Zero Day and FDA Rant

So, for me today was a zero day, which is perfect. Another busy day with oodles of intentional and incidental movement, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

However, I'm sort of miffed right now. Simeons' Hcg protocol saved my life. I'm not being hyperbolic. At 212 lb. on a 5'1" frame, I was no longer participating in my life and was ready to check out. I hurt all the time, I couldn't do anything I wanted to do, I was an embarrassment to myself and my family. No matter how hard I tried to reframe that, for years, it was just the truth. 

I tried EVERYTHING conventional wisdom says MUST ALWAYS work. It did not. I fell for every nonsensical BS weight loss gimmick when everything else failed. That's why there is $58 BILLION dollar weight loss industry, you know...because what 'they say' works, doesn't. If it did, we'd all do it. We go for the stupid 'easy pill' because we've tried working our ass off and starving ourselves and that didn't work, so why not? We are willing to try anything. We are stilling ducks. 

So, willing to try anything, I tried Hcg. AND IT WORKED! 

At the time, I couldn't afford the $3,000-$6,000 that doctors were charging to do this. I ordered prescription strength online and did it myself. Once I knew that not only did it work, but I was still healthy (actually much healthier) and it was easy to keep off, I approached a doctor to see if he would offer it for a more reasonable price than what others were charging. Some people NEED medical monitoring and some people NEED support. 

But some people don't. And some people may be able to scrape up the $200-$300 it costs to do it alone, but not 5 times that amount or more. Thus, it is important that Hcg remain available to those that need it.

However, it is now getting very hard to find, and in trying to find it for some friends of mine, I am reading that it is because the FDA is 'cracking down' on it. Now, I know they are doing so on 'homeopathic' Hcg, as they should. Homeopathic organizations do not regulate and have not approved Hcg as a homeopathic preparation. There is no evidence that homeopathic preparations work the same way that Hcg in prescription strength does. 

The 'study' that the FDA uses to 'prove' that Hcg is worthless for weight loss, done in 1964 (known as the ‘Frank Study’) was conducted by Capt. Barry W. Frank. (Frank, 1964-Find this and other studies at ‘hcg Protocol LINKS’ in resources) It was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and is often cited to ‘prove’ that the protocol doesn’t work. Every parameter of the protocol was altered for this ‘study’: the Hcg was was not administered daily, nor was the dosage correct; the number of calories was doubled; finally the fat/carbohydrate/protein ratio was completely off. The Simeons protocol called for a daily intake of 200 g. protein, less than 50 g. carbohydrate and less than 50 g fat. The Frank study allowed only 85 g protein, 31 g of fat and whopping 133 g of carbohydrate! Naturally the results were different than those adhering to the Simeons protocol! 

The FDA insists that the very low calorie diet (VLCD) is dangerous, and that no one should go below 1200-1500 per day, based on the assumption that EVERYONE remains stable at a 2000 per day. Bullshit! I GAIN on that and I'm active! 

Now, if a person is on a 500 calorie diet without the Hcg, they will feel awful. I know. I've tried it. I've also unintentionally done it. I used drops from a new compounding pharmacy through our clinic once. They had told me the dosage was one dropper-full twice per day. After a week I was weak, starving, grumpy and actually in pain. Having done this before in complete comfort, I knew this wasn't right. I called the pharmacy to complain, at which point their advice was to take the dosage up to FOUR TIMES the amount I was taking. I quit at that point.

Our program monitors body composition, including fat percentage, on a special scale. If muscle were being lost (which is one of the things that all of those uncomfortable symptoms are from), fat percentage would consistently go UP. In hundreds of people, that has not been the case. 

Since there are literally THOUSANDS of people who have been helped by this substance, including doctors themselves, WHY would the FDA 'crack down' on it? 

Well, as I've explained, they had reason with the 'homeopathic' stuff. And they actually have no control how doctors use full prescription strength, so there is no 'crack down' on clinics. 

Doctors may prescribe substances 'off label' and do all the time. In fact, despite the FDA warning (based on very real dangers and very real dead mothers and babies) NOT to use Cytotec (an ulcer drug) to induce labor...or for any other use in pregnant women...is ignored by doctors every single day. Doctors use this 'off label' in obstetrics with impunity, despite the fact that it is costing women and babies their lives. 

So, doctors can use Hcg for pretty much anything. And Hcg is nothing like Cytotec. Think about it. When a woman is pregnant and her own body is making this stuff, she is making TENS OF THOUSANDS of times the amount used in Simeons' protocol. Every single day, she is making it is these insane amounts. For months. How often have you heard a woman being told she better not have kids because the Hcg will kill her? 

If it's not a dangerous substance, and it's not addictive, and it produces no altered state of consciousness, and doctors can use it...why would the FDA make it difficult to obtain via online pharmacies? Hmmm. Perhaps it has something to do with the aforementioned $58 billion dollar weigh loss industry...that has led to an epidemic of obesity?

I spent the morning trying to locate a source for Hcg for my friend, and while it is harder to find, it is out there. One source is called 'Cheap Hcg Supplies'. Another seems to be 'Reliable Rx Pharmacy'

I have not used either online source. I do hope that they remain viable, because the ignorance surrounding this in the medical industry is astounding. It is very hard to find a doctor who has actually researched it (or don't it him/herself). When they are available, they have no problem prescribing it. And it's cheap. (Comparatively.) 

I'd guess that's the real issue here. Somebody fears losing their market share, and the FDA is b