H3 Book Index:: Chapters 1-29
The effects of procaine GH3 on the nervous system appear relatively fast, and are clearly noticeable. The disorientation and confusion which is so often characteristic of old people disappears, and memory, perception and ability to concentrate are renewed. In younger people under treatment these mental functions seem improved as compared to their capacities before treatment with procaine. Shortly after treatment is initiated most old people show an increased desire to live: they display better moods, their eyes become increasingly bright, and their hearing (and occasionally their visionimproves. This indicates that procaine injections produce an immediately increased response to stimuli. Perhaps the ganglions of the diencephalon (interbrainare affected, leading to an improvement in walking ability, to a better mobility of the fingers, and to a decrease in so-called extrapyramidal rigidity (characteristic of Parkinson's disease and other illnesses in which muscles stiffen and the expression of the face becomes mask like ).
According to Prof. Aslan, procaine GH3 has a neurotrophic action (supplies the nerves with nourishment) not only upon the central nervous system, but also upon the peripheral nervous system, which would explain its effect upon a great variety of diseases. Italian researchers have found that procaine exerts a direct action on the brain; after intravenous injection of procaine in animals, they found the largest quantity of it in the brain. Russian physiologists have also confirmed the direct action of procaine on the nervous system.
Studies in Bucharest have shown that it is within the highest age brackets that neurological diseases are by far most frequent, whereas cardiovascular and rheumatic diseases are the main problems in advanced middle age. In view of these findings it is particularly important to note that procaine also affects the peripheral nervous system, as evidenced by a cessation of neuralgia and a decrease in neuritis, both of which are very painful conditions frequently present in elderly people.
Conditioned reflexes also are improved under procaine therapy. After prolonged treatment older people are able to fix their reflexes after only three associations, which is the rate generally observed in young people and adults (usually, in older people from nine to twelve associations are required). No similar improvement was noted in the elderly patients who were treated with any other substances, with the exception of thyroid extract, which has a slightly stimulating effect upon the central nervous system.
Thus far, there is not enough experience to reveal the whole potential of procaine therapy in special neurological cases, nor has the method been sufficiently refined to ensure the quickest possible recovery of the patient. Prof. AsIan's technique is nonspecific (stimulating the entire organism, and
thereby indirectly influencing the ailment instead of attacking the specific ailment directly).
Multiple sclerosis
A case in point is multiple sclerosis, a disease still considered incurable. Prof. AsIan does not claim that she is able to cure it. Still, the fact that she has been able to achieve considerable improvement in her multiple sclerosis patients (with many series of procaine injections) is undeniable. Again, the use of H3 procaine in Multiple Sclerosis is not quite new, and this fact underscores Prof. Aslan's repeated statement that hers is not a discovery, but a rediscovery.
We should also note that there are periods of spontaneous remission of this disease, usually followed by a worsening of the condition.
In 1950, the noted West Berlin surgeon Erwin Gohrbandt reported dramatic improvement as well as cures of multiple sclerosis with procaine injections into the sympathetic. trunk, in particular into the stellate ganglion and the solar plexus. By 1951 he had treated 87 persons, and in a few advanced bedridden cases freedom from all symptoms had lasted for three years,
which is considerably longer than the usual periods of retrogression of this disease. He also noted, however, that the stage of the illness at which procaine treatment is begun seems to determine the possibility of success.
Parkinson's disease
As early as 1919, Dr. G. Liljestrand described highly promising results with procaine in the treatment of
Parkinson's disease, but no subsequent reports were made. It was not until more than 35 years later, when Prof. AsIan reported her success in reversing the Parkinson syndrome (rigidity of muscles, tremor of the arms and hands, loss of associated and automatic movements, masklike facial expression), that the earlier paper was remembered. In the years preceding Prof. Aslan's resdiscovery of GH3, no one had paid any attention to the 1919 paper.
Postapoplectic conditions
Another rather important application is the intravenous injection of procaine in cases of apoplectic coma (unconsciousness after cerebral stroke). The patient is usually brought back to consciousness quite rapidly and this status is maintained from 30 minutes to several hours, depending upon the severity of the attack.
In any event, there is sufficient time in which to feed the patient and thus banish the danger of aspiration pneumonia (caused by foreign bodies being drawn into the lungs while the swallowing center is not functioning). This latter complication cannot be fought even with antibiotics.
Loss of hearing and GH3
A very interesting experiment was conducted by Dr. P. Braunsteiner, of Rheine, Westphalia, Germany.
This physician confined himself to the observation of a group of elderly hard-of-hearing patients. He chose 35 people over 55 years old, and subjected them to
several series of procaine injections. All reported feeling generally better, and gave evidence of increased auditory acuity. Audiometric measurements showed that in 13 of the patients the improvement in acuity was strictly subjective-they were all over 70, and probably had already suffered irreversible damage to the nerve cells. In the other 22, the improvement could easily be verified by the usual methods and the audiogram showed an increase in acuity of 15 to 30 decibels.
"This audiometric proof is clinically very interesting," Dr. Braunsteiner reports, "but we feel that the subjective improvements is of larger practical importance. This subjective improvement without exception is greater than compatible with the audiometric results. The reason must be looked for in the effect of Gerioptil (a West German brand of procaine) on the general condition of aging people. All patients feel more vigorous, mentally as well as physically, their memory is improved and the general interest in their surroundings has increased. Consequently the power of concentration and
receptivity has also increased, and with it the perceptive faculty of
the ears. An examination of the acuity for voice showed an average increase in hearing power for conversational speech from 2 to 3 meters, and quite frequently even 4 to 5 meters. The perceptivity for whispering was only slightly improved."
BACK TO TOP
H3 Book Index:: Chapters 1-29
