[Paula O]

Dear Barbie,
Boy, you are among people here who understand the emotions you are feeling!!!!! It can feel overwhelming at times. My heart goes out to you.
I can honestly say I gave Gerson Therapy "my all"--it was not a half-hearted attempt and there was "no cheating". I followed it to a "T" except for a couple minor things which were more hypervigilent than even that program was. It is a non-stop, extremely intense program getting in 13 freshly pressed (2 step process--not your standard juicing and has to be fresh each time) organic juices per day plus the meals, supplements, and the rest of the detox process. If I remember correctly, I consumed the equivalent of 20 + pounds of fresh organic produce needed per day for juicing and eating. My family and friends helped me with washing those mounds of veggies, juicing, etc. Here are some examples of things I did differently than the specified program: probiotics---I did not want to do 5-6 coffee enemas/day without replenishing healthy bacteria and so I took acidophilus, bifidus, etc probiotics--like Culturelle which isn't on the program. I distilled my water into glass bottles instead of buying it in plastic. I also used a friend's home infrared sauna to try and raise body temp, sweat, and remove more toxins through the skin which is not on the program but if you go to their Mexico clinic there is some heat therapy I think and saunas are included in many other alternative medicine programs (NOT good though if you've had lymph node removal though--would be a big risk for lymphedema. Too bad--wish I could use a sauna to help me detox from the chemo, etc) . I am starting to explore what my detox options are but right now I do not want to interfere with the Herceptin I am getting until June. I would be very interested in hearing what kinds of things people are doing for detox. Laurel and others--can you share specifics?
Anyway---you are talking to someone who, despite my doctors and some others thinking I was crazy to do what I did, did it anyway. The truth is, Her2 pos cancer can kill people quickly. Some breast cancers are slow growing but not this one. There is a risk involved in delaying treatment while trying other things. You might want to take that risk and you might not. I did it while monitoring the cancer by ultrasound--my cancer-laden breast was my "check engine light" for how it was working and I was very sad and disappointed that it did not work for me. Even though the therapy is difficult (worst thing for me personally was oral and rectal castor oil every other day) I would have gladly stuck to it if it had worked but it did not for me. I felt like I would "kick myself" if I did not give it a try. I am very, very thankful that conventional therapy is going well for me thusfar. This whole cancer thing is rough stuff and I am hanging onto the Lord's Hand real tight.
If you are interested, here is a link to my blog: http://jpoliver.com/wordpress/ If you follow the right side down, you can see the archives beginning in January of last year--you might enjoy poking around . I had ZERO peace about jumping right into conventional therapy: honestly, I had very little confidence in it--thought it might kill me before the cancer did. Man, did I ever struggle and wrestle over conventional therapy--I could hardly bring myself to do it. I had read so much negative about conventional therapy and so much positive about natural-medicine material over the years and was totally convinced that the natural/non toxic approach was the way to go. I am a nurse (no longer working in that field now) and I have held the hands and cared for patients dying of cancer who did every last thing their doctors had told them to do. I esteem quality of life very highly. I witnessed people trying to eek out a few more months who spent it in agony in hospitals. I even gave chemo to some of them. Even though it was long ago that I was doing hospital nursing, I wasn't sure so much had changed over the years. Actually, now I've been through all this and have done more research, I see that Herceptin has made a world of difference in the outcome for many women (not all, but many) and certainly there are much better medications to help with things like nausea with chemo . This board is full of courageous women who are fighting with every tool they can. Gerson Therapy was the tool I chose first. I wish it worked for me but it didn't.
The bottom line: the cancer is in our bodies--we listen to what the "experts" say and then each get to choose what we think is the best match for ourselves.
Rooting for ya,
Paula