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immune system
AIDS/HIV: Overview
Integrative Therapies
definition
Holistic providers and comprehensive health care programs:
A comprehensive one year treatment program of naturopathic medicine was evaluated in an uncontrolled trial in 16 asymptomatic HIV+ men (Standish et al, 1992). Treatment modalities included botanical and nutritional medicine, whole body hyperthermia, homeopathy, physical medicine and psychological counseling. Symptomatic and neuropsychological improvement were observed and morbidity and mortality rates compared favorably with results in similar patients treated with Zidovudine. Absolute CD4 cell counts rose transiently at 3 months, then subsequently declined to below baseline levels by month 12. The slope of CD4 decline was lower than in recently published AZT studies looking at survival rates in similar patients. In two published AZT studies only 18% were still alive in the 26th month follow up period whereas 40% of the naturopathically treated cohort 40% were still alive 54 months later. (Standish, 1996)
In Los Angeles, Joan Priestley, MD, treated 225 HIV+ patients at various stages of disease with a protocol that employed both conventional pharmaceutical antiretroviral therapy and prophylaxis and nutritional supplementation (po and iv). She released some preliminary data from which she concludes that maintenance of a stable body weight is influenced by the use of nutrient supplementation therapy. Even once CD4 cell counts dropped below 50, 58% of the patients on the protocol survived for at least another year. She also suggested that survival rates appear to be higher among the group who had never taken AZT than among the group who had taken AZT. (Standish, 1996)
Jon Kaiser, MD, described outcome data from his large HIV+ practice in Los Angeles in his 1993 book Immune Power: a comprehensive treatment program for HIV Dr. Kaiser's treatment included antiretroviral therapy, antibiotic prophylaxis combined with botanical and nutritional supplementation, moderate exercise, abstinence from cigarettes, drugs and alcohol, stress reduction techniques, participation in an emotional support group and moderate exercise. He has released data based on his private practice files during a surveillance period of 4.25 years (March 1987 to June 1991). He reports that of 134 patients tracked (asymptomatic, symptomatic and AIDS), 119 out of 134 remained stable or improved their diagnosis during the 4.25 years with an overall survival rate of 98%. Kaiser compares the survival rates of his patients after AIDS diagnosis with data published by the Journal of the American Medical Association and Centers for Disease Control data. Kaiser's patients showed an 80% survival at 27.3 months (1987-1992), while the Journal of the American Medical Association reports 50% survival at 12.5 months (1981-1987) and CDC reports 50% survival at 22 months (1985-1990). Kaiser reports on 10 HIV+ asymptomatic patients with mean CD4 counts at intake of 406 and a 96% preservation of mean CD4 count at the completion of a 30 month study period. He compares this to a CD4 cell count drop of 18% in a comparison group receiving only conventional therapy during the same period.
(Standish, 1996)
footnotes
Standish, Leanna. Alternative Medicine in HIV/AIDS: Current State of the Science and Justification for Research. Bastyr University AIDS Research Center, Seattle, Washington, October 1996.
Reprinted with permission from Pizzorno J, Murray M, The Textbook of Natural Medicine. Revised Edition. London/New York: Churchill-Livingston, 1999.