In another case, a young woman developed rapidly progressing MG after her thyroid had been removed because of hyperthyroidism. Within 2 days of starting manganese therapy she showed marked improvement. However, in this case it took two to three years until she was completely well. In the following years she had two relapses, which cleared up each time within a few weeks with manganese therapy. This included shrinking of the enlarged thymus during the initial therapy and the last relapse.
Another interesting case was an elderly male who first developed signs of systemic lupus erythematosus and after several years also signs of Parkinson's disease. Many years later MG appeared. Nutritional therapy including manganese soon removed the symptoms of all three diseases.
Josephson's book is still in print by A-albionic Research under the title: Thymus, Manganese and Myasthenia Gravis, . However, it is written as a scientific monograph and difficult for most readers to understand. Amazingly, there is no indication that this method has been tested in a clinical trial, despite Josephson having presented it before the American Association for Advancement of Science at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1946.
Josephson also reports the complete failure of nutritional and manganese therapy in a myasthenia gravis patient who had his thymus removed. He continued to deteriorate and died 9 years after the onset of the disease.
Removal of the thymus gland is widely practiced as long-term therapy for MG. Most patients improve for a period and some may continue improving, while others soon deteriorate again. I believe that the great variability of thymectomy outcomes is due to so-called accessory thymuses or pockets of thymus tissue that may be present in the neck area. These will often be sufficient to maintain a reasonable manganese metabolism and, with this, enable an eventual recovery. On the other hand, if all thymus tissue has been removed, then a full recovery may not be possible. However, I am cautiously optimistic that even then a holistic approach can still lead to considerable improvement and to some regrowth of any remaining traces of thymus tissue.
Also the removal of the thyroid makes a cure more difficult as one of Josephson's case histories shows. In addition to enlargement and tumors of the thymus, MG patients frequently have problems with other endocrine glands, such as the thyroid, pituitary and adrenal glands. There is a close relationship between the thymus and the thyroid in that hyperthyroidism generally leads to myasthenia or muscular debility as well as to hyperplasia of the thymus. As the disease progresses, most or all of the endocrine glands, organs, and metabolic functions tend to deteriorate. This, then, requires in addition to manganese therapy individualized support with a wide range of nutrients and remedies as well as a diet of highest quality.
Another set of problems may arise if the disease is due to chemical poisoning. He had developed MG once before, apparently due to extensively working with oil paints in a confined space. Six years later he had another stressful period during which he painted his house and burned off old paint. Not only did he develop MG a second time, but his blood became very alkaline and his red blood cells 'looked like sea urchins', shriveled up, black, and full of spikes. He also believes that a high consumption of soymilk contributed to his condition by causing intestinal inflammation and diarrhea.
After an odyssey of orthodox and alternative treatments, he had his first real improvement during a short period on manganese supplements, and then continued to improve further with Buteyko-type breathing to reduce the alkalinity of his blood. He also used some wheat grass juice. However, his best improvement came after several months of stagnation when he tried a second lot of manganese. His eyes were better than they had been for many years, and the strength of his legs improved tremendously.
I believe that in this case the poisoning of the energy-producing mitochondria caused an acute deficiency of metabolic acids, especially citric acid, in addition to leaching of potassium from the poisoned cells. This is like developing chronic fatigue syndrome in addition to MG and may have contributed as much to his weakness as the MG itself. In such cases clearly the highest quality of support is required.
From my own experience I can confirm that manganese therapy does work. My first MG patient was a female golf professional. She improved on a raw-food diet, but only gradually. When she started taking manganese, she was back to playing golf within a few weeks. Initially she still had some double vision, which cleared up after one warm castor oil pack over the eyes. Another patient also recovered fully within weeks. I may add that in addition to manganese, Josephson as well as I recommended improved nutrition and suitable other supplements in all cases.
A Holistic Theory of myasthenia gravis
From the various known facts and indications we can now come to an understanding of the likely cause of MG.
The decisive experiment, in which antibodies from a MG patient attacked receptors in healthy muscles, shows that the basic problem is with the antibody production and not with the muscle receptors of the myasthenics. This means that the muscle receptors are basically healthy and the antibodies are produced against something else and attack the muscle receptors only as innocent bystanders. The real target may actually be in the thymus itself, as it has been shown that the thymus contains muscle-type cells with acetylcholine receptors.
As the thymus is obviously diseased, at least in all advanced cases of MG, this suggests that the antibodies may actually be formed against faulty receptors in the thymus itself. After all, the thymus develops antibodies against many other conditions, but does not normally become diseased itself as it does in MG. My conclusion is that thymus receptors become faulty and susceptible to attack due to manganese deficiency. Otherwise the autoimmune attack would not stop and patients start rapidly improving within days of manganese supplementation.
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