Varicose Vein Oedema Inclined Bed Therapy Study Alternative to Surgery

Andrew K Fletcher
25/07/2008 07:23:24 »

The first opening sentence of this thread is why do varicose veins shrink after only 4 weeks of inclined bed therapy?

I waited many months for an answer and continually refreshed the thread to give ample time for an answer. Yet in a physiology and medical thread read by many working in the industry no answer was forthcoming and more disturbing was that no attempt was made as far as I am aware to put my words to the test by people involved in the care of patients. Eventually Alun and Alison both unqualified in medicine decided to put my question to the test. And both have reported significant improvements. Alun has provided us with some photographic and supporting text accounts of his own observations and we can clearly see a substantial gradual improvement in his varicose veins as predicted would be the case based on pilot study results. Alison has provided us with some evidence of changes in her oedema and varicose veins but Alison has also provided us with some important stats showing a huge improvement in blood pressure. Karen also provided us with statistics on another thread showing the same pattern in blood pressure changes. And Old Biker has provided us with an account of what is happening to himself as a result of accidentally inclining his own bed.

Every theory that holds true must be based on sound uncompromising science We test and retest to make sure that the theory is sound. We make a prediction and produce results to verify the prediction is either false or true. Then we test again and again and only when we are certain that there is no room for doubt we go public and make a challenge against the existing literature to bring forward an answer to what clearly goes against it’s acceptance and validity.

This study is on target to do justice to scientific method by invalidating erroneous Literature that is in need of urgent revision. But not because we are trying to prove a theory is correct or indeed is incorrect but because too many patients are suffering avoidable long term medical problems that frequently result in the loss of a limb or risk of infectious diseases from hospitalisation and in some cases even death. Surgical procedures are moving towards closing veins using ablation or foam injection or stripping veins, which have one thing in common. None of them address what causes the veins to bulge in the first place and so are destined to failure with more bulges and blow outs occurring elsewhere in the body as the same pressure that caused the first bulges in the veins will inevitably find a weak vessel and cause it to expend also.

Erroneous assumptions.
1. The heart is solely responsible for pumping blood around the body.
2. Raising your legs above the heart helps to resolve varicose veins.
3. Raising your legs above or level with the heart helps to resolve oedema.
4. Sleeping horizontal or flat has never been scientifically tested to see if it is ideally suited to human physiology. However it has been tested by NASA et al who have used it as a model to show significant degenerative affects on the body. They have done so to try to understand why reduced gravity in astronauts during space flight has such a profound degenerative affect on the human body.
5. Sleeping flat assists recovery when we are ill, when all the evidence suggests this may not be the case. Ironic when the health industry relies entirely on flat beds for patients.
6. Sleeping on an inclined bed will cause blood to pool in the ankles and feet. It does not!
7. Sleeping on an inclined bed will cause oedema to develop. The opposite occurs and long-standing problems with oedema are resolved.
8. Sleeping on an inclined bed causes circulation to slow down. It does the opposite and significantly increases circulation indicated by warmer hands and feet in bed and the development of a healthier pink skin indicating more oxygen is delivered to the body.
9. Sleeping on an Inclined bed puts strain on the heart. It does nothing of the kind and slows down the Heart Rate by developing a cleaner stronger beat. Fibrillation is resolved and even in the case of a metal valve being used which is known to always cause fibrillation there is no fibrillation once the person with the metal valve has been introduced IBT. Furthermore it is not uncommon for the heart in such cases to miss beats during flat bed-rest. Again resolved by IBT. And last but not least A person with significant cyanosis- A bluish discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes resulting from inadequate oxygenation of the blood on the nose lips, fingers and toes should find they return to normal healthy colour, again indicating that circulation is improved on an inclined bed. Which does not sit well with current physiology literature.
10. We know that thrombosis may develop when a patient is confined to a flat bed for too long. This is well understood and warfarin, aspirin and other drugs are administered in hospitals to help prevent this. Yet when Inclined Bed Therapy is adopted for a person with a visible Deep Vein Thrombosis, it resolves without medication and the hardened area in the calf vanishes. This happens because the circulation speeds up and like a fast flowing river the river bank is eroded, unlike a slow flowing river which allows sediment and debris to settle on the river bed.
11. In the literature, there is no clear understanding of how lymphatic flow and cerebral spinal fluid flow occur in the body any more than there is a clear understanding of how trees lift water from the root to the leaf without a pump sometimes in excess of four thousand litres a day. We know it is not the heart that is involved with these non-pumped systems and we do know that posture and respiration are definitely involved. So why do we still adhere to a flat bed as a means to assist patients with neurological and lymph problems?
12. Is it safe to place a baby in a horizontal position, I.E. on a flat bed? Is it a coincidence that the baby cries to be picked up when laying down flat and stops crying when in the arms of another human? It is believed that this is because it craves to be close to its mother. Yet the very act of cradling a baby in our arms produces an inclined posture, which relaxes the baby. Could the baby be trying to communicate with us to let us know how stupid we are by placing our babies flat? Could placing a baby flat compromise its circulation and could placing a baby flat be one of the reasons for cot / crib deaths?

The financial cost of surgery for varicose veins is: More than 50,000 varicose vein operations are carried out in England and Wales every year at a cost of between £400m and £600m
Private Health Care Costs: Varicose vein surgery on both legs will cost in the region of £2,100 to £3,000 inclusive of private hospital charges and consultant’s fees.Laser ablation treatment will cost in the region of £2,000 to £2,500 one/two legs inclusive of private hospital charges and consultant fees.

Interest in the Temple!
28/07/2008 09:51:18 »

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Hi Andrew

I spent yesterday and this morning researching IBT and have found both the results and thinking behind it very interesting. Last night I slept at a 4" incline and plan to increase this over the coming weeks.

My partner suffers from varicose veins and has done so for about 7 years and I will photograph and monitor her development.

I personally suffer from lower back pain, which I have almost come to accept over the past 2 years - at the age of 26! This is obviously frustrating and I can clearly see the medical profession has not been the most respectful to your theories, which is pretty disgusting.

Having read and seen examples of were varicose veins have been reduced due to a gradual reduction in blood pressure in the veins. If this is the case, will this also work for facial redness? I suffer from thread veins on my face and as you have noted with vascular surgery for varicose veins, surgery is painful, expensive and short term. Can I expect any improvement in this with IBT?

Anyway, good luck in your research and I will post photos of any improvements me and my partner experience.

Peace and love.

Aidan

Andrew K Fletcher
28/07/2008 12:32:38 »

Hi Aidan

Thank you for taking the time to investigate the theory behind IBT. And thank you both for testing my theory and providing us with your own observations. Make sure you both drink more water as IBT does have a slight diuretic effect as toxins are excreted more effectively due to the incline.

RE Thread veins on the face. Some reports of improvements in thread veins have indicated that yours may improve and I see no reason why they should not. However no one to date has mentioned facial thread veins so this could prove rather interesting and if you could get your partner to provide us with a photograph of the effected area it will help to identify changes. If this is a problem then please do not feel pressurised, as this is not my intention.

Namaste

Andrew

OldDragon
28/07/2008 12:33:21 »

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My camera is still not working, but the shape of my legs below the knees has certianly altered for the better,, so I'll do my best to find an alternate means to photograph them.

Today my stats are:

BP 133/88
Pulse:82;
Body Fat: 49.1%;
Body Water: 35%;
Body Muscle: 47.3%;
Respiration 9 per min.
Calves: Left 40cms; Right: 40cms.
Weight: 14st 10bs.

(These taken not long after returning home so not as well rested as would be ideal.)

No changes in suppliments.
No aspirin taken today but on regular doses of antihistamine tablets for hayfever and Salbutemol for asthma.

No lower back pain. (This despite additional work mucking out a stable daily.)

alun006
28/07/2008 13:17:21 »

Quote from: Interest in the Temple! on 28/07/2008 09:51:18
Hi Andrew, I found keeping on top of your fluid intake makes a big difference when doing inclined bed therapy.

Also i have gained a great deal by trying to understand the theory side of inclined bed therapy especially the observation that i had made yesterday and today.

Yesterday, it was very hot and dry and i was particularly please with the way my vv looked, even to the point i ventured out on the evening with the dog with my shorts on, this has not happened since before i had them 15 years ago.

However, the next day it was 94% humidity and overcast. This made a difference to the look of my varicose veins and i felt disappointed about this until i remembered about the humidity part of andrews theory on inclined bed therapy.

This meant that i could understand that because i have only been on the ibt for 5 weeks my veins had reacted to the humidity in the air on that day, and i found this interesting to observe.

In other words a understand of the theory have befitted me greatly as well as the ibt itself.

This of course is thanks to Andrew, and the many questions he answers for me.

Thank you alun

Squirrel

My Inclined Bed Therapy Experience.
5 years ago I inclined my bed to help with asthma and nasal problems – that worked wonderfully, I breathe quite easily now, however, over the past 28 years I have had several operations to remove and repair varicose veins, Which had recurred four times already and I was told by the surgeon that they would recur again. Both my mother and maternal grandmother suffered dreadfully with this complaint. I enjoy walking and the thought of eventually developing leg ulcers was quite terrifying to me as it would be to anyone, but my legs are fine now without even a hint of blue lines let alone lumps the size of walnuts, furthermore I have not suffered with any swelling in my legs or ankles since I began IBT.
It hadn’t occurred to me that I no longer had a varicose vein problem because that wasn’t why I’d inclined my bed in the first place, that was a brilliant unexpected bonus.
The downside of having the bed inclined is that I tried ‘Botox’ (as we ladies of a certain age might) and it only worked for about a week. The cosmetic surgeon was amazed that the paralyzed muscles in my face repaired themselves so quickly. She said I should console myself with the fact that if I should ever have a stroke my facial muscles would be back to normal in double quick time!
When I go away on holiday where I don't have an inclined bed I have noticed that my nasal passages are usually blocked for part of the morning, and I feel quite sluggish and apparently my snoring is deafening. My partner suggests that we pack a few bricks into the cases so that he can get a decent night's sleep.

Hi Squirrel Thank you for posting these valuable observations with repeated varicose vein surgery and your experience with using Botox. Both are fascinating, when first mentioned this was a revelation for me as I have been involved with neurological conditions as you know for many years and this proves what I have been stating about nerves recovering from impact or degenerative disease using Inclined Bed Therapy.

It’s a pity there are not more people using IBT that have tried botox to confirm this, but it would provide a great method of testing and compiling a protocol for a study to confirm the efficacy of IBT for spinal injury and other neurological conditions. If memory serves me well, you had this procedure repeated and the outcome was the same with a rapid recovery more than once? I have learned of several professional therapists in the USA who specialise in Spinal Cord Rehabilitation are already advising their patients to use IBT.

It is good to learn that you will not need further surgery on your veins in the foreseeable future and this can only mean than because the pressure inside the veins which was causing them to become swollen has now been reduced. Indicating that surgery success rates can be raised considerably and therefore substantially reducing the cost to the health service and the private patients.

It is great to learn about other implications for IBT and they are very important observations in their own right requiring further investigation and a controlled study to prove or disprove them.

Back to the purpose of this study.

I am very grateful for everyone that is helping me with this and the photographs and reports are indeed compelling. However we do need many more people to come forward and test this so I am thinking that an article in a newspaper, radio or tv programme would go a long way to finding some more people with varicose veins and / or oedema to help with our study.

Appeal.

If you are a member of a group, work in the health service, are a doctor or surgeon, or feel confident enough to ask your local newspaper to run a story about our study it would go a long way to helping us complete this study and move this discovery into mainstream practice and literature.

Andrew

Andrew K Fletcher
03/08/2008 08:07:50 »

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A very interesting email from Alun about how humidity affects varicose veins. I have not come across this before but it certainly fits with the gravity flow theory for circulation because according to it we need relatively dry air to change the density of fluids
From: Alun
To: Andrew

Subject: fascinating observation made - humid situation effect my circulation possibly .
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:09:05 +0100

Hi Andrew

I woke up Yesterday morning after having a fantastically warm day, it was noticed that my vv were looking better. and seemed to be improving quite well, I woke up this morning, and took the dog out, but noticed a haze of fog just above the trees, we are not two deep in the valley so this does not happen very much so I remember it.

I managed to look at my varicose veins but they were not looking as good as yesterday (as if I was observing a older photo of them), and this disappointed me slightly, as i was enjoying the improvement they had made as well as everything else.

I am right in thinking, as I am sure we have mentioned this before. Is this misty fog and the sluggish (i.e. humid) day we are having here affecting the way my vv’s are looking today, and the circulation?

Can you verify my findings here, look forward to hearing your opinion.
Alun

P.s. Can you recommend a self help for vv when the humidity is like this again. if possible ( or is there one?)

Subject: RE: fascinating observation made - humid situation effect my circulation possibly .
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:51:53 +0000

Humidity in the high 90 % region has the same effect on the body as sleeping flat because it prevents us from changing the density of fluids from evaporation and in the lungs this is very important. High humidity means we are breathing in as much water as we are breathing out so this does not affect the solutes in the fluid and in the lung fluids and therefore has little to no effect on the flow through the body irrespective of posture. Combine High humidity with a horizontal bed and we have a double whammy on the body and this according to my theory will increase the death rates in valleys affected way above the national average. Leslie Munrow published statistical evidence to support this in relation to cot deaths increasing above the national average in river valley areas and low-lying coastal areas. So having some additional swelling is to be expected in these adverse conditions. This is the reason legs swell up in hot humid weather because the heart has to do more work and in doing so increases the pressure inside the veins causing fluids to seep through the vein walls into the limbs. Your report adds credence to the theory.

16°C
Current:Mostly Cloudy
Wind: E at 11 km/h
Humidity: 94%

RE: fascinating observation made - today and tomorrow
From: alun
Sent:
28 July 2008 15:08:24
To: Andrew K Fletcher


Hi Andrew

This observation has been fascinating, because I had not expected these conditions and noticing the vv and then remembering the humid mist outside.

As i regularly use the incline bed over many months, will my body be-able to tolerate this types of condition when it arise.
i.e. will my body improve the way it reacts to this, when it happens later on in process.

Also, what had happened yesterday was a extremely hot day in which i had my shorts on, i was feeling confident about the way the veins were looking, even venturing out with the dog, this has not happened since i was 19 years old.
You would expect the heat to do the opposite, but they were looking good, not great, but good.

Were as today that confidence would not be there because of the humidity.

If i taken the photographs today for my 5 week report, i feel that i would not have the accurate results, as they would have been if i had took them the day before.

Do you know if i can get a humidity gauge of some sorts to use.

It must be frustrating if volunteers do not take note of the above happening, as they would probably feel that it was not working.

Thanks again Alun

From: Alun
To: Andrew
Subject: RE: next door neighbour - now up on bricks - my first recruite........
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:55:19 +0100

Hi Andrew

Old man of 78 next door, complained of urinating every hour, is now trying couple of bricks under his bed.

1st victory for me!!!

alun
Subject: RE: new photo - 4 - 5 week
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:02:59 +0000

Alun legs are still obviously improving and will continue to do so for many months to come until the veins are hardly noticeable at all. At times there will be some normal swelling and contracting as with any vein this is normal. However the overall trend from now on should be nice flat veins. As I said on the phone the longer the veins are flat the vein walls will contract and become stronger as with the balloon analogy I mentioned. (blowing up a balloon for the first time is harder than re-inflating a balloon) Same applies to varicose veins, if they remain flat for longer periods the veins should regain their elasticity and become more robust over months of IBT.
I just wish I could get more people to take part in this study. Fifty people and we could shame the current literature!

Squirrel
03/08/2008 16:16:37 »
Hi Andy,
Thanks for your reply - yes I did have botox on more than one occassion as the cosmetic surgeon couldn't believe that it had not worked for longer than 1 week so she gave me a freebie as an apology, however this only lasted a week as well so when I returned to see her again she said she couldn't give me any more as she had already given me more than she felt comfortable with, in fact is was a dose suitable for a large man (she said) and as I am only 5'-2" tall she was worried about overdosing. Guess I shall just have to put up with the wrinkled forehead!

Andrew K Fletcher
04/08/2008 08:39:16 »

Thanks for the confirmation. So here we have the same response to recovery from a botox injection known to cause paralysis in the nerve endings.

health.howstuffworks.com/botox1.htm
What is Botox?
Botox® is a trade name for botulinum toxin A. In this way, Botox® is related to botulism. Botulism is a form of food poisoning that occurs when someone eats something containing a neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Botulinum toxin A is one of the neurotoxins produced by Clostridium botulinum.
The most serious symptom of botulism is paralysis, which in some cases has proven to be fatal. The botulinum toxins (there are seven -- types are A through G) attach themselves to nerve endings. Once this happens, acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter responsible for triggering muscle contractions, cannot be released. A series of proteins, VAMP, syntaxin and SNAP-25, are essential for the release of acetylcholine. Certain botulinum toxins attack these proteins. Botulinum toxin A (Botox) affects the SNAP-25.

Basically, the botulinum toxins block the signals that would normally tell your muscles to contract. Say, for example, it attacks the muscles in your chest -- this could have a profound impact on your breathing. When people die from botulism, this is often the cause -- the respiratory muscles are paralyzed so it’s impossible to breathe.
At this point, you may be wondering why anyone would want to have a botulinum toxin injected into his or her body. The answer is simple: If an area of the body can't move, it can't wrinkle.

Yet you have indicated that you have built up an immunity to botox regaining the nerve fuction after 1 week using inclined bed therapy, not once but two times and one time using a higher than normal dose of the neurotoxin. This is astonishing and requires further investigation in its own right!

Thank you for this. I have just the person in mind that should learn of your observations. A Doctor Wise Young from the Carecure forum who is involved with spinal cord injury research. I will write to him and ask him for a comment.

On Friday I injured the heel and bottom of my foot installing a huge rainwater tank at my home by back-heeling it into position. Needless to say the tank did not move. In addition to this I had been jumping up and down on the ground to flatten lumps of soil, again not the wisest of moves.

My right foot became very painful throughout the day and swollen, as one would expect from an injured foot. Walking became very painful and the heel of my foot was very tender to touch even with slight pressure. Yet in the morning after 1 night of IBT my foot was not painful and had no signs of swelling, although I could steel feel it was not normal and had sustained an injury it did not trouble me like it did the previous day

Throughout Saturday, Rather stupidly we went on a 3-mile walk with the dogs and a friend so my foot became quite badly swollen throughout the day and very painful. Yet the following morning my foot returned back to normal as indeed I expected it to do so having a sound understanding of the way oedema occurs and having seen the same results when my two son’s, and my wife and I have injured a foot previously and used IBT to resolve the oedema. Wife injured her foot on a skateboard (don’t ask)

It occurred to me on Sunday that other people might want to see this before and after 1 day of IBT on a swollen foot so I took photographs yesterday teatime and more photographs this morning. When resting on the inclined bed my foot stopped throbbing almost immediately.
After 2 hours of IBT I went to the bathroom and noticed the swelling had gone done significantly and my foot was less painful to walk on albeit to the bathroom only.
The following morning my foot was almost the same size as the other foot and the oedema and pain / throbbing had resolved after only one night of Inclined Bed Therapy.

Andrew K Fletcher

Photographs taken prior to 1 night sleeping on an inclined bed. IBT





Photographs taken the following morning after 1 night using Inclined Bed Therapy.

alun006
04/08/2008 21:06:10 »
Hi Andrew

I visited the beech today, and my legs feel great.

In both my vv and my knee pain this day would normally have been a issue for me, i was able to spend the hole day with the kids, aswell as walking up steep areas. And this has not effected my legs at all, and it is all thanks to you.

You may find that some people don't listen, but i can't thankyou enough for making this information public and changing my life for the good.

It was my birthday on Sunday, and i definetly got a unforgettable present this year.

Alun

(And you have never asked for anything in return.)