Peripheral Arterial Disease

I am pleased that this forum exist for the people who suffer from Buergers Disease. It's about time! I was diagnosed with this disease in 1998 at the young age of 31. I am now 48 and am truly blessed that I can still walk even though I have had half of my left foot and 3 toes on my right foot amputated. I have also had a Fem-Pop bypass behind the knee on my left leg in 1998 and in a rather radical bypass performed on my femoral artery in my left leg done with a corrigate plastic hose from my groin to the knee and from there about 5 inches down they grafted a cadaver's artery.

Being I have suffered from this disease for a long time, I have researched for years on the cause of this illness and although smoking tobacco is believed to be the main cause, I have always had a different theory of which I believe has already been proved if you look closely at the facts.

I do not believe that tobacco is the main culprit here at all. I'll explain why. although tobacco does constrict vessels in it's pure form and does not help at all, I find it very interesting that native americans had used tobacco in their culture for centuries without a verified case of cancer or Burger's Disease and tobacco only became DEADLY after it was mass produced at the beginning of the 20th century because they added more nicotine and chemicals to allow it to be more addictive for profit. Then Buerger's Disease was discovered in around 1924 after tobacco was industrialized for a few decades. When I was diagnosed with this disease, approxiamately 1 in 20,000 American tobacco users contracted the disease. Currently that has increased to 1 in 10,000 because more chemicals are allowed by the FDA to a certain limit. But..... it is interesting to note that in Asia where there is no FDA or enforcement by governments such as India, China and Viet Nam. Are you ready for this? In those countries Buerger's Disease is in epidemic proportions such as India where their disease rate is astronomical. Around 1 in 20 smokers have the disease. Why is that? A doctor once told me it was because they were inbred which is a load of crap! If that were the case then Arkansas, USA would be #1 in Buerger's Disease cases.

I am going to share a revelation with you. When I first was diagnosed with this disease I was told I could never smoke or chew tobacco ever again. I had quit for 3 years but I did still enjoy the pleasure of smoking but I always thought in the back of my mind....what if medical professionals were wrong. What if it's something else. And being the curious person I am and fiercely independant, never liking to be told what to do I had to experiment. I did just that. I had an ulcer in my left foot for about a year before it finally healed. I had to undergo hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments for about 3 hours a day for about 4 months. The doctor told me I could not have tobacco in any form ever. Not even Copenhagen. Well.....I know it was a risk but I dipped the entire time and still healed from my wounds.  I then told the doctor what I was doing and he was speechless. I admit it was foolish but I was told I was going to eventually die from this disease anyway and after so many agonizing years of pain, all I can say is it does change your outlook on life very much. So I experimented further. I tried various other brands of cigarettes to see how they affected me and I wanted to validate my theory. And every other brand of cigarette has ill effects immediately but the only brand I found to be the least harmful was Camel. I have been smoking for 10 years and as long as I take my blood thinners and keep moving, I find I can function as a relitively normal person. I certainly don't reccomend you try this at all but if you ever wonder how much deadly chemicals are in a typical cigarette such as Marlboro, try this someday and you will see what I mean. Take a black light in a dark room and look at a cigarette under the light and you will see that it glows with purple looking dark grains all over it. This is the crap that causes Buerger's Disease. I once was given a pack of Queens from Viet Nam and after just a few drags, my leg was so stiff and in pain I could hardly walk. What makes Asian cigarettes so different from ours?

I feel for all of you suffering from this "Man Made" disease because I spent 3 solid years in constant pain in a wheelchair and have beern passed around like a hot potato from doc to doc. Either they don't know how to treat you or it scares the hell out of them. And certainly smoking does not help but I do not believe that tobacco is the main problem here but rather additives that the FDA allows to be doused on every cigarette! Why!!! Is it a damn conspiracy? And if it is so deadly then why not prohibit the substance? Money...Money...Money!!! It's a win win for the manufacturers, the government and quite possibly the medical establishments.

Sincerly yours,

OnionBuerger