The page was moved to

http://markdesollaprice.com/avalokitesvara/

Kombucha Tea to...Gila Monster Spit?

by Mark de Solla Price

POZ Magazine July / August 2009

In the early days of AIDS, my friends and I searched desperately for treatments. We tried some pretty weird stuff, like Japanese kombucha mushroom tea. Then HIV meds appeared (and worked), and I grew accustomed to taking more traditional treatments in pills and shots.

But now, 26 years into life with HIV/AIDS, I have a slew of other conditions—including, most recently, diabetes. My damaged liver rules out various oral diabetes meds, so I inject a new drug, Byetta (exenatide). Doing background reading, I was transported back to those early days of HIV treatments with odd names and origins: Byetta is a synthetic form of the saliva of the venomous Gila monster—a protein in the lizard’s spit helps control blood sugar. Though recent FDA reports alarmingly link Byetta to cases of pancreatitis, it seems to work for me. Gotta love that lizard.

On Christmas Eve my doctor called me with my latest diagnosis: I now also have Type 2 Diabetes. Going from an active life and 3-days-a-week at the gym to spending two years home-bound probably helped speed this genetic pre-disposition along.

Unfortunately, all of the usual oral diabetes medications are metabolized in the liver. Although I remain Hepatitis C undetectable viral load 64-weeks after treatment (yea!) my liver functions are still "wacky" from many factors including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Luckily, there is a relatively new injectable diabetes medication drug exenatide (marketed as Byetta by Amylin Pharmaceuticals/Eli Lilly and Company) and for me it has been a wonder drug. After 90-days, my diabetes is well maintained and I've lost 15-pounds (of the 40-pounds I gained since starting Pegasys).

In my appointment with Marilyn Tucker-Viselli, my Dietician/Nutritionist, I proudly showed off the progress I've made on the graph of my glucose levels — using my LifeScan OneTouch Ultra2 Blood Glucose Meter (Johnson & Johnson) connected by USB cable to my Apple MacBook and then to the HealthEngage website.

Marilyn told me that Byetta is made from synthetic Gila Monster's saliva. Yup, I shoot-up twice each day with Gila Monster Spit, and I couldn't be happier to benefit from my new cold-blooded friend, pictured to the right.

On a spiritual level, it makes me realize just how interdependent I am with the web of all existence of which we are a part. How many other vital drugs are waiting in similarly unlikely species that we might loose forever as we endanger our planet.

It's not just that we might need what these creatures have to offer, they are part of who were are as living beings. I read recently that "Scientists estimate that 90 percent of the cells contained in the human body belong to nonhuman organisms - mostly bacteria, but also a smattering of fungi and other eensy entities. Some 100 trillion microbes nestle in niches from our teeth to our toes." (Colin Nickerson/The Boston Globe, February 25, 2008)

Vinny and I quite literally won the lottery this week and we got tickets from Time Warner Cable to watch the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama telecast at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem. Since we weren't physically up for going to Washington, DC (not that we were invited), this is ideal venue that meets our physical limitations and our spiritual effervesce. For this exciting, historic event and we can't think of a better community to celebrate not just the arrival of Barack Obama in the White House but also for the beginning of a new era of civic engagement!

Mark de Solla Price Testimony on October 12, 2008 Public Hearings on New York City Term Limits Legislation

Good evening. My name is Mark de Solla Price; it is a privilege to speak before you tonight and thank you for your perseverance at this late hour. I have lived in Manhattan since 1980 and live with my husband, Vinny Allegrini, in our small, rent-stabilized apartment in Greenwich Village since 1994. I’m speaking today in favor of extending current terms to being limited at three terms. I want to thank the Speaker Christine Quinn and City Council for the opportunity to hear from so many constituents like me.

Thirty years ago, U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey said that “...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

I am one of those people in the shadows of life. I have been living with HIV/AIDS since 1983 and have been medically disabled for the last two years. Vinny is also living with AIDS and on disability, but he is mainly homebound these days, so today, I’ll be speaking on his behalf as well.

Vinny and I are two of more than 100,000 people in New York City who are living with HIV or AIDS. That’s approximately 1 out of every 70 people in this city. In my part of town, it’s one out of every four gay men who are HIV-positive.