Histamine Patch

(Published: The Virginia Pilot - Monday, April 10, 2000
Section: DAILY BREAK Source: ALEXANDRIA BERGER
PART III)

Does histamine patch really help MS patients?

Third of six parts on alternative medicine: Today: the truth about Procarin, the histamine patch: Does it really help MS?

To hundreds of multiple sclerosis patients fighting loss of strength, Washington State registered nurse Elaine De Lack is their guardian angel. Her Invention of the histamine patch Procarin to treat MS symptoms has catapulated the 41 year-old from obscurity to celebrity.

De Lack never thought of fame when she was diagnosed with MS in 1988. Instead, she struggled with daily unremitting fatigue, tingling and numbness. Believing there had to be relief, she began to search medical literature for answers.

In a 1944 paper written by Dr. Bayard T. Horton of the Mayo Clinic, she read of his 17-year experience using "histamine." He reported improvements in 60 percent of 102 MS patients given intravenous infusions. From this, De Lack developed her yet to be proved theory about histamine's role in MS.

"Histamine is a substance that is found in the body, and acts as a mediator, affecting many systems. I believe MS patients are deficient in histamine, which accounts for their immune cells. It's involved in gastric secretions. We think of histamine only when we get an allergic reaction. But, it's a very potent stimulator in our body," De Lack explains.

In MS, destruction of the myelin sheath or fat-like substance insulating the nerves in the central nervous system and spinal cord takes place. Called demyelinization, it causes nerve fibers to short circuit.

Simply, De Lack believes that histamine does not stop demyelinization or cure the disease. Instead, she contends it stimulates repair by increasing the production of the myelin, repleinshing the sheath.

De Lack first injected herself with a small amount of histamine twice a day. Later she made it into a cream, adding caffeine as a catalyst to the histamine and covering it with an adhensive patch. She patented its use and licensed the rights to make it to independent compounding pharmacists.

Currently, more than 600 physicians are prescribing Procarin throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia for approximately 1,600 MS patients. A month's supply costs $250.

Not everyone who tries Procarin gets results. In the first U.S. clinical trial of Procarin's effectiveness conducted on 55 MS patients by Dr. George Gillson and Dr. Jonathan Wright at the Tahoma Clinic in Kent, Wash., they reported 70 percent responded favorably.

Thirty-five percent had improvements in three or more areas. These included extremity strength, balance, bladder control, fatigue and cognitive functioning. Another 35 percent reported improvements in at least one area. The gains were sustained for the length of the three-month trial period.

There are variables as well. MS symptoms waxes and wanes, making it difficult, to determine the true effectiveness of Procarin. Some patients, who report no response are also not heat sensitive, a key MS symptom, raising the question of diagnosis. Some MS patients may not lack histamine, while those responding may have a histamine deficiency. This may be an additional symptom of MS, but not necessarily indicative of it.

Steve Johnson, a colleague at The Seattle Times, who fought MS for 18 years, reports, "Sure, I tried it. The first week I got up out of my wheelchair and walked to the bathroom. After that nothing happened. Other people swear by it."

Lisa Deisler, 28, from Port Orchard, Wash., does. Diagnosed in 1997 with relapsing-remitting MS, the patch has improved her symptoms. "It's definitely helped. I can shower by myself now. I used to cry once a day. Now, I cry once a month," she says.

Greylyn Wanzer, 43, from Battle Creek, Mich., uses two patches a day. Wanzer recently walked up flight of stairs for the first time in five years. He credits Procarin, which can be used together with drugs that slow disease progression.

It would be nice to validate or refute De Lack's theories scientifically. As Gillson, Wright and De Lack wrote, " We feel this therapy should be studied in controlled trials."

As the numbers of users mount, is anyone at the National Institutes of Health curious?

Next: Part IV - Alternative therapies for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Write to Alexandria Berger, c/o The Virginia-Pilot,
150 W. Brambleton Avenue, Norfolk, Va., 23510

E-mail her at alex@imperfectnavigator.com