Con Med & their quackwatch/heatlhfraud teams had worked so hard to
soil  DMSO's  image ... I had never mentioned it myself previously.

Why would anyone believe Quackwatch's Quackery ... look at all the
lies they spout on Lyme Disease alone ... lying the the public about a
serious illness ...  what sicko shills they are.

Barrett/Nidiffer sell quackery as facts.

It's just industsry propaganda with Steve Barrett's Quack name
attached ... propulgated by Nidiffer Weedkiller taking orders from the
Barrett's bassement.

www.BreastImplantAwareness.org/nanaweedkiller.htm

Here are others opinions on DMSO ...

Their listing even came up number one in Google ...so powerful is
their disinformation network.

I've personally seen DMSO work miracles.

When I was only around 27 years old, I was travelling in Mexico and
hiking up and down pyramids when my knees gave out ... I could not
step up a curb without intense paid. My husband talked to some doctors
and they gave me DMSO ... within hours the pain totally went away. I
still use it when I have overworked my muscles etc.

DMSO is FDA approved for Interstitial Cystitis ... one of the
autoimmune diseases (controversy there too) that many implanted women
suffer from. Below this excerpt is a long article on the controversy
surrounded this and discusses scleroderma.

Naturally, quackswatch/healthfrauds pan it ... and declare:
"Be aware that DMSO has potentially adverse side effects and offers
little in the way of medical value."

That's their opinion ... here are others:

Here is one explanation on IC & DMSO:
http://www.urologyhealth.org/adult/index.cfm?cat=03&topic=210

The other FDA-approved treatment is to place dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)
into the bladder through a catheter. This is usually done once a week
for six weeks, and some people continue using it as maintenance
therapy (though at longer intervals; not every week). No one knows for
certain how DMSO helps IC. It has several properties including
blocking inflammation, decreasing pain sensation and removing a type
of toxin called "free radicals" that can damage tissue. Some doctors
combine DMSO with other medications such as heparin (similar to
pentosan polysulfate) or steroids (to decrease inflammation). No
studies have tested whether these combinations work better than
dimethyl sulfoxide alone. The main side effect is a garlic-like odor
that lasts for several hours after using DMSO. For some patients, DMSO
can be painful to place into the bladder. This can often be relieved
by first placing a local anesthetic into the bladder through a
catheter, or by mixing the local anesthetic with the DMSO.

http://www.dmso.org/articles/information/muir.htm

DMSO: Many Uses, Much Controversy
Maya Muir

Abstract

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a by-product of the wood industry, has been
in use as a commercial solvent since 1953. It is also one of the most
studied but least understood pharmaceutical agents of our time--at
least in the United States. According to Stanley Jacob, MD, a former
head of the organ transplant program at Oregon Health Sciences
University in Portland, more than 40,000 articles on its chemistry
have appeared in scientific journals, which, in conjunction with
thousands of laboratory studies, provide strong evidence of a wide
variety of properties. (See Major Properties Attributed to DMSO)
Worldwide, some 11,000 articles have been written on its medical and
clinical implications, and in 125 countries throughout the world,
including Canada, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan, doctors prescribe
it for a variety of ailments, including pain, inflammation,
scleroderma, interstitial cystitis, and arthritis elevated
intercranial pressure.

Yet in the United States, DMSO has Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
approval only for use as a preservative of organs for transplant and
for interstitial cystitis, a bladder disease. It has fallen out of the
limelight and out of the mainstream of medical discourse, leading some
to believe that it was discredited. The truth is more complicated.

DMSO: A History of Controversy

The history of DMSO as a pharmaceutical began in 1961, when Dr. Jacob
was head of the organ transplant program at Oregon Health Sciences
University. It all started when he first picked up a bottle of the
colorless liquid. While investigating its potential as a preservative
for organs, he quickly discovered that it penetrated the skin quickly
and deeply without damaging it. He was intrigued. Thus began his
lifelong investigation of the drug.

The news media soon got word of his discovery, and it was not long
before reporters, the pharmaceutical industry, and patients with a
variety of medical complaints jumped on the news. Because it was
available for industrial uses, patients could dose themselves. This
early public interest interfered with the ability of Dr. Jacob--or,
later, the FDA--to see that experimentation and use were safe and
controlled and may have contributed to the souring of the mainstream
medical community on it.

Why, if DMSO possesses half the capabilities claimed by Dr. Jacob and
others, is it still on the sidelines of medicine in the United States
today?

"It's a square peg being pushed into a round hole," says Dr. Jacob.
"It doesn't follow the rifle approach of one agent against one disease
entity. It's the aspirin of our era. If aspirin were to come along
today, it would have the same problem. If someone gave you a little
white pill and said take this and your headache will go away, your
body temperature will go down, it will help prevent strokes and major
heart problems--what would you think?"

Others cite DMSO's principal side effect: an odd odor, akin to that of
garlic, that emanates from the mouth shortly after use, even if use is
through the skin. Certainly, this odor has made double-blinded studies
difficult. Such studies are based on the premise that no one, neither
doctor nor patient, knows which patient receives the drug and which
the placebo, but this drug announces its presence within minutes.

Others, such as Terry Bristol, a Ph.D. candidate from the University
of London and president of the Institute for Science, Engineering and
Public Policy in Portland, Oregon, who assisted Dr. Jacob with his
research in the 1960s and 1970s, believe that the smell of DMSO may
also have put off the drug companies, that feared it would be hard to
market. Worse, however, for the pharmaceutical companies was the fact
that no company could acquire an exclusive patent for DMSO, a major
consideration when the clinical testing required to win FDA approval
for a drug routinely runs into millions of dollars. In addition, says
Mr. Bristol, DMSO, with its wide range of attributes, would compete
with many drugs these companies already have on the market or in
development.

The FDA and DMSO

In the first flush of enthusiasm over the drug, six pharmaceutical
companies embarked on clinical studies. Then, in November 1965, a
woman in Ireland died of an allergic reaction after taking DMSO and
several other drugs. Although the precise cause of the woman's death
was never determined, the press reported it to be DMSO. Two months
later, the FDA closed down clinical trials in the United States,
citing the woman's death and changes in the lenses of certain
laboratory animals that had been given doses of the drug many times
higher than would be given humans.

Some 20 years and hundreds of laboratory and human studies later, no
other deaths have been reported, nor have changes in the eyes of
humans been documented or claimed. Since then, however, the FDA has
refused seven applications to conduct clinical studies, and approved
only 1, for intersititial cystitis, which subsequently was approved
for prescriptive use in 1978.

Dr. Jacob believes the FDA "blackballed" DMSO, actively trying to kill
interest in a drug that could end much suffering. Jack de la Torre,
MD, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and physiology at the University
of New Mexico Medical School in Albuquerque, a pioneer in the use of
DMSO and closed head injury, says, "Years ago the FDA had a sort of
chip on its shoulder because it thought DMSO was some kind of snake
oil medicine. There were people there who were openly biased against
the compound even though they knew very little about it. With the new
administration at that agency, it has changed a bit." The FDA recently
granted permission to conduct clinical trials in Dr. de la Torre's
field of closed head injury.

DMSO Penetrates Membranes and Eases Pain

The first quality that struck Dr. Jacob about the drug was its ability
to pass through membranes, an ability that has been verified by
numerous subsequent researchers.1 DMSO's ability to do this varies
proportionally with its strength--up to a 90 percent solution. From 70
percent to 90 percent has been found to be the most effective strength
across the skin, and, oddly, performance drops with concentrations
higher than 90 percent. Lower concentrations are sufficient to cross
other membranes. Thus, 15 percent DMSO will easily penetrate the
bladder.2

In addition, DMSO can carry other drugs with it across membranes. It
is more successful ferrying some drugs, such as morphine sulfate,
penicillin, steroids, and cortisone, than others, such as insulin.
What it will carry depends on the molecular weight, shape, and
electrochemistry of the molecules. This property would enable DMSO to
act as a new drug delivery system that would lower the risk of
infection occurring whenever skin is penetrated.

DMSO perhaps has been used most widely as a topical analgesic, in a 70
percent DMSO, 30 percent water solution. Laboratory studies suggest
that DMSO cuts pain by blocking peripheral nerve C fibers.3 Several
clinical trials have demonstrated its effectiveness,4,5 although in
one trial, no benefit was found.6 Burns, cuts, and sprains have been
treated with DMSO. Relief is reported to be almost immediate, lasting
up to 6 hours. A number of sports teams and Olympic athletes have used
DMSO, although some have since moved on to other treatment modalities.
When administration ceases, so do the effects of the drug.

Dr. Jacob said at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Health
in 1980, "DMSO is one of the few agents in which effectiveness can be
demonstrated before the eyes of the observers....If we have patients
appear before the Committee with edematous sprained ankles, the
application of DMSO would be followed by objective diminution of
swelling within an hour. No other therapeutic modality will do this."

Chronic pain patients often have to apply the substance for 6 weeks
before a change occurs, but many report relief to a degree they had
not been able to obtain from any other source.

DMSO and Inflammation

DMSO reduces inflammation by several mechanisms. It is an antioxidant,
a scavenger of the free radicals that gather at the site of injury.
This capability has been observed in experiments with laboratory
animals7 and in 150 ulcerative colitis patients in a double-blinded
randomized study in Baghdad, Iraq.8 DMSO also stabilizes membranes and
slows or stops leakage from injured cells.

At the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1978, 213
patients with inflammatory genitourinary disorders were studied.
Researchers concluded that DMSO brought significant relief to the
majority of patients. They recommended the drug for all inflammatory
conditions not caused by infection or tumor in which symptoms were
severe or patients failed to respond to conventional therapy.9

Stephen Edelson, MD, F.A.A.F.P., F.A.A.E.M., who practices medicine at
the Environmental and Preventive Health Center of Atlanta, has used
DMSO extensively for 4 years. "We use it intravenously as well as
locally," he says. "We use it for all sorts of inflammatory
conditions, from people with rheumatoid arthritis to people with
chronic low back inflammatory-type symptoms, silicon immune toxicity
syndromes, any kind of autoimmune process.

"DMSO is not a cure," he continues. "It is a symptomatic approach used
while you try to figure out why the individual has the process going
on. When patients come in with rheumatoid arthritis, we put them on IV
DMSO, maybe three times a week, while we are evaluating the causes of
the disease, and it is amazing how free they get. It really is a
dramatic treatment."

As for side effects, Dr. Edelson says: "Occasionally, a patient will
develop a headache from it, when used intravenously--and it is dose
related." He continues: "If you give a large dose, [the patient] will
get a headache. And we use large doses. I have used as much as
30ÝmlÝIV over a couple of hours. The odor is a problem. Some men have
to move out of the room [shared] with their wives and into separate
bedrooms. That is basically the only problem."

DMSO was the first nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory discovered since
aspirin. Mr. Bristol believes that it was that discovery that spurred
pharmaceutical companies on to the development on other varieties of
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. "Pharmaceutical companies were
saying that if DMSO can do this, so can other compounds," says Mr.
Bristol. "The shame is that DMSO is less toxic and has less int he way
of side effects than any of them."

Collagen and Scleroderma

Scleroderma is a rare, disabling, and sometimes fatal disease,
resulting form an abnormal buildup of collagen in the body. The body
swells, the skin--particularly on hands and face--becomes dense and
leathery, and calcium deposits in joints cause difficulty of movement.
Fatigue and difficulty in breathing may ensue. Amputation of affected
digits may be necessary. The cause of scleroderma is unknown, and,
until DMSO arrived, there was no known effective treatment.

Arthur Scherbel, MD, of the department of rheumatic diseases and
pathology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, conducted a study using
DMSO with 42 scleroderma patients who had already exhausted all other
possible therapies without relief. Dr. Scherbel and his coworkers
concluded 26 of the 42 showed good or excellent improvement.
Histotoxic changes were observed together with healing of ischemic
ulcers on fingertips, relief from pain and stiffness, and an increase
in strength. The investigators noted, "It should be emphasized that
these have never been observed with any other mode of therapy."10
Researchers in other studies have since come to similar conclusions.11

Does DMSO Help Arthritis?

It was inevitable that DMSO, with its pain-relieving,
collagen-softening, and anti-inflammatory characteristics, would be
employed against arthritis, and its use has been linked to arthritis
as much as to any condition. Yet the FDA has never given approval for
this indication and has, in fact, turned down three Investigational
New Drug (IND) applications to conduct extensive clinical trials.

Moreover, its use for arthritis remains controversial. Robert Bennett,
MD, F.R.C.P., F.A.C.R., F.A.C.P., professor of medicine and chief,
division of arthritis and rheumatic disease at Oregon Health Sciences
University (Dr. Jacob's university), says other drugs work better.
Dava Sobel and Arthur Klein conducted their own informal study of 47
arthritis patients using DMSO in preparation for writing their book,
Arthritis: What Works, and came to the same conclusion.12

Yet laboratory studies have indicated that DMSO's capacity as a
free-radical scavenger suggests an important role for it in
arthritis.13 The Committee of Clinical Drug Trials of the Japanese
Rheumatism Association conducted a trial with 318 patients at several
clinics using 90 percent DMSO and concluded that DMSO relieved joint
pain and increased range of joint motion and grip strength, although
performing better in more recent cases of the disease.14 It is
employed widely in the former Soviet Union for all the different types
of arthritis, as it is in other countries around the world.

Dr. Jacob remains convinced that it can play a significant role in the
treatment of arthritis. "You talk to veterinarians associated with any
race track, and you'll find there's hardly an animal there that hasn't
been treated with DMSO. No veterinarian is going to give his patient
something that does not work. There's no placebo effect on a horse."

DMSO and Central Nervous System Trauma

Since 1971, Dr. de la Torre, then at the University of Chicago, has
experimented using DMSO with injury to the central nervous system.
Working with laboratory animals, he discovered that DMSO lowered
intracranial pressure faster and more effectively than any other drug.
DMSO also stabilized blood pressure, improved respiration, and
increased urine output by five times and increased blood flow through
the spinal cord to areas of injury.15-17 Since then, DMSO has been
employed with human patients suffering severe head trauma, initially
those whose intracranial pressure remained high despite the
administration of mannitol, steroids, and barbiturates. In humans, as
well as animals, it has proven the first drug to significantly lower
intracranial pressure, the number one problem with severe head trauma.

"We believe that DMSO may be a very good product for stroke," says Dr.
de la Torre, "and that is a devastating illness which affects many
more people than head injury. We have done some preliminary clinical
trials, and there's a lot of animal data showing that it is a very
good agent in dissolving clots."

Other Possible Applications for DMSO

Many other uses for DMSO have been hypothesized from its known
qualities hand have been tested in the laboratory or in small clinical
trials. Mr. Bristol speaks with frustration about important findings
that have never been followed up on because of the difficulty in
finding funding and because "to have on your resume these days that
you've worked on DMSO is the kiss of death." It is simply too
controversial. A sampling of some other possible applications for this
drug follows.

DMSO as long been used to promote healing. People who have it on hand
often use it for minor cuts and burns and report that recovery is
speedy. Several studies have documented DMSO use with soft tissue
damage, local tissue death, skin ulcers, and burns.18-21

In relation to cancer, several properties of DMSO have gained
attention. In one study with rats, DMSO was found to delay the spread
of one cancer and prolong survival rates with another.22 In other
studies, it has been found to protect noncancer cells while
potentiating the chemotherapeutic agent.

Much has been written recently about the worldwide crisis in
antibiotic resistance among bacteria (see Alternative & Complementary
Therapies, Volume 2, Number 3, 1996, pages 140-144) Here, too, DMSO
may be able to play a role. Researcher as early as 1975 discovered
that it could break down the resistance certain bacteria have
developed.23

In addition to its ability to lower intracranial pressure following
closed head injury, Dr. de la Torre's work suggests that the drug may
actually have the ability to prevent paralysis, given its ability to
speedily clean out cellular debris and stop the inflammation that
prevents blood from reaching muscle, leading to the death of muscle
tissue.

With its great antioxidant powers, DMSO could be used to mitigate some
of the effects of aging, but little work has been done to investigate
this possibility. Toxic shock, radiation sickness, and septicemia have
all been postulated as responsive to DMSO, as have other conditions
too numerous to mention here.

DMSO in the Future

Will DMSO ever sit on the shelves of pharmacies in this country as a
legal prescriptive for many of the conditions it may be able to
address? Will the studies we need to discover when this drug is most
appropriate ever be done? Given the difficulties the drug has run into
so far and the recent development of new drugs that perform some of
the same functions, Mr. Bristol is doubtful. Others, however, such as
Dr. Jacob and Dr. de la Torre, see the FDA approval of DMSO for
interstitial cystitis and the more recent FDA go-ahead for DMSO trials
with closed head injury as new indications of hope. The cystitis
approval means that physicians may use it at their discretion for
other uses, giving DMSO a new legitimacy.

Dr. Jacob continues to believe that DMSO should not even be called a
drug but is more correctly a new therapeutic principle, with an effect
on medicine that will be profound in many areas. Whether that is true
cannot be known without extensive a publicly reported trials, which
are dependent on the willingness of researchers to undertake rigorous
studies in this still-unfashionable tack and of pharmaceutical
companies and other investors to back them up. That this is a live
issue is proved by the difficulty the investigators with approval to
test DMSO for closed head injury clinically are having finding funds
to conduct the trials.

In 1980, testifying before the Select Committee on Agin of the U.S.
House of Representatives, Dr. Scherbel said, "The controversy that
exists over the clinical effectiveness of DMSO is not
well-founded--clinical effectiveness may be variable in different
patients. If toxicity is consistently minimal, the drug should not be
restricted from practice. The clinical effectiveness of DMSO can be
decided with complete satisfaction if the drug is made available to
the practicing physician. The number of patient complaints about pain
and the number of phone calls to the doctor's office will decide
quickly whether or not the drug is effective."

It may be premature to call for the full rehabilitation of DMSO, but
it is time to call for a full investigation of its true range of
capabilities.

References

Kolb, K.H., Jaenicke, G., Kramer, M., Schulze, P.E. Absorption,
distribution, and elimination of labeled dimethyl sulfoxide in man and
animals. Ann NY Acad Sci 141:85-95, 1967.
Herschler, R., Jacob, S.W. The case of dimethyl sulfoxide. In:
Lasagna, L. (Ed.), Controversies in Therapeutics. Philadelphia: W.B.
Saunders, 1980.
Evans, M.S., Reid, K.H., Sharp, J.B. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) blocks
conduction in peripheral nerve C fibers: A possible mechanism of
analgesia. Neurosci Lett 150:145-148, 1993.
Demos, C.H., Beckloff, G.L., Donin, M.N., Oliver, P.M. Dimethyl
sulfoxide in musculoskeletal disorders. Ann NY Acad Sci 141:517-523,
1967.
Lockie, L.M., Norcross, B. A clinical study on the effects of dimethyl
sulfoxide in 103 patients with acute and chronic musculoskeletal
injures and inflammation. Ann NY Acad Sci 141:599-602, 1967.
Percy, E.C., Carson, J.D. The use of DMSO in tennis elbow and rotator
cuff tendinitis: A double-blind study. Med Sci Sports Exercise
13:215-219, 1981.
Itoh, M., Guth, P. Role of oxygen-derived free radicals in hemorrhagic
shock-induced gastric lesions in the rat. Gastroenterology
88:1126-1167, 1985.
Salim, A.S., Role of oxygen-derived free radical scavengers in the
management of recurrent attacks of ulcerative colitis: A new approach.
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Shirley, S.W., Stewart, B.H., Mirelman, S. Dimethyl sulfoxide in
treatment of inflammatory genitourinary disorders. Urology 11:215-220,
1978.
Scherbel, A.L., McCormack, L.J., Layle, J.K. Further observations on
the effect of dimethyl sulfoxide in patients with generalized
scleroderma (progressive systemic sclerosis). Ann NY Acad Sci
141:613-629, 1967.
Engel, M.F., Dimethyl sulfoxide in the treatment of scleroderma. South
Med J 65:71, 1972.
Sobel, D., Klein, A.C. Arthritis: What Works. New York: St. Martins
Press, 1989.
Santos, L., Tipping, P.G. Attenuation of adjuvant arthritis in rats by
treatment with oxygen radical scavengers. Immunol Cell Biol
72:406-414, 1994.
Matsumoto, J. Clinical trials of dimethyl sulfoxide in rheumatoid
arthritis patients in Japan. Ann NY Acad Sci 141:560-568, 1967.
de la Torre, J.C., et al. Modifications of experimental spinal cord
injuries using dimethyl sulfoxide. Trans Am Neurol Assoc 97:230, 1971.
de la Torre, J.C., et al. Dimethyl sulfoxide in the treatment of
experimental brain compression. J Neurosurg 38:343, 1972.
de la Torre, J.C., et al. Dimethyl sulfoxide in the central nervous
system trauma. Ann NY Acad Sci 243:362, 1975.
Lawrence, H.H., Goodnight, S.H. Dimethyl sulfoxide and extravasion of
anthracycline agents. Ann Inter Med 98:1025, 1983.
Lubredo, L., Barrie, M.S., Woltering, E.A. DMSO protects against
adriamycin-induced skin necrosis. J. Surg Res 53:62-65, 1992.
Alberts, D.S., Dorr, R.T. Case report: Topical DMSO for
mitomycin-C-induced skin ulceration. Oncol Nurs Forum 18:693-695,
1991.
Cruse, C.W., Daniels, S. Minor burns: Treatment using a new drug
deliver system with silver sulfadiazine. South Med J 82:1135-1137,
1989.
Miller, L., Hansbrough, J., Slater, H., et al. Sildimac: A new deliver
system for silver sulfadiazine in the treatment of full-thickness burn
injuries. J Burn Care Rehab 11:35-41, 1990
Salim, A. Removing oxygen-derived free radicals delays hepatic
metastases and prolongs survival in colonic cancer. Oncology 49:58-62,
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dimethyl sulfoxide on streptomycin-sensitive and resistant Escherichia
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Source: Alternative & Complementary Therapies, July/August 1996, pages
230-235. DMSO Organization would like to thank the publisher for
permission to place this fine article on the World Wide Web. The
Publisher retains all copyright. To order reprints of this article,
write to or call: Karen Ballen, Alternative & Complementary Therapies,
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., 2 Madison Avenue, Larchmont, NY 10538, (914)
834-3100.