Four problems with the clinical control of interstitial pneumonia, or chronic fatigue syndrome, using the megadose vitamin C infusion system with dehydroepiandrosterone-cortisol annex.

Since 1996 in our clinic, the regular practice of megadose vitamin C infusion with dehydroepiandrosterone-cortisol annex and the continuous intake of erythromycin and chloramphenicol have been found useful for the clinical control of the autoimmune disease interstitial pneumonia, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. The long-term use of these two systems for the treatment of the autoimmune disease has led to the emergence of four problems of theoretical or practical importance, as described below: i) Should maintenance of the above core treatments be continued for prophylactic purposes in the absence of acute signs of pneumonia? Evidence indicated that their use was essential to arrest the dynamic activity of an intrapulmonary bacterial colony in the immunodeficient host, and that the 5-year survival rate of interstitial pneumonia patients would have been worse without the prophylactic practice of the 2 treatments. ii) Evidence was presented to suggest that the activity of the intrapulmonary bacterial colony was becoming less responsive because of the emergence of a drug-resistent mutant bacterium. The introduction of new antibiotics (kanamycin) was found to improve the acute signs of pneumonia. iii) The bone marrow function of one male patient with interstitial pneumonia was found to decline during the observation period of 9 years. It was speculated that his bone marrow, like his lungs, was in the course of fibrosis. iv) One female patient was diagnosed with breast cancer in the course of interstitial pneumonia treatment--an example indicating that the persistence of an autoimmune disease in an elderly subject might be associated with the emergence of malignancy. Dehydroepiandrosterone was shown to promote the recovery of hepatic function in the course of cancer chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide. The beneficial effect of the adrenal androgen was dose-dependent. The significance of this finding is discussed in the light of the steroid carcinogenesis concept. The reasoning behind the view that interstitial pneumonia and chronic fatigue syndrome are one disease is also discussed.

The clinical course of interstitial pneumonia alias chronic fatigue syndrome under the control of megadose vitamin C infusion system with dehydroepiandrosterone-cortisol annex.

The year 1995 marked the onset of interstitial pneumonia spread in Nagoya, Japan. For the last 9 years, we have been accumulating clinical experience with the disease control using the combination of prophylactic use of anti-biotics and regular practice of megadose vitamin C infusion with either dehydroepiandrosterone-annex or dehydroepiandrosterone-cortisol annex. The purpose of this study is to assess the usefulness of our new treatment system for the control of interstitial pneumonia alias chronic fatigue syndrome. The results obtained are given as follows: i) The long-term maintenance of the above treatment system was effective not only for decreasing the risk for recurrence of active form pneumonia, but also for prevention of malignancy emergence in aged patients with interstitial pneumonia. ii) Evidence is presented to indicate that interstitial pneumonia was associated with increased risk for depression of which the emergence is a candidate subject causally related to the long-term use of glucocorticoid. iii) A patient with both interstitial pneumonia and depression was found to be less responsive to our treatment system. It is suggested that the use of more dehydroepiandrosterone at the sacrifice of cortisol in the infusion annex may be a choice for the control of both interstitial pneumonia and depression. iv) The description of chronic fatigue syndrome as regards the endocrinological, epidemiological and psychiatric characteristics are in good agreement with our experience on patients having interstitial pneumonia, evidence in support of our proposal that there is no convincing reasoning to separate chronic fatigue syndrome from interstitial pneumonia. v) The long-term practice of our treatment system for the control of interstitial pneumonia (an autoimmune disease) was found to suppress the inflammatory process but not the fibrotic process in the long run. vi) A few innovations were made in our treatment system to reduce the risk of bleeding or thrombosis--vascular complications of pneumonia. vii) The merit of our treatment system is to create a new hormonal environment to improve the state of immunodeficiency by use of a non-steroid substance--vitamin C which encounters little resistance from the feedback mechanism of steroid metabolism in the in vivo system.