234 replies to this topic

[resveratrol_guy]

For starters, here are some photos which will make it instantly clear what I did. (If you can't see them, then you probably need to log in.)

 

1. The Neostem logo on a staff coat.

 

2. The COBE Spectra apheresis system. My name has been blacked out on the collection bag.

 

3. Yours truly, hooked up to the Spectra. (I'm not that thin; it's an optical illusion.) My other arm contained a return line to send unwanted blood components back to me (because I still need them!). You can see the blood just starting to flow, clearing the saline from the line. The blue belt is a turnicate used to keep the veins popping. I had a sponge ball in my hand to help me flex up in case my arm got numb. The lines themselves contain DEHP plasticizer, and possibly BPA. (This is why I loaded up on c60oo yesterday -- not because of anything to do with the stem cells themselves.)

 

4. Fully engaged Spectra doing its thing.

 

5. All done (3 hours and 50 minutes later). Yes, it's really pinkish red, on account of white cells and plasma mixed in with the red cells.

 

6. The centrifuge inside the bottom chamber of the Spectra, after everything has stopped. It had been running throughout the procedure.

 

7. The flexible plastic rim from the centrifuge, extracted for a closer view. You can see the vertical separation of components as different colored stripes.

 

 

 

 

 

Attached Files

•  ns0.jpg   109.15KB   3 downloads
•  ns1.jpg   167.63KB   1 downloads
•  ns2.jpg   56.62KB   1 downloads
•  ns3.jpg   167.05KB   1 downloads
•  ns4.jpg   52.18KB   1 downloads
•  ns5.jpg   72.68KB   1 downloads
•  ns6.jpg   90KB   1 downloads

[resveratrol_guy]

First of all, I will explain my general strategy:

To begin with, I want to give a special thanks to prohets for his post in this thread, which introduced me to Neostem. If you like what I'm doing, then please "like" his post because his small bit of generous information sharing has been highly valuable.

Neostem itself is actually a publicly traded US company. They are involved in a number of biotech research projects, but stem cell cryopreservation using an FDA-approved process is a lynchpin of their business. You may wonder why I want to preserve my stem cells, which actually depletes them, when in fact my goal has always been to mobilize stem cells for healing or enhancement purposes.

The reason is that, just like someone installing a new operating system, first creating a backup copy of one's data seemed prudent. I wanted to back up my genome in a directly retrievable manner before doing anything that would increase replication stress. Beyond that, it was a question of urgency: I'm 40, meaning that my stem cells are already subpar. Should I have waited for the afflictions of age and accidents to further diminish the quality of my reserves, or should I have intervened to preserve a useful sample of my current state of health before anything else could go wrong? I chose the latter.

If I never use the cells myself, then at least they will be available for research, or possibly to restart someone's immune system following a marrow reboot necessitated by lukemia or HIV infection. (Marrow donation between sufficiently compatible people is possible, but obviously less safe than autologous reinjection.)

Indeed, this is only the first step in my stem cell therapy. But I used the word correctly: this is therapy, and not merely collection for the sake of cryopreservation. Allow me to explain.

To begin with, I have taken a total of 2880 ug (2.88 mg) of Neuopogen (none today). That means I had 72 hours from the first injection until the apheresis procedure in which to allow newly mobilized CD34 stem cells to engraft to areas of vascular damage (or, perhaps, to command other cells to engraft). Some of those cells remain engrafted, regardless of the loss of their compatriots to freezer storage.

Secondly, I had a long discussion with one of their supervising nurses about the stem cell mobilization time profile. Here's the gist of it: (1) Normal people start with 4.0 to 6.0 white blood cells (in the usual complete blood count units, whatever they are). (2) This gets jacked up to as much as 10X normal, but typically ends up in the 25-35 range as a result of CD34 mobilization. (This is an indirect effect of CD34 mobilization. Furthermore, not all CD34s end up as white cells.) (3) 72 hours after the first Neupogen injection, the CD34 cells, along with most of the white cells, some plasma, and even some other poorly understood cell types, get sucked into a collection bag by use of centrifugal separation. During this time, the white cell population density crashes from 5X or 10X normal to "somewhat above" normal; the postcrash value has not been scientifically investigated by Neostem and varies case-by-case. (4) During the course of the following 7 days, the white cell population density reverts to the normal level for the individual. It is during this slow drop that the excess population of CD34s continues to provide stem cell therapy; moreover, some minority of Neupogen likely remains active.

To be clear, I'm using the temporal profile of the white cell population density as a proxy for CD34 plasma population density. This is logical, but might be erroneous in one direction or the other. (What else is new in biology?) So the hypothesis here is that the CD34s peak with Neupogen over the course of a few days, along with engraftment, then crash with apheresis but not quite back to normal, and finally revert to "true normal" over the course of a week.

But why would we consider this therapy, when we know from so many other studies that BMSC therapy is a process taking months, not days? Granted, it's probably not as effective as therapy in the absence of collection. But it might actually be better and safer and comparably effective, even neglecting the possible future benefits of cryopreservation. For one thing, it provides very precise data, which I will supply once the numbers come back. Moreoever, we reach a supersaturation of stem cells in the plasma, which would logically result in engraftment to slightly damaged areas that might not normally occur on account of low levels of inflammation. This enables global repair of the myriad minor injuries which, taken in the aggregate, play a huge role in the aging process. But then, after engraftment has largely occurred, we crash the circulating stem cell population in order to protect against cancer. The theory here is that stem cells which don't engraft quickly might be less functional, so in a perfect world, we don't want them except if there's no other choice (as in, if we get injured in old age, and must retrieve them from the freezer). Then the following week of population density renormalization provides a final opportunity for "low millions" of stem cells to engraft and do their thing. Low millions is cited in many studies as clinically effective for treating a variety of vascular maladies, and not much less effective than densities even 100X as high. This appears to be the case even when considering injection into general circulation for the sake of healing vascular damage localized to the brain. Again, I refer you to the aforelinked Texas Heart Institute metastudy. So it's the best of both worlds: peak very high in order to encourage engraftment to low-priority damage sites, then squelch the cancer risk due to reproduction of senescent stem cells while leaving a slightly elevated stem cell population circulating for longterm healing, then get a chance at a better life due to cryopreservation.
 

Below I will get into the technicals.

[resveratrol_guy]

The cost of the service is $12,500 (well more than prophets quoted), including a year of freezer storage. Neostem is not the only player in this field, and certainly not the cheapest, but I found them to be the most competent and trustworthy. (For babies, cord blood preservation makes excellent sense, but I did not do that and the stem cell volume is small, anyway.) AFAIK, you must a healthy adult to do the Neostem procedure, but there is no explicit age limit. Recent injury can consume large amounts of stem cells, so tell them if this applies to you.

 

Anyhow, this is a lifelong partnership, not a quicky GCSF injection. Financing is available through Neostem upon approval. Subsequently, the current cost of freezing is $70/month. Unfortunately, cells are destroyed after 90 days of unpaid bills, which seems a bit extreme, but that's how it is. You must add flight and hotel on top of this, because they only have a limited number of service sites (currently only in the US). Each service site is a contracting third party facility which provides equipment and physician consultation.

The end product of all this is: (1) an "immune reconstitution" bag to reboot your immune system following marrow destruction (lukemia, HIV, radiation overdose, etc.) and (2) up to 20 aliquots of 5 mL of CD34s and other stem cells for injection, or possibly other purposes (depending on legality) at your discretion. 200-300M stem cells is considered a good collection. In the future, it's easy to imagine replicating a single aliquot into many, so this modest collection might suffice indefinitely. If you need to use your stem cells, then they can be shipped to any licensed physician willing to accept them, anywhere in the world, for $400 plus shipping cost via medical courier.

 

Currently, AFAIK the only US doctor who will receive the frozen stem cells then reinject them for maintenance purposes (as opposed to a specific procedure) is Dr. Steenblock in California, whose price is $1000 per injection, persuant to consultation. He is aware of Neostem and does offer his own version of freezing services.

 

In my view, this $12,500 cost might well be negative after accounting for the value of having young stem cells in your old age, amid a technologically more advanced world. Having said that, the optimum age at which to donate is not necessarily 18 because you have to weigh return on investments, which could be used for other therapies, against gradual stem cell degradation. Also, if you have received a vaccine within the past 6 months, you might want to wait (discuss this with them). Generally, if you wish to have children, I recommend doing that first, as you want to minimize replication stress passed on to your progeny. On the other hand, cryopreservation may be smart for someone about to undergo chemotherapy or high exposure to radiation or pollution, especially for people requiring frequent CT scans. And bear in mind, there is always a small risk of protracted freezer failure for a variety of reasons.

Neostem is a startup. So while they lack conveniently located facilities and economy of scale, they have obvious strengths where it matters. In particular, their apheresis staff is world class. They intimately understand the machines and how to get the best results out of them. Their nursing experience in general is extensive. And for its part, the plastic guts of the machine along with all tubing (visible in my photos) are changed between patients, so there is no meaningful risk of disease transmission. Even the box of replacement parts is labeled "DEHP" so that you know this plasticizer has been used in its manufacture.

Furthermore, the nitrogen freezer facilities (there are more than one) are staffed 24/7 and endowed with backup power systems and other measures to ensure operational continuity. This is where your $70 goes: it's not simply a matter of electricity.

Here's how it flows:

1. Contact Neostem and consult with them. Scheduling may take a few weeks, and they are generally quite overloaded, so it may take a while.

2. Do paperwork. This isn't too bad, probably an hour of work. More paperwork is done by the staff while you're on apheresis with nothing better to do.

3. Pay the money or activate the financing program.

4. Meet the apheresis nurse for some initial blood tests, and on the same day, consult with a physician to verify suitability.

5. Get 3 days of Neupogen. The plan was 10 ug/kg per day (780 ug, in my case). But it ended up at 960 for me for some complicated reasons, which I'm pleased about. I suggest discussing this with them before you meet them in person, because Neupogen is very difficult to ship and expensive (but included in the above price). Rarely, people get 4 days of Neupogen. Day 2 is the worst for pain (which as I said, wasn't worth writing home about, in light of the potential benefits).

6. Show up for collection. This involves lying with your head elevated for up to 4 hours. Blood is removed from one arm, passed through the apheresis machine, and reinjected into your other arm minus the extracted components. From time to time, you will feel tingles or muscle twinges due to low plasma calcium. Tell the nurse because this is easily corrected by calcium tablets. The low calcium is due to the action of ACDA, an anticoagulant with short plasma halflife which is injected to prevent blood clots during the procedure. Blood pressure will be monitored periodically, which will spike from time to time due to low calcium. The worst part is not being able to move one of your arms; you can only squeeze a foam ball for occasional flex exercise. This is because a long steel needle is inserted (minimal pain, honestly) in order to facilitate collection, so bending the elbow would be dangerous. On the plus side, you can bend your knees or stretch your legs as desired, or simply sleep. At most 4 hours later, you're done. The completion point is deemed reached once double your blood volume has flowed through the machine (in my case, it was more like 2.2X).

7. Get the stem cells transported to the freezer. They are packed with ice in an insulated box, then delivered via medical courier. I saw the courier myself. He simply put them in the front seat and drove off without delay.

8. Stem cell postprocessing. This involves dividing them into smaller portions and adding DMSO as required for cryopreservation. Final numbers are issued via email so you know your inventory size.

9. Cryopreservation. This is where longterm freezer management happens.

 

What is the worst part? I don't think I can say it was the cost, which again, my well turn out to be small if not negative in the aggregate. Definitely, it was removing the bandages after apheresis! The needles are only scary if you look at them, so don't.

 

As to my current physiological state: I have no pain beyond what I would expect from normal daily activity. The headache disappeared approximately contemporaneously with collection, for whatever reason, coincidental or not. My only lingering symptoms are modest fatigue and some tiny occasional visual flashes (likely transient retinal hypoxia) which started after today's session. I've been told to avoid exercise for 2 days, and to wait a few more before starting the strenuous variety. All things considered, that's a very short recovery period.

 

Tinnitus persists, and is still left biased, but somewhat quieter than yesterday, which was already satisfactory. There are no further changes to report, good or bad, nor do I expect any at this point, considering that even with Sally's extremely protacted series of BMSC therapies, it was the initial GCSF that delivered the majority of the positive results (not necessarily because bone marrow reinjection does not work, but more likely because the effect of any form of BMSC is rapidly saturating).

 

The mood stability is extremely refreshing, if still frankly enigmatic (HPA axis?). I feel better able to remain focussed on complicated conversations, and to keep track of the various parallel threads. The effects are subtle, but I feel unmistakably different than before the fact. I am not sure that even if the effect is physiological as opposed to placebo, that Lumosity will actually detect it. I really wish I had better tools. Even MRI is not going to be very informative here; I don't really care about lesions and white matter volume, so much as functionality and moreover happiness.

 

Numbers will be coming back over the next few weeks. I will release them when available.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 16 January 2015 - 06:03 AM.

[resveratrol_guy]

As to CD34 mobilization via SDF1 suppression in the bone marrow by GCSF, here is an excellent YouTube computer animation of the process. For the sake of balanced reporting, note that it does not mention the potentially fatal side effects of GCSF, although Neostem does make this clear elsewhere. In my case, obviously, I concluded that these risks were statistically negligible compared to the benefits of stem cell cryopreservation.

 

[Flex]

No, pseudo tumor cerebri = increased brain/cerebrospinal liquid pressure.

Its not a tumor, its just called as such

http://en.wikipedia....al_hypertension

 

Regarding the HPA axis, theres a lot to read but this is one of the reasons why some people were interrested in NSI-189

because the hippocampus dampens the HPA axis.

HPA axis is involved into depression and anxiety -> 3F´s

 Fear

 Flight

 Fight

http://en.wikipedia....nse_(in_humans)

 

[resveratrol_guy]

Increased CSF pressure is also the simplest explanation I can think of for the "balloon headache". But to your previous point, monitoring for serious intracranial side effects is clearly important when we're upregulating growth, so weird headaches should at least be reported.

 

So correct me if I'm wrong: You're saying that an improvement in hippocampal health implies less susceptibility to sudden anger/fear/anxiety. So perhaps the converse is true: an unexpected improvement in mood stability suggests improved hippocampal function. So this sounds roughly like: CD34 -> BDNF -> happy hippocampus -> manifestation of less anxiety. All I can say is, as in Sally's case, the anxiety/jitteryness relief effect came on fast and saturated quickly. (In her case, it was rapid substantial remission (I don't use those terms lightly) from delusional/paranoid soliloquies and panic attacks every other day.) Despite the reduction in circulating CD34s to merely "somewhat elevated" levels in my case, the effect persists. I feel like a "regular guy" as opposed to an aimless but happy SSRI user. In any event, we're definitely looking at nootropic factors of some sort, as opposed to structural repair, if in fact it's anything but placebo.

 

There is literally nothing bothering me at all at the moment, which is bad news, according to reversion of the mean.

 

[resveratrol_guy]

On Digit Span, I increased from 11 to 12 according to Cambridge Brain Sciences. Monkey Ladder is at the previous max of 9. Over on Lumosity, I beat my #2 score at Observation Tower (very similar to Monkey Ladder), the top score having occurred around my sertraline period many weeks ago. I didn't take my shiitake-maitake extract yesterday, which might have better supported my visual memory. Nor have I played any brain games since my last report. Otherwise my performance is the same, although there are many other Lumosity games that I have not yet tested again.

 

Monkey Ladder and Observation Tower require you to remember a series of sequential digits in their ascending order despite being strewn out randomly inside of a box. Digit Span simply shows you digits one at a time, and requires you to type them back in order.

 

Oddly enough, Sally had a game almost identical to Monkey Ladder or Observation Tower on her phone, and she reported numerous times having achieved modest but consistent improvements within a short period of using GCSF, despite having played for months prior. Unfortunately in her case, we have no historical data. So barring further data from the other Lumosity games, I would say that this is the only higher brain function influenced by GCSF. (We'll see if this improvement holds up, moreover.) Of course, why is there any apparent improvement at all, and in particular involving random digits? I don't understand what the neurological significance of this would be as opposed to, say, better graphical memory.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 18 January 2015 - 03:49 PM.

[Flex]

Yes and  its as You´ve said, vice versa. The Hippocampus gets damaged by stress and this inturn increases the bad mood.

However a good mood helps to recover the Hippocampus, which further improves the mood (as far as I know).

 

The GCSF therapy sounds for me more and more interresting.
 

Edited by Flex, 18 January 2015 - 04:20 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

Yes and  its as You´ve said, vice versa. The Hippocampus gets damaged by stress and this inturn increases the bad mood.

However a good mood helps to recover the Hippocampus, which further improves the mood (as far as I know).

 

The GCSF therapy sounds for me more and more interresting.
 

 

If you do it, please report here.

 

Now that you mention it, that would be consistent with the evidence coming out of brain anatomy studies of experienced meditators, particularly with respect to hippocampal volume. The ramifications of this feedback loop that you mentioned are clearly significant. This invites the question of optimizing results, which in cases of severe psychological disorders might appropriately involve GCSF. Food for thought.

 

So in light of that, and the mass of the foregoing evidence, I would hypothesize that GCSF is appropriate for:

1. Low white cell count (as in chemotherapy, neutropenia, or AIDS, but not HIV par se). This was, in a nutshell, the purpose for which GCSF analogs were developed.

 

2. Acute stroke intervention, especially hemmoragic.

 

3. Vasculitis or overt vascular damage in critical organs.

4. Paranoia or anxiety to the point where it inhibits one's ability to lead a normal life in society.

5. Intolerable tinnitus.

6. Problems recognizing or processing written numbers (and letters, as in adult dyslexia, maybe?) to the point that it seriously affects one's life. I should add, if I haven't already, that Sally mentioned that her ability to recognize digits improved, for example, the ability to discern 3 from 8, which may have explained her score improvements.

7. Obviously, for collecting stem cells without surgery.

I suspect that the availability of GCSF will only increase in the coming years, especially due to the vast array of generics now on the market as previously listed. Implicitly, it will become easier to acquire, probably involving a short trip to a banana republic if you want it for an unusual purpose. From what I've heard, you can't get it onto an airplane, so you would probably have to inject it while on "vacation". So before the noobies read this and start using it for everything, here are some examples of uses which do not justify GCSF:

1. Connective tissue disorders. This requires direct injection of stem cells into the tissue itself, and thus should not be affected by GCSF. My own joint problems are in temporary remission, but that will surely end once I start exercising again.

2. Chronic aches and pains. GCSF is not a replacement for aspirin or acetomenaphen. Just make sure you know the cause of the pain.

3. Improving memory generically. We have plenty of other tools for that, including intracranial injection of stem cells previously mobilized by GCSF (do not try this at home, obviously).

4. Cosmetic improvements. Seriously, there are plenty of other options that don't involve banging on poorly understood growth levers.

There is a price for everything. Use your stem cells sparingly in light of your projected life span. Consider preserving some, as I did, with a company who you trust. This is bound to become cheaper over time, although meanwhile your genetic error rate is increasing daily. As I mentioned before, life is a dynamic optimization problem with perpetually inadequate data.
 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 18 January 2015 - 10:59 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

I managed #1 today in River Ranger and #2 in Memory Matrix (YouTube links). (When I say things like this, I'm always talking about my rank vs. my own personal score history.)

 

River Ranger shows you 3 animals, then 3 more, then 3 more, etc. In each case, you need to click on the animal you saw in the previous round. The trick is that the animals flash at high speed, so you have very little time to remember them. Despite the memory aspect of the game, I think the reason for my good performance is calmness, as I made fewer nervous mistakes than usual.

 

It's actually the Memory Matrix score, however, which is more interesting. It's exceedingly difficult for me to perform well in the absence of shiitake-maitake extract (within 24 hours) or an SSRI. The last time I did this well, I was almost certainly on both. I have not taken the extract since about 72 hours ago, although I have been taking dark chocolate at roughly 100 g/d as I have for months and my usual supplements except for pterostilbene.

 

These are all individual data points in a very high-dimensional space. But taken in the aggregate, something appears to be happening along the lines of calmness -> focus -> performance. Maybe the HPA axis theory is the simplest explanation.

 

As a side note, it seems like my longterm memory is working better than it should be. But this is obviously hard to quantify, so I'll have to see what happens with Lumosity's longterm memory test (Familiar Faces) over time.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 19 January 2015 - 03:38 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

Here are blood tests. I've omitted the units because they're quite standard and easily discovered. All was normal except obviously for the postmobilization white blood cell (WBC) count, and its knockon effects on "absolute" percentages. As you can see, my WBC count jumped by 679% from 4.7 to 36.6 -- essentially pseudoleukemia. On test #3, the hematology notes say "verified by microscopic examination", which makes sense in light of the extremely abnormal results. But this is actually close to my given target of 35, and essentially proves that mobilization occurred. I would also say that 960 ug/d Neupogen probably put me closer to the target than the original 780 proposal, so kudos to Neostem for that. Actual CD34 count will take a while to come back from the lab.

I came back negative for the following pathogenic indicators: HBsAg, HCV, HIV, HBc, HTLV, STS, MPX, HIVNT, HCVNT, and HBVNT. No positives were reported.

I double-checked the following measured values for accuracy and coded them by test number:

1. 1/2/2015 (before GCSF)
2. 1/9/2015 (before GCSF)
3. 1/15/2015 (immediately after collection)

1. glucose (fasting) 67
1. HbA1c 5.3%
1. blood urea nitrogen (BUN) 9
1. creatinine 0.93
1. eGFR nonafrican 102
1. sodium 135
1. potassium 4.2
1. chloride 101
1. carbon dioxide 21
1. calcium 9.1
1. protein, total 7.0
1. albumin 4.2
1. bilirubin, total 1.1
1. bilirubin, direct 0.2
1. alkaline phosphatase 56
1. AST 27
1. ALT 21
2. WBC 4.7
3. WBC 36.6
2. RBC 5.21
3. RBC 5.08
2. hemoglobin 16.3
3. hemoglobin 15.9
2. hematocrit 46.6
3. hematocrit 47.4
2. MCV 89
3. MCV 93
2. MCH 31.3
3. MCH 31.3
2. MCHC 35.0
3. MCHC 33.5
2. RDW 13.3
3. RDW 13.5
2. platelets 228
3. platelets 216
2. neutrophils 70
3. neutrophils 86
2. neutrophils, absolute 3.2
3. neutrophils, absolute 30.8
2. lymphs 23
3. lymphs 6
2. lymphs, absolute 1.1
3. lymphs, absolute 2.4
2. monocytes 7
3. monocytes 8
2. monocytes, absolute 0.3
3. monocytes, absolute 3.1
2. eos 0
3. eos 0
2. basos 0
3. basos 0
2. immature granulocytes 0
3. immature granulocytes 0
2. immature granulocytes, absolute 0
3. immature granulocytes, absolute 0
3. NRBC 0
 

[resveratrol_guy]

So a few folks have asked how I feel. Let me put it this way...

 

Someone once said of stem cell therapy that a lot of people get it done, but then all we have in the end are anecdotes. Despite my meticulous attention to data, I've come to appreciate just how hard it is to quantify the results. Of course, I can still update my brain game numbers from time to time or perhaps share other relevant data. But honestly, none of that does any justice to how I feel. If we had such sophisticated virtual reality that I could have previewed my own body as it would feel after the therapy, I would have paid the money just as soon as they turned off the simulation, provided that I could be guaranteed that it would last at least a year in light of the cost and hassle. I would still have paid even if they had told me that it was all just a huge placebo that would make me more relaxed, so I could focus and think better even though it would not fix any pathology. And while I would give Neostem an "A", you can surely obtain similar results with other compentent therapy centers. I don't know how long this will last. It might well reverse in the next few days, once I get back to baseline hematology. We'll see.
 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 21 January 2015 - 01:50 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

My LPI hit a record today, leaving me at the 95% performance percentile. Of note, I got #1 on Pinball Recall (first attempt since therapy), #1 on Splitting Seeds, and #2 on Trouble Brewing. While I haven't played Splitting Seeds all that often, I've tried many times while jacked up on mushroom extracts to beat the other two records. Pinball Recall, in particular, is intensive on visual memory. Right now, I'm on nothing but quercetin, resveratrol, and chocolate, and haven't taken mushroom extract in about a week just for the sake of experiment. On the minus side, my Eagle Eye scores are still crap relative to peak, suggesting zero improvement in the angular span of my visual field. BTW my Lumosity regime has not changed, except that I've been playing about every other day as opposed to every day, for the last month. So I don't practice it or study techniques or even think about it much in between times, as my goal is to use it as a measuring device, not to win competitions.

 

So the objective evidence is mounting that I'm performing better because I'm calmer, if nothing else is going on. Calmness could improve memory and multitasking capability (Trouble Brewing), but it would not improve visual span. Also, I spoke to a friend last night who I had not chatted with since before therapy. Before he asked me how I felt, he said that he noticed less jitter in my speech, and that I sounded more relaxed. He has known me for years. As I said above, it's like being on sertraline without the aimlessness.
 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 22 January 2015 - 02:25 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

Just a little update... I broke my record again at River Ranger, and ended up at #2 in Penguin Pursuit. I think these scores are significant simply because these are not mentally challenging games; on the contrary, they test the speed and accuracy of very basic mental processing. I don't think there's any evidence that I'm faster than I was pretherapy, so the simplest explanation, I think, is the ability to settle down and focus on the tasks.

 

I've started exercising again recently. I'm noticeably weak, and my legs ache after a short jog. Obviously the healing process will be somewhat protracted on account of stem cell depletion and subsequent replication, but the pains are not significant, so I'm content to train back up slowly.

 

There is more therapy to happen along the lines of GCSF in this thread, which I will report here, but I don't feel the need to comment further on this first round. For this phase of my therapy, I would say that the effects are very clear at this point. Ignoring the Lumosity scores which are hard to interpret, just the calmness was worth the whole ordeal.

 

For the record, I restarted my previous 3md/g of c60oo about a week again. I still haven't taken any mushroom extract.

 

[resveratrol_guy]

This is what happened when I restarted mushroom extract after GCSF therapy. Basically, #1 on Observation Tower on the first try, about 24 hours after dosing. Interestingly, Lumosity seems to be showing that my performance on "speed" games is slower. That's OK with me if it's the price of calmness.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 01 February 2015 - 03:13 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

After suffering a few days of horrible memory likely resulting from this, things seem to be back on track. Yesterday I cracked #1 on Disillusion, despite an otherwise lousy Lumosity session. Today, out of 5 games, 4 were #1: Memory Matrix, Trouble Brewing, Penguin Pursuit, and Splitting Seeds. Of those, only Splitting Seeds is still probably under training effect (nonplateaued). But otherwise, I've never had a streak like this. My LPI hit a record, although I think it's a vastly worse metric than game ranking. I last had actual mushrooms a couple days ago, and mushroom extract about 2 days before that.

 

I truly wish I could look into my head and tell you what's happening here. I can't. All I can say is that it feels like they made the games easier without telling me. (I actually checked the website, but I don't see any announcements about tweaks of this nature.) In other words, I don't feel like I'm trying any harder. But why did I blow the lights out this morning? I ate some celery late last night. Maybe it was the potassium. Also, I just happened to take 6 mg of c60oo yesterday instead of my usual 3 mg, just because I experienced a few heavy bacterial insults at the park. Does this have anything to do with stem cell therapy at all, for that matter? Hmm...

 

[resveratrol_guy]

It seems like GCSF promotes brain healing, but moreso mononuclear cells. Details:

 

An Indian team featuring some of the authors of the the original BMSC trial-of-one for vascular dementia has done it again: this time, it's iliac mononuclear cells for traumatic brain injury (TBI) (click "View" for full text):

 

http://www.researchg...-_a_pilot_study

 

and from 2012, something I just found which shows cognitive improvements from GCSF injection:

 

http://www.researchg...eimer's_Disease

 

Note especially Figure 2, left graph. Patients #5 and #8 had a massive response. One has to wonder whether this was due to DNA, the specific nature of the TBI, or perhaps extra GCSF doses obtained outside the study context. "Five of the eight subjects in the placebo [yes, the friggin control group!] curve had previously received G-CSF, contributing toward the trend toward improvement in the placebo curve" which means that we might be looking at a dose-dependent response in these cases, depending on when "previously" was. Unfortunately, this point is not clarified, but the evidence looks worthy of further pursuit.

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 16 February 2015 - 02:02 AM.

[resveratrol_guy]

Enter patient #3, Simon. He's a 68 yo male, about 102 kg (overweight type 2 (and probably type 3) diabetic but not obese). He's a longtime friend of mine who has been having Parkinsonian symptoms (chiefly, unsteady gait (uses a cane) and shakey hands) for a few years now.  He has been falling with increasing frequency, perhaps every few weeks in recent times. From my discussions with him, it sounds like he experiences disorientation for a split second before falling. In other words, his falls appear to originate neurologically, which are subsequently exacerbated by his bad knee. MRI shows numerous small lesions in his brain stem. I've been discussing Sally's results with him, and have urged him to consider similar therapy. He elected to start with an 8-bottle prescription of Neupogen (300 ug, 1 mL). This seems about right, considering his weight relative to Sally's, with her 5-bottle course. Unfortunately, on account of his somewhat confused mental state, I don't think he's a good YouTube candidate. So I'll just report the numbers and what I observe personally.

 

I personally supervised his injections. After the first dose, he figured out how to aspirate a bit of extra GCSF out of each bottle (which I suppose is manufacturing margin), resulting in about 2470 ug spread over 5 days, all intramuscular (not subcutaneous, and to the biceps instead of the abdomen, in contrast to my own). Concurrently, I witnessed him consume about 3 mg of c60oo per day. He had been off of c60oo for a few weeks prior.

 

A couple days ago, he had another fall. No improvements of any kind were in evidence, and he remained in a state of evident mild dementia, which he has been fighting for some time. From what I know of his diet, I would say it's certainly nutritionally sufficient, but loaded with a liberal amount of junk -- not exactly a neurological optimization diet. He's aware of this, but unwilling to change, so I don't bother him about it.

 

Last night, he called to tell me that he was out for a walk. I suppose the doctor's warnings about systemic weakness and the need to rest and heal had simply vanished from his mind. So when I reminded him of this, he brushed off the concerns and said that he felt quite good, and needed to get some fresh air. I didn't push the issue; no doubt this was a "superman syndrome" episode, courtesy of c60oo. He went on to mention that he wondered why this might be happening. I suppose, on account of his dementia, that he had forgotten the connection between his therapy and its potential effects. I simply said "that's good to hear" and ended the conversation.

 

When I met him today (day 6, if the first GCSF injection was day 1), without my prompting, he said that he noticed that his balance had improved, starting when he arose from his bed in the morning. He also said that his shakey hands had steadied. When I accompanied him for a brief walk down the street, the difference was evident, as his steps were slow but obviously balanced without his cane. I stayed near him in case he fell, but he never waivered at all, and I did not need to interfere. This was possible before, but he would tip back and forth -- something like a bowling pin after being struck on its side. Granted, this is subjective, and might just be all in my head. His hands, however, were visibly and obviously steadier than I had seen in years.

 

I spoke to my friend who had helped with Sally's case. We debated about the shaking hands. I suspected GCSF, but her opinion was that the effect was entirely due to c60oo, because she remembers Sally's shaking having settled down between starting c60oo and GCSF. So I would have to agree, having no other point of reference. But if the gait steadiness is as real as my eyes and Simon's pronouncements are telling me, then I suspect that, for its part, the gait improvement is due more to GCSF. In any event, while he had reported improvements in dysinflammation and energy level with his previous c60oo experience at about the same daily dosage, he had never reported gait or shaking improvements.

 

I expect Simon's therapy to max out in the next few days, considering the evidently short therapeutic ramp of GCSF. But like I said, this thread ain't done yet.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 17 February 2015 - 01:06 AM.

[resveratrol_guy]

Simon was in good spirits today, perhaps due to HPA axis effects or... just a good day. On the minus side, I regret to report that he had another fall. Coupled with evidence of Alzheimer's, this is a doubly bad sign:

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/15911793

 

I don't have the heart to tell him about that. Suffice to say that I feel tremendous sympathy for him. But given his moderate state of physical and mental disability and mediocre diet, I must admit to a sense of exasperation. Nevertheless, I'll continue mining Longecity for other ideas while the GCSF and c60oo settle in. At least, his mood is improved and his shaking remains subdued.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 18 February 2015 - 02:52 AM.

[resveratrol_guy]

I got #1 on Observation Tower again, despite my memory generally having been worse for a few days now, since I started a brutal ketogenic diet. (Brains that love sugar apparently don't take too kindly to medium chain triglycerides, which actually require some effort to metabolize. Hopefully this will pay off in the long term, though.) I really have no idea why my ability to memorize random digits has improved to an extent which appears to have statistical significance, on account of reversion-to-the-mean making repeated improvements on plateaued games rather unlikely. Had I listed my desires for GCSF benefits, I don't think this would have been anywhere on the list, so at least, it's not likely to be placebo. But I'm happy to see this, nonetheless. If the cause is not GCSF, then I can't really hazard a guess as to what it might be, unless chocoholism takes months to maximize its benefits.

 

For the record, my daily diet looks like this:

 

1. Bitter gourd (2 or more per day).

 

2. Organic celery for snacks. (The nonorganic stuff is particularly loaded with pesticides.) It seems to be an acute nootropic, perhaps due to potassium or blood pressure effects.

 

3. 5 to 10 heaping teaspoons of organic fair trade cacao powder dissolved in hot water, spread across 2 or 3 mugs throughout the day, but not close to bed time. I add tumeric, vanilla powder, and coconut oil. It's not delicious, exactly, but it's palatable. Perhaps I should replace the tumeric with Longvida. (Note the in vitro study mentioned somewhere on Longecity which says that curcumin can cause endothelial dysfunction. I'm not convinced, personally, but it's noteworthy.)

 

4. Olive oil and coconut oil as calorie fillers. (Coconut oil might be atherogenic in the presence of excessive carbs.)

 

5. A raw egg (watch out for salmonella).

 

6. Blueberries (not ketogenic, but they seem to help cognitive function).

 

7. Roughly a heaping tablespoon of wheatgerm (see the spermidine threads).

 

8. My usual supplements, as of today, including K2 because I (tried to) stop eating cheese in order to avoid casein.

 

9. Random veggies and seafood to fill in basic nutritional requirements.

 

10. 12 hours of daily fasting in order to keep autophagy working against beta amyloid and phosphotau plaque accretion.

 

I do indeed sleep better as a result of this approach. And no wonder it kills tumors: it's exhausting!

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 19 February 2015 - 06:51 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

In this thread, I've posted an extensive discussion of the latest antialzheimer's approaches which support general health as well. Above all, this is a must-read for anyone considering stem cell therapy for dementia.

 

[Flex]

Simon was in good spirits today, perhaps due to HPA axis effects or... just a good day. On the minus side, I regret to report that he had another fall. Coupled with evidence of Alzheimer's, this is a doubly bad sign:

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/15911793

 

I don't have the heart to tell him about that. Suffice to say that I feel tremendous sympathy for him. But given his moderate state of physical and mental disability and mediocre diet, I must admit to a sense of exasperation. Nevertheless, I'll continue mining Longecity for other ideas while the GCSF and c60oo settle in. At least, his mood is improved and his shaking remains subdued.

 

Cant understand due my medicore english whether he has Alzheimer or not.

 

Anyway, some would like to know and for some its better to tell nothing... and wait for the decline.

Perhaps they would be in a numb stasis where it doesnt matter for them anymore what will happen to them...

 

Its complicated, even when some state that they want to know it, it could be detrimental for them at the end of the day..

In addition, one could think the following( its not my view, just saying): what legitimates one´s position to tell or not to tell.

 

I appreciate Your Thread and good deeds much.

Keep on !

[resveratrol_guy]

 

Cant understand due my medicore english whether he has Alzheimer or not.

 

Anyway, some would like to know and for some its better to tell nothing... and wait for the decline.

Perhaps they would be in a numb stasis where it doesnt matter for them anymore what will happen to them...

 

Its complicated, even when some state that they want to know it, it could be detrimental for them at the end of the day..

In addition, one could think the following( its not my view, just saying): what legitimates one´s position to tell or not to tell.

 

I appreciate Your Thread and good deeds much.

Keep on !

 

 

Hi Flex, sorry that I wasn't very clear. I meant that (1) he does indeed have (early) Alzheimer's, based on his symptoms and (2) considering that he also suffers from gait instability (and therefore has occasional falls), his prognosis is even worse than it would be with the Alzheimer's alone, according to the linked study. There's a small chance that it's Parkinson's dementia as opposed to Alzheimer's, but the treatment protocol would be essentially the same (above all, avoiding sugar).

 

While ethics in medicine is never straightforward, I think it's simpler in the case of Alzheimer's because most people should follow the same prevention protocol, whether or not they have the disease. And indeed, Alzheimer's is an arbitrary line in the sand, rather like diabetes: it's only when the symptoms reach a certain level of severity that we call it by that name, but everyone has some level of memory problems. So telling him that he has it is intended to remind him of what he should already know, so as to motivate him to tackle it more aggressively. (But in his case, he still seems to think it's "normal brain aging" and is waiting for a "diagnosis", as though the former is somehow fundamentally different than Alzheimer's pathology.) At this point, he needs to be very aggressive indeed, but he's still eating chips and pie and drinking moderate amounts of hard liquor. It's his life, and apart from trying to keep him informed as a good friend should do, I don't attempt to interfere in his unhealthy habits.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 21 February 2015 - 04:18 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

I'm really busy but here's a few quick updates...

 

In my case, I got #1 again today on Memory Matrix. I had plateaued on this long before therapy, so something is definitely going on here. (No mushrooms or extract for a few days now.) While otherwise Lumosity is underwhelmed with my performance vs. when I was on setraline, these now-you-see-it-now-you-don't games have experienced an out-of-band improvement, the only exception being Eagle Eye, which measures the angular span of one's visual field as opposed to visual memory as such. It's possible that this particular performance has more to do with my week-old ketogenic diet than stem cell therapy, however. And I'm exercising at my pretherapy level again. (I would expect that my own stem cell benefits should have been short lived because, after all, they pulled out the cells! But such things are never clear, precisely because repairing X makes Y work better, which in turn improves Z, etc. over some protracted period of time.)

 

Simon said that while he seems to have more energy, he has regressed to his pretherapy state with respect to balance and shaking. Personally, I could indeed see that the shaking had returned as of a couple days ago. Of course I can't really tell what his energy level is, so that could be placebo. While his stem cells should still be moderately functional at 68, it's possible that his damage is overwhelmingly neurological at this point, so while fixing the blood vessels is critical for avoiding vascular failure, it's insufficient to fix his symptoms in any significant way. So while I'm obviously displeased with the results, they do perhaps give us more insight into the workings of GCSF: it would appear to be a 2-phase process: (1) docking of CD34s and secretion of antiinflammatories followed by (2) structural repair accomplished by a cellular hierarchy ("construction crew"). It may be that due to his age and, more importantly, processed food intake, that everything crashed at phase 2. He's unwilling to do further stem cell therapy (and what would possibly work, save for intracranial, which he understandably refuses to do?). So I think the next step is something like Niagen and hopefully much more coconut oil. Furthermore, I should mention that his regression followed cessation of c60oo by a few days, so that certainly did not help. He is, however, confident that c60oo could not have explained all of the benefits, based on his previous experience taking the stuff. He has no aversion to resuming c60oo in the future, fortuantely.

 

So if it's not obvious, learn from Simon's failure: if you do some form of BMSC therapy, then get your diet in excellent shape at least a month before the procedure. Especially to the young people here: don't pollute your precious stem cell reserves with the cummulative effects of poor diet, because poor diet does not just make you unhealthy; it makes your stem cells less able to help you get better. Reseach "ketogenic diet" here on Longecity so you tune into the informed debate over dietary optimization, so that hopefully you can avoid the need for stem cell therapy for a very long time. In any event, it's quite important to me that young, healthy forum members learn from folks like us, as we blindly attempt to debug this therapeutic approach. It works with varying degress of success, but it isn't anywhere near perfect, so you need to learn that before you're in trouble.

 

[ceridwen]

I have difficulty walking too

[ceridwen]

i am worried that once I've regressed past a certain point my husband will be feeding me sugar.

[resveratrol_guy]

Simon called me unexpectedly today, to let me know that he had stumbled a 2 or 3 times in the past few days, but did not lose his balance, whereas in recent months, stumbling had guaranteed immiment falling. Moreover, he said that for the first time in months, he was able to step over obstacles as opposed to walking around them. He said that getting up out of a chair was easier as well. Mild morning headaches had stopped occurring in the same time period, which had otherwise peristed for roughly a year. He noted that while the headache effect was more subtle (and I was not previously informed of it), the balance improvement was unmistakable. In light of the aforementioned failure, I'm not sure what to make of this. Of significance is the fact that he started consuming a tablespoon of unrefined coconut oil per day about 3 days ago. So this new data is surely influenced by GCSF and a ketogenic diet, but the fraction assignable to either is ambiguous. There is some murky data which I'll get to below that shows that the benefits of GCSF may progress over an entire year. In any event, he was very clear that "something is going on" which indicated a positive departure from his pretherapy state. He's quite candid about things, so I think he's being honest about all this. Maybe I called it a failure too soon.

 

For my part, I'm sticking to my ketogenic diet. It's about as appealing as refueling your car, but so far, so good. The main negative effect I've noticed (as in 2005) is a dimming of my visual perception, no doubt due to lower blood sugar. (That's OK. I just crank up the screen brightness!) OTOH, since starting it, the floaters in my left eye have finally started to disappear. I wish I could photograph it for you, as it appears like 70% to 80% less visual blockage from the shadows. But the most important benefit is my ability to focus on work; the difference is black-and-white. I can crank away for hours at a task and not get distracted. In any event, I have no reason to suspect a delayed GCSF effect in all this, but I can't rule that out.

 

This thread discusses a phase 2 trial of GMCSF, which appears superior to GCSF. In a preliminary study, the researchers presented data suggesting that both compounds act over months, but this conclusion is muddied by the fact that the participants were cancer patients apparently on chemotherapy, from which it sometimes takes months for cognition to recover.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 28 February 2015 - 06:50 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

So I've been asked to provide on update on my situation, several weeks after Neostem. I might as well echo it publicly.

The only persistent effect that I can directly tie to the therapy is an improvement in short term visual memory, of the sort documented above with Lumosity. The scores have clearly improved, and as I mentioned previously, there's no way that I would have expected that to occur. Frankly this makes no sense to me, especially considering that they took back most of the mobilized cells, but I'm pleased by it nonetheless.

My ability to work and focus on a single task has also improved dramatically. In all honesty, it was never this good, not even in high school. I don't consider myself ADHD, but now that I can sit down and write software for hours on end, I may have to reconsider that in hindsight. I ascribe this to my recent ketogenic diet, not CD34 stem cells. But I thought I should mention it. Also, it's hard to say the extent to which the diet or the stem cells are responsible for my lowered stress level, but I'm happy with that either way, and the difference is very clear.

On the minus side, my nonvisual short term memory leaves a lot to be desired. While I could immediately improve things with various supplements (and probably will), I do like taking the occasional break from such substances, as doing so allows me to see my native performance level, which is a proxy for neurological and cerebrovascular health. So having been off mushrooms and c60oo for a couple weeks now, my verdict is that it's at the "fair" level. Based on my own survey of the literature, my theory is that I have tight junction deterioration in the blood brain barrier and a modest level of beta amyloid accretion, who effects are just starting to become detectable. So I need to reseal the junction and convert AB42 (fat soluble) to AB40 (water soluble) in order to facilitate excretion. There are a number of options I'm currently evaluating, in order to best address this. I'm going to do the best I can, given finances and FDA impediments. I will report back here as appropriate.

For his part, Simon appears to be oscillating from one day to the next. His take on GCSF is that it gave him a short term boost which faded away. This is no doubt due to the antiinflammatory phase discussed above. Given the GMCSF study at the thread above, however, I have to wonder whether the effects of GCSF will be protracted, allowing short term oscillation on the way to long term benefit. My own take is that the GMCSF study was flawed because it looked at cancer patients recovering slowly from chemotherapy, and that both GMCSF and GCSF in otherwise normal dementia/stroke victims would max out their effects within a few weeks. But maybe I'm wrong.

Yesterday Sally emailed me a report. Bottom line: "I observed that although I am still feeling very ill indeed I am in fact feeling very much better". So while this obviously leaves a lot to be desired, it's clear to me that the effects of her therapy (and largely just GCSF itself) have persisted well beyond the drug halflife, implying structural change. She's aggressive about pursuing further therapy of various forms, and is not wasting time in arranging this. I'll share what useful information I can, when I get it.
 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 04 March 2015 - 12:17 PM.

[resveratrol_guy]

OK I think I need to mention this: A week or so after returning from the Neostem procedure, I resumed my supplements as previously (except for pterostilbene, which I only today resumed at about 50 mg/d -- rather low). But for the third or fourth time, I felt fantastic since getting up this morning. I remember several weeks ago, I thought I should report this when it happened. But to be conservative, I decided that I would only do so if it continued until the next day, which it did not. (This feeling is about as close to placebo effect as feeling pain after hitting yourself over the head with a hammer.) After some careful analysis, I'm quite sure I've identified the cause: zinc gluconate. Raw celery and tumeric are distant secondary possibilities, based on everything unusual that I can recall about these days. (So if this doesn't work, try eating an entire plant's worth of raw celery stalks in one go, or drink a tablespoon of tumeric dissolved in water, both of which I do from time to time.)

 

Why should this matter and what could it possibly have to do with brain performance?

 

First of all, I'm confident about this conclusion because, in hindsight, I remember that the day before each of these great days, I had taken 50 mg zinc gluconate (30 mg, in this case). (I normally take only one of these a week, so I came up with this theory previously, but then forgot about it until today, which pretty much disposes of the placebo explanation.) It's only very recently that I started taking an entire capsule at a time; previously, I had divided it over several days because my multivitamin provies 11 mg of zinc already, and the tolerable upper intake is supposed to be only 40 mg. I don't exactly recall, but I don't think I took an entire 50 mg pill in one go more than once or twice before Neostem, if at all.

 

It's also significant that, according to my email archive, my zinc was delivered around 8/13/2014. Presumably, I started the partial pill dosing several days later. My neurological recovery coincided with this period, not that I ascribe all or even most of it to zinc, but it's certainly suspicious. Previously, I had not taken zinc for at least 9 months, if not longer, except in the vitamin pill form (zinc oxide, which is notorious for poor absorption).

 

Looking back over my personal history, I'm pretty sure that I was exposed to high levels of aluminum through drinking water; I wish I could test this, but don't know how, especially because mail order heavy metals tests are notoriously inaccurate. (I don't think I had excessive copper or iron exposure, AFAIK.) So if it's not obvious, what I'm getting at is that Zn(2+) is being swapped for Al(3+) (or Cu(2+)) in the brain, resulting in a short term antiinflammatory effect, very similar to the short term effect reported by users of Longvida (which is distinct from the long term effect, that being the dissolution of amyloid plaques). The swap might be indirectly mediated via metallothionein-3 (M3), which is upregulated following the detection of zinc in the gut. (Sorry I just remember reading this, but can't find it at the moment.) M3 appears to be a cation neutralizer, so perhaps a cascade ensues which ends up consuming more Al(3+) than Zn(2+) itself. Or maybe it's just basic zinc-vs-copper equilibrium across the BBB: zinc wins, and toxic copper is excreted.

 

Of course, the answer is not to raise my zinc intake to infinity in the usual American approach to dietary supplements. And nor is zinc the magic answer to all my woes. While I might increase my dosage a bit, the main point here is that this increases the probability of toxic cations being as important to the root cause of my memory issues as my stroke-or-whatever that make them obvious. In particular, many researchers believe that Al(3+) is intimately involved in the formation of toxic beta amyloid oligomers (easily Googled), and that therefore chelators which cross the BBB (e.g. Longvida) should be therapeutic. So I'm thinking this should be my next move. By the way, Longvida neutralizes some of the mutant tau species as well as amyloid. Furthermore, I've failed to find any dose escalation studies, so it's possible that it would be even more effective at higher doses. Fortunately, I wasn't able to find any evidence that it's possible to consume a lethal dose, either (but of course that doesn't mean that it's impossible).

 

Zinc supports autophagy, explain in this paper. But in combination with M3, excess zinc is neurotoxic as explained in this one.

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 05 March 2015 - 10:32 PM.

[ceridwen]

I am being tested for zinc apparently I do have some rather well disguised white spots on my nails. I can see them now they have been pointed out to be. I believe they are there.