DMSO: The healing penetrant part 1

DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is an extraordinary natural curative. Whether used topically or intravenously, it promotes wound healing, eases pain, prevents cellular deterioration and ameliorates the symptoms of a wide variety of autoimmune diseases. From sprained ankles and arthritis discomfort to previously untreatable urinary dysfunction, the sheer number of health problems for which DMSO can be used seems too good to be true.

More than forty thousand studies have been done on DMSO, many of them concentrated on the health benefits for humans. The conclusions, while not unanimous, overwhelmingly reaffirm the solvent’s value. In exchange for its alleviating influence, however, users must tolerate an unusual side effect — a most unpleasant smell that emanates from their breath and body.

The aroma, reminiscent of garlic, is certainly one reason we don’t use DMSO at the Atkins Center as regularly as it deserves to be used. When we do use it, an olfactory remnant stays in the building for days. Its unmistakable presence may, at least in part, explain why scientists haven’t performed double-blind studies on DMSO. The absence of wide-scale use, I think, can be attributed more to its small profit potential than to its lack of safety or effectiveness.

The Scent of SUCCESS

In America, the FDA has frequently obstructed research into DMSO, relenting only to authorize several narrowly defined uses: to preserve organs for transplant, to treat closed-head injuries and to relieve a painful bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. Yet DMSO can be used for so much more. Its biggest application may be pain relief, which it probably achieves by blocking conduction of the nerve fibres that transmit pain signals. Still, the FDA seems reluctant to allow anyone to document this use. The irony (or, perhaps, the reason) is that DMSO would probably prove much safer and more effective than many of today’s commonly prescribed medications, it often works when standard painkillers fail.

Three other qualities compound DMSO’s worth: it’s an antioxidant, a skin penetrant and an anti-inflammatory. All together, it sounds tailor-made for people with arthritis — and it is. In this area I use it от its biological cousin, methyl sulfonyl methane (MSM), with good results. The dearth of published work in treating arthritis is therefore rather strange. Other applications are documented a little mote fully.

Ulcers
DMSO compares very favourably with the popular ulcer drug cimetidine. In one experiment, 220 people with a duodenal ulcer began to take 500 mg of DMSO orally every dav By the end of the study they had fewer than half of the ulcer recurrences experienced by people taking cimetidine alone.

Scleroderma
This usually fatal disorder, in which fibrous tissue grows through the skin and internal organs, wouldn’t be considered untreatable if medicine looked a little closer at DMSO. It brought about remarkable results for twenty-six of forty-two scleroderma patients who participated in one small study. In addition, the solvent apparently is the most effective treatment available for sparing the kidneys from secondary amyloidosis, in which sclerodermalike fibrillar growths occur in conjunction with certain chronic diseases.