Saturday, May 15, 2010

Calendula Ointment 9% Trial - Postmortem

I have been out of the blog loop for a while, sorry for the delay everyone. I've been trying the Maria Trebens calendula ointment 9% for about two months now. This is my conclusion.

Did it help?
I have not noticed any improvement, my condition is pretty much the same as before. Please note that this is the result I got with this particular brand. Maybe the results would have been different if I tried the exact formula, with the brazilian calendula (as you can read in the mail below brazilian calendula may have different properties than the european one).

Side Effects?
I have not experienced any side effects.

What's next?
I've been in contact with another doctor and I'm going to do a new battery of tests next week, both blood samples and allergy tests.

A side note - the reseacher speaks
As I wrote in my last post I have been in contact with one of the authors – Janete Almeida – of the article Topical Calendula officinalis L. successfully treated exfoliative cheilitis: a case report. I got some new mails about a month ago; she could now provide me with the specific formula used in their study. I also asked here about the images in their study being identical and that they looked digitally manipulated (if you open the two pictures in two different tabs in your internet browser and then flip quickly between them you will see that it is the exact same picture). She responded she knew nothing about it.

Here are the two mails:

Date: 2010/4/9
Subject: Calendula

Dear David

I am sorry for our delay...
I hope you understand the formula. If there is any doubt please let us know. We have more cases treated with Calendula that showed good results.

All the best,
Janete


Calendula officinalis (TM)10% in ointment q.s.p 100%
Vegepharma 10g
EDTA 0,1g
Lanetten 20g
Cosmoguard 0,1g
Benzalcon chloride 0,1g
Glycerin 12mL
Palmitato de cetila 3g
KaritĂȘ butter 5g
Distilled water 100mL



Date: 2010/4/12
Subject: RE: Calendula

Dear David

I did not have time to read everything. I think it its important to consider emotional distress. As you have seen in the paper, our purpose was to describe a case of recalcitrant exfoliative cheilitis that responded to treatment with a standardized topical preparation of Calendula officinalis L.. The patient, as you did, had used many other medications before. Of course it does not mean you are gone have success using it too. We know that our support is part of the treatment too. He was really dependent on his mother, although he was already 18 years old. And we talked about this questions with both. So, stress is something that we are all exposed. We have to find ways to deal with it. Meditation, walking in green areas, exercise... We can not forget that we must consider the person. I like to ask the patient how are all parts of his/her life; like: mental, physical, spiritual, sexual, social, emotional, familiar, work..

See the attached figure (taniart.wordpress.com/tag/maslow/) from Maslow's hierarchy of needs

For you I would ask to test thyroid hormones.

Finally, I am not offend. I no nothing about images and about digital manipulation. We have his files and some from other patients who had good results using Calendula.

You know, it its very difficult to publish case reports, but this one has brought a lot of interest from people that have the same condition. It was a surprise. The last one is a lette from an England girl that suffers wih exfoliative cheilitis. She wants to use the same we have here, because she has read that Calendula plant in Brazil may have different properties.

Wait to hear from you.
Good luck!

Janete

[I have been tested for thyroid hormones and the result did not show anything unusual]

5 comments:

  1. Good job with this! Too bad it didn't help.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey buddy - I'm a member of CZ forums, I've got an EC blog of my own. I think you can benefit big time for the information I've written about EC, it took me forever to write (its 5am now) *yawn* if you find it helpful please make a blog post about it and share it with your readers.

    P.s. more information about the exact protocol soon to come, it should be done by tomorrow evening.

    P.s.s. i'll put you on my blogroll if you make a post about my protocol, i know you will see results if you try it.

    peace man,

    -Chris
    http://exfoliativecheilitishelp.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. So you're saying this is not worth it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think you're right.

    Those photos are photoshopped - there's EXIF data embedded in the image!!!

    ReplyDelete