Working with your physician

Patients on the Marshall ProtocolA curative medical treatment for chronic inflammatory disease. Based on the Marshall Pathogenesis. (MP) must work with a licensed physician or other healthcare practitioner, such as a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant. Patients who have the most successful outcomes are proactive and prepared. They internalize the requirements for the MP and, when necessary, work to address any of their physicians' concerns about the treatment. At this point, no doctors are certified in the use of the MP.

• When making the appointment:
  • Ask if the prospective doctor is willing or may be willing to prescribe the Marshall Protocol.
  • Ask which health plans he or she accepts and any fees.
• Internalize the basics of the Marshall Protocol, which are relatively straightforward. The treatment has several requirements from the outset:
  • avoid the consumption of vitamin D
  • test vitamin D metabolites
  • take regular doses of olmesartan (Benicar)Medication taken regularly by patients on the Marshall Protocol for its ability to activate the Vitamin D Receptor.
  • for those patients who are taking them, work with one's physician to wean off immunosuppressants
• Review the list of Safety warnings for the Marshall Protocol
• Optional: review the list of Physicians' concerns about the Marshall Protocol

Because the Marshall Protocol medications are used “off-label” (i.e. for a purposes other than those for which they are approved), it may also help to understand the guidance governing off-label use of medications. Some doctors are unclear on this, leading to unnecessary reluctance to prescribe medications for off-label use.

• If appropriate, present the following printed materials:
  • selected papers from the Publications and Presentations, especially “Immunostimulation in the era of the metagenome”
  • Protocol Guidelines
• If appropriate, share the Resources for physicians article (only if the physician is web-literate)
• Request the following prescriptions:
  • 40mg of olmesartan (Benicar) four times a day
• Request to have a 25-DThe vitamin D metabolite widely (and erroneously) considered best indicator of vitamin D "deficiency." Inactivates the Vitamin D Nuclear Receptor. Produced by hydroxylation of vitamin D3 in the liver. and 1,25-DPrimary biologically active vitamin D hormone. Activates the vitamin D nuclear receptor. Produced by hydroxylation of 25-D. Also known as 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D and calcitirol. blood test. Note the instructions for D tests.

• Obtain medical records – Some patients make a habit of asking for a copy of every clinic note, test, and report. Many have reported being surprised at what they learn. Different clinics have different policies. This may involve calling a clinic's “Release of Information Office” or Office of Medical Records.
• Takes notes – Some patients write down what their doctors say. Others have gone so far as to make (good faith) audio recordings of these conversations. Many physicians will be nervous of lawsuits if you bring out a tape recorder – some even dislike notepads. You need to explain to the physician that your memory is poor.
• When appropriate, be assertive.

Articles about a number of different diseases, each of which is relevant to a particular specialist, is also available.

Instead of buying a copy of your x-rays, I have “borrowed” mine from the hospitals where they were taken. agreeing to return them. When I switched doctors. I took my last two sets, because although the pictures looked mostly the same, the radiologists findings (opinions) differed. The radiologist's readings are stored with the x- rays so you will have them too.

CJ Waterhouse, MarshallProtocol.com

I ask for copies of everything when I leave my doctor's office. After only five or so visits, he does it automatically.

Our doctors are not doing us a favor by seeing us as patients, they are making a living from our illness. If we had no illness, we would not be seeing them. We pay their wages.

Barney, MarshallProtocol.com

In the UK we do have a right to ask for a copy of test results, even under NHS rules, but it's not quite as simple as it is in the US. I've found it best to write test results down, or if it's a huge raft of tests, I ask them to send a copy to my GP. It's much easier for your GP to make a printout on the spot than trying to get hospital admin to do, well, anything, frankly.

Barbski UK, MarshallProtocol.com

Some language [we] used in the appointment request that may or may not be helpful to other people needing to seek this kind of advice:

[Patient] is on an experimental program involving off-label use of a drug and involving a significant uptick in her immune system activity. Sufficient appointment time will be required to provide that background information to the hematologist.

We will bring background information and contact information so that the researcher may be consulted. Consultation with the researcher is vital, as any weaning or alteration of her program must be done carefully and sudden discontinuation can be dangerous. [Patient] desires to find a safe way to continue the program, as it has provided improvement in her condition (very severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and hope for an improved long-term outcome.

That background information can be sent prior to the visit by email, if that is preferred.

We have selected […] based on the short bios on the website, but will see any experienced hematologist who is willing to work with her as a partner and on a case that is a bit atypical.

Thank you!

mysticalfaerieflute, MarshallProtocol.com

Remember when feeling frustrated about the lack of willingness of some doctors to listen to your argument for the MP, we also have doctors that have listened, and that are helping many of us on this treatment, which can only be considered highly experimental by those same doctors.

Change is slow to happen. It seems to be the nature of most people to resist change.

Of all of my doctors, GP, Integrated, pulmonologist, cardiologist, psychiatrist, dermatologist, OB/GYN, only the dermatologist refused to listen to any discussion of MP principals (Vitamin D, in this case.) All of the rest were either very supportive or did not offer any resistance or argument against our undertaking the MP.

Again, I think it is a mistake to demonize the entire medical profession. The very system (which includes research, funding, Big Pharm interests, and human nature) is not supportive of scientific theories or findings outside of the status-quo, and even then I read it takes new findings 17 years to make it to the bedside.

Most doctors, nurses and other health professionals care deeply about their patients.

Deedee, MarshallProtocol.com