A Night To Forget

Sometime back, I wrote a story about Lothar Hirneise, world-renowned cancer researcher from Germany. I have the good fortune through a friend who has invited me to join him for dinner on 30 May together with Lothar Hirneise who is in Malaysia for a visit. I am looking forward to meet the guru and hear first hand from him.

I think I am now paying the price for eating spouted bread + cayenne pepper. I am starting to develop tongue ulcer and also sore throat. One of the things I forgot to do when on such a diet is to keep the body "cool" by taking in cooling herbs. I also believe my inability to sleep at night is also due to the excess heat in the body. Yesterday night I could not sleep at all, every time, I lay in bed trying to sleep, my chest feels like on fire. It was torturing for I have not been able to sleep for about 10 days now. I am tired and yet I could not rest. I took a bath in the middle of the night. I cook some food to eat. It was a night I wish it would end even if it meant I had to die. I just feel very warm even with the air-conditioner blasting away. I could not lay down even, so I spent most of the time watching TV. Later this morning, I will have to go and see the doctor but my mother suggested I visit the TCM practitioner first.

Gerson Therapy - Outdated?
Today, I want to continue to talk on the topic of Gerson Therapy (GT). I feel a bit sad when I read in Cancer Tutor that Gerson Therapy has been classified as an outdated therapy, past it's time. The GT was designed by Dr Max Gerson himself and he developed over a 30 year period. He published his work, A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases, a year before he died in 1959. Since his death, GT has remain largely unchanged. In his days, he used raw calf liver extract but after his death due to pollution, etc the raw calf liver extract were replace with B12+liver injections. The supplement used has also remained largely unchanged except with some new additions. No other person has continued to research and develop his therapy. His daughter, Charlotte Gerson has been the person that continued to champion his father's work but she is also very protective of his therapy, as I found out while I was in Tijuana, Mexico.

As a cancer patient, as a Gerson therapy follower and also as a self appointed unapproved Gerson therapist to myself, I have the privilege of working closely with this therapy with myself and a few others, there are gaps in the therapy that I observed are not addressed. I stand corrected of course. The case of KC which I wrote about two days ago is one example. Other examples of patients that I wrote about in this blog like Joanne and Ms S who at some point in the therapy was bed ridden. It would be very difficult for these patients to do coffee enema detox. So the only option was to stop because there are no other approved alternatives. If a patient has hemorrhoids, the patient will also have to stop coffee enema detox. But coffee enema is one of the main pillars of the therapy, so what are we going to do in the meantime? I am not disputing the merits of coffee enema, in fact I think it is so important that by not doing it, the patient loses some advantages. Dr Gerson wrote in his book that patients were saved when he introduced coffee enema. But yet circumstances beyond the control of the patients comes to play and the therapy has no alternatives. Unfortunately, although I knew about this, it did not occur to me bring it up during my casual discussion with the resident doctor while in Mexico.

Before I continue, I want to let followers of Gersons knows that this therapy works for many cases but at the same time, we must be aware of the shortcomings. It is a very good therapy and I owe my life to this therapy. But its also a book that has not be updated for a long time (though Charlotte Gerson with Beata Bishop did write another version, The Gerson Way based on his father's original book. The updates are largely on Gerson recipes and other health information.). Two main areas that I felt that need revision are the detoxing methods and use of new supplements. Although I now have access to consultation with the Gerson Clinic in Mexico, yet at times, I do not make use of it, eg. when I had my third blood vomiting episode. This is not to say I am better than the resident doctors, only that I know what their standard reply will be.

Frequent stomach indigestion is a precursor to many chronic disease. A cancer patient's digestive system is not efficient as a normal person and often needs help to bring it back to working order. Probiotics may not be well featured during Dr Gerson's days as it is known today. To this end, probiotics supplements shows potential and yet these are not part of the Gerson therapy. Yes, there are supplements like pancreatin and Infzyme forte (both contains protease which digests proteins, amylase digests carbohydrates and lipase digest fats), but there are still other microorganisms in the stomach and intestinal tracks. Enzymes are the key factor that determines the effectiveness of how your body functions. Probiotics are live microorganisms and consist of common types like Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and bifidobacteria and also certain yeasts and bacilli that may also be helpful. In laboratory investigations, some strains of LAB (Lactobacillus bulgaricus) have demonstrated anti-mutagenic effects thought to be due to their ability to bind with heterocyclic amines, which are carcinogenic substances formed in cooked meat. According to Wikipedia, the human gut is home to some 400-500 types of microbes. It is thought that this diverse environment may benefit from multiple probiotic strains; different strains populate different areas of the digestive tract, and studies are beginning to link different probiotic strains to specific health benefits. As for me, I just add these supplements as part of the therapy.

What I am trying to say is this. Getting therapist supervision for cancer helps greatly in the cancer patient's recovery. What I note is that some patients just depended too much on the therapist and will be lost when the therapist is unable to help. I would like to think of the therapist as a teacher, a guide and the patient as a student, who must also do his/her homework and learn about other ways of solving his or her own problems. If the therapist is able to help, well and good but when he cannot? So, in this sense, the therapy is outdated. Gerson Therapy is a very good anchor therapy and with proper knowledge, we can look for other ways to update it ourselves. It has to rely on the patient or caregiver to update it to make it more relevant.

So a patient must know when to depart when certain standard Gerson formula does not work. Do not wait till the end and then only realise. Observe the feedback from the body. Read about other therapies, other people's experiences and look for opportunities to combine. The critical question still remains however, when the patient is under such condition, would he or she be able to help himself or herself? I too don't have the answer.