Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA)

Holistic Approach to Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA)

Anemia is a very dangerous condition in both people and pets, where the body does not have an adequate amount of healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells carry the supply of oxygen to all the body's organs and tissues. More importantly, the brain is dependent on oxygen to function. If the oxygen level is too critically low, seizures and brain damage could occur and the brain will shut down organ functions.

Please see a qualified medical or veterinary professional first, as acute anemia is a very critical, life-threatening condition. Below is our holistic experience helping anemic pets and people. We have more pet testimonials because we focus on holistic pet solutions. People are more reluctant to share their personal health history but readily will share their pet's. The "wholistic" principles below apply equally to both people and pets.

If you have come to this page because you or your pet has anemia and/or an autoimmune condition, our hearts go out to you. We are not doctors or vets but have had many clients with both conditions ask us for suggestions because of our holistic success. Some pets have Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) or Auto-Immune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA), such dreadful conditions more devastating than cancer. No pet guardian should have to experience these conditions alone. The Morris Animal Foundation estimates:

50% of dogs die within two weeks of diagnosis
The mortality rate is up to 80%

Please do not wait any longer to take action. The #1 reason we make refunds is the product did not get there in time to help. A pet's condition can change in as little as 4 hours (even after a blood transfusion). The first IMHA/AIHA client we helped was in 2002. Since then we have handled 1300+ IMHA clients (some had red blood cell counts as low as 6%). Since we are not medically trained, we will only share our holistic research, personal observations and choices with you and let you decide what is best for your beloved companion. In sharing our experiences below, we hope to ease your IMHA/AIHA journey for you, your dog or cat. Our "wholistic" suggestions apply to both people and pets.

IMHA Western Veterinary Perspective

Western veterinary medicine does not hold much hope for an animal whose blood count (HCT or PCV) is below 10%. We have many clients whose dog's lowest PCV count was below 10% (3-8% range) and they are still alive today. Conventional veterinary medicines prescribed are corticosteroids (Prednisone or Prednisolone), cyclosporine (Neoral), Azathioprine, Mycophenolate mofetil, Oxyglobin and Antepsin. While these are necessary to treat the symptoms, these drugs do nothing to stimulate red blood cell production at the bone marrow level. Prednisone (also Prednisolone) is the most commonly prescribed drug and while it does suppress the body's immune system from attacking itself, it does nothing to regenerate the red blood cells that are being destroyed at an accelerated rate, resulting in anemia. When red blood cells are not manufactured at the bone marrow level, frequent blood transfusions are needed and this condition is often fatal (very high fatality rate nearly 50-80%). Some vets are seeing the onset of this auto-immune disease shortly after vaccinations. In Dr. Jean Hofve's article on Vaccination she states:

"Unfortunately, calf proteins are so similar to dog proteins that the antibodies react to the dog"s own tissue as well"”this is an “auto"-immune reaction (“auto" means “self"). Every vaccinated puppy developed multiple autoantibodies, and every additional booster produced even more autoantibodies. Because the puppies in the Purdue study were euthanized at 22 weeks of age, it is unknown if these autoantibodies would lead to disease, but follow-up studies with client-owned dogs are ongoing.

Diseases associated with the tissues to which autoantibodies are made include thyroiditis (which can leadsto hypothyroidism in dogs), lupus, cardiomyopathy, and autoimmune hemolytic anemia."

Other IMHA/AIHA conditions have begun during pregnancy, just after delivery, after the first "heat," after giving heartworm medication and/or flea & tick treatment (clients have used the following brands, BioSpot™, Bravecto®, Comfortis™[spinosad], FRONTLINE®, HeartGard®, Sentinel®, Trifexis®, and Trifexis). The EPA held a Webcast and issued a summary report (03/17/2010) pursuing a series of actions to increase the safety of spot-on pesticide products for flea and tick control for cats and dogs due to adverse effects. If you still think flea & tick treatment is absolutely safe for all pets, do your own Internet research on "IMHA," "AIHA," heartworm medication and flea & tick treatment.

Based on pet parents who respond to our questions, 70-80% of our IMHA/AIHA clients' pets have had either a recent vaccination, heartworm medication or flea & tick treatment prior to becoming anemic. Based on our holistic (non-medical) perspective, we suspect any hormonal changes or anything that compromises/shocks/traumatizes the immune system could trigger these anemic auto-immune conditions. We have holistically found those pets that have had more than one of the above, have worse symptoms and take longer to recover. While not scientific proof, these observations should make a pet parent more cautious.

What Action Can I Take Now?

Some pet parents are so desparate (after several failed transfusions), they have taken it upon themselves to take additional action even before ordering any of our products. Here are some action steps you can take today, in addition to what your vet has already done.

Educate yourself by doing research on the Internet, using keywords such as, IMHA, AIHA, Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia, Auto-Immune Hemolytic Anemia, vaccinations, heartworm and "flea & tick" treatment and any combination of the above words.
Go to our other web and blog pages where we have published our holistic experience and wisdom:
- IMHA/AIHA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
If your pet is not eating, nothing seems to be working, another blood transfusion may be imminent and/or death is a distinct possibility, some of our clients have taken it upon themselves to try a homemade mixture of algae + chlorophyll one can buy locally. Go to any health food, vitamin, drug and even grocery store that sells supplements (such as Whole Foods, GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, Walgreens, Target, etc.) and buy the best algae/Spirulina product you can, that has two or more species of algae in it. Alternatively, buy 1-3 single bottles with a single alga in them. Look for algae species such as Spirulina Pacifica, Spirulina Platensis, Dunaliella, Astaxanthin, blue-green algae, Hawaiian algae, chlorella, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA), etc. Also, buy some liquid chlorophyll in either a dropper bottle or gel capsules. Mix equal parts of all the algae species you purchased into approximately Â¼-Â½ teaspoon of total algae and one dropper full (about 20-25 drops) of the liquid chlorophyll (or poke a hole in the gel capsule to squeeze the chlorophyll out). Use enough water to either make a paste applied directly into your pet's mouth using your finger or enough water to squirt with an eye dropper or syringe. If squirting, be careful not to squirt the water too far back into the throat or too forcefully, as to cause gagging or getting liquid into the lungs. Our rule of thumb is, give as much as the body can tolerate without exacerbating the current symptoms or causing detoxing symptoms to appear. One can do this every four hours or so, depending on the severity of the symptoms and tolerance of the pet's body. Since this is not a drug and technically not an ioslated supplement, the exact amounts is not important. The frequency all depends on your pet's condition and tolerance of your pet's body (small bodies have a lower tolerance).
If you want to take further holistic action, discover the successful results our clients have gotten from giving the advanced bio-algae concentrates formula for pets by reviewing the testimonials below and on our Facebook page, Freedom From Illness.

What Are Bio-Algae Concentrates (BAC)?

Since 2002, we have been using bio-algae concentrates (microalgae of Spirulina pacifica, Spirulina platensis, Dunaliella salina and astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis) with many dogs and cats that have recovered from AIHA, IMHA and other auto-immune diseases. Out of the 1350+ IMHA clients we have dealt with, many are still alive. We suspect a number of the remaining cases are still alive but unfortunately, most people treat whole food products just like supplements, in that they only give them as long as their pet has symptoms. When the pet totally recovers, they discontinue the product and never get back with us. To respect the privacy of the guardians and sensitivity of the subject, we have not followed up.

Bio-algae concentrates are a nutritional food product and we advertise nothing more. However, as you can see by customers' testimonials, once their animal's natural ability to heal has been awakened by this superfood, the healing power of the animal's body is unlimited. We say unlimited because we have seen a mast cell cancer tumor (fastest spreading type of cancer tumor) disappear in ten weeks when chemotherapy and radiation treatments were declined. We have seen numerous IMHA and AIHA dogs make a full recovery, after the vets had given up on the dogs (blood cell count down to 6). One pet parent, Jeanna, literally saw improvement within 24-48 hours after giving bio-algae concentrates. We will leave it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions regarding this super nutritional product and IMHA or AIHA.

How did bio-algae concentrates do this? Bio-algae concentrates simply supplied the super nutrients to the body at the cellular level (microalgae are one cell organisms) rather than trying to 'fix' the problem with drugs or a supplement that needs to be digested and broken down in the digestive tract. Since we are not medically trained, our guess (based on 20+ years of bio-algae concentrates animal research) is that bio-algae concentrates has the ability to stimulate the body's own natural ability to heal. When the body is holistically balanced and all the glands and organs are functioning at close to 100%, then the body can resume red blood cell production at the bone marrow level all by itself. When the master gland (pituitary), pineal and hypothalamus in the brain are synergistically working together, the bone marrow is naturally producing healthy red blood cells. We see very quick results after starting bio-algae concentrates. Bio-algae concentrates contains super nutrients (specifically abundant antioxidants in the form of mixed carotenoids from its four microalgae) that can awaken the master gland in the brain, which controls all the other glands and organs of the body and, of course, red blood cell production. Since no one knows exactly why IMHA and AIHA occur, boosting and balancing the whole body is the most holistic approach to the regeneration of red blood cells, which after all, is controlled by the brain. Based on our years of nutritional experience with the products, we can share a few lessons that we have learned to help you avoid any unpleasant circumstances.

Cali's Testimonial

Cali was due to have her puppies on February 10th of 2003 and about 1 Cali recoveredweek before she was due she fell over and got very weak. She was like this for about 3 days. I fed her chicken broth with an eye dropper. We took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with anemia. Her blood count was only 13 (40-45 is normal) and she lost her puppies. They gave her a blood transfusion and kept her overnight. She came home and we took her back a week later for her hysterectomy as the vet said she had a really bad infection. She had her operation and came home again. About 10 days later she fell over again and we took her back to the vet. At that time her blood count was at 8 and we were told to take her to Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital for another transfusion because they can only do one transfusion without blood typing. We rushed her over the mountain (from Snowmass), got her blood typed, started the transfusion and were told we could have killed her by taking her over the pass (the high elevation depletes more oxygen). While she was there they did a bone marrow biopsy and told us she had no red blood cells being made. After 4 days, and $7500 later, the vet told us she had Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA)"”Red Blood Cell Aplasia, her blood count was up to 14 but she could not go home and would probably die there. At that point they had her on 7 different immune suppressants including Prednisone (a steroid). I took Cali and all her drugs home anyway. We took her to the vet everyday for blood tests for about 2 months and she just wasn't getting any better. She was bloating up and had no strength or energy. She couldn't even go down the stairs by herself. I started to research the drugs and slowly pulled her off all but Prednisone. She started to act a little better but we still couldn't get her blood count above 17. Her liver was enlarged and she was full of fluid.

Cali playingFortunately, I met Alecia who introduced me to bio-algae concentrates along with a natural diet of chicken or beef, rice and carrots mixed with seaweed, garlic, acidophilus, and flax seed oil. We were still giving her Prednisone for about 5 months and gradually weaned her off of it. She has been off of Prednisone for about 9 months now and only eats her chicken or beef, rice and a little garlic and is down to one capsule of bio-algae concentrates in the morning and one at night (down from eight capsules per day at her peak). She has not been to the vet for about 9 months because I felt so sorry for her getting poked all the time that I just lift her lips up now and see if they are pink instead. From what I can see, she is fully recovered. She is on a weight reduction program now to lose the weight caused by the steroids. She now runs up the mountain (10-11,000 ft. elevation) without stopping. Her blood count has doubled to 35. This disease is 100% fatal according to CSU (Colorado State University) studies. They are the leaders in the research of this disease. I am so thankful I was introduced to your revolutionary holistic product, bio-algae concentrates, and for saving Cali"s life.

"”Deb

Update 12/2008:

Cali is still doing great, she is full of energy, running up and down the mountains, eating well and her gums are pinker than ever. She still has not been to the vet; it"s been 5 years now since her IMHA.

I tell everybody that I talk to about her miraculous recovery and about the wonderful benefits of the “green pills". We now have Mo, her son from her first litter; he is going to be 8 in Feb, living with us. More on Mo in his testimonial. When I feed Cali and Mo in the morning and the evening, they both sit there and wait while I prepare their bowls. The last thing I do is add the bio-algae concentrates, I open the capsule, let them sniff it and tell them, “Super dog pills." I still believe that the super dog pills saved and continue to save Cali. Thank you again for always being there for me Russell.