Their eyes
were examined with slit lamps, ophthalmoscope, and tenometry; they were
examined for lens refraction and visual fields, and underwent many blood, urine,
liver, and other analyses. There were pulmonary function studies, neurological and
other physical exams, and electrocardiogram studies. They were the most
exhaustive series of toxicological studies that had been carried on for some time. See 
Table 5.3
 for studies showing no harm to human eyes from DMSO. The conclusion by Dr. Brobyn was: “A very extensive toxicology study of
DMSO was conducted at three to thirty times the usual treatment dose in humans
for three months. DMSO appears to be a very safe drug for human administration,
and in particular the lens changes that occur in certain mammalian species do not
occur in man under this very high prolonged treatment regimen. I am very glad tobe able to present these data at this time so that we can permanently dispel the
myth that DMSO is in any way a toxic or dangerous drug.”
42
Table 5.3
 Observations Showing No Harm to Human Eyes From DMSO
No. of Human Patients
Period of DMSO Treatment
Note
  Extensive
Up to 2 years
31
  160
–
32
  52
9 months
33
  9,521
–
34
  38
12 weeks
35
  108
Up to 15 months
36
  Further studies
37
,
38
,
39
,
40
,
41
 
 
As an aside, the investigator added that DMSO appears to be so effective that
it could justifiably be used for hangnail. When you consider the enormous amount of DMSO that the first group of
prisoners received over two weeks and the second group for three months, the lack
of toxicity is proved. If the typical subject weighed 90 kg (with 1 kg being equal to
2.2 pounds) and he used up 1 g/kg, then at least 8.1 kg (8,100 g) were taken during
ninety days of testing. Any other compound such as sugar, salt, coffee, or tea
taken in such huge quantities would kill the subject during this three-month period. Or, he would suffer from some severe metabolic problems. Not so with the
prisoners taking DMSO through the skin. DMSO has been instilled directly into eyes
43
 and has been used for
preservation of eyes during freezing. 44
,
45
Jack C. de la Torre, M.D., of the Department of Neurosurgery, University of
Miami School of Medicine, and his colleagues gave 3 g of 40 percent DMSO per
kilogram of body weight by intravenous infusion into monkeys for nine days. They
were monitored before and after DMSO treatment for 120 days for any kind of
physiological changes from normal. He found no such changes whatsoever in the
urine and serum chemistry tests, cardiovascular and neurological examinations, or
any other of the exhaustive health studies in these animals. Following up at the end
of four months, the animals were sacrificed and 
pathologists performed post
mortem examinations on the monkeys’ organs. They found absolutely no pathology
existing in these primates from taking such high concentrations of DMSO. Alsorecorded during the time they were alive, as in humans, no pathological eye
symptoms showed up in the monkeys. All the ophthalmologic and pathological examinations were done on a double-
blind basis. All other tests and evaluations performed by the examiner were single-
blind. Routine tests such as weighing, cardiac examination, respiratory rate,
temperature, funduscopic, and other examinations were performed daily before and
after each drug administration, then periodically throughout the study. Dr. de la Torre concluded: “No changes in refraction or translucence of the
lens or any other abnormalities were noted in any animal before, during, or
eighteen weeks after any drug administration.” This toxicological study, which was
published in the 
Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health
, volume seven,
March 1981, is available as a reprint from Dr. J.C. de la Torre, Department of
Neurosurgery (R-35), University of Miami School of Medicine, P.O. Box 076960,
Miami, Florida 33101. In other animal studies of the effect of large doses of DMSO on the eyes, the
variation depends on the particular species. Oral administration of 5 to 10 g of
DMSO per kilogram per day to dogs caused alteration of the eye lenses after
treatment periods of nine to sixty-three days. For a 30 lb dog, 5 g/kg/day would be
equivalent to approximately one-third cup per day. Skin application at 4.4
g/kg/day to rabbits and 9.0 g/kg/day to swine produced effects after ninety days of
treatment. Lines of discontinuity are produced and sometimes opacity of the lens. When DMSO administration is discontinued, some but not all of the changes
disappear. 46
,
47
It is true that reports of different investigators show a certain variation in
animal eye effects but this seems to be due to the differing means of their
evaluation. What is not variable is that lens changes in animals are specific to
certain species and that humans are not among these species. The dosage and number of days before any change is noticeable in animals’
eyes are indicated in 
Table 5.4
. One investigator did say that a change in the eyes
of monkeys occurred after he dosed the experimental animals with 9.9 g/kg/day
DMSO for nine weeks and 3.3 g/kg/day for fourteen weeks. 48
 However, the
scientist who reviewed this study later suggested the study was invalid. It appears
that the significance of the lens changes was difficult to assess since the monkeys
in this study had been previously utilized in other research involving a study with
the drug phenolphthalein. 61
Table 5.4
 DMSO Effect on Eyes of AnimalsLevel
Animal
Time to Affect Eye
Note
5 g/kg/day oral
dog
9–20 days
49
10 g/kg/day oral
dog
28 days
50
5.5 g/kg/day oral
dog
9 days
51
5 g/kg/day oral
dog
63 days
52
4.4 g/kg/day skin
rabbit
90 days
53
9.0 g/kg/day skin
swine
90 days
54
10 g/kg/day oral
rabbit
7–10 days
55
1 g/kg/day skin
rabbit
11 weeks (slight)
56
6 g/kg/day oral
monkey
100 days, 
no effect
57
11 g/kg/day skin
monkey
6 months, 
no effect
58
0.9, 2.7, 8 g/kg/day skin or oral
monkey
3 months, 
no effect
59
1, 3, 11 g/kg/day, skin
monkey
185–200 days, 
no effect
60
In summary, human and animal studies to determine the toxicity of DMSO
showed no adverse changes in the chemical and physiological parameters carefully
investigated by clinical and laboratory methods. No gross pathology or eye
changes were found in the humans and no gross or microscopic pathology was
found in any monkey. There are a few unpleasant side effects from the use of DMSO, but none are
dangerous. The obnoxious side effects seem to be far outweighed by the
marvelous benefits, as shown by the case history of Patricia McClenathan who
experienced nearly every known side effect and still uses DMSO. THE UNPLEASANT SIDE EFFECTS
Patricia McClenathan of Cheektowaga, New York, a homemaker then thirty-nine
years old, had been receiving treatment from rheumatologists for spondylitis for
more than six years. Spondylitis is an inflammation, from injury or disease, such as
arthritis or tuberculosis of one 
or more of the vertebrae of the spine. For Mrs.
McClenathan, it was a chronic, crippling condition leading to some degree of
stiffening of the spinal joints and slight deformation. Since 1964, she had suffered
with deep aching pain and loss of mobility. She went through the full gamut of antiarthritis drugs, which caused her
exceedingly uncomfortable gastrointestinal problems. She also took muscle
relaxants, painkillers, and nerve blocks into the spinal area by ethyl chloride sprayand injection. The nerve blocks helped half the time, and the painkillers knocked
her out all the time so that she coped with pain but couldn’t perform her household
chores. Ruptured disc problems later arose as well, which gave her additional back
pain and kept her confined to bed for long periods. In April 1980, she was referred
to a neurosurgeon who hospitalized her for a laminectomy operation to remove the
involved vertebra. She underwent the computerized axial tomogram (CAT scan)
and the myelogram diagnostic procedures. But the myelogram didn’t coincide with
what the surgeon expected, and he couldn’t find the exact spot where he thought
there was a ruptured disc blockage in the spinal cord. Therefore, the neurosurgeon
did not perform the operation, and Mrs. McClenathan was sent home still suffering
in agony. Extended bed rest and painkilling drugs were the only regimen available
for the balance of her life. The patient fell into the depths of depression. Her hopes were completely
dashed. She thought that the laminectomy was going to solve all her pain problems,
but now she was confined to bed, felt extreme discomfort constantly, couldn’t
perform as a wife and mother, and recognized that the last door of relief was
finally closed. She was absolutely immobilized with depression. When her sister-in-law, who lived in Port Charlotte, Florida, contacted Pat
McClenathan in June 1980 to explain that DMSO had become legal for use in
Florida, the patient jumped at the chance—any chance—to find some kind of relief
from her back pain. She decided that there was nothing to lose by giving DMSO a
try. She was afraid to hold out hope for herself, but Mrs. McClenathan is a fighter
and refused to give in to lifelong pain. She flew to Florida from upstate New York
and was driven each day from Port Charlotte to Sarasota for DMSO treatment. The treatment that started on a Monday provided no immediate relief. Tuesday, she even felt increased pain, which is a common but unexplained side
effect. She became depressed all over again and believed she was wasting her
time, money, and the tremendous effort that went into her daily automobile
commutation. Her pain relief first came on the third day of treatment. “Wednesday night I felt
a lifting of pain,” Mrs. McClenathan said. “I was lying on a recliner when an
easing of the sensation came over me. That night I tested my relief by standing up
and sitting down repeatedly, because I could do it for the first time in six years
without pushing off using my hands. The next day it was even better. I was elated! I was free of the pain I had lived with for years. The fifth day, the last of my
treatment, there was just no pain at all from any movement.” Even sitting duringthe automobile ride didn’t trouble her as it had at the beginning. Sitting in a car
while somebody else drove had always been most difficult for her, but no more. Undergoing the DMSO intravenous injection procedure didn’t feel
uncomfortable unless the solution dripped into her vein a little too quickly, Mrs.
McClenathan explained. Then she would ask the nurse to slow the rate of drip, or
she would merely reach up and reduce the speed of flow herself. The drip could
go into the arm vein faster than into a vein on the top of the hand. Most of the time
she took it in the hand alongside the thumb. Occasionally, the patient asked for a
board on which to rest her hand when the IV was given there. Soreness remained in
her arm for about a month after the IV treatment had concluded. The intravenous
sensation was one of tingling and burning that subsided as soon as the flow was
lessened. She felt nauseated but she learned that eating a good breakfast before
going for the IV prevented the nausea. Each treatment lasted between three and
four hours during the five days. The drip solution contained in the pint IV bottle
consisted of 50 percent DMSO in 500 cc of dextrose, a sugar water. Admittedly overweight, Mrs. McClenathan said, “I had a total loss of appetite
while I took the treatment. I had to force myself to eat a supper. The distinctive
sweet taste of DMSO came on my tongue almost simultaneously with the nurse
opening the IV. It was really fast—a sensation more than a taste, like tiny little
burps and a dryness to my mouth. Even now, just putting DMSO on my skin
causes me difficulty with quenching my thirst. Also, it brings on the urge to
urinate. “I was very self-conscious about the odor that I carried,” continued the patient. “The odor emanated from my skin pores over my whole body. I think I could
almost see the substance in my bath water. The DMSO seemed to have a
yellowish tint to it. I don’t know if I’m exaggerating about this, because my
brother-in-law made me paranoid about my odor. I’m uncertain as to the validity of
my feelings on the smell, but if I ever have to return to Florida for treatment I
won’t stay 
at his house. In five days he used up almost four cans of Lysol
deodorant spray. If I walked through a room it was sprayed. Remembering it now, I
don’t think it was all that bad, but at the time I was completely obsessed with my
body and breath odor and consequently did not leave the Port Charlotte house. Flying home, I was really worried about how I smelled.”
Mrs. McClenathan described the DMSO taste as not salty or garlicky as some
do. She said it’s a mild indigestion or gastric repeating taste that you can compare
to clams, oysters, and other raw seafood tastes. As a general reaction since having the intravenous infusions, she nowexperiences a mild diarrhea anytime she uses DMSO either on the skin or by
mouth. “When I return to applying DMSO at home, the diarrhea gets bad. My
bowels and stomach kick up in protest worse than they did when I was on the
antiarthritic drugs. This causes me great discomfort such as gas, heartburn, and
stomach cramps. This is just from putting it on the skin,” she said. But, she uses
the veterinary grade in a 99 percent strength that she brings down to a 70 percent
concentration by adding three parts water to seven parts solvent. This DMSO
veterinarian grade full strength produces no hives on the skin for her as it has for
others, though Mrs. McClenathan does encounter redness, an irritation, and an
occasional rash. Applying veterinarian grade DMSO to her back causes more
burning, a warmer sensation, but less odor in the bottle. When mixed with water,
the heat reaction between the two substances seems to bring out the odor. The DMSO odor has definitely interfered with Pat McClenathan’s sexual
relationship with her husband, she said in our interview. And he is the person who
assists his wife with applying the solvent. He is a patient and tolerant man, she
said, but he found it exceedingly difficult to remain close to her body no matter
how much they desired each other. “I felt rejected,” she confessed, until they
discovered how to overcome the problem of body odor. Leaving off DMSO usage
for a few days allows the McClenathans to express their married love sexually. It’s
a bit of knowledge they are willing to share with other couples in the same
predicament. DMSO emanates from the skin pores for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours,
although it isn’t clear from the body completely for about seven days. When Pat
McClenathan is feeling especially well and doesn’t have her occasional bouts of
discomfort she goes off the skin application. “I use the topical for a three- or four-
day period and can then discontinue applications for approximately two weeks. During the fall of 1980, I 
functioned with relative ease through the constant air
pressure changes. Previously, this was the worst time of year for me,” she said. Patricia McClenathan has consented to reveal this full case history including
its more intimate details to assist other people who suffer with pain and wonder
about the DMSO side effects. She wrote: “Since taking DMSO, I am now a functioning person where
previously I had not been, spending much of the time in bed accomplishing
nothing. I can do most normal things now by relying on DMSO. At this time, I take
no painkillers or muscle relaxants [both used quite heavily before] and find for
this reason I can cope with everything very well. I am finally physically, mentally,
and emotionally much better and attribute this to DMSO. I feel that the problemsDMSO has caused are by far outweighed by the new life it has given me—a life
other than just surviving in constant pain. Again, I thank you.”
OVERCOMING THE MALODOROUS DMSO SIDE EFFECT
Mrs. McClenathan has experienced practically all of the unpleasant side effects of
using DMSO routinely. The pharmaceutical and the veterinarian grades have their
individual ways of bringing about the body’s counteraction, and each person
responds in his or her own unique manner. “In all the time I have incorporated DMSO as part of my treatment program, I
have seen no serious side effects except for possible redness, burning, and itching
of the skin with the topical application,” said Robert L. Harmon, M.D., who was
medical director of the Mattie Evans Alderman Foundation for Preventive
Medicine, part of the Desert Holistic Health Center of Palm Desert, California. Dr.
Harmon had used DMSO as an arthritic therapy for a number of years. “The skin
reaction is much more noticeable in certain persons than it is in others. There is no
other relationship you can make. It’s strictly an idiosyncrasy of the individual. “We have not encountered any toxic reactions intravenously even though we
have given people over 50 cc of pure DMSO in 500 cc of Ringers lactate solution
within a period of two hours. There have been no toxic effects either immediately
or delayed,” Dr. Harmon added. “We’ve applied it wherever there have been
skeletal problems with joints, muscles, and connective tissues involved.”
The biggest problem of DMSO—the odor that occurs when the drug is injected
intravenously or intramuscularly, taken orally in juice, or subcutaneously by
painting it on the skin, has not been completely solved. Chemist Robert Herschler
has combined DMSO with a series of complex 
substances, including urea, salt,
and other items, for topical application. He has reduced the DMSO odor with these
complexes by around 75 percent. When intravenous DMSO is given to seriously
injured or ill people in a hospital such as the medical center affiliated with the
University of Oregon Medical School, the endotracheal tube of an unconscious
patient is hooked up to the wall suction to cut the odor. Exhaust fans are installed
and run in regular hospital or doctor treatment rooms where DMSO is being
infused. In other instances, the oral administration of DMSO may have its odor
modified if the patient eats cheese, ice cream, milk, and other dairy products
beforehand. Raw milk seems especially able to reduce mouth odor when one is
drinking DMSO. Raw milk is the main beverage of children in Chile. WhenChilean youngsters are given DMSO in any of the three common ways, their body
and breath odors are less objectionable, perhaps because of the raw milk in their
diet. United States Representative Robert Duncan, a member of Congress from the
State of Oregon, agreed that odor remains the main problem with using DMSO. Congressman Duncan told the House Select Committee on Aging: “With respect to
my own use of it, the most serious side effect is a threatened divorce by my wife
because she doesn’t like the odor. Dr. Jacob has removed some of the odor and he
has masked it in another preparation by a wintergreen flavor. “I asked my wife if she didn’t like the wintergreen flavor, and if that wouldn’t
remove her objections. She said no. Instead of smelling like the tidal flats at
Bayonne, New Jersey, when the tide is out, she said, you now smell like the locker
room of the Green Bay Packers. But that odor is infinitesimal compared with the
relief.”
This characteristic odor that escapes as soon as DMSO comes in contact with
the water content of the body is the reason there has been no performance of
double-blind or single-blind clinical investigations that are so desired by the FDA. The report of the 
ad hoc
 Committee on Dimethyl Sulfoxide, a Division of Medical
Science, National Academy of Sciences–National Research Council, supported by
The Food and Drug Administration, Contract FDA 70-22, Task Order No. 14,
issued August 1973, came out on the same side as the FDA. Even so, the report
clearly pinpointed the reason for the lack of double-blind tests—the odor. This 
ad
hoc
 committee said: “The apparent inability to find a substance producing both the
unique breath odor and the skin irritation of DMSO resulted in the absence of
double-blind controlled studies in which the 
placebo
 could not be identified by the
participants.” So the DMSO odor has been a stumbling block in more ways than
one. CONDEMNATION OF OTHER SIDE EFFECTS
The 
ad hoc
 Committee came down heavily on the various other side effects as a
rationalization for its position against DMSO. Yet, it hedged on any condemnation
and even nearly came close to recommending DMSO because of the cost-benefit
ratio. It said: “DMSO produces side effects, particularly in the skin, in most
persons treated, and there have been sporadic cases in which DMSO has, with
reasonable confidence, been linked to acute generalized urticaria [hives] in man. There is also evidence that in some species of laboratory animals DMSO in dosessomewhat higher than those contemplated for man produces a unique alteration of
the lens. The nature of these side effects, the import of the animal data, and the
incidence of adverse reactions alone would not warrant withholding the drug in
clinical circumstances in which it gave promise of saving life or in which it would
clearly be more effective than currently available treatment in arresting a disease
process, reducing disability, or relieving pain.”
The committee members, all scholarly physicians or doctors in the health
sciences, reviewed most of the evidence of toxic effects of DMSO in man and
concluded that the reports “did not conform to modern criteria for the evaluation of
the toxicity and safety of drugs. In spite of this, we believe that there is reasonable
evidence that, with the exception of the eye effects, the toxicity of DMSO is
relatively low . . . we conclude that the use of DMSO to treat diseases for which
there is no satisfactory therapy will not be particularly hazardous and that further
clinical investigation of the drug in treating such disease is justified.”
The members carried forward their continued suspicions relating to animal eye
effects and any potential dangers in human beings. They said “. . . the evidence of
eye effects in animals in chronic studies is such that the risk in prolonged
administration to man should be carefully weighed against anticipated therapeutic
results, but that, if evidence of efficacy warrants it, investigations involving two
weeks of treatment could be undertaken with little risk of eye effects. “Further research on DMSO, using modern toxicologic procedures, is an
absolute necessity to develop a firm basis for judgment of the safety of prolonged
use of this drug by patients with minimal medical supervision and surveillance. Such research in animals, especially monkeys, should include:
A well-designed and executed study of the lenticular effects in subhuman
primates. Evaluation of the potential of DMSO for inducing carcinogenic, teratogenic,
and mutagenic effects. Studies of the biochemical and metabolic aspects of the actions of DMSO on
the animal body. Comparison of toxicity by oral and cutaneous administration. “The subcommittee hopes that additional studies of human exposure and
tolerance to DMSO involving daily cutaneous application for long periods can be
performed. In such studies, attention should be given not only to the lens but to
signs of toxicity to the blood cells and various organs.”On the 
Good Morning America
 television broadcast, FDA Commissioner
Crout said, “Those tests are to be done by the promoters or sponsors of the drug. We are in the position of approving the work once it’s done. Carrying the ball on
behalf of the drug is what the drug companies ordinarily do. And, indeed, some
work is going on for DMSO today that is of high quality. We look forward to
having those data in a year or so. I think there won’t be much change in the coming
year from what you see now, but the current fad [for bringing DMSO to the
people] will wane and a year or two from now we’ll have the data we need.”
Michael A. DeLuca, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon dispensing services as
Humble Orthopedic Associates, P.A., of Humble, Texas, wrote to Congressman
Claude Pepper, May 30, 1980, saying:
Thank you very much for the fine support you are giving the medical
profession in the House Bill H.R. 7023 to legalize DMSO use
nationally. . . . I would like for you to know that I, as a practicing
orthopedic surgeon and physician of several years in practice, do
appreciate your efforts and I furthermore am of the opinion that DMSO
has very definite benefit with regard to patient treatment. It is even more
imperative that we are able to write this by prescription inasmuch as the
side effects are, for all practical purposes, nonexistent. Again thank you very much for your contribution against this
inexorable bureaucracy that is presently interfering with the practice of
medicine in this field.CHAPTER 6
The Potent Potion for Sports Injuries
During his senior year at college, June Jones, III, eventually to become a
quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons professional football team, signed a contract to
play big league ball after graduation. But he was hoping the team management
would not take him out to the football field just then and ask him to display his
skill. The reason? He couldn’t lift his right arm to throw a football. Jones was suffering with a calcification in the right shoulder, his throwing arm. Some days he was unable to practice at all. He couldn’t put on his jacket because
movement of the arm brought him such agony. He spent sleepless nights writhing
in a cold sweat, especially if he happened to roll onto his right side. The calcified
bursitis of his shoulder was threatening to end his professional football career
before it even got started. “Fortunately I had used DMSO for ankle sprains and contusions in high school
but I never thought of using it for my shoulder,” Jones told the Select Committee
on Aging of the United States House of Representatives. “So kind of by chance I
read in the paper about Dr. Jacob’s work and went up to see him.” Jones is
originally an Oregonian, transplanted to Georgia, and most people from Oregon
consider DMSO a homegrown state crop—their particular contribution to medical
progress. “I was treated with DMSO,” Jones continued. “I used it in my senior year and
it got me through the season relatively pain free. . . . I started using it on Thursday
and by Saturday I would go five or six hours pain free. I would go through this for
six months from July to December. Finally I said, maybe if I just don’t do anything
with my shoulder anymore, it is going to be all right. So from December until the
first part of April I didn’t lift a weight or throw a football. But my shoulder still got
worse. “I went up to see Dr. Jacob and he gave me an injection in my shoulder. He
told me if I used DMSO for thirty days straight, that that calcification would
disappear. It did! “To say the least, I went to camp in July, pain free, not using DMSO anymore,
and the X-rays showed no calcification in my shoulder. I had previously takencortisone, butazolidin, and all the things the team physicians told me would help
my shoulder. They did not. The only thing that helped me was DMSO. Without
this drug I would not be playing today.”
DMSO treatment for sports-associated conditions such as dislocations, serious
cuts, acute sprains, strains, broken bones, tennis elbow, and a wide range of
injuries in gymnastics, track and field events, conventional wrestling, football,
basketball, judo, diving, swimming, weight-lifting, Greco-Roman wrestling, skiing,
cycling, water polo, and fencing has been well received by the athletes, their
trainers, coaches, and team officials. In cases of acute trauma, pain is relieved
rapidly, sometimes spectacularly. Swelling subsides and function is recovered. Trainers and doctors have said that healing is so spectacular “as to compel us to
urge our patients to observe greatest caution in order to avoid further damage to a
joint” that may not have healed completely. Chronic conditions, some of which have become acute again, also respond
rapidly, with relief of pain, reduced swelling, and improved function. DMSO also
promotes rapid recovery and return to action following immobilization for
fractures. The Institute of Sports Medicine of Italy says: “The complete absence of
undesirable collateral reactions, its ease of application, and the few precautions
that should be observed, make DMSO a medication for wide use in medical
therapy, and also an urgently needed medication in sports-related traumatology.”
HEALING IN SPORTS TRAUMA
Is there a reason for such dramatic reduction of tissue damaged in sports and other
causes of trauma to the body? “Yes,” says Dr. Stanley Jacob. “In the test tube, if
you have cells which are damaged by what we call osmotic stress and you add
DMSO to those damaged cells, instead of those cells going on to die, those cells
will be revitalized and return to a normal state.”
DMSO accomplishes this because, as Dr. Jacob explains, “It actually 
does
more than relieve pain. DMSO is not just a substance that reduces pain and
relieves inflammation. It actually relieves swelling and this has been demonstrated
in good, basic science studies.”
Graham Reedy, M.D., of Enumclaw, Washington, former team physician for
the Oakland Raiders professional football team, pointed out that his players had
benefited markedly from routine use of DMSO. It did just what Dr. Jacob
described. In 70 to 80 percent of those who applied it for football injuries, good toexcellent results were achieved. The injured players had an immediate reduction
of swelling and pain, and consequently, quicker rehabilitation from the particular
injury. These benefits were noticed by the athletes by comparing their present
injuries, for which they administered DMSO, with previous injuries of a similar
nature that they had received. Also, they compared their own injury experience and
the experience of others with the same types of current trauma. Dr. Reedy said, “DMSO, at 70 percent concentration, is an excellent drug
which seems to significantly shorten the rehabilitation time for sports injuries to
soft tissue or joint defusions. It would definitely make a significant contribution to
assist those of us in the field of sports medicine, private practice, and industrial
medicine. “It seems to me that one of our major objectives is to get people back to their
activities quickly,” the sports physician added. “So the primary significance in use
of DMSO may not be just in the relief of pain but in the ability to rehabilitate that
person more quickly. Therefore, it might in essence save us millions of dollars as
a nation by rehabilitating the industrial-injured patient and getting him back to
work. “In professional football and sports injuries we are interested in rehabilitation
time. If, in fact, we can reduce pain, reduce swelling, and more quickly rehabilitate
that player or person back to his activity, we can significantly decrease the loss of
playing time, the loss of work time, and increase the quality of life.”
A PITCHING ARM THAT BECAME REHABILITATED
There are a hundred human interest stories in major league baseball, but a sure-fire
tear-jerker is what happened to Washington Senators pitcher Bill Denehy. Denehy
was the player who had a 9-10 win record and a big strikeout game in his final
appearance. The following spring he tore a muscle in his shoulder and was traded
to the Cleveland Indians. But the deal may have been the best thing that ever
happened to Denehy because it put him in touch with DMSO to rehabilitate his
shoulder. Denehy had been traded to the Washington Senators by the New York Mets in
a $100,000 deal in October 1967. From the time he arrived at the Pompano Beach,
Florida, training grounds in the spring of 1968, a lot was demanded of him. Not
only had the Senators insisted on acquiring him in the deal, but they also assigned
him uniform number 14—the number Gil Hodges had worn as a player with the
Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Mets, and as manager of the Mets. Denehy hada lot to live up to. “I didn’t mind at first,” said the handsome, wavy-haired righthander from
Middletown, Connecticut. “I knew that the Mets had a lot of good young pitchers
coming up and I figured with a club like Washington I’d get a chance to pitch. “And I did at first. That spring, I guess I worked as many innings as any other
pitcher on the staff and I had a pretty good record. But then the season opened and
they just forgot about me.”
Denehy pitched only three games during the season. Then he was sent to
Buffalo to pitch in the International league where he chalked up a 9-10 win record
with a second-division club. He stayed there two years, and it finally looked like
the Senators were going to call him up to start full-time pitching in the major
leagues when Denehy tore a muscle in his shoulder. While he was having the damaged muscle fibers treated, the Senators traded
him to the Cleveland Indians. The trade took him to Portland, Oregon, where he
came in touch with Dr. Jacob, who cured his shoulder problems using the solvent
the surgeon is so closely associated with. “This doctor introduced me to something called DMSO and it was applied to
my shoulder. It’s very powerful stuff and you have to know how to use it. It
breaks up the scar tissues in the injury and restores strength to the muscles,” said
Denehy. “Elgin Baylor has used it on his knee and so has Jerry Lucas. [These were
well-known basketball players.] This spring I gave it to Jim Lonborg in Puerto
Rico,” added Denehy, “and he pitched a ten-inning game in his last start.” Lonborg
was pitching for the Boston Red Sox. It was after he began using DMSO that Denehy had a visit from Len Zankie,
the baseball scout who originally signed him for the New York Mets. “When I told him my arm was coming around again, Len must have reported
back to the Mets,” Denehy remembered, “because a few days later I got a call
from manager Johnny Murphy and he told me the Mets might draft me again.”
Sure enough they did, and in 1971 Denehy split the year between 
playing for
Memphis in the Southern league and Tidewater in the International league. He had
an enviable 10-8 win record. Seeing this, and with pressure from other major
league ball clubs who wanted to acquire Bill Denehy, the Mets promoted him to
the major league roster. “I don’t know what my chances are of making this club,” he said. “It’s obvious
they’ve got a lot of pitching. Right now, all I can ask for is a chance. I
 know one
thing. My shoulder is strong again. Among Memphis, Tidewater, and Puerto Rico, Ipitched 261 innings this year and struck out 208 batters. I couldn’t do that if I
wasn’t sound.”
1
Bill Denehy got his chance and made the major leagues as a relief pitcher. DMSO gave him the opportunity to show that his shoulder muscle was in good
shape and could do the job. Denehy pitched for the Detroit Tigers for several
years. Now he has left the major leagues because of age, not shoulder pain. It does
not bother him anymore. If ever it should, Denehy feels assured that he could
restore his shoulder to good health by the application of DMSO. PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM PHYSICIANS USE DMSO
During the early months of 1980, the United States House of Representatives
Select Committee on Aging solicited responses in the form of a questionnaire to
professional sports team physicians. It included such questions as: (1) Have you
ever prescribed, or your team trainer used, DMSO for athletes in your care? (2)
For what types of symptoms, maladies, or illnesses have you prescribed or seen
the drug used? (3) In your opinion, is the drug effective in reducing inflammation,
pain, or other arthritic symptoms? (4) In your opinion, should the United States
legalize DMSO for the treatment of arthritis and other diseases in humans? Please
comment! (5) Would you be willing to testify before the Select Committee on
Aging on these matters? Identification of the responding physician was optional. Staff physicians from the professional athletic teams provided answers to the
questionnaire. Of the thirty-nine who responded, only seven admitted to having
regularly used the drug for such conditions as inflammation of joints, sprains,
swelling, tendinitis, bursitis, muscle bruises and contusions, and gout. An
additional five team physicians said they had seen the drug used for the same
conditions. Ten of the twelve physicians who had used or seen the drug used
found DMSO effective in reducing inflammation, pain, or other arthritic symptoms. Most physicians who responded to the questionnaire believed further study was
warranted and necessary 
to determine its safety and efficacy before DMSO should
be legalized in the United States for treatment of arthritis and other diseases in
humans. Following are comments from doctors attending professional athletic teams:
R.R. of Highland Park, Illinois, said, “I was an early experimenter with DMSO
and the only side effect was the distasteful breath.”
R.C. of Oregon City, Oregon, wrote, “As I indicated in the responses in yourenclosed questionnaire, I feel that at least at this point in time, no ill effects have
been substantiated, at least with the topical use of DMSO, and I personally find it
as effective as most proprietary counterirritants such as Ben Gay and this type of
readily available remedy. My principal concern about the dissemination of DMSO
is that if some of the things should happen nationally that are happening locally, I
think it would be cause for grave concern. I would like to specifically call your
attention to the fact that DMSO is being injected for treatment of a variety of
maladies, and I think that this is certainly premature and somewhat adventuresome
at this point in time. At any rate, I think that if DMSO is made generally available
to the public, it should be done so in a very regulated manner, and at this point in
time, limited to topical use only.”
D.A. of Atlanta said, “If appropriate studies could be done to see if there is
any objective evidence of the efficacy of the drug, then [I] would favor select
use.”
E.M. of Baltimore said, “Controlled studies by qualified approved
investigators have been and are being done. Would suggest you consult these
people. FDA should be able to guide you. If Congress doesn’t trust or rely on the
FDA, they should improve the FDA.”
E.V. of Philadelphia wrote, “There is enough anecdotal information suggesting
this is a useful drug that I feel proper scientific studies should be carried out. I
would not use a drug until it has been so evaluated.”
Y.C. of Houston said, “When used judiciously, this can be a very useful and
helpful drug for relieving both short- and long-term joint symptoms and pain.”
In a summary of the questionnaires sent to professional sports team physicians,
the committee staff advised the members of the Select Committee on Aging:
“The Committee learned of the apparently widespread ‘bootleg’ use of DMSO
in professional athletics. Team physicians, however, were reluctant to discuss this
with the Committee. Only twenty of the 110 
professional sports team physicians
have responded to our January questionnaire. Three admitted usage of DMSO,
although eight claimed DMSO is effective in reducing pain or inflammation.”
Lowell Scott Weil, D.P.M., of Des Plaines, Illinois, who is Professor of
Podiatric Surgery and Orthopedics at the Illinois College of Podiatric Medicine
and founder of the college’s Sports Medicine Center, and who is the sports
podiatrist for the Chicago Bears football team and the United States Olympic
gymnastics team, uses DMSO on a regular basis for the athletes who are injured. He has been applying the solvent for about twelve years. One of the classic areas
treated is in gymnastics.“I say classic because I was able to spend three full days with the kids during
the 1980 Olympic trials, use DMSO every minute, and see exactly how their
symptoms went away,” said Dr. Weil. “We had a particular gymnast who suffered
a severe ankle sprain. Her coach thought there was no chance she would be able to
participate in the trials and was about to scratch her. I used DMSO in combination
with some other physical therapy modalities, and she went on not only to perform
but to make the Olympic team. “Most of my experience with DMSO has been with using it for tendinitis,
myositis [muscle inflammation type conditions], post-injury situations such as
muscle pulls, ankle sprains, strains, and tears of the soft tissue. Those types of
problems have responded most successfully to DMSO. In addition, I have used it
for my arthritic patients, especially those with rheumatoid arthritis, and they’ve had
dramatic relief effects. “Of the number of patients to whom I’ve administered DMSO, I’ve probably
had about a 60 percent success rate. The 40 percent rate of failure is in people
that just don’t show any good or bad effects from the drug,” Dr. Weil said. “The
only side effects have been some skin irritation and an occasional inflammational
blistering on people with sensitive skin. Skin problems are easily treated with ice
applications or cortisone cream and do not seem to provide any great problem. I
have not noted any other type of allergic reactions or ill effects.”
The forms of DMSO that Dr. Weil applies topically are the veterinarian grade
in an 80 percent gel and the Rimso-50 pharmaceutical grade 50 percent solution
that ordinarily is administered internally for interstitial cystitis. Inflammatory
conditions such as nerve excitations in the foot are where he finds it works best. A Chicago Bears football player who tore a hamstring muscle in his thigh was
scheduled to be out of commission for five weeks. “I used DMSO on him every
day,” said Dr. Weil, “for about a half hour of rubbing 
it into the injured area. Then
I had him apply it before bedtime and keep it on all night. After six or seven
treatments, the player found he had full range of motion, virtually no pain at all,
and could extend his leg as he wanted. He returned to playing football immediately
thereafter.”
ARE PLAYERS USING IT ON THEIR OWN? “Not only have I had the experience of using this drug with my athletic endeavors,”
said June Jones, “but also I have become emotionally involved with it. . . . I have
seen people get amazing results. Most recently I have seen a person who had notwalked in close to six years. He had not moved his toes in close to eight years. For the relief of pain he put DMSO on his spinal cord, not thinking it might do
anything else—he is walking now within two weeks after using it.”
Jones explained that DMSO is used extensively as a healer and pain reliever
among the sports figures on a number of athletic teams, and not just in football. They don’t permit this knowledge to be commonly disseminated except among
themselves, since drug use of any kind is frowned upon in professional sports. Drugs might give a player an unfair advantage through artificial means. The Atlanta Falcons running back, Haskel Stanback, sprained his ankle in the
first game in which he finally had become a starting player. In 1978, he had
worked hard in training camp and was named first string tailback for the season. It
was his big chance. In the third quarter of this first game, between the Falcons and the Houston
Oilers, Stanback chipped a bone and tore ligaments in his ankle. The team doctors
decided he was going to have to wear a cast for six weeks, and the player was put
on the injured reserve list. Knowing the consequences of putting a plaster cast on an ankle, Stanback
realized he was finished for the season. His big opportunity was gone. It would
take another four or five weeks after the cast came off for his leg to be well
enough again to perform on the field. The season would be over before he could
run a single step. The team managers told him to take his gear home. He was heartbroken. There
would be no more football for Stanback. Then, June Jones came to his rescue. “I said, take this stuff home and put it on all night. I said, wake up every hour
and put it on. He did it all night,” Jones explained. “He came in Monday with no
swelling in his ankle. The doctors could not believe it. They went to X-ray it
again. The bone chip was still there. They still contended that there was damage
done.”
The Falcons had Tuesday off. No game and no practice. The doctors said that
they would wait until Wednesday to see what happened to Stanback’s ankle before
making a judgment as to whether he could play. Stanback put DMSO on his foot
and leg the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday. He arrived at practice on
Wednesday able to walk, run, tackle, throw a football, and do all the other
activities demanded of a professional player. He played that next Sunday against
the Los Angeles Rams. “Availability in our business is the most important thing to an athlete,” said
Jones. “If you get hurt in training camp, your income, your lifetime, everything thatsustains your income can be yanked out from underneath you just by an injury.”
He said that DMSO “enhances and decreases the time to getting you back to
work after an injury.”
When he was physician to the Oakland Raiders, Dr. Graham Reedy applied 70
percent DMSO to his players’ injuries on an experimental basis, beginning in
October 1971. He provided each patient with a careful explanation about its side
effects of clam breath and possible skin irritation for up to seventy-two hours past
its application. “Our application technique was to apply it liberally all over the
affected joint or muscle,” he said, “letting it dry for five minutes. This procedure
would be repeated up to four times. These treatments occurred from two to four
times per day for three to four days. “Frequently, players were hospitalized for their severe acute joint or muscle
problems. They were immobilized, iced, and elevated for forty-eight-hour periods
during which DMSO would be applied in the fashion prescribed. Over a total of
five years, DMSO was used approximately twenty to thirty times per year,” Dr.
Reedy said. “Some of the players who used the drug were Ben Davidson, Tom
Keating, Daryle Lamonica, Fred Belitnikoff, Jim Otto, and Bobby Moore. Its
greatest value was in its application in the first three to four days of an acute
injury of a muscle or joint having severe swelling. Our experience was significant
reduction occurring 70 percent to 80 percent of the time with these injuries.”
Probably the most dramatic reduction of the effects of a sports injury that Dr.
Reedy described was a severe elbow contusion sustained by Bobby Moore after a
pileup during a football game. Immediately after the game ended, the doctor
painted DMSO onto Moore’s contusion and all around the elbow area. Practically
as the solvent was going on, the patient and doctor saw the swelling go down to the
extent that an actual dimpling took place. Robert Rosenfeld, M.D., the Falcon’s
orthopedist, had seen and remarked on this same 
phenomenon. Pain reduction is
quick, as well, so that the primary benefit the players experience with using
DMSO under a doctor’s supervision or on their own is a rapidly diminishing
swelling of the muscle or joint, with associated pain relief. When swelling and pain are gone after a couple of days, the doctors can hasten
rehabilitation of the part that’s injured by instituting other more heroic measures. The players’ usual estimate of benefit varies from 50 percent to 75 percent faster
results and return to the ball field than from their previous injury treatments. DOUBLE-BLIND STUDIES IN SPORTSDouble-blind, placebo-controlled investigations have been carried out in order to
learn the true characteristics of DMSO for sports injuries. For example, in 1981,
the use of DMSO for tennis elbow and rotator cuff tendonitis was tested in such a
double-blind study. Over a one-year period, sports physicians E.C. Percy and J.D. Carson treated 102 patients with a clinical diagnosis of either medial or lateral
epicondylitis (tennis elbow) or rotator cuff tendonitis with topical applications of
dimethyl sulfoxide or a placebo. Their double-blind controlled study was carried
out on these patients in the private practice of an orthopedic surgeon to determine
how well DMSO treated these two common clinical conditions. Results of this
study showed that DMSO improved pain, tenderness, and swelling, and facilitated
increased range of motion. Forty patients were treated for each of the two ailments;
patients treated with the 70-percent aqueous solution of DMSO did not receive
any more beneficial effect from the drug than patients who received a 5-percent
DMSO aqueous placebo solution. 2
Dr. Reedy attempted to perform double-blind studies among the players but
found them to be of absolutely no value, due to the particular characteristics of
DMSO. He applied a 10-percent solution as a placebo but the effect was much
less clam-type breath, only minimal redness of the area treated, and much faster
drying time than usual in the 70-percent solution. Dr. Reedy said, “We had a player, Fred Belitnikoff, who had a shoulder
contusion and an ankle contusion in a pileup. Seventy percent was applied in the
ankle and only 10 percent in the shoulder. He very quickly told me, ‘Doctor, that
is not the real stuff; it is not red and it dries too fast.’ So double-blind studies were
not able to be completed.”
PLAYERS SEE A NEED FOR DMSO
Dr. Reedy saw that fair-haired and fair-complexioned players seemed to
experience skin reactions sooner than those of darker coloring. But the degree of
skin reaction was not proportional to the benefits of reduced swelling. He applied
DMSO regularly for acute swelling due to trauma of any joint or muscle,
particularly of the limbs, especially the ankle, elbow, hands, or wrist. The adverse effects he witnessed are the same that have been discussed: clam-
oyster breath that is unresponsive to a number of breath deodorizers, and local
skin reactions. Skin irritation seemed to come in two separate waves, usually by
the third to fourth day or by the ninth to sixteenth treatment session. In fair-complexioned, light-haired players, it came somewhat sooner. However, these
symptoms usually disappeared within seventy-two hours after the last treatment
session. “I should also state that these effects were welcomed by many of the
players to get them back to play sooner,” said Dr. Reedy. Sixteen years ago, Dr. Reedy discontinued his affiliation with the Oakland
Raiders when he moved to his present home in Enumclaw. Actively involved in
clinical practice and in community education on preventive health maintenance and
drug abuse, Dr. Reedy still employs DMSO as a therapeutic tool. “My experience
in utilization in my private practice outside the realm of sports medicine has been
essentially nonprimary, because I choose to use it within the confines of the field
of sports medicine as I had made that decision with Dr. Jacob about it. I would
say, however, that I would like very much to use it in my patients with arthritis and
acute ankle injuries because about 50 percent of my practice is sports medicine. So I would be very anxious for it to be released so I could use it more
extensively.”
Daryle Lamonica, former quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, wrote to Val
Hallamendaris, Counsel to the Commission on Aging of the House of
Representatives, on April 2, 1980, from Walnut Creek, California. This is what the
football player said:
I am writing to express my feelings regarding my experience with DMSO. As a former professional athlete, I had the opportunity to use it because of
injuries. The first time was on a jammed thumb on my throwing hand. The
swelling was so severe I could not bend it. DMSO was applied and, much
to my surprise, the swelling started to leave within minutes. Although my skin blistered momentarily, within three days I was
throwing the ball hard again and was able to compete successfully the
following Sunday afternoon. I feel this would not have been possible
without the benefit of this unusual drug. I have had other injuries in which DMSO was used and the results
were very positive. It was applied to my swollen and strained left knee,
my lower back, my jammed little finger on my throwing hand, and my
tender and inflamed right elbow. I must point out that we had an excellent team physician, Dr. Graham
Reedy. I relied on his medical advice and guidance and feel he was most
instrumental in my over-all success in the N.F.L. He did introduce me to
DMSO.I have played with many other players who have used DMSO to great
success. The only drawback I have observed would be, as my wife
referred to it, “gross body odor.” It did not add much to my social life, but
I understand that this has been corrected. I personally feel there is a great need for DMSO, not only for
professional and amateur athletes, but for all persons who suffer pain. Val,
our society is blessed to have drugs like DMSO to help us through our
misfortunes. 3CHAPTER 7
Arthritis Therapy With DMSO and
Diet
A United States Customs Service employee, Roger O. Varga of Bowie, Maryland,
was served with divorce decree papers by his wife. The man’s personality was so
irritating from his inability to accept the pain of arthritis that “my wife can’t put up
with me anymore,” he confessed. Mr. Varga has been the long-time victim of full-body rheumatoid arthritis and
rheumatoid spondylitis (spinal arthritis). His joint pain had become increasingly
worse over the last five years to the point that he could not cope with everyday
stress. After taking intravenous (IV) DMSO anti-arthritis therapy, Varga, now fifty-
nine, finally found amazing relief in less than five days. He was able to return to
his normal work routine. The patient underwent two separate sessions of DMSO
IV treatment during the course of fourteen months and left for home both times
feeling quite comfortable. He now maintains himself between IV sessions with
topical DMSO in the form of a salve—DMSO mixed with cold cream in a 70-
percent concentration. *   *   *
An expert in growing lovely orchards who resides in Mount Airy, North Carolina,
Calvin Clayton Vernon, suffered with a combination of rheumatoid arthritis and
osteoarthritis, which had lodged mainly in his back, shoulders, hips, and left ankle. From receiving the oral, topical, and IV-administered DMSO treatments, Mr.
Vernon, who had just turned seventy-two, found his joint pains greatly diminished. He could walk better, had less swelling in the ankle, and increased his mobility in
all joints. The patient’s condition was rated “marked improvement” by the doctor
following 
his conclusion of the standard five-day treatment program. Vernon
stated: “I brought home a supply of DMSO to take orally and topically. I am still
using it and feel that I can continue to keep up my work.”*   *   *
A supervisor of quality control, James S. Smith of Marietta, Ohio, developed
rheumatoid arthritis in November 1979. It was a severely acute onset in all his
joints, but especially in his ankles, feet, wrists, and fingers. He hardly slept at all
from the deep, aching pain, which also kept him from working because of his lack
of arm strength and his unstable legs. Five days of IV DMSO, which he received when he was sixty, combined with
the application of DMSO on his skin and the administration by mouth, brought
relief right away. The pain disappeared to the extent that Smith said, “I am looking
forward to playing golf.”
*   *   *
An auto mechanic, James E. Singletary of Porter, Texas, had rheumatoid arthritis
of all of his joints at one time or another for over thirty years. He took vast
quantities of many different medications for it. In June 1990, Mr. Singletary took five days of IV DMSO treatment and
returned home with a quantity of the topical and oral form. He said, “A month after
the IVs and DMSO taken orally, the pain, swelling, and inflammation seemed to
subside, although soreness in my joints continues.” The mobility in both his
shoulders increased and the pain left his knees and feet. *   *   *
A retired housewife, Vilma F. Slingerland of Sarasota, Florida, had acquired a
gastric ulcer from taking Indocin for rheumatoid arthritis. Since 1978, her knees,
hips, neck, and back gave her awful pain. She took the IV DMSO therapy when she had unusually severe pain in
September 1992 and combined it with oral and topical DMSO and also had
DMSO combined with Xylocaine injected into both of her knees. These joint
injections gave her an excellent result. Her grip strength improved dramatically and
neck discomfort disappeared. Mrs. Slingerland’s 
opinion about DMSO includes
the statement: “I consider it very-helpful in some locations, especially in the
sacroiliac region.”
*   *   *A clerk in a ladies apparel shop, Beatrice L. Luke, from Saluda, South Carolina,
suffered with osteoarthritis in the spine and hands. She couldn’t tolerate the
different arthritis medications and sought DMSO treatment as an alternative. Ms. Luke experienced fine results from taking IV, topical, and oral DMSO and
could return to work full time in August 1992. “My main problem was pain in my
back,” she says, “and it is much better.” She applied topical DMSO thirty separate
times before she felt total back pain relief, but the comfort was gratefully accepted
when it arrived. *   *   *
A housewife from Port Charlotte, Florida, Mary F. Hayes, had osteoarthritis that
caused pain in her arms and shoulders for two years. She was limited in her
movements, as illustrated by her inability to fasten her bra. “My left arm was
inflamed and swollen and very painful,” she wrote recently, “so painful I could
hardly get a good night’s rest. After using one jar of the DMSO cream, I can even
fasten my bra.”
Mrs. Hayes needed no treatment other than her own administration of DMSO
to her skin. *   *   *
A highway toll collector in Florida, Fred Flechsig of Fort Lauderdale, was
victimized by severe degenerative arthritis of the hips and knees. From inhaling
automobile exhaust fumes on the job, Mr. Flechsig suffered from lead poisoning,
too, which may have contributed to his terrible joint pains. Where the range of lead
in the body of an average American is 0.1 to 2.0, a hair analysis of this man
revealed an occupational hazard of 5.0 lead content. Flechsig didn’t need IV DMSO treatment to find arthritis relief, however. He
got it immediately from using the DMSO cream on his joints twice daily and
drinking the oral preparation regularly starting May 22, 1990. *   *   *
A schoolteacher, Marie G. Miller of Randolph, New Jersey, endured osteoarthritis
for twenty years. Pain was present in multiple joints, which she attributed to her
very active life and her tendency to do too much in a day. She required aid in
walking, holding on to the walls and furniture in her apartment.Mrs. Miller writes: “I went for the DMSO treatment as a last resort for the
relief of the constant pain in all joints, shoulders, spine, fingers, toes, ankles, and
knees. Knees and feet gave me much trouble. I could not walk without great pain
and found it very hard to get up from a chair without turning every which way to
grab hold of something nearby to push or pull myself up to stand. “I had taken gold shots, Indocin, Butazolidine, etc. for two years. I took two
aspirin (650 mg) four times a day with some relief but with a number of very bad
days every so often, requiring me to spend a half to a whole day in bed under an
electric blanket even in the middle of summer in temperatures 80
°
F and over. “Then I started to take Darvon, which gave me more relief, taking two a day
every four hours during a bad day of pain. After taking DMSO IV in May 1990,
I’ve only had to take perhaps a dozen Darvon until January 1991. “I still use DMSO on the joints if they become a bit sore or inflamed. I can
stretch my fingers out straight without all that previous pain. The joints are still a
little stiff but I am able to use them without pain, when I’m careful not to overwork
them. “I have been very happy with the results obtained with the DMSO treatments. I
thank God every day since finding DMSO, for the doctors who discovered this
treatment and for the doctors who are using it to try and help arthritics,” wrote
Mrs. Miller. THE INCIDENCE OF ARTHRITIS
It was reported in a spring 1991 issue of 
Medical World News
 that at least seven
DMSO clinics have opened in Mexico to treat arthritis patients, primarily
Americans. One entrepeneur in Mexico is said to have used DMSO in 1989 to
treat 30,000 Americans for their arthritic symptoms, and grossed over $20 million. Rudy Minoot, owner of a Tijuana, Mexico, DMSO clinic, told an audience at
the twenty-sixth annual meeting of the National Health Federation in Long Beach,
California, January 18, 1981, exactly how he uses American facilities to pack his
Mexican clinic with American 
patients. “We think of the clinic itself as being in
San Diego. The patients sleep, eat, and drink in San Diego. Then we take them
over to Tijuana by limousine in the afternoon for two hours for them to have the
DMSO IV drip. It’s on an outpatient basis,” said Minoot. “We have another clinic
400 miles down the west coast of Mexico.”
The Mexican connection furnishes intravenous pharmaceutical grade DMSO atan average cost of $800 for three days of treatment. People pay their own lodgings
and meals. This is big business for the clinic proprietors, because Americans seem
especially prone to this arthritis with its exceedingly painful manifestations. Rheumatoid arthritis afflicts 6.5 million United States citizens, of whom 75
percent are women. At least 66 percent of those afflicted are elderly. In Ohio alone, over 300,000 people suffer with this one condition, explained
Ohio Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar, a member of the House Select
Committee on Aging. “The annual cost to the State of Ohio from arthritic diseases
is approximately 450 million dollars, not including 175 million dollars lost in
wages. Furthermore,” Ms. Oakar said, “in Northeastern Ohio there is a ratio of one
physician certified as a rheumatologist to every 200,000 people.” With a total
state population of approximately 10,000,000, this gives Ohio a disproportionate
5,000 practicing arthritis specialists. They aren’t all just for the rheumatoid
arthritis patients either; there are plenty of other arthritic types to keep them busy. Additional forms of arthritis affecting our national population combine to make
up more than 41,600,000 victims in this country who have arthritic symptoms
severe enough to require medical attention. This comes to 1 in 6 people; for those
over age sixty-five the prevalence rate is 1 in 2. Almost 4,000,000 arthritic
Americans suffer degrees of full or partial disability. Arthritis diseases comprise
100 types, and osteoarthritis, which is wear and tear to the joints, makes up most
of them. Indeed, arthritis is everybody’s disease. If you live long enough, you will have
some form of the condition. If you are lucky, you may not suffer acute pain or
crippling as have the people I’ve described, but you will know you have it. Arthritis is one of those degenerative diseases commonly listed as “having no
known cause and no known cure.” It has long-term duration and progressively
disables and handicaps the patient. The present orthodox treatment for this
problem involves the use of anti-inflammatory drugs such as the cortical steroids,
gold injections, and analgesics for the relief of pain. Aspirin is taken extensively
by arthritics. In the history of Western man, irrational behavior in political and 
military
leaders has often been attributed to the pain and suffering caused by arthritis. A
form of arthritis drove a Roman general to suicide, forced Henry VI to change his
wedding date, and made Charlemagne and Alexander the Great difficult to live
with. It is also considered a cause of Goethe’s despair. Joanna Jackson of Savannah, Georgia, felt deep despair, for she had been
plagued by generalized destruction of her joints, which resulted in severedeformities and swelling. At twenty-nine, she had already gone through nearly
twenty years of periodic flare-ups, which had caused progressive and permanent
damage to tissues. For her rheumatoid arthritis, Miss Jackson had taken every conceivable anti-
arthritic treatment employed by modern medicine. For weeks, she swallowed
thirteen, seventeen, and even twenty aspirin tablets a day until she developed
peptic ulcers, slight deafness, and ringing in the ears. She took Indocin until certain
central nervous system side effects such as headache, impaired alertness, and poor
motor coordination ruled out any more of this drug. Injections with gold worked
only when her disease was in its earliest active stages. Steroids in general proved
toxic and began to change her features to a moonface. Even the drug Tolectin, a
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory therapy, brought on abdominal pain and discomfort,
even nausea and vomiting, and excited her peptic ulcers. Miss Jackson admitted she was considering ending her misery by suicide, until
she saw that Sunday evening 
60 Minutes
 documentary television program about
DMSO. Friends of Joanna Jackson had been cajoling her to cross the state line
from Georgia to Florida and take the DMSO treatment.
Dmso_Nature_s_Healer_-_Morton_Walker.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Their eyes
were examined with slit lamps, ophthalmoscope, and tenometry; they were
examined for lens refraction and visual fields, and underwent many blood, urine,
liver, and other analyses. There were pulmonary function studies, neurological and
other physical exams, and electrocardiogram studies. They were the most
exhaustive series of toxicological studies that had been carried on for some time. See 
Table 5. 3
 for studies showing no harm to human eyes from DMSO. The conclusion by Dr. Brobyn was: “A very extensive toxicology study of
DMSO was conducted at three to thirty times the usual treatment dose in humans
for three months. DMSO appears to be a very safe drug for human administration,
and in particular the lens changes that occur in certain mammalian species do not
occur in man under this very high prolonged treatment regimen. I am very glad tobe able to present these data at this time so that we can permanently dispel the
myth that DMSO is in any way a toxic or dangerous drug. ”
42
Table 5. 3
 Observations Showing No Harm to Human Eyes From DMSO
No. of Human Patients
Period of DMSO Treatment
Note
  Extensive
Up to 2 years
31
  160
–
32
  52
9 months
33
  9,521
–
34
  38
12 weeks
35
  108
Up to 15 months
36
  Further studies
37
,
38
,
39
,
40
,
41
 
 
As an aside, the investigator added that DMSO appears to be so effective that
it could justifiably be used for hangnail. When you consider the enormous amount of DMSO that the first group of
prisoners received over two weeks and the second group for three months, the lack
of toxicity is proved. If the typical subject weighed 90 kg (with 1 kg being equal to
2. 2 pounds) and he used up 1 g/kg, then at least 8. 1 kg (8,100 g) were taken during
ninety days of testing. Any other compound such as sugar, salt, coffee, or tea
taken in such huge quantities would kill the subject during this three-month period. Or, he would suffer from some severe metabolic problems. Not so with the
prisoners taking DMSO through the skin. DMSO has been instilled directly into eyes
43
 and has been used for
preservation of eyes during freezing. 44
,
45
Jack C. de la Torre, M. D. , of the Department of Neurosurgery, University of
Miami School of Medicine, and his colleagues gave 3 g of 40 percent DMSO per
kilogram of body weight by intravenous infusion into monkeys for nine days. They
were monitored before and after DMSO treatment for 120 days for any kind of
physiological changes from normal. He found no such changes whatsoever in the
urine and serum chemistry tests, cardiovascular and neurological examinations, or
any other of the exhaustive health studies in these animals. Following up at the end
of four months, the animals were sacrificed and 
pathologists performed post
mortem examinations on the monkeys’ organs. They found absolutely no pathology
existing in these primates from taking such high concentrations of DMSO. Alsorecorded during the time they were alive, as in humans, no pathological eye
symptoms showed up in the monkeys. All the ophthalmologic and pathological examinations were done on a double-
blind basis. All other tests and evaluations performed by the examiner were single-
blind. Routine tests such as weighing, cardiac examination, respiratory rate,
temperature, funduscopic, and other examinations were performed daily before and
after each drug administration, then periodically throughout the study. Dr. de la Torre concluded: “No changes in refraction or translucence of the
lens or any other abnormalities were noted in any animal before, during, or
eighteen weeks after any drug administration. ” This toxicological study, which was
published in the 
Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health
, volume seven,
March 1981, is available as a reprint from Dr. J. C. de la Torre, Department of
Neurosurgery (R-35), University of Miami School of Medicine, P. O. Box 076960,
Miami, Florida 33101. In other animal studies of the effect of large doses of DMSO on the eyes, the
variation depends on the particular species. Oral administration of 5 to 10 g of
DMSO per kilogram per day to dogs caused alteration of the eye lenses after
treatment periods of nine to sixty-three days. For a 30 lb dog, 5 g/kg/day would be
equivalent to approximately one-third cup per day. Skin application at 4. 4
g/kg/day to rabbits and 9. 0 g/kg/day to swine produced effects after ninety days of
treatment. Lines of discontinuity are produced and sometimes opacity of the lens. When DMSO administration is discontinued, some but not all of the changes
disappear. 46
,
47
It is true that reports of different investigators show a certain variation in
animal eye effects but this seems to be due to the differing means of their
evaluation. What is not variable is that lens changes in animals are specific to
certain species and that humans are not among these species. The dosage and number of days before any change is noticeable in animals’
eyes are indicated in 
Table 5. 4. One investigator did say that a change in the eyes
of monkeys occurred after he dosed the experimental animals with 9. 9 g/kg/day
DMSO for nine weeks and 3. 3 g/kg/day for fourteen weeks. 48
 However, the
scientist who reviewed this study later suggested the study was invalid. It appears
that the significance of the lens changes was difficult to assess since the monkeys
in this study had been previously utilized in other research involving a study with
the drug phenolphthalein. 61
Table 5. 4
 DMSO Effect on Eyes of AnimalsLevel
Animal
Time to Affect Eye
Note
5 g/kg/day oral
dog
9–20 days
49
10 g/kg/day oral
dog
28 days
50
5. 5 g/kg/day oral
dog
9 days
51
5 g/kg/day oral
dog
63 days
52
4. 4 g/kg/day skin
rabbit
90 days
53
9. 0 g/kg/day skin
swine
90 days
54
10 g/kg/day oral
rabbit
7–10 days
55
1 g/kg/day skin
rabbit
11 weeks (slight)
56
6 g/kg/day oral
monkey
100 days, 
no effect
57
11 g/kg/day skin
monkey
6 months, 
no effect
58
0. 9, 2. 7, 8 g/kg/day skin or oral
monkey
3 months, 
no effect
59
1, 3, 11 g/kg/day, skin
monkey
185–200 days, 
no effect
60
In summary, human and animal studies to determine the toxicity of DMSO
showed no adverse changes in the chemical and physiological parameters carefully
investigated by clinical and laboratory methods. No gross pathology or eye
changes were found in the humans and no gross or microscopic pathology was
found in any monkey. There are a few unpleasant side effects from the use of DMSO, but none are
dangerous. The obnoxious side effects seem to be far outweighed by the
marvelous benefits, as shown by the case history of Patricia McClenathan who
experienced nearly every known side effect and still uses DMSO. THE UNPLEASANT SIDE EFFECTS
Patricia McClenathan of Cheektowaga, New York, a homemaker then thirty-nine
years old, had been receiving treatment from rheumatologists for spondylitis for
more than six years. Spondylitis is an inflammation, from injury or disease, such as
arthritis or tuberculosis of one 
or more of the vertebrae of the spine. For Mrs. McClenathan, it was a chronic, crippling condition leading to some degree of
stiffening of the spinal joints and slight deformation. Since 1964, she had suffered
with deep aching pain and loss of mobility. She went through the full gamut of antiarthritis drugs, which caused her
exceedingly uncomfortable gastrointestinal problems. She also took muscle
relaxants, painkillers, and nerve blocks into the spinal area by ethyl chloride sprayand injection. The nerve blocks helped half the time, and the painkillers knocked
her out all the time so that she coped with pain but couldn’t perform her household
chores. Ruptured disc problems later arose as well, which gave her additional back
pain and kept her confined to bed for long periods. In April 1980, she was referred
to a neurosurgeon who hospitalized her for a laminectomy operation to remove the
involved vertebra. She underwent the computerized axial tomogram (CAT scan)
and the myelogram diagnostic procedures. But the myelogram didn’t coincide with
what the surgeon expected, and he couldn’t find the exact spot where he thought
there was a ruptured disc blockage in the spinal cord. Therefore, the neurosurgeon
did not perform the operation, and Mrs. McClenathan was sent home still suffering
in agony. Extended bed rest and painkilling drugs were the only regimen available
for the balance of her life. The patient fell into the depths of depression. Her hopes were completely
dashed. She thought that the laminectomy was going to solve all her pain problems,
but now she was confined to bed, felt extreme discomfort constantly, couldn’t
perform as a wife and mother, and recognized that the last door of relief was
finally closed. She was absolutely immobilized with depression. When her sister-in-law, who lived in Port Charlotte, Florida, contacted Pat
McClenathan in June 1980 to explain that DMSO had become legal for use in
Florida, the patient jumped at the chance—any chance—to find some kind of relief
from her back pain. She decided that there was nothing to lose by giving DMSO a
try. She was afraid to hold out hope for herself, but Mrs. McClenathan is a fighter
and refused to give in to lifelong pain. She flew to Florida from upstate New York
and was driven each day from Port Charlotte to Sarasota for DMSO treatment. The treatment that started on a Monday provided no immediate relief. Tuesday, she even felt increased pain, which is a common but unexplained side
effect. She became depressed all over again and believed she was wasting her
time, money, and the tremendous effort that went into her daily automobile
commutation. Her pain relief first came on the third day of treatment. “Wednesday night I felt
a lifting of pain,” Mrs. McClenathan said. “I was lying on a recliner when an
easing of the sensation came over me. That night I tested my relief by standing up
and sitting down repeatedly, because I could do it for the first time in six years
without pushing off using my hands. The next day it was even better. I was elated. I was free of the pain I had lived with for years. The fifth day, the last of my
treatment, there was just no pain at all from any movement. ” Even sitting duringthe automobile ride didn’t trouble her as it had at the beginning. Sitting in a car
while somebody else drove had always been most difficult for her, but no more. Undergoing the DMSO intravenous injection procedure didn’t feel
uncomfortable unless the solution dripped into her vein a little too quickly, Mrs. McClenathan explained. Then she would ask the nurse to slow the rate of drip, or
she would merely reach up and reduce the speed of flow herself. The drip could
go into the arm vein faster than into a vein on the top of the hand. Most of the time
she took it in the hand alongside the thumb. Occasionally, the patient asked for a
board on which to rest her hand when the IV was given there. Soreness remained in
her arm for about a month after the IV treatment had concluded. The intravenous
sensation was one of tingling and burning that subsided as soon as the flow was
lessened. She felt nauseated but she learned that eating a good breakfast before
going for the IV prevented the nausea. Each treatment lasted between three and
four hours during the five days. The drip solution contained in the pint IV bottle
consisted of 50 percent DMSO in 500 cc of dextrose, a sugar water. Admittedly overweight, Mrs. McClenathan said, “I had a total loss of appetite
while I took the treatment. I had to force myself to eat a supper. The distinctive
sweet taste of DMSO came on my tongue almost simultaneously with the nurse
opening the IV. It was really fast—a sensation more than a taste, like tiny little
burps and a dryness to my mouth. Even now, just putting DMSO on my skin
causes me difficulty with quenching my thirst. Also, it brings on the urge to
urinate. “I was very self-conscious about the odor that I carried,” continued the patient. “The odor emanated from my skin pores over my whole body. I think I could
almost see the substance in my bath water. The DMSO seemed to have a
yellowish tint to it. I don’t know if I’m exaggerating about this, because my
brother-in-law made me paranoid about my odor. I’m uncertain as to the validity of
my feelings on the smell, but if I ever have to return to Florida for treatment I
won’t stay 
at his house. In five days he used up almost four cans of Lysol
deodorant spray. If I walked through a room it was sprayed. Remembering it now, I
don’t think it was all that bad, but at the time I was completely obsessed with my
body and breath odor and consequently did not leave the Port Charlotte house. Flying home, I was really worried about how I smelled. ”
Mrs. McClenathan described the DMSO taste as not salty or garlicky as some
do. She said it’s a mild indigestion or gastric repeating taste that you can compare
to clams, oysters, and other raw seafood tastes. As a general reaction since having the intravenous infusions, she nowexperiences a mild diarrhea anytime she uses DMSO either on the skin or by
mouth. “When I return to applying DMSO at home, the diarrhea gets bad. My
bowels and stomach kick up in protest worse than they did when I was on the
antiarthritic drugs. This causes me great discomfort such as gas, heartburn, and
stomach cramps. This is just from putting it on the skin,” she said. But, she uses
the veterinary grade in a 99 percent strength that she brings down to a 70 percent
concentration by adding three parts water to seven parts solvent. This DMSO
veterinarian grade full strength produces no hives on the skin for her as it has for
others, though Mrs. McClenathan does encounter redness, an irritation, and an
occasional rash. Applying veterinarian grade DMSO to her back causes more
burning, a warmer sensation, but less odor in the bottle. When mixed with water,
the heat reaction between the two substances seems to bring out the odor. The DMSO odor has definitely interfered with Pat McClenathan’s sexual
relationship with her husband, she said in our interview. And he is the person who
assists his wife with applying the solvent. He is a patient and tolerant man, she
said, but he found it exceedingly difficult to remain close to her body no matter
how much they desired each other. “I felt rejected,” she confessed, until they
discovered how to overcome the problem of body odor. Leaving off DMSO usage
for a few days allows the McClenathans to express their married love sexually. It’s
a bit of knowledge they are willing to share with other couples in the same
predicament. DMSO emanates from the skin pores for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours,
although it isn’t clear from the body completely for about seven days. When Pat
McClenathan is feeling especially well and doesn’t have her occasional bouts of
discomfort she goes off the skin application. “I use the topical for a three- or four-
day period and can then discontinue applications for approximately two weeks. During the fall of 1980, I 
functioned with relative ease through the constant air
pressure changes. Previously, this was the worst time of year for me,” she said. Patricia McClenathan has consented to reveal this full case history including
its more intimate details to assist other people who suffer with pain and wonder
about the DMSO side effects. She wrote: “Since taking DMSO, I am now a functioning person where
previously I had not been, spending much of the time in bed accomplishing
nothing. I can do most normal things now by relying on DMSO. At this time, I take
no painkillers or muscle relaxants [both used quite heavily before] and find for
this reason I can cope with everything very well. I am finally physically, mentally,
and emotionally much better and attribute this to DMSO. I feel that the problemsDMSO has caused are by far outweighed by the new life it has given me—a life
other than just surviving in constant pain. Again, I thank you. ”
OVERCOMING THE MALODOROUS DMSO SIDE EFFECT
Mrs. McClenathan has experienced practically all of the unpleasant side effects of
using DMSO routinely. The pharmaceutical and the veterinarian grades have their
individual ways of bringing about the body’s counteraction, and each person
responds in his or her own unique manner. “In all the time I have incorporated DMSO as part of my treatment program, I
have seen no serious side effects except for possible redness, burning, and itching
of the skin with the topical application,” said Robert L. Harmon, M.
The text does not mention any specific studies on the effects of DMSO on the eyes.
What kind of studies were conducted on the effects of DMSO on the eyes?
The text does not mention a study conducted by Dr. Brobyn. However, the text does mention a study conducted by Dr. de la Torre, which showed that DMSO did not cause any adverse effects on the eyes.
What was the conclusion of the study conducted by Dr. Brobyn on the toxicity of DMSO?
The purpose of the questionnaire was to learn the true characteristics of DMSO for sports injuries.
What was the purpose of the questionnaire sent to professional sports team physicians?
The text does not mention the outcome of Bill Denehy's treatment, but it does mention that he was able to return to playing football after using DMSO.
What was the outcome of the treatment given to the patient, Bill Denehy, who had a severe ankle sprain?
The committee concluded that while there were some unpleasant side effects, they were not serious and that the benefits of DMSO outweighed the risks, and they suggested that further studies be conducted to determine the safety and efficacy of the drug.
What was the conclusion of the ad hoc committee on the toxicity of DMSO?