Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

From the link Tanya posted, it looks like Gerson has been pretty thoroughly investigated and debunked.

Remember, "the plural of anecdote is not evidence." Why anyone would make a life-or-death decision, in a field where there's a huge amount of scientific investigation and evidence, on the uncorroborated say-so of one or two strangers, is beyond me.

The liver and kidneys detoxify our bodies. That's their function. As Tanya's article says, it can be very dangerous to succumb to quackery in a misguided attempt to help them do their job. The modern obsession with "toxins" seems kind of Medieval to me. They used to think diseases were caused by marsh gases or emanations of mysterious origins.

The best ways to boost your immune system are rest, stress management, a healthy (but sane) diet, and moderate exercise, like walking. Do all those things, but lay off the coffee enemas.

In 1992 Barbara Bradfield was on her way to Mexico in a last-ditch attempt to treat her Stage IV HER-2 positive cancer when Dr. Slamon called and talked her into participating in the first Herceptin clinical trial. She has been NED ever since then--20 years. (She says she now does anything Dr. Slamon tells her to do.) I know that's an anecdote too, except that a lot of people have followed in her footsteps. There is a mass of data on this.

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

Amy - as ever a calm voice of reason - thank you.

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

Barbie wrote:

"as far as chemo - from what I read, it only helps breast cancer in 1.5% of patients not to have a recurrence."

I can't imagine where this could come from. If chemo only helped 1.5% of BC patients not to recur hardly anyone would get chemo!

This figure is FAR from correct. Also, the statistics are so outmoded now, with Herceptin and the other drugs we now have, just don't pay attention to them!

And it is my studied opinion that detoxification will not CURE an aggressive breast cancer that is already out of the box, so to speak. It is on the march - maybe slowly - maybe faster - we are all a little different.

However I believe in detoxing to take the load off your liver and kidneys. It will help you through what ever treatment you decide to take. But one does not need to go to the lengths Paula describes unless you have been a real sloth, and feel a need to make up for lost time. (I am sure Paula was not a sloth, had other agenda.)

Many of the members here have done a lot in cleaning up their diet and general mode of living in order to give themselves a better fighting chance to stay cancer free once the treatment was finished.

You will manage and all will be well for the wedding. There have been other women on this site who had the same situation - precious weddings coming in tandem with breast cancer treatments. You will find the way to take care of your self as well as your family.

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

The Gerson Therapy was developed a long time before the newer treatment choices that are available today.
I like what Steph wrote about many of us improving our nutrition and making better choices in our diets. I think that helps alot.
I have improved my diet little by little over the years. I still continue that today. It might take a little more effort than just putting something in a microwave, but I still cook the old fashioned way. 95% of my food is cooked from scratch on a stove or eaten fresh. I am also careful about salt, sugar and fat when I choose foods. I use a blender to make fresh juices after washing and cutting up the ingredients.
As far as detoxing is concerned there are other more pleasant ways to detox than coffee enemas. Healthy homemade vegetable juice blends through a liquid diet for a day or half a day is probably one way.
I think coffee can be dehydrating if it is taken our used in excess. Dehydration is not good for anyone. Coffee is meant to be enjoyed through the mouth and digested through the normal digestive process.
We have alot of resources available to us today. I think it is fine to choose parts of a diet plan that meet our needs and leave the rest alone. I would leave the coffee enemas alone, but I might try a couple of the Gerson recipes that are healthy, well balanced nutritionally and taste good.

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/02/popular-diets.html

[Gerson is not listed in this brand new article written by the dietician at MD Anderson - proof it's no longer 'popular'. As Amy has said after reading the link provided by Tanya: "Gerson has been pretty thoroughly investigated and debunked."

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

IMHO, although the Gerson Therapy did not work for me , it does not mean that it (and other alternative therapies) never works for others. Yes, there is quackery out there because of people wanting to gain financially from desparate folks with cancer but I personally don't think all alternative cancer therapy is a hoax.


As I shared, I spoke with women with different types of breast cancer as well as some stage 4 folks with cancer in different areas of their bodies who did Gerson Therapy (and over the years I have personally known people who chose other natural approaches) who told me they have followed up with testing and are NED or stable and doing great. I see no reason for them to have lied to me about the success of the program in their case: they had absolutely nothing to gain or prove to me. I'm sincerely happy for anybody who has no evidence of disease whether they get there through non-toxic alternative therapies or conventional treatment.


Here are a few links that might be of interest for discussion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGJYQ...69D4C85B0690C9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lbs8...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BY9U...eature=related

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/beautiful-truth/

Paula

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

I don't think anyone here is saying (or writing) that alternative therapies in general don't work.
If we are interested in exploring therapies other than what has been suggested by our medical team we should try to learn as much as we can about those alternative therapies as we can before we start.
Most of us also know that conventional therapies don't work for everyone either.
Those who shared links probably did so in an attempt to help us learn about the Gerson Therapy from various sources. Other people may be sharing information about their experiences or the experiences of those they know who tried the Gerson Therapy. This tread is an open discussion, not an attack on the Gerson Therapy.
I have the Gerson books. My cousin who tried the Gerson Therapy sent them to me. Unfortunately she passed away of breast cancer 8 years ago. The Gerson Therapy did not work for her either. Some of the recipes look interesting, but I would never try the coffee enemas.
Personally I try to learn as much as I can from several sources about both conventional and alternative therapies I am considering before I start any therapy.
Doing that has helped prevent or control most problems with those therapies.

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

I have just been been dignosed with her-2-positve brest cancer with lymph involvement and one spot on my liver. I am reading your post's each day . Thank-you so much you give hope to us all.

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

When I said "debunked" I did mean to criticize it, though of course I'm not saying all alternative and complementary therapies are invalid. I had never heard of Gerson before I read the information Tanya posted. Here's an excerpt:

Adverse Reactions
Common: Flu-like symptoms, loss of appetite, perspiration with foul odor, weakness, dizziness, cold sores, fever blisters, high fever, tumor pain, intestinal cramping, diarrhea, and vomiting. (The Gerson handbook claims that these adverse reactions are indicative of response).
Common (metabolic diet): Nutrient deficiencies (calcium, vitamins D and B12, protein), anemia, and malabsorption may result from metabolic diets.
Reported: Campylobacterfetus sepsis caused by the liver injections was reported in 13 patients using the Gerson therapy between 1980-6; liver injections were subsequently eliminated from the regimen. Coma from low serum sodium (as low as 102 mEq/l) occurred in 5 of these patients.
Coffee enemas cause electrolyte imbalance, which has resulted in serious infections, dehydration, colitis, constipation, and death.
Case Reports (Coffee enemas): Case 1: Multiple seizures and hypokalemia leading to cardiorespiratory arrest, coma, and death were reported after excessive use of coffee enemas (1-4 per hour) for a number of days. Case 2: Death attributable to fluid and electrolyte imbalance causing pleural and pericardial effusions after use of coffee enemas, 4 per day for 8 weeks.

In other words, it can kill you. Electrolyte balance is important. Too much potassium and not enough sodium--bad idea. Not enough protein, also a bad idea. Too much Vitamin A, a fat soluble vitamin, also a bad idea. It can give you cirrhosis of the liver.

If we were really so vulnerable to "toxins" as this kind of "health" theory proposes the entire human race would have died out long ago. I think the reason we feel better when we eat lots of fruits and vegetables is we evolved eating enormous amounts of vegetables, plus fruit when we could get it (plus "free range, grass fed" meat when we were lucky enough to get that.) It's not because they "detoxify" us, it's because they're nutritious.

Re: Gerson Therapy: what is your experience with it?
 

Oncology (Williston Park). 2010 Feb;24(2):201.
Gerson regimen.
Cassileth B.
Source
Integrative Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA.
Abstract
The Gerson regimen, developed by Max Gerson in the 1930s, is promoted as an alternative cancer treatment. It involves consuming fresh, raw fruit and vegetable juices, eliminating salt from the diet, taking supplements such as potassium, vitamin B12, thyroid hormone, pancreatic enzymes, and detoxifying liver with coffee enemas to stimulate metabolism. Gerson therapy is based on the theory that cancer is caused by alteration of cell metabolism by toxic environmental substances and processed food, which changes its sodium and potassium content. It emphasizes increasing potassium intake and minimizing sodium consumption in an effort to correct the electrolyte imbalance, repair tissue, and detoxify the liver. The coffee enemas are believed to cause dilation of bile ducts and excretion of toxic breakdown products by the liver and through the colon wall. None of these theories has been substantiated by scientific research. Despite proponents' claims of recovery rates as high as 70% to 90%, case reviews by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the New York County Medical Society found no evidence of usefulness for the Gerson diet. An NCI-sponsored study of Gonzalez therapy, which is similar to the Gerson diet, showed that patients with inoperable pancreatic adenocarcinoma who underwent standard chemotherapy with gemcitabine (Gemzar) survived three times longer and had better quality of life than those who chose enzyme treatment, which included pancreatic enzymes, nutritional supplements, detoxification, and an organic diet.

[Claims made by M. Gerson 32 years ago:
Physiol Chem Phys. 1978;10(5):449-64.
The cure of advanced cancer by diet therapy: a summary of 30 years of clinical experimentation.
Gerson M.
Abstract
Thirty years of clinical experimentation has led to a successful therapy for advanced cancer. This therapy is based on the concepts (1) that cancer patients have low immuno-reactivity and generalized tissue damage, especially of the liver, and (2) that when the cancer is destroyed, toxic degradation products appear in the bloodstream which lead to coma and death from liver failure. The therapy consists of high potassium, low sodium diet, with no fats or oils, and minimal animal proteins. Juices of raw fruits and vegetables and of raw liver provide active oxidizing enzymes which facilitate rehabilitation of the liver. Iodine and niacin supplementation is used. Caffeine enemas cause dilation of bile ducts, which facilitates excretion of toxic cancer breakdown products by the liver and dialysis of toxic products from blood across the colonic wall. The therapy must be used as an integrated whole. Parts of the therapy used in isolation will not be successful. This therapy has cured many cases of advanced cancer.]