THE ORIGIN OF OUR STORY
STARTS WITH A VIRUS THAT HAS SPREAD
TERROR FOR ALMOST HALF A CENTURY ...
THE
HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS ( HIV )
0.016%
There was one disease that always frightened me the most. I feared it the most because it is a disease that changes your entire life from one day to the next. A deadly virus that has claimed the lives of millions of Men, women, and children. 76,000 Children died from HIV just in 2023. There are currently around 40 million people living with HIV around the world, and that's just an estimation. HIV has been researched since 1981, 800,000+ Researchers and 13,000 Clinical Studies without yielding a functional or sterilizing cure.
But there's more; this is not just an illness and burden on the body and mind. HIV is Stigma, which makes it an incredibly lonely journey for many. Because, unlike most other diseases, HIV comes with a cast of cruel judgments: "She must have many partners", "Just use protection!" , "He's probably Gay". For many, it means another barrier in their career, for others, an end to their love life. Countless lost their job, faced rejection before they've even had the chance. Suddenly, people you thought close become distant, others treat you like a walking disease and less like a human. It's an illness that many think demands an explanation, as if you are automatically 'guilty'. And in some families or circles, you can't even mention it.
As a former Red Cross Health and Safety Instructor, I always reminded people of the dangers of STDs and particularly of HIV. Whether it is not wearing protection while attending an emergency or sex, "it takes only one time. Be smart, be safe." and if you have a party lifestyle, get on PREP. Unfortunately for some, none of this is enough; the 'one in a million' is still someone in a million cases. On February 2021, I contracted HIV through the most unlikely way. It wasn't unprotected sex; it wasn't a needle. It was that one in a million.
It all began on the 26th of February, 2021. I woke up feeling as if I caught a cold. The following week I had the oddest symptomps: I would wake up with a slight fever every night then weak up without one. A week in things started to get worse, much worse and quick. I was withering, dying no less.: blood on the stool, infections in the mouth, mouth ulcers and a severe lack of appetite. I started to loose weight quickly and the bathroom situation got worse. I was referred to a Proctologist which immediately diagnosed me with a very severe infection in the lower intestine that might need hospitlization. Indeed, 2 days later I was in the Hospital. I was terrified.
(1st Image / Left ) HIV's Results. 'Reactivo' meaning 'Positive' and 'No Reactivo' meaning 'Negative'. In this case, the results showed a positive for the famous p24 antigen and corresponding antibodies. ( 2nd Image / Right ) PCR confirmation with 1,927,077 RNA Copies or Viral Particles per ml of blood.
Almost three weeks since I began feeling ill, a new Proctologist, this time in Merida, Yucatan, told me, "I want to test you for STDs and HIV." I gave him an upset look and said, "STDs? HIV? What for? I never had unprotected sex, I don't inject drugs ... I haven't done anything that puts me in risk". He gave me a requisition with the other blood work. I wasn't going to do the HIV test, there was no point I thought, I have done it before, but out of routine checks. When I got to the Lab I asked how much the general blood work would cost and then added, "By the way, how much for an HIV test?" The clerk looked at me and said, "Well, it's your lucky day, we have them 50% off." I said, "Okay ... I guess we can add it".
Two days later, I received an email labeled 'Test Results'. I opened the email, downloaded the PDF, opened the PDF. I browsed my General blood work, so many items were off the regular parameters, specifically my white blood cell count, which was very low. But then I kept reading, and at the bottom there it was ( see 1st Image above ). I was on the floor, paralyzed, and then I started crying uncontrollably. I never cried so much and for so long. I took an Uber straight to the ER, I didn't know what to do. All I did when I got there was cry, sob and then cried "I .. I .. I have .. HIV ... How? Why? ... No, no, this can't be true." By then, I had talked to my nephew, who immediately said: "You're coming to Mexico City right now, I will send someone to pick you up, and I'm picking you up at the Airport".
General Entrance to the Hospital Angeles Interlomas in Mexico City, Mexico.
The next day I went to the ER of Hospital Angeles Interlomas, a renowned private hospital in Mexico City. The ER physician, an example of a physician, said right away, "You're going to get a confirmation test, but seeing you, I am not waiting for you to take it, I'm starting you on Antiretroviral Therapy right away." I still held the hope that this was a false negative test. But then the next day, Saturday early morning 20th of March, I took the first pill. An hour after I was already feeling much better. I didn't need to wait for the confirmation; it was clear, I was HIV Positive.
Sorrow and darkness enveloped my waking hours. For days, I cried without any comfort from the thought that this horrible illness would accompany me until my last day. The physician who diagnosed me, in an attempt ot cheer me up, said, "It was 0.016% chance, like getting hit by a train ... but at least you didn't get hit by a train, and you are going to be fine". I knew very well that living with HIV, even on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), was going to be tough. The best scenario would be a life span of years, if not decades shorter, likely developing common comorbidities from weight gain to cancer, by-product of the daily intake and constant circulation of HAART metabolites.
HAART quickly shifted from a life-saving medication to a daily torture. The side effects from HAART were unbearable. Severe insomnia, rashes, dizziness, nausea, severe constipation, and constant brain fog made life a daily struggle. "It's like death wrapped up in a pill, .. my body can't handle it" I pleaded with my treating physician. Multiple drug combinations were tried, and different physicians all with the same message, "this is your life now, better get used to it".
When I would complain about how the severe side effects were wrecking his life, at worst, they were completely ignored, at best, they came with suggestions for new medications to add, "If you can't concentrate well, I can prescribe you Ritalin". I quickly realized that none of the physicians could do much for me. I had to be my own saviour; there was no one coming to help me. Something that at this point in life I had unfortunately learned well, about the cruelty of some people, especially the ones you'd think would be there.
Hope
Long before HIV hit me, I knew the power of nature in healing. I understood and experienced many times that with the right knowledge and application of different natural compounds, nutrients, lifestyle changes, and the correct delivery methods could treat many ailments, from influenza to even hair loss. Without intention, a methodology was being born, the Medicina Sooke Method.
One by one, I attempted to tackle HAART's side effects. Through research, trial and error, lab work, and testing. Within a few months, life finally started resembling a normal life. This was no perfect solution, and despite the improvements, HAART was a heavyweight that proved very difficult to manage; one slip, one supplement not taken at the right time, would trigger a comeback of side effects, not to mention the risks of these interacting or affecting the medications. Not something that should ever be attempted or encouraged. It is extremely dangerous even when you have the proper formation and studies.
"Tackling the side effects felt like trying to hold water in your hands, if I pressed on one side to avoid the water from escaping, it would find a new way to get out ... when I would solve one side effect, a new one would creep its head up".
My dining table during 2021-22 as I attempted to find the right combinations to relieve the crippling side effects of HAART and began researching HIV further.
A Life's mission
One morning, after a tough sleepless night triggered by HAART, I decided no more; this was not going to be my new forever. And with that in mind, I embarked on a mission: I will get cured, whether it is the last thing I do.
Armed with a background in medicine and life sciences, I began dedicating every spare moment of mental clarity to research. I must have completed over 1000 hours of research, sometimes 50 hours a week. For months, my days mostly consisted of investigation and research. I read dozens of publications, clinical trials, cross-referenced data, turned every stone I stumbled upon from in-vitro and ex-vivo results of latent reservoir awakening to the mechanics of the virion fusion to CD4-exhibiting cells and the role of co-receptors and glycoproteins in this process. This was before AI. The year was 2021, the place: Mexico City.
The initial first weeks were spent solely on reading, reading, and more reading. Then came formulations based on my own physiology ( weight, blood pressure, etc. ). Formulations later became potential scenarios and projections. The whole study was divided into 4 different 'general assays', which later became the foundation for a treatment. The treatment had a small chance of working on its own, so I gave it a try and went ahead with the plan. Any shot not taken is a shot lost, they say.
For months, I ordered different compounds, natural and pharmaceutical, under the pretense that I was doing a Thesis for biology and chemistry at a foreign university. I began experimenting, testing, and recording results. Further research and reading changed and tweaked the thesis as new insights and findings became available to me. I knew what and how the needle needed to move in parameters such as different Lymphocyte counts, ratios of lymphocytes, reactions between innate and adaptive immune responses, cytokines, hepatic enzymes, microbiome, stool testing results, and much more. This kept going in an intense format for months. By the end of this period, I had spent slightly more than $60,000 USD out of pocket. I was feeling the financial pinch. The debt started piling up. But I didn't care anymore. I knew the alternative was not something I could live with, even with all the improvements to my quality of life that I had made. Every time I would take that pill, I had to brace myself for the 'pain', which felt like a roulette of side effects every day.
Some examples. The only two things that were used from these images are 1) a-pinene, an amazing terpene isomer found in pine sap, rosemary oil, and others. 2) The physiologyweb calculators, whoever did this, god bless you it was a crucial tool to get things right. Soon I hope to give credit to the key tools and research I used.
"It's like a Cancer"
During these tests, I came off the drugs entirely a few times. The first two, for example, needed to be done for me to verify the virulence of my specific sub-strain of HIV ( HIV has a multitude of 'sub-strains' ) and develop an idea and graph of what to expect in terms of the rate of viral load increase per day without HAART or the Treatment. The last two, for example, came to test the effectiveness of my theses. Everything was carefully timed. The biggest danger was for HIV to gain resistance to HAART, and that is something to be avoided at all costs, because then the treatment becomes even more burdensome.
One of my conclusions was that HIV, in practical terms, acted more like a Cancer than a Virus, and therefore needed to be treated like one. Here was a virus that could avoid immune detection and completely outmaneuver the immune system with total impunity. This wasn't any virus; this was HIV, and there was a very good reason why it escaped cure for over 4 decades of global research, mostly because it was tackled from the wrong approach. This needed a new and fresh perspective. These perspectives often come from the least expected people, often because they don't adhere to conventional wisdom or professional formation. This required thinking 'outside the box' and, for better or worse, unconventional was my specialty.
By late 2021, I had concluded what needed to be done and how it needed to be done. There were a few 'issues' though, I wasn't a physician or a researcher, I didn't have a lab, nor a team, nor an institution to come to. In the eyes of my physicians, I was just another patient. There is no brainstorming, there is no discussion. You are the patient, they are the Doctor, end of story.
But again, you lose all the shots you don't take. So I went ahead and approached two oncologists in the Mexico City area. The first one flat-out rejected even meeting me. The second one showed much more interest and sat down with. After I explained everything, he said: "Even if I believe you, Gabriel, and I believe you, I can't. I will get my licence suspended, I will lose my career". My heart sank into a very dark place, I lost hope again, I was depressed. I was out $60,000 USD, had lost clients and income for almost a year just to get to this death end. I needed a type of cancer drug and I could only get it with a prescrption, that I clearly wasn't going to get.
Ping!
So what to do? Who to approach? I tried a few more times "Maybe I'll find some GP or someone". I didn't. I had realized that the only way to move forward was to find a clinical trial that would have a similar profile for what I needed to get cured.
I did, afterall, been a Web Developer and SEO Specialist for a decade and understood algorithms very well, as well as how to use the web. I then created an 'alert' that would notify me the moment anything with the words 'Cancer' and 'HIV' would show up. I waited, then forgot about it. I was tired, I felt helpless again.
On a bright, cold afternoon in March of 2022, sitting at a co-working space in Gatineau, Quebec, I saw the notification - a clinical trial in the USA had opened its intake for a Cancer Treatment that was going to be adapted for HIV. I can't remember ever being so happy. A jolt of joy and excitement hit me like a lightning bolt. The treatment fit in some extent my conclusions and held much promise in my eyes. I was thrilled when I read about the cutting-edge technology of the treatment, and so I signed up right away. I was the first or among the first to sign up.
However, soon after reading all the literature sent to me by the Clinical Trial Team, I realized the treatment had flaws. For example, it did not consider the viral kinetics of HIV infection or that the dosage difference for the infusion in the different cohorts was largely irrelevant, among other issues. In my view, the treatment had small chances to work on its own, a sentiment echoed right from the beginning by the team and repeated throughout our exchanges and during intake. In fact, their 12 month post treatment follow up questionaire didn't even have the option of success ( see image ).
12 month follow up questionaire did not even have as a possibility the success of the treatment.
The Ultimate Risk
I knew what I had to do, I had one chance, and I wasn't going to back away. Going back to a living nightmare was not a choice. It was pain that I could not stand to relive again. So I began adapting the whole treatment I developed to this Cancer Therapy. One by one I tackled the different deficiencies that I found. One example was adjusting the dose of the chemotherapy agent that was used. I had concluded that the dosage and, specifically, a residual component of it needed to be adjusted. So I looked into Piperine, a natural alkaloid I researched before, found mainly in black pepper, that slows down a metabolic pathway the chemotherapy agent used - CYP3A4 and CYP2B6. In other words, taking Piperine prior to being dosed with chemotherapy would cause the desired effect of a prolonged dosage and an increase in a specific metabolite.
On June 15, 2024, after two years of waiting, my turn came. The participants before me had all relapsed and were back on HAART. The chief oncologist in charge of the protocol, with a tired and serious face, told me, in the face of my excitement, to keep "reality in check". But of course, he didn't know what I was doing. I had already started covertly applying changes and modified the whole protocol. I felt there was no turning back, and went ahead. While others in my cohort and the following cohort relapsed or had some level of viral suppression to the surprise of the physicians, I didn't relapse and had consistent non-detectable results. A month passed, then 3 months, then 6, and then a year, soon two years ...
TO CONTINUE SOON
My hotel room at the Health Campus, while on treatment, became a little lab with the entire adjuvant therapy mapped out in paper, pill dispensers, graphics, and printed blood test results measuring key markers.
