I updated my post on 20 Sep 2025 - the fat loss that I was experiencing was not due to RIC, at least not solely (though my wife claims to have lost three pounds since she's been doing it). I'm trying to figure out which of a small number of supplements might have been what triggered the event for me (16 straight days of fat loss). But it might have been a combination of things working synergistically.
My wife and I continue to do RIC every evening. The clearest effect that I've noticed is increased energy. I can work hard for longer periods without exhaustion or a need for more rest. I had thought that increased fatigue was just a side effect of getting older, but it seems it is possible to train your body so that doesn't happen...
I've had other beneficial effects, but they are harder to quantify. Primarily, I seem to experience less Ill effects from sitting too long reading or writing. For me, there is a greatly reduced need to do a series of shoulder exercises to counteract the effects of prolonged sitting. Which sort of makes sense, since RIC is considered "exercise in a device."
I swim the fastest time I've ever swam after starting remote, ischemic conditioning and doing it for about one month. Shaved nearly 30 seconds off of my 1 mile swim.
No. Long-term chronic daily use would Achieve the greatest benefit. That's like saying can I become a professional marathon runner in one month. It is the cumulative effect of any activity like this that pays off the lifetime dividends.
Again, my situation is confounded by the supplements that I was taking. After I stopped them there was a quick rebound where I regained most of the weight. I’m still down a couple of pounds from where I started and things are back to a typical ebb and flow.
I think you would find that RIC will give you more energy, so there’s the potential that you would be more active and find it easier to burn more fat.
But even if you don’t lose weight, there are very definite health benefits to RIC.
If I were you, I wouldn’t get obsessed with one health metric (weight). That’s a number that can stay the same, yet you lose water and muscle while gaining fat (unhealthy). Or you lose weight, but it ends up being from loss of muscle, not fat (also unhealthy).
Focus on health first. When you are healthy, your hormones are in balance. When they are in balance, your body is far less inclined to hold on to excess fat.
You might want to look into fasting. I did Valter Longo’s Longevity Diet a few years back. After that, I could eat whatever I wanted and would not gain weight. That lasted about six months, then my hormones got out of whack from my bad habits and I once again had to pay more attention to what was in my diet.
But I wouldn’t recommended repeating that diet as a means of losing weight. It can be hard on the body.
I edited my original post that my surprising fat loss (16 straight days), which I attributed to RIC was likely caused by some supplements I was taking. I'm still trying to figure out which one(s).
My wife seems to be losing about a pound per week with just RIC.
Since RIC gives you similar benefits to exercise, you should experience some fat loss over time. And it is possible to do RIC more than once per day.
And the only investment is a cheap BP cuff.
Weight is a complex problem, but often poor gut motility is a big part of the problem. A fast way to improve that is with ozonated magnesium (Super OxyFlush). You can learn more about that in Flood Your Body With Oxygen by Ed McCabe.
Hi Kilmer, Where do you get these cheap bp cuffs. I have an automatic one so it doesn’t stay on for 5 minutes. Do I need a mercury sphygmomanometer to do it?
If you were to read Arkadi’s book, Conquering Lyme Disease, I think there is enough there to piece together a routine of Wimhof-like hypoxia/hyperventilation to approximate what the rebreathing device would do. The advantage of Arkadi’s approach is that he uses an O2 sensor for direct feedback of when things are getting too hypoxic.
Doing some breathwork in addition to RIC would probably be beneficial. And it wouldn’t need to be extreme breath holding.
If you want to connect with someone who has used Arkadi’s protocol (though not for Lyme), @Caroline Ayers has done so and it was she who recommended the book to me. I was seriously thinking of taking the plunge, but the device is pretty bulky and I wasn’t sure where we’d have room for it.
we dont know what lyme symptoms are caused by . Just my personal anecdote but I was doing just the same things Wim Hof does for years before he emerged, and I developed severe 'Lyme' in that time.. In theory my lifestyle was optimal according to his later teachings .. but that is the time i became most unwell. I was diagnosed with lyme but as we know its a very vague diagnosis.
I think most people agree Lyme comes from a tick bite and infection with Borreliosis. If it shares symptoms with other diseases just means it is easy to misdiagnose as Lyme. Something else might give you similar symptoms. It is truly Lyme, Arkadi's book is a worthwhile read.
not at all .. the tests are super unreliable and ticks carry many other bacteria, and there is huge debate as to whether the bacteria cause disease or simply respond to preexisting disease. The debates have been going round and round for decades. Borrelia is in many animals and in their urine etc so it’s all over the place and would be very gard to eradicate from the body if that was even advantageous . its a very uncertain area of research still ,
Yeah, it's like candida. The idea is to restore balance because it actually has a useful role in the body when it isn't running amok.
Thankfully I've never had Lyme.
My two cents is that most disease begins in the gut, yet it is something that insurance-reimbursed medicine largely ignores. Fiber and laxatives are the answer to everything. Yet they generally don't work.
There could be some similar effects. In Wim Hoff, when you finish the breathing, you do not breathe for quite a long period of time, and this could be inducing, mild systemic ischemia, which results in up regulation of antioxidants and other things like BDNF brain derived neurotropic factor.
having become very ill during my years of doing that stuff.. you might want to watch the clips of people claiming it will shorten your lifespan. In my case I'm pretty sure it did. It was 2 of the famous alt doctors who said that. Health is just a complex thing.. few simple answers .
I used to do Wim Hof breathing more often, then switched over to not hyperventilating but normal deep breathing then breath hold with fuller lungs. This feels better to me energetically than Wim Hof, and is much easier on the nervous system (doesn't put it into a sympathetic state). I got the idea from this guy, and he explains it well:
he does apply it to women in his classes but I’m not convinced its so great for them either. There is certainly a down side. I regret a lot of the super fitness stuff i used to do.
I appreciate hearing your experience with Wim hof. I'm sorry you've had some help problems. Yeah, I did a lot of preparation work before trying Wim Hof a couple times a week for a half a year. I think women's nervous systems generally might be tilted towards sympathetic, and the hyperventilation just exacerbates that. Also we tend to have restrictions on our breathing pattern, particularly with trauma, and I don't think it's good to blast through that. Take good care. 💕
This is yet another hormetic therapy (acupuncture, light therapy, fasting, cryotherapy, heat therapy, walking...) The body is stressed to preempt damage, but the damage doesn’t occur, and surplus stem cells circulate throughout the body to revascularize tissue and rebuild the vasculature.
This is a local application of hypoxia therapy, which deprives the endothelium of oxygen, triggering repair. Some of this repair is systemic, extending to the brain or other areas in need of repair.
I have been reluctant to hypoxia, because it can cause harm.
Here, it might be acceptable because it’s the arm, though the long-term consequences could damage the hand or the nerves. Five minutes seems on the high end, and the idea of alternating arms makes sense. It would be interesting to ensure that no arteriosclerotic plaques emerge.
My wife and I alternate legs and arms. There's a technique developed by Arkadi Prokopov that uses a rebreathing device to alternate from a hypoxic state to a hyperoxic state. Same pattern of five sets, very similar results. That technique requires a $2500 rebreathing machine. Versus $20 for a manual BP cuff, which many people already own.
If able to do only one arm due to past surgical removal of a sentinel node on the axilla of the other arm, do you suggest ( without advising) alternating the arm and a leg? And for the leg do you use the calf or the thigh? What about giving the good arm a 10 minute rest and using only it.
If you only had one limb with which to work, I would expect that using that limb every day would be no problem. We mix it up because when the body is exposed to the same identical stimulus repeatedly the effects seem to wane. And it assures that if circulation is somewhat impaired in one limb, that you aren't repeatedly stressing that limb.
We've placed the cuff both above and below the knee. The important thing is that it restricts blood flow. So you need to figure out where the artery is behind the knee and try to get the arrow on the cuff reasonably lined up with it. When you first start out, it is likely to blanch the affected hand or foot - that will be the best clue that the cuff is reasonably close to optimal placement. Don't obsess over perfection. If you can feel less blood flow then you are probably close enough. As your body adapts, the effects will be less dramatic.
As noted by others, keeping the pressure at 200 requires reinflating the cuff periodically. You can also attempt to maintain pressure by flexing the muscles in that limb, which is a way to do some light isometrics at the same time.
Now that we've been doing this for a while and we don't get the blanching that we did initially, lately I've been doing isometrics to raise the pressure up to 260 for short durations. My thinking is simply that making RIC less repetitious and robotic, the more likely the body will continue to view it as a healing stimulus.
You can use any extremity if it's OK to use it on the same extremity every day. If you ever notice that you're having any problems, you can always take a couple of days off. The benefits of remote ischemic conditioning last between 12 and 48 hours.
Hi Nancy I only have one usable arm and having been using it daily for 2 months now. I’m about to start using my leg for a while just to be safe. It is an amazing therapy, simple, cheap and only a bit tedious but my husband and I do it together whilst watching tv and the time passes quickly.
There are no incidents or accounts of atherosclerotic plaques, occurring in chronic long-term studies. There aren't very many chronic long-term studies that have gone longer than one year though.
Thanks for all these helpful replies! I was told to not have bp taken on that arm due to mastectomy and possibility of lymphedema. But I have 3 others to use !!
In my original post I provided links to CO's articles that contain the few caveats to RIC. It's also important to note that RIC is NOT blood flow restriction as recommended by Dr. Mercola. RIC is passive, and it's done in a pattern that communicates to our bodies that it needs to adapt in order to survive a potential low oxygen crisis.
Regarding DMSO, our dog, who is now 16 years old, would have been dead two years ago if we hadn’t discovered it. It stopped her TIAs in seconds. Our vet had no thoughts for any way to prevent them from happening.
Who or what I agree with is what works. If that happens to also be espoused by Mercola or Godzilla is irrelevant. There’s an ounce of truth in every lie. The skill that people need to develop is discerning what part of the lie is truthful. For me, empiricism trumps bullshit.
I couldn't agree more, but I have a few serious reservations.
It's a recurring problem on the Internet that one keeps encountering personal experiences that can very well be posted by bots or agents... Of course, I am not saying you are one of those, only asking you to understand my concern.
As you still haven't been able to take a close look at my concern (not blaming you; everyone is busy), let me help out: DMSO seems to be promoted by agents like Mercola primarily because it allows nanotech to permeate cell walls. Also, an initial sense of relief can trick people into believing it's the best thing since sliced bread...
When you add convergence with other materials and various forms of radiation, it's not like it used to be, even it it worked at one point. The overall attack on humans is AI-designed, so even the AI's operators have no idea what is happening; they only go ahead with the projects involved...
Oh, and one more thing. After the (sooner-or-later) lethal injections, exercise itself was promoted, because it accelerated the harm done:
I never recall Mercola promoting DMSO for assimilation of nanotech, and I followed him for more than two decades. While there is talk of DMSO allowing better potentiation of drugs, that is on a case by case basis. And mainly for drugs with decades of use behind them. The leading proponents of DMSO all caution against use with other substances because it can make it easier for any substance to enter your cells.
Sorry, I don't want to read your whole Substack to understand what you do and don't trust. Everything we know that isn't empirical is based on belief. Primarily the belief that who you believe hasn't lied to you. You need some northstars - things you know with absolute certainty - that can help you figure out who is not worthy of your trust, and who is.
For that matter, it's not about "trust"; I strongly advise my readers NOT to trust me, but consider what THEY find useful for THEIR making THEIR OWN decisions. :)
Nobody told you to read all my articles, but I strongly advised a single one or, if you are serious, one more...
No, Mercola "only" nonchalantly promoted DMSO, and the rest was MY conclusion. It might not hurt, if you actually read what I'm writing...
You can make it yourself and Dr. Kalcker’s substack explains how it works. Just started w/a new updated batch and within 15 minutes, I had no memory fog and much more energy. If I had known it would have worked this well, I would have made it a year ago.
CDS, a stabilized solution of ClO₂, is like a master electrician, selectively tweaking the cell’s power grid to achieve remarkable effects. Here’s a detailed look at the mechanisms, grounded in biochemistry:
Targeting Electron-Rich Molecules: ClO₂ is picky, zeroing in on electron-rich molecules like thiols (e.g., glutathione, cysteine) and lactate in cancer cells. For example, it oxidizes glutathione (GSH), the cell’s antioxidant shield, into its used-up form (GSSG): [ \ce{2GSH + ClO2 -> GSSG + ClO2^- + H2O} ] This reaction, happening at a blazing rate of ~10⁶ M⁻¹s⁻¹, strips away electrons, weakening the cell’s defenses (Ison et al., 2006). In cancer cells, ClO₂ also attacks lactic acid, converting it to pyruvate: [ \ce{Lactate + ClO2 -> Pyruvate + ClO2^- + H2O} ] Cancer cells produce 10–30 mM lactate (vs. 1–2 mM in healthy cells) due to the Warburg effect, where lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) churns out lactic acid to keep tumors thriving in acidic conditions (pH 6.5–6.8). By oxidizing lactate, ClO₂ disrupts this process, raising the tumor’s pH and destabilizing cancer cells (Warburg, 1924).
Sparking Electron Donors: When ClO₂ oxidizes thiols or lactate, cells respond by ramping up metabolic pathways to restore balance. In glycolysis, the enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase produces NADH, which can reduce Fe³⁺: [ \ce{NADPH + H^+ + Fe^3+ -> NADP^+ + Fe^2+} ] Similarly, the pentose phosphate pathway, driven by glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, generates NADPH. Both NADH (-0.32 V) and NADPH (-0.37 V) are strong enough to flip Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺, powering proteins like hemoglobin or cytochrome c oxidase, which are essential for oxygen transport and energy production.
ClO₂’s Surprising Antioxidant Role: In inflamed tissues, where hydroxyl radicals (OH•) are abundant due to immune activity, ClO₂ can be oxidized to chlorate (ClO₃⁻): [ \ce{ClO2 + OH• -> ClO3^- + H^+ + 2e^-} ] This reaction, with a rate constant of ~10⁸ M⁻¹s⁻¹, lets ClO₂ donate electrons, acting as an antioxidant (Masschelein, 1979). These electrons can reduce Fe³⁺ or neutralize harmful ROS, protecting healthy cells from oxidative stress. This dual role—oxidant and occasional antioxidant—makes ClO₂ uniquely versatile.
Balancing the Cellular Power Grid: At low concentrations (0.1–1 ppm), CDS gently nudges the redox system. It oxidizes thiols in proteins like hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α regulators, which sense low oxygen levels. This boosts glycolysis, producing more NADH, which reduces Fe³⁺ in hemoglobin or myoglobin, enhancing oxygen delivery in oxygen-starved tissues (Sies, 2015). It’s like turning up the voltage just enough to keep the grid humming.
High-Dose Chaos in Cancer Cells: Cancer cells, with their high lactate levels (10–30 mM) and weak antioxidant reserves (1–2 mM GSH vs. 5–10 mM in healthy cells), are sitting ducks. High-dose CDS (50–100 ppm) in the acidic tumor environment (pH 6.5–6.8) oxidizes GSH and thioredoxin, wiping out their defenses. This triggers a massive ROS surge, leading to necrosis within hours. Healthy cells, with stronger antioxidant systems, can handle the stress, staying unscathed (Trachootham et al., 2009).
In general, I don't believe that the human being is a conglomerate is a witch's cauldron, but I can be occasionally convinced. All I need is the unifying paradigm.
when i was trained in Shiatsu, i was taught to use blood flow restriction on leg main arteries, just a couple times and for less than 3 minutes, until the leg goes numb.
it is indeed very effective as a hormetic stressor, calling the body bring more help in the area.
learning to use your fingers to press the right points, maintaining focus and awareness, stopping when the numbness kicks in, listening to your body's messages, is imho the best, middle way between BFR and RIC.
and, as always, the best way needs your time and attention. no tv, no easy way to health. 😜
Well, there might be a couple of ways. If you have high blood pressure, you can monitor that and study show that it can have a significant reducing effect on blood pressure. Another way could be increased athletic performance. There are more sophisticated methods of measuring beneficial effects like arterial blood flow, and laboratory test like BDNF, but I don't know many that would go to that extent too see how it's going.
The literature is clear on the benefits. So far, I personally have not noticed anything, but I also have never noticed anything when I take supplements or anything else.
This is one reason why long term unbiased placebo controlled trials are best but in situations like this there would be little financial incentive (profit). Long term societal incentive could potentially convince some philanthropist.
@unbekoming you mentioned in the article that this has become a standard for cardiovascular interventions. That is actually not correct. For example, I work in cardiology outpatient. I asked all three of my cardiologist, whether they had heard of remote ischemic conditioning. They all looked at me with a blank look like they had never heard of it. The oldest and most experienced stated that he remembered reading about something like this that originated in the 70s when they were directly, including coronary arteries in humans to direct ischemic conditioning, but he had never heard of remote ischemic conditioning.
As an acupuncturist Oriental Medicine practitioner, this principle RIC is understandable, we have different procedures in OM that have been proven efficient for many years, such as cupping, guasha, bloodletting that all activate effect on blood flow and invigorate electro-magnetic power of the blood. There is nothing new here.
For the average mainstream person and for anyone in US healthcare this is definitely something new for them. It's been studied for almost 5 decades so it really isn't new, but it is new in the sense that the average person doesn't know about it.
Please don't tell us that people indulge in this practice without medical supervision, or even medical advice...it's a form of sado-masochism in certain sectors of the population..! The restoration of the circulation produces an illusory form of euphoria, and the sensation requires longer and deeper deprivation, leading to dire consequences...
Sometimes you’ve just got to try things for yourself but with caution. If it appears to make a positive change then keep on going, if negative give it up. Let’s face it medical supervision is an oxymoron most of the time.
If you take away drugs and surgery, what do doctors have left? And you want someone like that looking over your shoulder? We're all smart enough to keep from harming ourselves, despite what the propaganda tells us.
How's it any different than exercise? Exercise then would be a form of sadomasochism. It's a simple practice that anyone can do and it doesn't even hurt. It's just a little bit uncomfortable. Kind of like exercise.☺️
We have tried this for the last 2 nights and both of us have had deep sleeps without waking to go for a pee (as we usually do). We are both 66 and have both found better energy. Very encouraged to continue with this although it’s a bit tedious, it’s worth it. I think Neil above is correct that it endures a form of euphoria but only the first time. It was a bit like being high, but very pleasant. I think the effect diminishes with each treatment and if course one shouldn’t extend the treatment protocol in order to get the euphoria!
My wife and I purchased two $20 manual BP cuffs from Amazon. There are lots of options, I'd focus on ones that have high star ratings that have sold a lot of units.
I was looking at some options and it seemed like some of the home health models like they sell at drugstores don’t stay inflated for 5 minutes (& pressure only up to 170mmhg) so maybe you need a manual inflation professional model (which we’re about the same price.) they also seemed to come in different sizes (arm circumference?) I saw 9,10,12 and pressure up to 300mmhg but they also said you needed stethoscope.
You only need a stethoscope to measure someone else’s blood pressure. If you buy a cuff that fits your arm and you pump it up to 200mmHg on the dial that is all that’s required. The digital devices are designed for bp readings so you can’t keep them inflated at a particular pressure and duration.
I just got mine yesterday. Cost around $20. It doesn't stay at 200 for the full five minutes, slowly loses pressure in a couple minutes, but a couple squeezes on the bulb pulls it right back up. I don't think you need anything fancy.
I’m very interested in doing this! However, I subscribe to Curious Outlier and will definitely read further. I haven’t seen it before. Unfortunately, I suffer Myofacial Pain Syndrome and having my blood pressure taken is agony! Very painful. I’m unsure if I could bear it for 45 minutes! I’ll be looking for a possible way around that, but I can’t imagine one.
Honestly I’ve never tried. I do have pain in my legs. Well everywhere. It’s the fascia that covers the muscles so it’s widespread. Any squeezing is painful, but I could try. Maybe it’d at least be a little less. Thank you for the suggestion. ☺️🙏🏻
Any doctor will tell you that blood clots are a potential complication of surgery, but none of them can tell you if you are more likely to get one than anyone else. At least if they could, you'd think they could do something to prevent them. I had a good friend die from a blood clot after surgery. 57 years old.
The healthier you are, the less risk there is with RIC. The unhealthier you are, the more the small risk increases. Yet RIC should improve your health, so you need to decide if improved health is worth the risk to you.
Does your doctor still take your blood pressure, or does he/she skip it out of concern for causing a blood clot?
If I were in your shoes and was interested in improving my health, I'd likely put some DMSO/Aloe Vera on the limb twenty minutes or so before starting. It's really good for breaking up agglutinated blood. And hopefully you can discern the difference between the typical discomfort of wearing a BP cuff and the pain of a clot restricting blood flow. If it starts feeling like the latter, stop immediately and put more DMSO where the pain is.
You can also opt to modify the RIC parameters. Lower the pressure a bit, reduce the time a bit and/or do less than five repetitions. You'll still get benefit from three reps or four. But if you do more than five you are likely looking at diminishing returns. Five just seems to be the sweet spot where you get the best bang for the buck.
It is OK to do RIC more than once per day. So you could start slow a couple of times per day and increase the pressure, time and reps as you get more confident that things are going well.
I updated my post on 20 Sep 2025 - the fat loss that I was experiencing was not due to RIC, at least not solely (though my wife claims to have lost three pounds since she's been doing it). I'm trying to figure out which of a small number of supplements might have been what triggered the event for me (16 straight days of fat loss). But it might have been a combination of things working synergistically.
My wife and I continue to do RIC every evening. The clearest effect that I've noticed is increased energy. I can work hard for longer periods without exhaustion or a need for more rest. I had thought that increased fatigue was just a side effect of getting older, but it seems it is possible to train your body so that doesn't happen...
I've had other beneficial effects, but they are harder to quantify. Primarily, I seem to experience less Ill effects from sitting too long reading or writing. For me, there is a greatly reduced need to do a series of shoulder exercises to counteract the effects of prolonged sitting. Which sort of makes sense, since RIC is considered "exercise in a device."
I swim the fastest time I've ever swam after starting remote, ischemic conditioning and doing it for about one month. Shaved nearly 30 seconds off of my 1 mile swim.
Would it be fair to say that you achieved the maximum effect after 1 month?
Trying to determine how long it might take to obtain results here.
No. Long-term chronic daily use would Achieve the greatest benefit. That's like saying can I become a professional marathon runner in one month. It is the cumulative effect of any activity like this that pays off the lifetime dividends.
Thank you for your answer, but I’m still wondering are you still experiencing weight loss?
Again, my situation is confounded by the supplements that I was taking. After I stopped them there was a quick rebound where I regained most of the weight. I’m still down a couple of pounds from where I started and things are back to a typical ebb and flow.
I think you would find that RIC will give you more energy, so there’s the potential that you would be more active and find it easier to burn more fat.
But even if you don’t lose weight, there are very definite health benefits to RIC.
If I were you, I wouldn’t get obsessed with one health metric (weight). That’s a number that can stay the same, yet you lose water and muscle while gaining fat (unhealthy). Or you lose weight, but it ends up being from loss of muscle, not fat (also unhealthy).
Focus on health first. When you are healthy, your hormones are in balance. When they are in balance, your body is far less inclined to hold on to excess fat.
You might want to look into fasting. I did Valter Longo’s Longevity Diet a few years back. After that, I could eat whatever I wanted and would not gain weight. That lasted about six months, then my hormones got out of whack from my bad habits and I once again had to pay more attention to what was in my diet.
But I wouldn’t recommended repeating that diet as a means of losing weight. It can be hard on the body.
So is weight loss consistent over time? We are obese and are hoping this will help.
I edited my original post that my surprising fat loss (16 straight days), which I attributed to RIC was likely caused by some supplements I was taking. I'm still trying to figure out which one(s).
My wife seems to be losing about a pound per week with just RIC.
Since RIC gives you similar benefits to exercise, you should experience some fat loss over time. And it is possible to do RIC more than once per day.
And the only investment is a cheap BP cuff.
Weight is a complex problem, but often poor gut motility is a big part of the problem. A fast way to improve that is with ozonated magnesium (Super OxyFlush). You can learn more about that in Flood Your Body With Oxygen by Ed McCabe.
Hi Kilmer, Where do you get these cheap bp cuffs. I have an automatic one so it doesn’t stay on for 5 minutes. Do I need a mercury sphygmomanometer to do it?
https://a.co/d/8erWuYM
If you were to read Arkadi’s book, Conquering Lyme Disease, I think there is enough there to piece together a routine of Wimhof-like hypoxia/hyperventilation to approximate what the rebreathing device would do. The advantage of Arkadi’s approach is that he uses an O2 sensor for direct feedback of when things are getting too hypoxic.
Doing some breathwork in addition to RIC would probably be beneficial. And it wouldn’t need to be extreme breath holding.
Did you mean to say Undoing Lyme Disease by Arkadi Prokopov? Conquering Lyme Disease is by different authors.
Thanks for tip. Looks potentially helpful!
Yes, you’re right. I should have gotten up off my butt and double checked the title. ;-)
I didn’t even get
off my butt. 😂
The infernal device
found it for me.
If you want to connect with someone who has used Arkadi’s protocol (though not for Lyme), @Caroline Ayers has done so and it was she who recommended the book to me. I was seriously thinking of taking the plunge, but the device is pretty bulky and I wasn’t sure where we’d have room for it.
Thanks for the info.🙏
Much appreciated.
we dont know what lyme symptoms are caused by . Just my personal anecdote but I was doing just the same things Wim Hof does for years before he emerged, and I developed severe 'Lyme' in that time.. In theory my lifestyle was optimal according to his later teachings .. but that is the time i became most unwell. I was diagnosed with lyme but as we know its a very vague diagnosis.
I think most people agree Lyme comes from a tick bite and infection with Borreliosis. If it shares symptoms with other diseases just means it is easy to misdiagnose as Lyme. Something else might give you similar symptoms. It is truly Lyme, Arkadi's book is a worthwhile read.
not at all .. the tests are super unreliable and ticks carry many other bacteria, and there is huge debate as to whether the bacteria cause disease or simply respond to preexisting disease. The debates have been going round and round for decades. Borrelia is in many animals and in their urine etc so it’s all over the place and would be very gard to eradicate from the body if that was even advantageous . its a very uncertain area of research still ,
Yeah, it's like candida. The idea is to restore balance because it actually has a useful role in the body when it isn't running amok.
Thankfully I've never had Lyme.
My two cents is that most disease begins in the gut, yet it is something that insurance-reimbursed medicine largely ignores. Fiber and laxatives are the answer to everything. Yet they generally don't work.
There could be some similar effects. In Wim Hoff, when you finish the breathing, you do not breathe for quite a long period of time, and this could be inducing, mild systemic ischemia, which results in up regulation of antioxidants and other things like BDNF brain derived neurotropic factor.
having become very ill during my years of doing that stuff.. you might want to watch the clips of people claiming it will shorten your lifespan. In my case I'm pretty sure it did. It was 2 of the famous alt doctors who said that. Health is just a complex thing.. few simple answers .
I tried Wim Hoff for a while, and I didn't feel comfortable with it. I stopped.
I used to do Wim Hof breathing more often, then switched over to not hyperventilating but normal deep breathing then breath hold with fuller lungs. This feels better to me energetically than Wim Hof, and is much easier on the nervous system (doesn't put it into a sympathetic state). I got the idea from this guy, and he explains it well:
https://youtu.be/jus_sUKEO2Y?feature=shared
he does apply it to women in his classes but I’m not convinced its so great for them either. There is certainly a down side. I regret a lot of the super fitness stuff i used to do.
I appreciate hearing your experience with Wim hof. I'm sorry you've had some help problems. Yeah, I did a lot of preparation work before trying Wim Hof a couple times a week for a half a year. I think women's nervous systems generally might be tilted towards sympathetic, and the hyperventilation just exacerbates that. Also we tend to have restrictions on our breathing pattern, particularly with trauma, and I don't think it's good to blast through that. Take good care. 💕
Hi,
It’s been a while :-). Interesting.
This is yet another hormetic therapy (acupuncture, light therapy, fasting, cryotherapy, heat therapy, walking...) The body is stressed to preempt damage, but the damage doesn’t occur, and surplus stem cells circulate throughout the body to revascularize tissue and rebuild the vasculature.
This is a local application of hypoxia therapy, which deprives the endothelium of oxygen, triggering repair. Some of this repair is systemic, extending to the brain or other areas in need of repair.
I have been reluctant to hypoxia, because it can cause harm.
Here, it might be acceptable because it’s the arm, though the long-term consequences could damage the hand or the nerves. Five minutes seems on the high end, and the idea of alternating arms makes sense. It would be interesting to ensure that no arteriosclerotic plaques emerge.
But, very interesting. Thank you. Marc
My wife and I alternate legs and arms. There's a technique developed by Arkadi Prokopov that uses a rebreathing device to alternate from a hypoxic state to a hyperoxic state. Same pattern of five sets, very similar results. That technique requires a $2500 rebreathing machine. Versus $20 for a manual BP cuff, which many people already own.
If able to do only one arm due to past surgical removal of a sentinel node on the axilla of the other arm, do you suggest ( without advising) alternating the arm and a leg? And for the leg do you use the calf or the thigh? What about giving the good arm a 10 minute rest and using only it.
If you only had one limb with which to work, I would expect that using that limb every day would be no problem. We mix it up because when the body is exposed to the same identical stimulus repeatedly the effects seem to wane. And it assures that if circulation is somewhat impaired in one limb, that you aren't repeatedly stressing that limb.
We've placed the cuff both above and below the knee. The important thing is that it restricts blood flow. So you need to figure out where the artery is behind the knee and try to get the arrow on the cuff reasonably lined up with it. When you first start out, it is likely to blanch the affected hand or foot - that will be the best clue that the cuff is reasonably close to optimal placement. Don't obsess over perfection. If you can feel less blood flow then you are probably close enough. As your body adapts, the effects will be less dramatic.
As noted by others, keeping the pressure at 200 requires reinflating the cuff periodically. You can also attempt to maintain pressure by flexing the muscles in that limb, which is a way to do some light isometrics at the same time.
Now that we've been doing this for a while and we don't get the blanching that we did initially, lately I've been doing isometrics to raise the pressure up to 260 for short durations. My thinking is simply that making RIC less repetitious and robotic, the more likely the body will continue to view it as a healing stimulus.
You can use any extremity if it's OK to use it on the same extremity every day. If you ever notice that you're having any problems, you can always take a couple of days off. The benefits of remote ischemic conditioning last between 12 and 48 hours.
Hi Nancy I only have one usable arm and having been using it daily for 2 months now. I’m about to start using my leg for a while just to be safe. It is an amazing therapy, simple, cheap and only a bit tedious but my husband and I do it together whilst watching tv and the time passes quickly.
There are no incidents or accounts of atherosclerotic plaques, occurring in chronic long-term studies. There aren't very many chronic long-term studies that have gone longer than one year though.
Thanks for all these helpful replies! I was told to not have bp taken on that arm due to mastectomy and possibility of lymphedema. But I have 3 others to use !!
Caution cannot be overemphasized. Not sure about the proposed benefits, but ischemic conditioning can also generate blood clots:
https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/mercola-sent-me-a-parody-of-himself
In my original post I provided links to CO's articles that contain the few caveats to RIC. It's also important to note that RIC is NOT blood flow restriction as recommended by Dr. Mercola. RIC is passive, and it's done in a pattern that communicates to our bodies that it needs to adapt in order to survive a potential low oxygen crisis.
Thank you, klimer, you just answered my question!
Please, provide a link to your article on RIC.
After checking a few of your titles, obviously, your experience with DMSO drastically differs from my analysis, and you seem to agree with Mercola.
You:
https://eclectichealing.substack.com/p/the-magic-of-dmso
Me:
https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/why-is-dmso-being-popularized
Yet both you and I have reservations on "sleep apnea."
You:
https://eclectichealing.substack.com/p/sleep-apnea-fix-the-spine-dump-the
Me:
https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/sleep-apnea-and-high-blood-pressure
https://eclectichealing.substack.com/p/get-fit-watching-jeopardy
Regarding DMSO, our dog, who is now 16 years old, would have been dead two years ago if we hadn’t discovered it. It stopped her TIAs in seconds. Our vet had no thoughts for any way to prevent them from happening.
Who or what I agree with is what works. If that happens to also be espoused by Mercola or Godzilla is irrelevant. There’s an ounce of truth in every lie. The skill that people need to develop is discerning what part of the lie is truthful. For me, empiricism trumps bullshit.
I couldn't agree more, but I have a few serious reservations.
It's a recurring problem on the Internet that one keeps encountering personal experiences that can very well be posted by bots or agents... Of course, I am not saying you are one of those, only asking you to understand my concern.
As you still haven't been able to take a close look at my concern (not blaming you; everyone is busy), let me help out: DMSO seems to be promoted by agents like Mercola primarily because it allows nanotech to permeate cell walls. Also, an initial sense of relief can trick people into believing it's the best thing since sliced bread...
When you add convergence with other materials and various forms of radiation, it's not like it used to be, even it it worked at one point. The overall attack on humans is AI-designed, so even the AI's operators have no idea what is happening; they only go ahead with the projects involved...
Oh, and one more thing. After the (sooner-or-later) lethal injections, exercise itself was promoted, because it accelerated the harm done:
https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/the-weaponization-of-exercise
Interested in your feedback, IF you have the time and the inclination to address my concerns one by one.
I never recall Mercola promoting DMSO for assimilation of nanotech, and I followed him for more than two decades. While there is talk of DMSO allowing better potentiation of drugs, that is on a case by case basis. And mainly for drugs with decades of use behind them. The leading proponents of DMSO all caution against use with other substances because it can make it easier for any substance to enter your cells.
Sorry, I don't want to read your whole Substack to understand what you do and don't trust. Everything we know that isn't empirical is based on belief. Primarily the belief that who you believe hasn't lied to you. You need some northstars - things you know with absolute certainty - that can help you figure out who is not worthy of your trust, and who is.
For that matter, it's not about "trust"; I strongly advise my readers NOT to trust me, but consider what THEY find useful for THEIR making THEIR OWN decisions. :)
Nobody told you to read all my articles, but I strongly advised a single one or, if you are serious, one more...
No, Mercola "only" nonchalantly promoted DMSO, and the rest was MY conclusion. It might not hurt, if you actually read what I'm writing...
Thanks. I agree and I think you are very articulate in your response.
Anyone tried CDS on Dr. Kalcker's substack? It's been around for a long time.
I don't even know what that is.
You can make it yourself and Dr. Kalcker’s substack explains how it works. Just started w/a new updated batch and within 15 minutes, I had no memory fog and much more energy. If I had known it would have worked this well, I would have made it a year ago.
https://open.substack.com/pub/drkalcker
How CDS Rewires Cellular Chemistry
CDS, a stabilized solution of ClO₂, is like a master electrician, selectively tweaking the cell’s power grid to achieve remarkable effects. Here’s a detailed look at the mechanisms, grounded in biochemistry:
Targeting Electron-Rich Molecules: ClO₂ is picky, zeroing in on electron-rich molecules like thiols (e.g., glutathione, cysteine) and lactate in cancer cells. For example, it oxidizes glutathione (GSH), the cell’s antioxidant shield, into its used-up form (GSSG): [ \ce{2GSH + ClO2 -> GSSG + ClO2^- + H2O} ] This reaction, happening at a blazing rate of ~10⁶ M⁻¹s⁻¹, strips away electrons, weakening the cell’s defenses (Ison et al., 2006). In cancer cells, ClO₂ also attacks lactic acid, converting it to pyruvate: [ \ce{Lactate + ClO2 -> Pyruvate + ClO2^- + H2O} ] Cancer cells produce 10–30 mM lactate (vs. 1–2 mM in healthy cells) due to the Warburg effect, where lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) churns out lactic acid to keep tumors thriving in acidic conditions (pH 6.5–6.8). By oxidizing lactate, ClO₂ disrupts this process, raising the tumor’s pH and destabilizing cancer cells (Warburg, 1924).
Sparking Electron Donors: When ClO₂ oxidizes thiols or lactate, cells respond by ramping up metabolic pathways to restore balance. In glycolysis, the enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase produces NADH, which can reduce Fe³⁺: [ \ce{NADPH + H^+ + Fe^3+ -> NADP^+ + Fe^2+} ] Similarly, the pentose phosphate pathway, driven by glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, generates NADPH. Both NADH (-0.32 V) and NADPH (-0.37 V) are strong enough to flip Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺, powering proteins like hemoglobin or cytochrome c oxidase, which are essential for oxygen transport and energy production.
ClO₂’s Surprising Antioxidant Role: In inflamed tissues, where hydroxyl radicals (OH•) are abundant due to immune activity, ClO₂ can be oxidized to chlorate (ClO₃⁻): [ \ce{ClO2 + OH• -> ClO3^- + H^+ + 2e^-} ] This reaction, with a rate constant of ~10⁸ M⁻¹s⁻¹, lets ClO₂ donate electrons, acting as an antioxidant (Masschelein, 1979). These electrons can reduce Fe³⁺ or neutralize harmful ROS, protecting healthy cells from oxidative stress. This dual role—oxidant and occasional antioxidant—makes ClO₂ uniquely versatile.
Balancing the Cellular Power Grid: At low concentrations (0.1–1 ppm), CDS gently nudges the redox system. It oxidizes thiols in proteins like hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α regulators, which sense low oxygen levels. This boosts glycolysis, producing more NADH, which reduces Fe³⁺ in hemoglobin or myoglobin, enhancing oxygen delivery in oxygen-starved tissues (Sies, 2015). It’s like turning up the voltage just enough to keep the grid humming.
High-Dose Chaos in Cancer Cells: Cancer cells, with their high lactate levels (10–30 mM) and weak antioxidant reserves (1–2 mM GSH vs. 5–10 mM in healthy cells), are sitting ducks. High-dose CDS (50–100 ppm) in the acidic tumor environment (pH 6.5–6.8) oxidizes GSH and thioredoxin, wiping out their defenses. This triggers a massive ROS surge, leading to necrosis within hours. Healthy cells, with stronger antioxidant systems, can handle the stress, staying unscathed (Trachootham et al., 2009).
Thank you.
Please, advise:
What is the "madical" (sic!) paradigm in which these data are employed?
Here is mine:
https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/my-balance-theory-of-health-and-illness
In general, I don't believe that the human being is a conglomerate is a witch's cauldron, but I can be occasionally convinced. All I need is the unifying paradigm.
when i was trained in Shiatsu, i was taught to use blood flow restriction on leg main arteries, just a couple times and for less than 3 minutes, until the leg goes numb.
it is indeed very effective as a hormetic stressor, calling the body bring more help in the area.
learning to use your fingers to press the right points, maintaining focus and awareness, stopping when the numbness kicks in, listening to your body's messages, is imho the best, middle way between BFR and RIC.
and, as always, the best way needs your time and attention. no tv, no easy way to health. 😜
How do you measure its effectiveness?
Well, there might be a couple of ways. If you have high blood pressure, you can monitor that and study show that it can have a significant reducing effect on blood pressure. Another way could be increased athletic performance. There are more sophisticated methods of measuring beneficial effects like arterial blood flow, and laboratory test like BDNF, but I don't know many that would go to that extent too see how it's going.
The literature is clear on the benefits. So far, I personally have not noticed anything, but I also have never noticed anything when I take supplements or anything else.
Yes - most treatments require faith I think. Medics rarely check outcomes with any rigour if at all.
This is one reason why long term unbiased placebo controlled trials are best but in situations like this there would be little financial incentive (profit). Long term societal incentive could potentially convince some philanthropist.
@unbekoming you mentioned in the article that this has become a standard for cardiovascular interventions. That is actually not correct. For example, I work in cardiology outpatient. I asked all three of my cardiologist, whether they had heard of remote ischemic conditioning. They all looked at me with a blank look like they had never heard of it. The oldest and most experienced stated that he remembered reading about something like this that originated in the 70s when they were directly, including coronary arteries in humans to direct ischemic conditioning, but he had never heard of remote ischemic conditioning.
As an acupuncturist Oriental Medicine practitioner, this principle RIC is understandable, we have different procedures in OM that have been proven efficient for many years, such as cupping, guasha, bloodletting that all activate effect on blood flow and invigorate electro-magnetic power of the blood. There is nothing new here.
For the average mainstream person and for anyone in US healthcare this is definitely something new for them. It's been studied for almost 5 decades so it really isn't new, but it is new in the sense that the average person doesn't know about it.
Please don't tell us that people indulge in this practice without medical supervision, or even medical advice...it's a form of sado-masochism in certain sectors of the population..! The restoration of the circulation produces an illusory form of euphoria, and the sensation requires longer and deeper deprivation, leading to dire consequences...
Sometimes you’ve just got to try things for yourself but with caution. If it appears to make a positive change then keep on going, if negative give it up. Let’s face it medical supervision is an oxymoron most of the time.
That's fair comment !
Ditto
If you take away drugs and surgery, what do doctors have left? And you want someone like that looking over your shoulder? We're all smart enough to keep from harming ourselves, despite what the propaganda tells us.
How's it any different than exercise? Exercise then would be a form of sadomasochism. It's a simple practice that anyone can do and it doesn't even hurt. It's just a little bit uncomfortable. Kind of like exercise.☺️
We have tried this for the last 2 nights and both of us have had deep sleeps without waking to go for a pee (as we usually do). We are both 66 and have both found better energy. Very encouraged to continue with this although it’s a bit tedious, it’s worth it. I think Neil above is correct that it endures a form of euphoria but only the first time. It was a bit like being high, but very pleasant. I think the effect diminishes with each treatment and if course one shouldn’t extend the treatment protocol in order to get the euphoria!
Fascinating research into this protocol.. any recommendations on products to use that are simple to use and cost effective?
My wife and I purchased two $20 manual BP cuffs from Amazon. There are lots of options, I'd focus on ones that have high star ratings that have sold a lot of units.
Thank you!
I use a cheap manual blood pressure cuff that I purchased on Amazon. I've been using it for about three months. It works just fine. It was $16.
I was looking at some options and it seemed like some of the home health models like they sell at drugstores don’t stay inflated for 5 minutes (& pressure only up to 170mmhg) so maybe you need a manual inflation professional model (which we’re about the same price.) they also seemed to come in different sizes (arm circumference?) I saw 9,10,12 and pressure up to 300mmhg but they also said you needed stethoscope.
any nurses out there with recommendations?
You only need a stethoscope to measure someone else’s blood pressure. If you buy a cuff that fits your arm and you pump it up to 200mmHg on the dial that is all that’s required. The digital devices are designed for bp readings so you can’t keep them inflated at a particular pressure and duration.
Thanks 🙏
I just got mine yesterday. Cost around $20. It doesn't stay at 200 for the full five minutes, slowly loses pressure in a couple minutes, but a couple squeezes on the bulb pulls it right back up. I don't think you need anything fancy.
How do you get an automatic cuff to keep the pressure on for 5 minutes?
My issue exactly!
I think you need a manual one
I feel so ignorant, I have never heard of this before.
I will definitely be looking into this more … thank you.
Thanks, I look forward to trying this.
I’m very interested in doing this! However, I subscribe to Curious Outlier and will definitely read further. I haven’t seen it before. Unfortunately, I suffer Myofacial Pain Syndrome and having my blood pressure taken is agony! Very painful. I’m unsure if I could bear it for 45 minutes! I’ll be looking for a possible way around that, but I can’t imagine one.
Have you tried taking your BP on the leg?
Would that be painful too?
Honestly I’ve never tried. I do have pain in my legs. Well everywhere. It’s the fascia that covers the muscles so it’s widespread. Any squeezing is painful, but I could try. Maybe it’d at least be a little less. Thank you for the suggestion. ☺️🙏🏻
Just be careful. Don’t do anything that will cause, or exacerbate your pain.
Mercola was an early proponent of this. I have elevated BP so have to do it anyway. Win win! 😆
Are blood clots not a concern for most everyone now following the convid j a bs?
I was so intrigued! But I once had a lower leg blood clot after surgery… So I should not attempt?
Any doctor will tell you that blood clots are a potential complication of surgery, but none of them can tell you if you are more likely to get one than anyone else. At least if they could, you'd think they could do something to prevent them. I had a good friend die from a blood clot after surgery. 57 years old.
The healthier you are, the less risk there is with RIC. The unhealthier you are, the more the small risk increases. Yet RIC should improve your health, so you need to decide if improved health is worth the risk to you.
Does your doctor still take your blood pressure, or does he/she skip it out of concern for causing a blood clot?
If I were in your shoes and was interested in improving my health, I'd likely put some DMSO/Aloe Vera on the limb twenty minutes or so before starting. It's really good for breaking up agglutinated blood. And hopefully you can discern the difference between the typical discomfort of wearing a BP cuff and the pain of a clot restricting blood flow. If it starts feeling like the latter, stop immediately and put more DMSO where the pain is.
You can also opt to modify the RIC parameters. Lower the pressure a bit, reduce the time a bit and/or do less than five repetitions. You'll still get benefit from three reps or four. But if you do more than five you are likely looking at diminishing returns. Five just seems to be the sweet spot where you get the best bang for the buck.
It is OK to do RIC more than once per day. So you could start slow a couple of times per day and increase the pressure, time and reps as you get more confident that things are going well.