April - 2019

RICHARD SEMELKA, MD. CONSULTING

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SALAD (1:7) Eat the source foods

SALAD (1:7) Eat the source foods

In the modern age, it has become customary practice to identify the apparent source ingredient for the health benefit of something, and then to create a pill containing that source benefit. My intuition tells me that it is often the whole package of the food item which is important, and not just an isolated nutrient, and unfortunately perhaps even the entire environment, the weather from that location, the sunshine, the lifestyle of the people, and their genetics. Leaving a

GDD vs Other Coexistent Disease (MS, Fibromyalgia, etc)

GDD vs Other Coexistent Disease (MS, Fibromyalgia, etc)

This is a question posed by a parent of a sufferer. This is a diagnostic dilemma that is not uncommonly encountered: are the symptoms experienced part of the original condition (MS, VHL, etc) or post-some other treatment that has occurred (back surgery, even as part of treatment for another condition). I also mentioned this about Fibromyalgia, a diagnosis that many GDD patients are labelled with. I think the surest way to find out is to get one-time chelation with Ca-DTPA, t

Coexistent chronic infections

Coexistent chronic infections

This post expands on co-existence of GDD and chronic infections- most common are Lyme and EBV. It is probably a chicken and egg thing (which one came first) I think probably the infection, which has been quarantined and isolated in your body.... till GDD came along. This is a work in progress- I believe prophylactic treatment for the chronic infection while chelating/treating GDD. You are in an even trickier situation, as having received a macrocyclic GBCA and developed GDD.

Healing yourself

Healing yourself

I have mentioned in earlier blogs that you have to take a Zen approach to your health care (you are responsible for your health care). This is especially true with GDD, until knowledge becomes more generalized in the medical community, and standard treatments become more reproducibly and comprehensively effective. But, you need to be informed. This is why I write so many blogs, to benefit the world community of sufferers, and to guide practitioners and researchers. Regarding

Are there alternative contrast agents to Gd-based?

Are there alternative contrast agents to Gd-based?

Perhaps among the most asked questions - why Gadolinium (Gd) [that has made us sick] and not some other agent? Are there other agents? This is a brief treatment on that subject, designed for the lay audience. To begin with, contrast agents in MRI generally are not directly visualized, but their presence is demonstrated by their effect on adjacent water molecules. This is quite a remarkable concept - we are not seeing Gd directly, but rather its effect on surrounding water. Th

Will I get NSF: Revisited

Will I get NSF: Revisited

One of the most informed patient sufferers, in my opinion, took exception to some of the points I brought up in my Will I get NSF blog post. Her points were excellent, and are important to address for the wider community. 1. NSF has more symptoms than I mentioned. Interestingly as I have mentioned in earlier blogs and also brought up at the RSNA/FDA/NIH meeting. NSF has to be looked at again. Maybe it has more symptoms, similar to GDD, and maybe the epidemiology is similar.

Call for physicians with Gadolinium Deposition Disease

Call for physicians with Gadolinium Deposition Disease

I am intending to write an article describing the accounts of physician- GDD sufferers. I have met with a few radiologists who have described their account to me at meetings I have presented at, to hear from them and others would be important. In order to get this critical work published in a good journal, I need as many physicians who have the disease to contact me, as I would very much appreciate adding your account in. You have the option to keep your name anonymous if you

GDD: Learning from failure and not just success

GDD: Learning from failure and not just success

I think one of a number of problems that GDD sufferers experience is that physicians do not acknowledge the failure of the safety of GBCAs. Denial and avoidance is the strategy most often used. This is a huge mistake, and I was outraged when one of my patients told me that she went to a pain clinic and wanted the MD to have her disease GDD recognized in her chart, and not the disease of fibromyalgia which they assigned her. Apparently he responded to her, I know what you are

Bolus vs Drip for DTPA administration

Bolus vs Drip for DTPA administration

This post addresses why we use a bolus technique, most often, and not a drip. Here is the explanation: The manufacturer originally described bolus rather than drip with Ca-DTPA. Bolus also more closely follows the administration pattern of the original GBCA injection. Bolus has been preferred for administering iodine radiology contrast since the 1980s, where bolus and drip were compared. There is much better opacification of organs with bolus than with drip - much better pene

Will I get NSF?

Will I get NSF?

I have heard this question recently quite often, so I thought to respond to it in a blog. If you have normal kidney function, received GBCAs, and are sick with symptoms of GDD, the short answer is no. As I have opined in an earlier blog is NSF really just GDD in a patient with advanced renal failure. I am not sure, but I think no. In large part my answer is based on the lesser number of symptoms that NSF patients have been associated with, but this may be an artifact that the

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