ARA 290 Safe During COVID-19 Days?

[William Seeds, MD]

This is a great question from @drsklarsklarcenter-com

I recently read that ARA 290 significantly decreases the cytokines IL 6, IL-12 and tumor necrosis factor alpha. Is anyone worried about using it during the Covid pandemic? My patients are having great results for pain relief but I don’t want to increase their Covid risk.

Would love some insight! @william-seeds-md @jgb2106yahoo-com @drguzmanfresnogmail-com

[Dwight McKee]

I wouldn’t worry about these particular cytokines unless a patient develops symptomatic CV-19, in which case I would consider stopping the ARA 290. Be sure all your patients have 25-OH vit D levels in the 40-60 ng/ml range, zinc levels in the upper range of normal, same for selenium, serum retinol, and rbc magnesium, which are all key to the anti-viral immune response. With onset of symptoms and/or positive viral test for SARS-CoV-2, use .5 ml thymosin alpha-1 sq bid., and L-theanine, 500 mg bid.  In case of severe ‘cytokine storm’, ARA290 might actually be beneficial, but I doubt there is any experience with that yet, and such a patient would be in a hospital setting.

Dr. Sklar, where do you obtain ARA290, and what dose and schedule are you using for neuropathic pain?

thanks!

Dwight L McKee MD, CNS, ABIHM, Diplomate, American Board of Medical Oncology

[William Seeds, MD]

@dlmckeemdgmail-com awesome response. also, Dr. Seeds had his response to this in our latest podcast:

Timestamp: 39.24 @drsklarsklarcenter-com

 

[Susan Sklar]

Thank you for the answers. Keren, thank you for posting my question here.  I am getting ARA 290 from Westchester Compounding in New York.  There have been some problems with precipitating out of solution but they replaced the ones that did precipitate.  Seems to be very effective in the patients I have using it so far (one of them being my husband). One other patient has given up her cane because she can walk pain free (3 failed back surgeries, chronic back pain).  She did have an autoimmune flare. Is there anything about ARA 290 that would cause that?  I have patients use 0.5 ml (4 mg) s.c. daily for 4-6 weeks.  Then rotate off for 4-6 weeks.

[Dwight McKee]

Thanks for the info Susan. In any patients with a h/o autoimmune disorders, its generally prudent to assume leaky gut and optimize correction of it, as well as checking inflammatory markers and optimizing them with diet, peptides and supplements before using any agents that can trigger cytokine responses of one sort or another, even though ARA290 appears to downregulate them, they might sometimes go up first. With leaky gut and chronic inflammation corrected first, its less likely to have such an autoimmune flare, but sounds like it went the right way after that. in any case Oral BPC 157 , 25 mcg bid very useful for leaky gut along with things like aloe vera freeze dried powder, zinc carnosine, marshmallow root, L-glutamine, bone broth, etc.

Thanks for the info on source, dose and schedule for ARA290. I have a friend who has been on gabapentin for 10 years, has microscopic transitional cell carcinoma by cytology from the left ureter, and just learned that there is an increased incidence of both pancreatic and urinary tract cancers associated with long term use of it–so she’s looking for an alternative for her neuropathic pain, and this sounds like a good one, so I will send the information on. Do you do telemedicine consults with peptides? I don’t really do patient care anymore, would love to refer her to a knowledgable peptide doc. She lives in Jackson Hole Wyoming. I also think she has an issue with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, and am referring her to a colleague who works with MCAS and cancer from the integrative side.

A kind of wild question, are you by any chance related to Joel Sklar, who graduated from Williams College in 1970? He and I were in the same class in pre-med there, shared many courses.

thanks,

Dwight McKee

[Susan Sklar]

Hi Dwight,

I totally agree with you about treating autoimmunity first.  This patient has microscopic colitis and since it has been reasonably under control, she did not want any functional medicine treatment for it.  She did not have a known history of other autoimmune disorders so I was surprised when, after her terrible, debilitating back pain resolved, she began to have significant joint stiffness in her hands.  It was temporally related to using ARA 290 so I became concerned about the autoimmune triggering potential of ARA 290.

I am happy to discuss helping with a patient.  Please email me at drsklar@sklarcenter.com or call my cell 562-760-8140.  There are a number of techniques I have learned for neuropathic pain.  I treat a number of patients (mostly women) for a condition called Burning Mouth Syndrome, a neuropathic pain condition.  I have not been able to discern a cause in the patients I have treated. 90% of the patients who have Burning Mouth Syndrome are perimenopausal and menopausal women.  I have had good success with the use of hormones, especially the neuroactive steroids DHEA and pregenenolone.  I also use low dose naltrexone and intranasal oxytocin.  I learned about ARA 290 from Dr. Seeds in February and am just starting to use it in the past few months.  Most of the patients I see have failed gabapentin, amitryptilene and other anti-seizure and anti-depressant medications used to treat neuropathic pain.  I did not know about the carcinogenic long term effects of gabapentin.

I am probably related to Joel Sklar in some way but don’t who he is.  There aren’t that many Sklars in the U.S. so I am probably related to most of them.  Thanks for your help on the ARA 290 and cytokine question.

Susan

[Dwight McKee]

Thanks so much Susan. I will pass on your contact info to my friend (her name is Devra Davis, Ph.D.) She’s an epidemiologist with special expertise in health effects of EMF. I have only treated one case of burning mouth syndrome, many years ago, which developed after some dental work, in a friend of mine who had previously had a gastric bypass roux-n-y for obesity. I treated him with the fat soluble form of thiamine from Japan called Benfotiamine, I think 100 mg per day, and after symptoms resolved he continued on 50 mg/day (but probably need much less in someone with an intact duodenum). I have no idea if that would also help the patient population you’re working with.

Dwight

[Harriet McCoy]

What is the daily dosing and rotation schedule for ARA-290?   What about P-21?

[Susan Sklar]

Hi Harriet.  The ARA290 is 4mg/ml. Patients use 1 ml s.c. daily. They can alternate one month on, one month off or use it continuously.

Susan

 

 

 

[Harriet McCoy]

Thank you!

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