On January 8, the California Board of Pharmacy (BOP) was discussing potential restrictions on Category One sterile compounds, including nebulized and IV glutathione.

Glutathione is not only beneficial for Lyme disease patients but also proven to help firefighters recover from lung damage caused by their dangerous work.

In a twist of irony, on the same day, large parts of Los Angeles County were engulfed in what would turn out to be one of the most destructive fires in California’s history.

As thousands of firefighters risked their lungs battling the blaze, the BOP was considering limiting access to a treatment those very firefighters might ultimately need to save their ability to breathe.

The Board has been contemplating this decision for some time, with discussions taking place in meetings held in July, September, and November of 2024. At each of those occasions, firefighters, patients with Lyme and other chronic illnesses, doctors, and other stakeholders urged the Board not to take this step.

Crystal Frost

Crystal Frost is a Lyme patient who organized the #StopTheBOP movement after her doctor told her she might soon lose access to IV glutathione and Vitamin B12 shots. Both are treatments she felt were helping her recover.

Here are recent blogs explaining the issues involved:

Californians push back against proposed restrictions on glutathione and other alternative treatments

Why compounding pharmacies matter and why you should care

What is glutathione and why must we protect patient access to it?

On January 8, Crystal watched the BOP meeting via WebEx—after she and her husband had packed their emergency go-bags and prepared to evacuate their Los Angeles-area home.

As she recounted later on Instagram, “On Jan. 8, the BOP pushed the proposed new regulations on sterile compounding to a 15-day comment period.” Meaning we have until January 27, to email comments to the board.

Here are instructions from #StopTheBOP:

Click here to sign the petition. (You don’t have to be a Californian to sign the petition or send a comment to the BOP.)

More information at the StopTheBOP website.

TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, President of LymeDisease.org. She is co-author of Finding Resilience: A Teen’s Journey Through Lyme Disease and of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.