One Cause, Many Ailments. Dr. John O.A. Pagano

      Polycythemia Vera

      After delivering a lecture on psoriasis as it related to the Leaky Gut Syndrome at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium at the United Nations in New York on October 29, 1980, I was met backstage by a distinguished gentleman, Mr. W.S., who was at the time president of the United Nations Parapsychology Society, which had sponsored the program. After a brief introduction, he informed me that he wished to visit my office and possibly become my patient. I assumed he had psoriasis and made an appointment. He arrived on schedule, and I began taking down his case history. If it was psoriasis, it was one of the strangest cases I had ever seen. His face was beet-red and the tips of his ears were as blue as ink. The rest of his body, however, was milk-white. It was as though he had gone to the beach, buried his body in the sand up to his neck, and exposed only his head to the sun.

      He informed me that the problem he had been suffering from for forty years was not psoriasis, but polycythemia vera, a condition that could become quite grave. Red blood cells (RBCs) are formed primarily in the bone marrow of the skeletal system. Normal RBC values in the adult male range from 4.7 to 6.1 million cells per microliter, and for females the count is 4.2 to 5.4 million cells per microliter according to the online MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. This count may vary a bit under certain physical or environmental conditions and still be regarded as normal. A patient with polycythemia vera may have a red blood count three times as high as the norm! Medical management typically consists of phlebotomy, i.e., removing a pint of excess blood weekly to reduce high blood viscosity. In the case of Mr. W.S., an abnormally high blood pressure (170/110), a pulse rate of 80, and profuse sweating added to his dilemma. The work load of his heart (WLH) was 14,000 (normal ranging from 8,000 to 10,000) which indicated the heart was working nearly 50 percent harder than it should. (The work load of the heart is determined by multiplying the systolic blood pressure by the pulse rate.)

      Without hesitation I informed him that this was a medical condition with which I had no experience and the only connection I had had with the disease was between the pages of a textbook. He understood but said, “Something in your film got to me!” At the time it was not clear to me what part of the film had resonated with him, but later we were to find out.

      During our initial visit I asked the classic questions: “Any accidents? Any allergies? Any constipation?” The answer was always, “No—nothing wrong there.” Finding nothing particularly out of order, I agreed with him to run a trial series of treatments based on the leaky gut syndrome. I made no promises.

      Two weeks passed with no change in my patient. Frustration began to set in. Why was he not responding? I decided to review the questions. “Any accidents or allergies?” “No.” “Any constipation?” “No, I go regularly every four or five days!” The lights went on for me. “Wait a minute—I thought you told me you had no constipation problem?” He firmly answered, “I don’t.” “Do you consider evacuating once every four or five days ‘normal’?” He answered, “Yes, I do. That is what my doctor told me many years ago. When I told him I only move my bowels every four or five days and that I was always constipated, he told me that in my case it was normal!” The patient did not question his doctor’s judgment and lived with this absurd belief for fifty-six years! When I informed him that proper evacuation meant at least once or even twice or three times a day, he was astounded. Our regimen now focused on cleansing the colon, developing daily bowel movements, and having spinal adjustments.

      In a couple of weeks, the response now shifted from no reaction to a slight ray of hope. He began to feel better generally, and signs of increased energy and vitality began to appear. He began to move his bowels twice a week, then three times, until finally he was able to move them daily or every other day. His head started to return to a normal color, as did the rest of his body. His blood pressure steadily dropped, reducing the work load of his heart, and most important, his blood count approached the normal range. By the time our series of treatments was over, his blood pressure was 120/80 (normal); there was no constipation to speak of; and a normal red blood cell count was established.