Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Cardinal Rule of Gerson Therapy

About two weeks back, I reported a case about Ms S and last week she was admitted to hospital. I was made to understand that she had a fall that lead to the seriousness of her case. It is with great sadness I learned that she has been called home to be with the Lord sometime last week. May she rest in peace.

Her case really deteriorated very fast (from able body to bed ridden), all about in 3 months. For those of you who just following my blog, although you may noticed that my condition is now stable, my doctors describes my condition as not serious but really serious. This is because I just have too many tumors in my lungs (over 43+). Gerson therapy has been good to bring my condition under control for now but this condition may change anytime. This is why I am relentlessly looking for some potent adjunct therapies to help myself.

From my own experience, I think one of the difficult tasks for caregivers following the Gerson therapy are what to do in the event of something unexpected happens to the patient. For Gerson therapy, not all healing reactions are documented and when I was at the Gerson Clinic in Mexico, even the resident doctor who has 20 years of Gerson experience, there are some things he cannot give me a straight answer. Sometime last July 2010, I met a stage 4 colon cancer patient called KC in Clementi, Singapore. We met through my blog and when I was in Singapore I paid him a visit because he was following the Gerson Therapy under a qualified Gerson therapist. I was eager to find out what differences, if any, there are between his protocol and my own protocol. The main difference that I found out was that he was given B12+Liver injection while I did not have access to this injection and two other supplements. But there is something he keep complaining about and asked me if I had similar reaction. His therapist was not able to help. He said he felt very weak after going on Gerson protocol. He feels hungry and lacks energy. He is quite skinny, I think not more than 50kgs. We are about the same height but I was weighing 64kgs then, so it would seems I should be the one complaining lack of energy rather than him. Through my conversation I found the following:

1. He dislike the diet and as such did not eat that much
2. Had stomach gases and just could not eat
3. He lacks energy.
The next two items was not disclosed by KC but for completeness, I am including it here:
4. Patient may get backache.
5. Patient not willing or don't know how to start coffee enema.

The above problems may look trivial but I know many of those cancer patients that I introduced Gerson therapy gave up the therapy because of it. It is rather unfortunate that Gerson therapist was not be able to help in KC's case too. As time passed, he abandoned Gerson therapy all together, when went back to a normal diet and then went for chemotherapy. I last wrote to him in November 2010 but he did not reply me. I can only hope he is in good health.

Gerson therapy is a diet (of no meat, protein, salt, sugar and oil) therapy which is not the easiest to follow. A Gerson lunch/dinner menu typically consists of a bowl Hippocrates soup, salads, cooked vegetables and baked potatoes (or brown rice). No matter how many variations you can make, you can imagine if you eat like this day in and day out, you will soon run out of variations. Want to know how it feels, just for one meal, steam your brocoli, cabbage and spinach or any other combination of vegetables (no sugar, no oil, no salt and no spices but can add apple cider or lemon juice) and eat for lunch and dinner and let me know if you if you can continue to eat like this for the next 24 months?

My suggestions are practical. It helped me tie over this difficult period and I hope it will help those who want to go on this therapy too. One of the problem with steam vegetables is that it taste flat, like eating grass. What we can do is to add a little flavor by squeezing some fruits juice like lemon, lime and orange. Adding a little apple cider might also help. On days I don't add juices, I would also cut an apple, guava or other fruits that are not too sweet into smaller pieces and mixed them with the vegetables and eat them together. Later I learned in Gerson Clinic, they actually add a little raisins in the cooking to make the vegetables taste sweeter but NEVER use any artificial sweetener. Of late, I have made Dhal curry (no oil and salt of course) to enhance the flavor but this recipe is for those who have been on the therapy for at least a year. For baked potatoes, you can mixed squeeze lime juice with minced garlic. If you have help, you can try the Gerson recipes as well but I find it's a lot of work to do it on my own.

Not eating enough is one of the reason why the patient feels hungry and lacks energy. An ordinary person requires 2,000 calories a day and if one follows the Gerson therapy to the fullest, the calories intake is about 2,900 calories. The other reason is that the patient does not drink enough juices. Recommendation is 13 juices and I think at minimum, a patient should take at least 10 juices. Some patients drink with pulp and I think this is not recommended. The patient already have sufficient fiber in the lunch and dinner and drinking juices with pulp would mean the patient drink less juices and hence not enough nutrients and calories. It leads to loss of energy. There are times when the patient may not be able to drink 8oz (or 250ml) of juices hourly. In such a case, allow the patient to drink 4oz (1/2 cup) at 1/2 hourly intervals or to drink as much as possible at each go. In my first year of therapy, I eat every waking hour in between juices. I would eat fruits and/or with oatmeal whether hungry or not. Sometimes I would make rye bread and eat rye bread (with a little honey or apple sauce) as well.

For some people, especially women, continuous drinking of juices would lead to backache and weakness in the legs. In TCM, vegetables has a cooling effect and this may lead to backache. So some patients may not want to drink so much vegetables and fruit juices. One way to overcome this problem is to add a little ginger into the juices. This would neutralise the cooling effect and hence the backache. The other thing is to build up the number of juices slowly to allow the body to adjust. Combining vegetables in juices also leads to stomach gases. Bubbles are formed during juicing and I would normally scrape away the top bubbles layer before drinking. If stomach bloating continues, I found that taking more cooked vegetables (less raw) helps. Finally if it still continues, I would go for something like magnesium trisilicate to ease the gases. I don't like to take any medication if possible but it's more important to eat .

Asking people to do coffee enema is like asking someone to extend the hand into the toilet bowl to pick up the handphone. People are just uncomfortable and may take time. So some patients rather not do it. But it does not have to be this way. One of the fears is inserting the tube into the anus. Even if this step can be overcome, the next fear is that if you inject fluid into the anus, it will eject in seconds. Cleaning up then is a mess. Well, inserting the little tube into the anus is not difficult and can be made easy if the patient calms down and apply a little KY gel on the tip of the tube.
While in Mexico, I learned that they use another connecting tube (see picture, even smaller size) to make the insertion very easy. For beginners, I do not recommend full strength coffee (i.e. 32 oz or 1 liter). Start of with half strength coffee (16 oz of coffee solution and 16oz of water or better still camomile tea). Then add two tablespoons of potassium solution into the the enema. Find a comfortable padded place near the toilet to do the enema. If your are still afraid the solution would come out, find a big plastic bag and cover the butt to collect any droppings. Overtime, reduce the potassium solution and also increase the coffee strength. Possibly within a week, doing coffee enema becomes second nature.

One of the weakness of coffee enema is that it does not discriminate between toxins and nutrients in the gut. Everything is expelled. Hence the standard guide is that every coffee enema taken must be supplemented with 3 cups of juices. Some women have reported weakness of the legs and loss of energy after an enema. In such a case, talk to the therapist with a view of reducing the number of enemas. Slowly build up over time. It is important the patient continues to eat and take juices in the meantime. I would also propose the patient take zeolite detox in such cases to replace some of the enemas (eg. two or three enemas + zeolite detox). Of course, talk to the therapist first because zeolite detox is not part of the Gerson therapy. I borrowed it from the Budwig protocol.

This is my realisation on the cardinal rule of Gerson therapy:
Eat permitted foods and drink juices every waking hour to nourish the body and prevent the body from deteriorating.

13 comments:

  1. Hi CT,

    This is a very authoritative advice and explanation. It's amazing you can follow this regime like clockwork.

    Take care.

    Happy Wesak to you, although a day late.

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  2. CT,

    Steaming vegetables might taste flat but this regime has helped my uncle live till today at 90. He had a heart attack at 50+ and totally switched to steaming.

    Not to worry, we should eat for our body, not to satisfy the tongue or the senses.

    Hang in there.

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  3. hi CT,
    glad to see you post about GT again. since you are into Dal Curry, I hope it will also encourage you to know that the Turmeric (Curcumin) in Carry has been tested at MD Anderson-- for pancreatic cancer patients (these patients only had Curcumin C3 as treatment and no other drugs-- 2 years and counting-- they are all in remission)..

    please keep to your GT diet-- and I guess adding more Turmeric will help not only for the taste but your continued recovery.

    I have some thoughts about the 43+ tumuors in your lungs-- but I will do some more study before writing here... I just thought I should encourage you to continue GT and add Curcumin in your diet and supplements.

    http://nanaymiriam.wordpress.com/category/curcumin/

    http://margaret.healthblogs.org/life-with-myeloma/discovery-of-curcumin/

    By the way, we also saw the only certified Gerson therapist here in Singapore-- he asked us to purchase a Champion Juicer (to replace our Braun) and also a Hydraulic Press. Our Novita Water Distiller will be delivered tomorrow. We also purchase our supplements from Nature's Glory.

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    Replies
    1. Hi I need a Gerson therapist here in Singapore for my daughter she is 9 please help me as fast as possible!

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    2. I hope you have found someone by now, just read your message. If not, you can immediately contact Dr. Donato at Dolphin Health and Education. he is based in usa but is available by skype. I am using him as my doctor for Gerson therapy. His contacts are:
      PHONE: +1 (541) 857-2678


      EMAIL: info@dolphindoctor.org

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  4. Dear Nanay,

    Yes, Champion Juicer + juice press is a good combination. Braun is not suitable for juicing.

    Nature's Glory (NG) only stock some of Gerson's supplements. Missing items are Colostrum, Infzyme Forte, Milk Tistle and the B12+Liver injections. For these items, you need to import from Mexico and US. If you email me, I will give you the contact and price list of these items. This is the same supplier that supplies to Gerson Clinic and its patients. By the way, you should use the coffee sold at NG instead of Newlife for the coffee enema if possible. Please also buy the tube connector (not sure if NG has it) if not from the US supplier. It will make coffee enema easier for your mom.

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  5. hi CT,
    thanks for the tips. There is a medical center here that offers B12+liver injections-- still have to see them though. We bought coffe from New Life-- btu I agree it seems its better to buy from Nature's Glory. New Life have Colostrum though-- but am quite apprehensive to buy from New Life (just a gut feel). Please email your US/Mexico contacts to me - nanay@live.com.sg

    We have 3 coffee enema buckets (the ones we bought from the Philippines when we had our 5 day retreat--learning about Breuss Protocol).. we were taught quite well on how to do the coffee enema..

    even if my mother has not started the full GT, she has been doing her coffee enema quite often.. lately she saw some whitish -- pleghm looking substances --on her "poo"-- she also told me that she had some spasms whenever she is expelling these whitish-pleghm looking substances and some long black substances too (looks like worms-- but not worms)..eww! I hope this is positive.. I would agree that there are no written documentations on the outcomes of GT.. thats why am so glad to having found your site.. other sites are too focused on the goody part of GT-- but not on the challenging parts of GT..

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  6. Dear Nanay,

    The whitish-pleghm looking substances and some long black substances are all good signs that very old bad stuffs in the colon are finally coming out.

    I did 3 months urine therapy drink my first urine of the day) initially and I purge for one whole week. I felt very good after that.

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  7. Hello CT, your blog is very important to me to understand the healing reactions of Gerson therapy. Last week my mom have a good energy after an intravenous (vit. C and b complex) procedure done by a nurse, after 2 days she was back to a very weak body until almost 4 days now. My problem is/are I can't find some potassium salt compound and the lugol's solution, and the crude liver/b12 injectable here in the Philippines. Btw my mom is in stage 4 breast cancer with bone mets(as what the doctor said), and discourage my family to undergo a chemo. My sisters are blaming me of my moms inability to walk and wake-up, as in she is losing some energy and she dislikes green juices and vomit several times with coughing. I am troubled if this situation is part of healing or something to be scared? But I see her improvement in her hair, skin and some aches are gone. The retracing of her old pneumonia as part of healing reactions could sometimes troubled me if her cancer spread to her lungs. I haven't gone to an alternative doctor yet, I always rely on google and some advices from nutrition expert. I hope this will not bring some stress to you. Best regards to Nanay. God Bless us.

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  8. Dear Homer,

    Thank you for sharing your mother's condition. Don't worry, I am OK.

    You can buy potassium, liver pills and Lugol solution from here: www.natures-glory.com.

    As for liver/b12, I would not advice you to do it unless you have seen a Gerson therapist. Instead take the liver supplements which you can also buy from the above web site.

    As for the vegetable juices, I suggest that you give your mother half hourly juices (125ml each time). Please add 1/2 a green apple each time and also add a slice or two of old ginger when juicing. Juices are cooling and coughing is one of the side effects. Ginger helps to prevent the coughing.

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  9. Gerson Therapy creates a hope in people and think about that if a patient has gone to mexico and they send him back without any help, I have seen a patient like this,

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  10. matter of fact, they never uttered a word healing reaction

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  11. Hi CT,

    If you have been doing the Gerson juices in Singapore all the time can you please specify where you got the organic groceries from? And is using a regular juicer like Solo Star ok? This is for my uncle who is going to admit to the National Cancer Center at Singapore in a few days but we would like to carry out the gerson juicing and its other benfits. Your fast reply would be appreciated thank you.

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