A computer test for toxins in your brain?
My LLMD is suspicious that part of my brainfog issues stem from chronic neurotoxins. To sniff out the possibility, he asked me to check out ChronicNeurotoxins.com. It’s a site created and run by Dr. Shoemaker, a well-respected doctor and Lyme advocate (not sure if he’s what we would call a LLMD) and do his Visual Contrast Sensitivity (VCS) test.
Taking the VCS test is simple, painless, costs $15.00 (for the basic test) and takes about 15 minutes. The process involves filling out a simple online form and then looking at a series of patterns on your computer.
On the site, Dr. Shoemaker says,
[T]he “Visual Contrast Sensitivity” test, or VCS – that can tell a physician in five minutes whether or not the patient is suffering from the harmful effects of neurotoxins on the brain’s ability to distinguish contrast between black, white and gray. The deficit in the visual pathways mirrors the adverse effect the neurotoxins are causing throughout the body.
Really?
Like so many thing with this stupid disease, I find the theories behind some of the diagnostic tools a little suspect. Things like Kinesiology (muscle testing) and even some of the laboratory test just seem bogus to me. The VCS is no exception, but, because my LLMD asked me to give it a try I did.
Overall score = negative.
The image above shows my test results. Another negative test to add to my collection.
My left eye tested worse than my right, but I believe this was due to the way I carried out the test. The first step involves covering your left for about 5 minutes while you look at the patterns on your monitor with your right. I found that when it came time to switch eyes and open my left and cover right, my left eye was all blurry and dry from holding my hand on it. I guess I could have waited 10 minutes for everything to sort itself out, but I decided to push ahead. This definitely made the latter part of the test difficult.
Has anyone else done this test?
I’d be curious to hear other thoughts and/or results on this test. Like I said, I feel that the nature of the test is a rather questionable, but I’m open to hearing some personal accounts to the contrary.
Oh yeah, you knew I’d chime in on this one! Just for kicks I spent the better part of my afternoon betwixed patients researching VCS more in depth to remind myself of some of the newest thinking on it.
Contrast sensitivity can be affected by a number of things. Un- or under-corrected Refractive error, cataracts, diabetic disease, glaucoma, amblyopia, optic neuritis, parkinson’s, MS. Now, this whole toxin thingy is a little controversial, only because now Donta (who is a toxin guru) seems to think that the toxin that Bb produces is not so terrible. Doesn’t mean that it may not set off a cascade-like effect where other things work to debilitate the processing of information in the brain, It may effect seratonin levels, sensitivity and/or it’s effect on dopamine…which may really be what the “fog” is that we have. It would explain why the SSRIs that are taken actually help so much with this damn disease.
So, I hope that you had fun taking the VCS test. It really is a hoot, and probably does mirror some damage to the cortical regions of the brain that contrast sensitivity is served by, but that’s a bit speculative (IMHO because the amount of research done to prove this is limited). As far as Dr. Shoemaker’s other favorite of prescribing CSM, that too comes with a few potential problems, not the least of which are some of the side-effects, which, to be fair, he’s right up front about. I don’t claim to be an expert on this med, but, as with all meds, i would be careful.
With this and the colonics, it sounds like your LLMD is a big believer in toxin build up. Hope that you find a remedy to the fog.
Keep us all posted.
bt
@bob… thanks for chiming in on this. I was going to ask you directly, but figured the conversation might be helpful to others.
Can you share any links on Donta? I’m not familiar with his (her?) research or what he/she has uncovered about toxins.
/CT
Okay, so, I was going to respond with this via e-mail, but I thought that your readers might be interested to hear this.
In speaking of VCS and “toxins” I mentioned that Dr. Donta had noted that the toxins produced from Bb were not necessarily much of a factor in the fog, or for that matter, any of the symptoms that lymies feel. I felt that I was missing some of the info, so I called my LLMD. Here’s his take on it, he and Donta share many similar thoughts when it comes to treatment etc.
1) Donta’s lab has isolated the toxin from Bb and apparently it is very weak when tested in-vitro. This would mean that either you’d have to have a ton of Bb in you to produce a toxin with enough punch to ail you OR your body would have to seriously react to such a mild menace (which it appaently doesn’t).
2) If toxins were a major problem then it would appear that all treatment would produce the same results. He cited two examples; he has treated patients with Clindamycin and gotten them to temporariy feel much better. This ABX is pretty effective at killing Bb so why would a patient feel better if (in theory) toxins are being released by the kill off? His feeling is that Clinda has a unique property that allows it to turn down a portion of our immune system (Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha) which is why people feel better despite a kill off. This supports his theory that our symptoms are because of our immune reaction NOT toxins.
3) drugs like cholestyramine (CSM) may be doing something other than eliminating toxins which is why it makes patients feels better. CSM doesn’t selectively bind toxins, it binds EVERYTHING. This means that it could be eliminating other things that are contributing to how we feel, including the ABX itself, thus reducing the actual Herx reaction. This makes sense because if you look up the drug, it does, in fact bind a lot of stuff, including toxins released by yeast.
So, I guess that if one could show that the brain selectively reacts to the mild Bb toxin in such a way that the rest of the body doesn’ t seem to, then we might have a reason to consicer utilizing VCS toghether with CSM to monitor for improvement. That apparently has not been shown. I don’t doubt that VCS can be used to see improvement, I just don’t know whether we can also say that it’s because of the elimination of “toxins.” Kinda also makes me wonder about the whole colonic thing too.
And now, back to obsessing about bicycles.
bt
@bob… thanks a lot for this! Very helpful! I’m going to go over all of this with my LLMD in 2 weeks when I see him.
I guess the missing pieces in this puzzle are the possible Bart and Babs toxins, right? Seems like Donta only studied Bb. Perhaps.
Regarding the colonics. I think my gut feeling (no pun) was right to skip them. While I think they can be helpful for the very ill, for someone like me (us) who seem to maintain the normal detox pathways — sweating, vigorous respiration, healthy liver, etc — they seem like a waste of $$. I also think the gluten free thing has done more for my ability to detox than a series of colonics could. My guts, while wacky recently, seem much better than before I started the GF diet.
Thanks again for your insight.
.CT
Hi-I found your blog while researching this test. I have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and have chronic pain (negative for Lyme but who knows if the test is right), but sometimes I feel a bit alien in the CFS/FM community due to my lack of post-exertional malaise or flare-ups, or “overdoing”. It is both a blessing and a curse to feel pretty much equally crappy no matter what and it can be difficult to convey the extent of my disability when I can still run and exercise. In fact I still like to run and exercise, and still feel better during, I notice more positive thoughts, and after if only because I did SOMETHING. I ran cross country during high school and am still interested in racing, but haven’t done so yet. I like to run barefoot too. I have been daydreaming of doing trail races and writing a book called “Running a Fever” since i have a chronic low grade fever. So I am glad I found your site. Thanks!