Dr.
Harvey devised treatment plan to heal himself
The Dallas
Morning News
Dallas, TX
by Bryan Woolley
30 April 2005
Dr. William
T. Harvey says he once was a victim of the debilitating disease
for which he has been treating Charlie Smith. Or something like
it. It was in 1987 in California, he says, just before his 50th
birthday, that his life “kind of fell through the roof.”
“It
was all pain, all brain fog,” he says. “I couldn’t
think anymore. I had to quit my job. I went back to my house
in San Antonio and figured that I had a fatal disease and nobody
could figure out what it was.”
He says
he recovered after giving himself massive doses of antibiotics.
Another doctor who, like Charlie, had been diagnosed with amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis, says Dr. Harvey successfully treated him
with the same method.
But Dr.
Harvey’s methods are outside the medical mainstream, and
many experts are skeptical of his theories.
“One
of the things that makes modern medicine such a powerful thing
is that there is general consensus on issues and evidence,”
says Dr. Justin D. Radolf, a professor of medicine at the University
of Connecticut and an authority on the bacterium Dr. Harvey
is treating. “Dr. Harvey appears to be far beyond anything
that’s evidence-based. He’s just basically making
up his own rules.”
Dr. Harvey
blames a bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, for the symptoms
he experienced. He says patients like him may be diagnosed with
a range of illnesses — chronic Lyme disease, Gulf War syndrome,
fibromyalgia or Agent Orange syndrome. Some, he says, are diagnosed
with ALS or multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s. Some are
told that their problem isn’t physical, that their pain
is only in their minds.
Heal
thyself
Dr. Harvey
believed he had chronic fatigue syndrome, a vaguely defined
malady that many doctors didn’t believe was real. In 1999,
he attended a medical conference on Lyme disease, which causes
similar symptoms, although he says he was almost certain Lyme
wasn’t his problem.
At the
conference, he learned of the use of oral antibiotics in treating
Lyme disease and decided to treat himself with “high, high
doses” of them to see whether they might help his condition,
too.
“Little
by little, I came out of the disease. Almost,” he says.
He began taking antibiotics in even larger doses through a catheter
and says he achieved complete recovery.
His wife,
Pat, had experienced similar symptoms and had been “sick
as a dog,” in bed for 12 years. She remains on antibiotics.
“She’s mostly well and highly functional,” Dr.
Harvey says.
In 2000,
Dr. Pat Salvato, head of Diversified Medical Practices in Houston,
invited Dr. Harvey to join her clinic, a chronic fatigue syndrome
practice. Eventually, he says, he identified Borrelia
and another bacterium, Babesia, as agents of the illness.
Of the
900 patients that Dr. Harvey has treated over the past four
years, he says, about 300 have finished therapy, and their symptoms
haven’t returned.
DallasNews.com/extra
Stronger
every day
02/22/2004:
The
fight of his life
Resources:
His star
patient is another physician, David Martz, an oncologist-hematologist
from Colorado Springs, Colo. Dr. Martz, now 64, was diagnosed
with ALS in May 2003 and had to retire from his practice.
“I
had been in the Colorado Springs medical community for 30 years,”
he says in a phone interview. “I was pretty well-known
and respected in that community. Every expert in the community
was involved in my care, trying to figure out what was going
on. I was hospitalized for two weeks. At the end of that two
weeks, they weren’t sure what I had, but they thought I
probably had early ALS.”
A friend
of Dr. Martz’s son saw a newspaper article in Maryland
about Dr. Harvey and his work. One of Dr. Martz’s colleagues
knew Dr. Harvey and put them in touch. In January, Dr. Martz
was put on high-dosage intravenous antibiotic treatment.
His symptoms
are remarkably similar to Charlie Smith’s. But for reasons
Dr. Harvey says he doesn’t know, Dr. Martz’s recovery
has been quicker. After six months of intensive treatment, Dr.
Martz says he was back to 75 percent to 80 percent of the person
he once was.
Now, Dr.
Harvey says, a year after Dr. Martz began the antibiotic therapy,
a neurologist who specializes in the disease has declared him
“symptom free” of ALS.
Skepticism
Dr. Radolf
says he’s skeptical of Dr. Harvey’s theories linking
the Lyme disease bacterium with other ailments. Dr. Radolf has
done extensive research in Lyme disease and diseases caused
by Borrelia burgdorferi and other bacteria.
“Lyme
disease does have neurological syndromes,” he says. “But
regarding neurological diseases such as ALS and MS, I think
very few people in the neurological community would accept that
these are due to Lyme disease,” or Borrelia burgdorferi.
I don’t believe there is any evidence that real, properly
diagnosed ALS is caused by Borrelia or that it is treatable
with antibiotics.”
Dr. Harvey
says his work has not been a scientific study. “I’m
just treating patients,” he says. “And I treat only
one kind of disease — this bacterium, Borrelia.”
Sharing
his knowledge
Dr. Harvey
has moved to his Del Rio, Texas, vacation home, where he spends
most of his time writing about Borrelia burgdorferi and
Babesia and organizing a database to be shared with other
physicians. He closed his Houston office in September, and except
for Charlie and a few others who were diagnosed with ALS, his
patients were referred to other physicians. But the afflicted
call, and the doctor is seeing new patients again. (He can be
reached through his assistant, Glenda Castillo, at 830–774–4094.)
“I’m
starting to understand it, finally,” Dr. Harvey says. “So
are a lot of other docs. I think this thing is just about to
pop to the surface.”
E-mail
bwoolley@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com
Disclaimer:
The goal of this ILADS Discussion Group is to provide informational
exchange among/between member physicians and other member health
care professionals regarding their interests in tick-borne disease.
Information presented is intended only for educational exchange
based on personal medical experience and opinions. If you are
a Lyme patient, as well, please ask your own doctor to explain
in what manner this information may or may not apply to you.
It is not intended as medical advice for anyone.
— The Co-moderators
