pathogens that they are capable of stimulating coagulation to protect

themselves. This would mean that once they had established themselves, it could

be difficult if not impossible for the host ever to recover. This would exactly

describe what we see in the 'fatigue' syndromes, where the immune system is in a

state of permanent hyperactivity yet is unable to rid the body of opportunistic

infections that are common in the population and normally successfully dealt

with.

Now I knew the answer to a question that had puzzled me for years - why things

as diverse as phytochemicals, alcohol, exercise and a hot bath would all produce

identical effects. It is because they first cause the blood vessels to dilate

(which increases circulation and feels good) and then speed fibrinolysis in the

peripheral microcirculation (which leads to fatigue, increased pain, eye redness

and the rest). As I understood the effects of fibrinolytics better, I acquired

what I needed most - the ability to assess their effectiveness without having to

wait and see to what extent my condition would eventually improve.

One of my problems has been calcium phosphate crystalline deposits, which were

abrasive during exercise and which I have very slowly managed to get rid of

using magnesium and a supporting cast of other supplements. It now seems clear

that management of tissue levels of magnesium, calcium, phosphates and other

nutrients, for example vitamin B12, is deficient in FM, and it seems that very

often blood levels are normal while tissue cell levels are irregular. I have

said that levels of magnesium and calcium are low, and levels of phosphates are

high and this has been demonstrated (for magnesium, see D.J. Clauw et al

abstracts Arthritis & Rheumatism June 94; for calcium, see Boll Soc Ital Biol

Sper 2000 Jan-Feb;76(1-2):1-4; for phosphates, see Rheumatology (Oxford) 2000

Oct; 39 (10): 1121-1125). It is high levels of phosphorous that trigger the

formation of calcium phosphate deposits as a means of tying up the surplus, and

this in turn depletes calcium levels because calcium phosphate contains by

weight twice as much calcium as phosphorous.

The explanation for these tissue imbalances could be very simple - namely that a

coating of fibrin has impeded on the one hand, the flow of nutrients between the

blood and the tissue fluid and on the other hand, waste products and toxins back

again, and that this has affected the transport of different minerals in

different ways. It is fairly easy to see how the resulting lack of nutrients and

toxification could explain rheumatic pains in soft tissues, deterioration of

nerves and opportunistic infections. Fibrin lining small blood vessels could, at

the same time, deprive many glands and other organs of adequate nutrition. My

blood phosphate level when measured at Northwick Park was above the reference

range, so the kidneys and parathyroid glands were not controlling phosphates as

they should have been. In such a case, a fibrinolytic agent might well increase

phosphate excretion.

In recent years, some medical researchers have noticed that a high proportion of

FMS and CFS patients respond to anticoagulant drugs, and this is an encouraging

development. Berg of Hemex Laboratories, theorises that the fibrin lining

small blood vessels does not cross-link to form clots because there is

insufficient thrombin present to activate factor XIII in the coagulation

cascade.

Summary

I believe that the action of environmental stressors upon an inherited

hypofibrinolysis and thrombophilia, as it is usually termed, has caused the

following.

a.. Tissue mineral imbalances and crystalline deposits of calcium phosphate.

b.. Cumulative damage to tissues and small blood vessels, which then, together

with accumulations of fibrin, progressively reduces in a vicious circle both

blood flow and the passage of nutrients through the capillary walls into the

tissue fluid.

· Unrepaired and hence cumulative injuries, especially to fascia,

connective tissues and nerves, from exercise and static stresses. As these

become widespread, increasing levels of pain and consequent reduced activity and

disturbed sleep cause increasing disruption to the neuroendocrine system. Faults

in the neuroendocrine system have been widely observed and documented in

fibromyalgia: they are both cause and effect, becoming more extensive as the

illness develops.

· Depressed immune function resulting from reduced flow of nutrients into

the thyroid gland and other organs leading to chronic infections of various

sorts, including fungal and viral or mycoplasmal. Some microorganisms benefit

from an anaerobic environment and fibrin also allows them to hide from the

immune system. Some will provoke fibrinogenesis and for some reason, this can

also be part of the immune response, which could help to explain why some people

get post-infection FMS.

· Toxification and resulting chemical sensitivities exacerbated by low

intracellular levels of calcium, magnesium, zinc, vitamin B12 and other

nutrients, and consequent impairment of the many enzyme systems that are

dependant on these.

The distribution of pain in my body reflects not only the history of mechanical

stresses to muscles, fascia, muscle/tendon junctions, tendon insertions and

nerves (nerve damage is receiving increasing attention as a cause of long-term

musculoskeletal pain) but also the local reduction of blood flow and hence

repair, particularly at night, through cold or pressure.

The supplements that I have found to be beneficial produce signs of fibrinolysis

and/or episodic pains that are highly specific to the sites where rheumatic

problems are worst, most likely as water is drawn into the cells to dilute the

liberated minerals and toxins. These supplements are either minerals themselves

or are described as antioxidant or fibrinolytic or inhibiting platelet

aggregation, and many as vasodilators or as improving capillary fragility, which

confirms that their key function is getting more blood through the capillaries

and more nutrients into and waste products out of the surrounding tissues. They

include: calcium, magnesium, zinc, sulphur (MSM); vitamins B1, B6, B12, folic

acid, C and E; alpha lipoic acid; essential fatty acids; plant extracts

bilberry, cat's claw, garlic, ginkgo biloba, grape seed, grapefruit seed,

guaifenesin (now synthesised), hawthorn, rutin and turmeric.

The plant extracts are stronger than the steroid that I started out with, and

when used in rotation, they can be very effective. In the same way that each

hair shampoo is said to leave behind different residues, each fibrinolytic seems

to leave behind fibrin that is resistant to it, so attempting to rely on just

one becomes increasingly difficult.