Dr. Mathews, Trauma surgeon in Atlanta
Transcript of video (May 2019)
00:02 Speaker 1: It happens more than a million and a half times every year in this country, someone suffers a traumatic brain injury and that's exactly what happened to 18-year-old Lacy Adamson of Newton County. But what helped her might surprise you. The Fox medical team's Beth Galvin, here now to talk about it.
00:18 Beth: We're talking about a really devastating brain injury that Lacy had when she was airlifted to Grady Hospital, a whole team of specialists was waiting for at the hospital's level one trauma center, but Lacy's parents believe what saved their daughter was a $5 combination of vitamins and supplements.
[music]
00:37 Beth: Lacy Adamson has always enjoyed kicking back with her guitar, but cheerleading, she really loved.
00:46 Lacy: I liked being able to yell and to yell at people.
00:51 Beth: And for her parents Lori and Donnie Adamson...
00:54 Lori: There are no words.
00:55 Beth: Just being here with the only child they worked so hard to conceive and then almost lost, feels like a gift.
01:01 Lori: She was a miracle when she was born, and she was a miracle on that day.
01:05 Beth: That day was July 10th, 2012. Lacy, 17 was driving back to Mansfield from cheerleading practice.
01:12 Lacy: All I remember is heading home.
01:15 Lori: Her tire sort of left the road and hit a pothole, a huge pothole.
01:21 Beth: Lacy, wearing a seat belt swerved left and then right, flipping her pick-up several times into a pasture; she was ejected.
01:28 Lacy: Next thing I remember is the sound of the helicopter rotors.
01:31 Lori: My first prayer was "Just don't take her." That was my first recollection that this is going to be bad.
01:40 Beth: And it was bad. Lacy was air-lifted to the Grady Trauma Center, where Morehouse School of Medicine trauma surgeon Dr. Leslie Matthews was standing by.
01:48 Dr. Matthews: The paramedics reported that she was seizing, which is a bad, ominous sign.
01:53 Beth: CT scans of Lacy's brain showed it was swelling dangerously, covered with tiny lesions. They call this a Diffuse Axonal Injury.
02:01 Dr. Matthews: This is when the neurons just shear or just ripped, and the prognosis for this is very bad.
02:08 Lori: I've never been that terrified in my life.
02:10 Beth: And as the Grady trauma team worked to stabilize Lacy, Dr. Matthews began his own treatment.
02:15 Dr. Matthews: We use vitamin D, Omega-3 fatty acids, glutamine, and progesterone.
02:20 Lori: I remember thinking, "Vitamin-D, really? And fish oil, okay?"
02:25 Beth: But after years of research Matthews is convinced that these supplements can help the brain heal. Lacy was given vitamin-D and Omega-3 fatty acids, two powerful natural anti-inflammatories to reduce her brain swelling, and the hormone progesterone and liquid glutamine, an amino acid to protect her damaged nerve cells. Every brain trauma patient coming into Grady receives these same supplements.
02:50 Dr. Matthews: So basically, you're giving the body what it needs to heal itself. The body, the way God designed the body, the body is designed to heal itself if you give it the right nutrients.
02:57 Lori: I can't explain it. I don't have all the answers about it, but there is something to that therapy that absolutely works.
03:06 Dr. Matthews: With Lacy, in three days she began to wake up and follow simple commands.
03:10 Beth: Lacy had to relearn how to walk and talk and slowly recovered her memory, but 14 months after her accident she is nearly fully recovered.
03:20 Lori: There's something to it. I mean I have my child back. There's something to it.
03:24 Beth: And Lacy just started college at Georgia Perimeter. And she hopes to one day become a Child Life Specialist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and that's where her mom, Lori, works as an ER nurse. And Tom believes that these supplements, like vitamin-D, can not only help treat brain injuries, he believes they can help prevent them. And he works with football players, high school football players, and gives them high doses of vitamin-D to try to protect their brains, should anything happen.
03:52 S1: Very interesting.
03:54 Tom: You want something concrete done when your daughter is in trouble, but vitamins work, it turns out this time. And those supplements that you talked about.
04:00 Beth: In addition to her other treatment, this seems to be what made the difference.
04:03 Tom: Amazing.
Concussions, Prevention, Treatment
- Concussions (traumatic brain injury) getting big press coverage, vitamin D might be both a cause and a solution
- Magnesium may be an important way to treat brain trauma activates the Vitamin D receptor, getting more Vitamin to tissues - such as the brain
Vitamin D, etc.
- Vitamin D3 Attenuates Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption due to TBI (in rats) – Feb 2021
- Traumatic Brain Injury recovery helped by injection of 100,000 IU of Vitamin D – March 2019
- Mild Traumatic Brain Injury reduced by Vitamin D – May 2014
Omega-3, Resveratrol etc.
- Mild Traumatic Brain Injury prevented with Omega-3, Resveratrol, etc (in rats) – Oct 2017
- Football Brain injuries prevented by Omega-3 – RCT Jan 2016
- Resveratrol improves health (Vitamin D receptor, etc.) - many studies
Progesterone, etc.
- Traumatic brain injury treated by Vitamin D Progesterone Omega-3 and glutamine – May 2013
- Stroke recovery was aided by vitamin D and Progesterone (in rats) – Feb 2019
- Spinal Cord injury outcome was better if got Vitamin D and progesterone within 4 hours – RCT 2016
- Spinal Cord Injury treated by Vitamin D progesterone combination, etc. – review of trials – Aug 2019
- Progesterone activates vitamin D receptor - many studies
- Search VitaminDWiki for PROGESTERONE 1030 items as of May 2019
Glutamine, etc.
- Vitamin D and Glutamine reduced Trauma Center deaths by half – Matthews March 2017
- Vitamin D and Glutamine resulted in 2.6X reduction in trauma center mortality rate – Dec 2014
Each of the following help TBI, some combination should be really good
- Progesterone (VDR)
- Omega-3 (VDR)
- Resveratrol (VDR)
- Magnesium (VDR and blood)
- Vitamin D
Dr. Matthews
- UN invited Dr. Matthews to speak about Vitamin D in both Sept and Oct 2018
- FDA decided to double vitamin D in milk after talking 4 times with by Dr. Matthews – July 2016
- US Army learning about benefits of vitamin D to trauma – Matthews Dec 2013
- Hospital ICU added high dose vitamin D - malpractice lawsuit costs dropped from 26 million dollars to ZERO - Oct 2016
- Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (Wash D.C) invited Dr. Mathews to speak to them on Vitamin D – Sept 2018
- Army Training trying performance readiness bars with 1400 IU of Vitamin D (Dr. Matthews) – Sept 2018
- Fastest US High School sprinters are both at the school taking lots of vitamin D (Matthews) May 2016
- Hospital ICU added high dose vitamin D - malpractice lawsuit costs dropped from 26 million dollars to ZERO - Oct 2016
- Surgeon on a mission to promote vitamin D - Dec 2012
Vitamin D, trauma, and blacks - Dr. Matthews interview with transcript - Jan 2019
A few items from the transcript
- Grady (where he works) is one of the busiest Level 1 trauma centers in the entire United States
- 98.8% of our ICU patients were vitamin D deficient
- I've had to go as high as like 70 to 80 on some patients to get the proper response
- US…can probably save over $800 Billion a year if we got everybody's vitamin D level above 40
- Vitamin D is “most common nutritional deficiency in the world”
- Many blacks believe that they get MORE VItamin D from the sun, rather than 5X less
Fact or Fiction: A Concussion-Free Football Season
June 19, 2014 by Karon Cook
This was actually accomplished by Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Lithonia, Georgia during their 2011 Season. Why? What was different about that year? That's when Dr. L. Ray Matthews, assistant professor of surgery and director of surgical care at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, shared his knowledge about the benefits of Vitamin D with the School’s parents. They began a program that included a regimen of Vitamin D, using supplements and shakes. ” Vitamin D helps prevent sports related concussions by several different mechanisms,” says Dr. Matthews "First of all, Vitamin D produces stronger bones, which is more resilient to stress and shock from trauma to the head, it also improves muscle strength and coordination which results in less frequent falls,” he stated.~~
- Football without Vitamin D - 2010 Season = 5 Concussions
- Football with Vitamin D - 2011 Season = 0 Concussions
Almost 100% reduction in injuries 12-1 Ranked 3rd in the State’s S-A Division
Okay, I know what you're thinking...that was a few years ago, what’s happened since then? Here’s the rest of the Story: I am putting together a Short Documentary on Dr. Matthews. It will include interviews with MLK Jr. High School Coaching Staff and other patients of Dr. Matthews that have benefitted from the Vitamin D therapy. The 2014 Season will start with a new Head Coach, Nikolas Kashama, the fourth Coach in 4 years. The only thing consistent over the past 3 years for these athletes, was the superior nutritional program (Vitamin D) that was established by Dr Matthews. Many of these students were malnourished when he arrived in 2011, not any more.
- Over the past 3 Seasons they have a record of 30-6
2012-2014: 64 students received football Scholarships
:I have met with Dr. Matthews, the Coaches and Athletic Director at MLK Jr. High School and I am in the process of conducting interviews and will post a follow up article along with my Video Report. 'Please note: certain quotes and facts for this Article were gathered from several sources including VitaminDWiki
Written by Karon Cook, NFL Sports Journalist
NFL Concussions Settlement website
It appears that the NFL might be willing to pay a lot of money to prevent and treat concussions
BAP = Baseline Assesment Program
Short URL = is.gd/MatthewsTBI