The Gerson Therapy

[Jen]

http://gerson.org/gerpress/the-gerson-therapy/

A friend of mine told me about this years ago. I told Mom about it. Has anyone here every tried it? SPOILER ALERT: It gives new meaning to the phrase "how do you take your coffee? <--that was MY ATTEMPT @ humor. BTW Sheila does LOVE her coffee maybe we should give this a try!! Any thoughts or opinons are welcome I just wanna save my Mom. Love, Jennifer

[StephN]

Dear Jen -
I know you would do anything to find a miracle now.
You might ask Sheila what she thinks of such an idea. I don't think she ever replied to any discussions here on that subject, but I bet she knows about it already.

Here is a link to a recent discussion about Gerson on this forum:
http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=53153&highlight=gerson

We have had other members bring up Gerson in the past.

Hugs to you and your Jazzie. I hope Jaz can go visit her grandma.

[europa]

Jen,
When I got diagnosed a friend of mine that is very much into the raw diet movement and nutrition told me about this diet. If you are looking for alternatives, check this out. Before starting chemo I was doing it and noticed that I was no longer bloated (which I always was prior to being diagnosed). My mom also has do a version (plus turmeric and ginger daily) of it as she has bad arthritis in her hands and the improvement is incredible.
http://www.budwigcenter.com/anti-cancer-diet.php

[NEDenise]

Jen,
I'm not a Gerson therapy fan...but your joke made me laugh.
A sense of humor can be a very important weapon in your arsenal during trying times. I know it's kept me going.
Prayers for you and your Mom continue
With love,
Denise

[Jen]

I am glad I could make you laugh Denise.

[Mtngrl]

I'm not just "not a fan" of Gerson. Following this "therapy" can be fatal.

"The appeal to detoxification resonates with many people for some reason, although there is no scientific evidence to back up the claims that we need detoxification, that commercial agriculture is especially poisonous compared to organic food, (http://www.skepdic.com/organic.html) or that coffee enemas do anything more than cause electrolyte imbalance (http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69233.cfm#AdverseDrugReactions) and dehydration (http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=10532). Furthermore, none of the proponents of detoxification by enema identify any specific toxins removed by the process. You'd think at least one advocate would analyze at least one specimen and identify at least one toxin found." http://www.skepdic.com/gersontherapy.html

Jen, I am praying for you and your mom. I am so, so sorry you are going through this.

Cancer sucks.

[Mary Jo]

Not a clue what Gerson is. Only posting to give Jen a cyber hug filled with love.

[chrisy]

Also not a fan of Gerson as an alternative therapy, but I usually take the position that if cant hurt and might help...

In your moms case, I'd be concerned about "taking her coffee" that way because of her history of low platelets.

I agree with Steph, your moms a smart cookie, I value her opinion and it may help you to hear her thoughts.

Hang in there sweetie.

Chris

[Jen]

Thank you everyone for the input and thank you for your love and support.

['lizbeth]

I read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. An analysis of cancer occurrence, diet and lifestyle in China.

The jist is that the highest cancer rates were correlated with the highest intake of animal proteins. Liver cancer - give up animal protein and peanut butter (due to the toxins in the mold causing liver cancer, animal proteins supported growth).

I've seen studies that said drinking coffee black helps to prevent breast cancer. Yep, you can take your Starbucks in a more traditional manner, lmao!

Many of the success stories with cancer that I have seen have been folks that juiced or went vegan. Mom was right - eat your vegetables!

Drink green tea, exercise on a daily basis to the highest level you can for your health level. Louise Hay suggested positive affirmations - that most cancer patients or survivors struggled with resentment. Learning to love and support yourself, surrounding yourself with people that love and support you too - sounds wonderful to me.

If you can, try massage therapy and also be in a good support group.

Be determined to live the longest, healthiest, highest quality of life - because you deserve it!

[tricia keegan]

Sorry Jen but doubt this works but holding you all in my prayers and thinking of your Mom at this time xx

[Paula O]

Jen,

It was great to get the Facebook update and hear that Stephanie had a nice chat on the phone with your Mom! Thanks for keeping us up to date.

I don't know if this is of interest to you and Sheila or not, but since you inquired about Gerson, here's a link you guys might want to consider if you are still taking a look at other alternative medicine cancer therapies as a possible option:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cancerworldsummit.com/index-launch-day.html
Thursday, October 31st at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT -
Kris Carr and Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez.

Friday, November 1st at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT -
Dr. Francisco Contreras and Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy.

Saturday, November 2nd at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT -
Dr. Keith Scott Mumby and Nick Ortner.

Sunday, November 3rd at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT -
Mike Adams and Chris Wark.

Monday, November 4th at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT -
Howard Strauss and Jess Ainscough.

I am sharing this here for you and others to take or leave as each one feels is best for themselves. My guess is that the majority of folks trying alternative medicine have already tried conventional medicine first. I know there are BOTH positive and negative reports on all these folks and their treatments, just a few clicks away and shows like "Prime Time Live" and others have covered this topic many times over. If you are still considering alternative therapy, you might want to check the library for "Outsmart your cancer" and a title something like (but I do't think I'm saying it exactly right) "Cancer treatment outside the box". You can see parts of the movie "Healing Cancer From the Inside Out"free online. It's an overview of many alt therapies and grim statistics on conventional cancer treatment. If you like the looks of the trailer I would be willing to loan you my copy if you want to see it, just PM me.

Please understand that I am not reccomending any of these courses of treatment to anyone but do believe we each have the right to research different options and decide what is the wisest choice for ourselves, ***no matter what anyone else might think.*** You've shared that Sheila's oncologist has nothing left to offer and she is on Hospice. Perhaps there will be something helpful you guys or somebody here can use, perhaps not but it's there if anyone wants to take a look at it.

The Gerson Therapy was extremely intense and did not work for me when I tried it before conventional therapy. Sheph posted the link about this past discussion Although I felt like a million bucks after detoxing, I was monitoring with an ultrasound and the cancer was growing so I stopped and went to my Plan B which is most people's Plan A: a mastectomy, chemo, radiation, Herceptin, and Tamoxifen. I did personally speak to other patients with breast and other types of cancer who THRIVED on Gerson Therapy and I've also spoken to others on the phone, in person, and by email who tried different alternative cancer medicine therapies which were successful , more since the writing of that post in the link. I see no reason for them to lie to me about how well they were doing--they certainly had nothing to prove to me. I spoke to folks who said they had repeat biopsies and scans confirming their NED or stable status after using alternative medicine and I'm thrilled for them--wish I had those results too but am thankful that conventional medicine seems to be working well for me thusfar.
A close friend of mine had surgery for ovarian cancer but decided against chemo and is doing Gerson Therapy instead. She is doing fantastic a couple years post diagnosis to the amazement of her oncologist who monitors her tumor markers regularly--she's had a couple negative scans since too. I never did talk to anyone doing it who was Her2 positive however. I've spoken with family members whose loved ones with cancer did NOT survive despite treatment (both conventional and alternative). Some had an improvement in their quality of life in their remaining time, some did not. My opinion is that both conventional and alternative cancer treatments have success stories and poor outcomes...including the patients who do every last thing available to try with both approaches. It seems that cancer kills a lot of people no matter what they do or don't do. Nobody wants to go down any futile, expensive roads that don't work. How I wish we could discover the root causes of cancer and address those and find a real cure that would work for everybody!

Here is one more resource that you might find helpful as you sift through options: http://www.annieappleseedproject.org/. I do not know her other than a few email contacts but Annie is very helpful, is involved with Project Lead and the NBCC, is interested in evidence based research, and can be contacted directly via that website if Sheila wants to share her situation with her and get her input/opinion.


I wish you guys the very best,

Paula