[seekay]

I also want to extend wishes for continued healing. From what you have expressed in this journal, it seems you are doing what is right for your body. I hope life continues to get better and better for you.

xoxo,

CK

[seekay]

Dear Friend,

Did you ever consider trying the Gerson therapy? The Gerson Institute is based in San Diego, and is run by Charlotte Gerson (daughter of Max Gerson, MD, the creator of the therapy). They have a fully licensed clinic, called the Baja Nutricare Clinic, in Baja California.

The therapy is completely non-toxic. It consists of detoxification therapy via diet, coffee enemas (also sometimes chamomile and castor oil enemas), a highly nutritious diet including the consumption of freshly-prepared juices (containing the full complement of known anticancer phytochemicals and live enzymes), and certain natural supplements designed to change the body’s chemistry to create an environment in which normal cell metabolism thrives and cancer cell metabolism does not. Two weeks at the clinic, for you and your husband (so you can learn the therapy) costs approximately $10,000. You can also try to do it yourself at home, though you should have lots of input from Charlotte and others experienced in the therapy to have the best chance of success. There are important details that can’t be overlooked (e.g., not bathing in chlorine, fluoride, and/or sodium laden water; not ingesting too much water, which depletes stomach acids needed to digest and to absorb nutrients). The therapy is tailored to the individual’s needs, overseen by MDs who monitor bloodwork and adjust therapy both at the Clinic, and afterwards. There has been discussion about it elsewhere on this site. Also, Marla, Jimbob, and John Hess are doing similar therapies with good results.–CK

[seekay]

Here, Patti–I copied this from the NCI website. This discusses their seven year study of the Gonzales Regimen and gives some history behind it.
best,

CK

Questions and Answers About the Gonzalez Regimen

What is the Gonzalez regimen trial for pancreatic cancer?
The Gonzalez regimen trial is a 7-year clinical study which compares the standard treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer with the Gonzalez nutritional treatment regimen of pancreatic enzymes and dietary supplements. It is funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).[1]

How common is pancreatic cancer?
In 2005, it is estimated that 32,180 people will get pancreatic cancer, with the cases evenly divided between men and women. Because of the high mortality of the disease, 31,800 people are expected to die from the disease in 2005 (Note: Not all of the deaths are associated with cancers newly diagnosed in 2005).[2]

How was the Gonzalez regimen trial developed?
Nicholas Gonzalez, a New York physician, conducted an initial study of his nutritional treatment and submitted selected results to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 1993. All of the 11 patients in the study had some form of pancreatic cancer. Patients treated with the Gonzalez regimen appeared to live somewhat longer than most others with the same type of cancer.[3]

NCI decided that for various reasons, one of which was the small number of patients, this first study did not clearly demonstrate benefits from the Gonzalez nutritional treatment. The results were promising enough, however, that a second study was suggested which would include a much larger number of patients. This second study is the ongoing prospective case control study sponsored by the NCCAM at the NIH. The trial is being conducted in conjunction with Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.

How does the Gonzalez regimen trial work?
The study is now enrolling patients with inoperable Stage II-IV pancreatic cancer. The Gonzalez regimen patients receive pancreatic enzymes orally every 4 hours and at mealtimes for 16 days. Dietary supplements in pill form, such as magnesium citrate, papaya, vitamins and other minerals are also given. Daily coffee enemas are part of the treatment.

Patients who are given standard treatment receive a chemotherapeutic drug called gemcitabine intravenously for 30 minutes once a week for 7 weeks. Researchers plan to statistically compare these patients with the Gonzalez regimen patients.

How did Dr. Gonzalez develop the pancreatic enzyme treatment?
In 1902, James Beard, a Scottish physician, proposed that pancreatic enzymes might control and kill cancer cells.[4] Later, William Kelley, DDS, further developed Dr. Beard’s approach and published the results of his own practice.[5] Impressed by these findings, Dr. Gonzalez began working closely with Dr. Kelley. The Gonzalez nutritional regimen is a combination of this work with Dr. Kelley and the theories and practice of Dr. Max Gerson [6] who also treated cancer through diet and nutritional supplementation.

What are the chances of living with pancreatic cancer?
Cancer of the pancreas is rarely curable. It is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The longest survival occurs when the tumor is truly localized to the pancreas. Unfortunately, this stage of disease accounts for fewer than 20% of cases and results in an approximately 20% 5-year survival rate for patients with completely resected tumors.

The 5-year survival rate for all patients with pancreatic cancer is only 4%. For patients with advanced cancers, the overall survival rate is less than 1% at 5 years, with most patients dying within 1 year. Patients with any stage of pancreatic cancer can appropriately be considered candidates for clinical trials because of the poor response to chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. However, palliation of symptoms may be achieved with conventional treatment.

References

Chabot J, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University: Prospective Cohort Study of Gemcitabine Versus Intensive Pancreatic Proteolytic Enzyme Therapy With Ancillary Nutritional Support (Gonzalez Regimen) in Patients With Stage II, III, or IV Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas, CPMC-IRB-8544, Clinical trial, Closed. [PDQ Clinical Trial]

American Cancer Society.: Cancer Facts and Figures 2005. Atlanta, Ga: American Cancer Society, 2005. Also available online. Last accessed February 8, 2006.

Gonzalez NJ, Isaacs LL: Evaluation of pancreatic proteolytic enzyme treatment of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, with nutrition and detoxification support. Nutr Cancer 33 (2): 117-24, 1999. [PUBMED Abstract]

Beard J: The Enzyme Treatment of Cancer and its Scientific Basis. London: Chatto & Windus, 1911.

Kelley WD: One Answer to Cancer. Mount Pearl, Canada: Cancer Coalition for Alternative Therapies, Inc. 1999. Also available online. Last accessed August 22, 2005.

Gerson M: The cure of advanced cancer by diet therapy: a summary of 30 years of clinical experimentation. Physiol Chem Phys 10 (5): 449-64, 1978. [PUBMED Abstract]

[seekay]

Hi Patti,

It’s Nicholas. He has a website. My feeling about him is that perhaps his bedside manner leaves a little to be desired. But the therapy, based on that of the Texas dentist William Kelley, is similar in many respects to the Gerson therapy developed by Max Gerson, MD.

In fact, Kelley studied the Gerson therapy in coming up with his own “version” of it. I sort of think Kelley and Gonzales owe a great deal to Max Gerson. It’s a little strange to me that Gonzales never mentions Gerson on his online website.

Gerson incorporates a liver extract and dairy (nonfat yogurt) at approx six weeks into the therapy. Otherwise, Gerson’s diet is largely focused on certain vegetables and fruit and supplements like Lugol’s solution, potassium, pancreatic enzymes, B12, etc. Also, it incoporates various herbs and certain other alternative cancer therapies as the individual’s situation requires.

Gonzales doesn’t elaborate on the multitude of supplements he prescribes. He does mention heavy use of pancreatic enzymes.

Dear John: I would love to meet you and Marla. I live in LA. I will email my telephone number separately.

Best,

CK

[seekay]

Sorry,

Yeah the AdaptaMax seems to help. There’s also another kind of adrenal support product NS makes, called Suma, I believe? Each one is different depending on your blood type. I can find out which one is which in the Nature’s Sunshine product book I have (though I’m not a rep or anything).

I can’t believe how addicted I am to this website, now. I have been trying to help my friend, and now I am so drawn into this world. What an amazing thing the internet has been for me, in terms of being able to connect with people and to learn so much about nutrition. Google is amazing. I think that more and more people are going to seek out alternative treatments to conventional cancer care because of the internet and Google.

CK

[seekay]

Patti,

Has your mother in law done any regular detoxing? Essiac capsules, burdock root, dandelion root and/or juicing the leaves of dandelion is good. And of course, there is the coffee enema.

I will email you privately to get your telephone, if you don’t mind.

Thx,

CK

[seekay]

One more book: on sleep and the importance of it for nourishing the body, brain, etc.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth

9 hours for you, Patti, does NOT mean you are lazy. It just means that’s what your body needs.

After I got that book a few years ago, I became a little bit of a sleep “nazi” (for lack of a better term) with my kids. Regular naps in the am and pm for the little one. Now just a regular afternoon nap, always in his crib in a dark, quiet room. Five year olds optimally need 12 hours a night.

I see so many parents lugging their little babies/kids around when those kids should be sleeping. Now, I recognize the signs of a chronically sleep-deprived toddler–usually they don’t focus well, and get cranky pretty quickly during the day.

I think we adults as a group a generally sleep-deprived as well, and that it definitely impacts our health. Quality as well as quantity of sleep is so important.

CK

[seekay]

Patti and Marla,

I checked out the Amazon site for Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, and also Weston Price’s foundation. I had heard of him before because of his work on uncovering the connection between root canals, bacteria, and chronic diseases of the body (the focal infection theory).

WOW. That book looks to be a seminal one in the field of nutrition. I will get my hands on it soon. I see I have a lot to learn, especially about live enzymes. I know Dr. Gerson was always talking about the oxidizing enzyme power of the dark leafy green-apple juice and carrot-apple juice he advocated. I was never sure if he was referring to antioxidants, just using different terminology. (I’m sure Marla could shed light on this topic.)

Patti, do you know whether your mother in law would be interested in speaking to a friend of mine (if he or his wife is interested) who has MDS? They are at a crossroads now as to what to do, and speaking with people who are using naturopathic medicine might help them figure out their next steps.

If not, it’s not a problem. Just though I would ask.

Marla, you may want to check out the B12 study/article written by Carmen Wheatley on the orthomolecular oncology website (http://www.canceraction.org.uk I believe is the site?). She was Prof. Gearin-Tosh’s grad student at Oxford and learned so much about nutrition in her attempt to help her friend. Her case study of him, “The Case of the .005% (or is it .05%?) Survivor,” also is chock full of information.

Also, the website by Leo Galland, MD is a good one. He has a foundation (Foundation for Integrated Healing, or something like that) and a linked health articles website with great info. He’s a convetional doc (either Harvard or NYU Med School) with a holistic approach to healing, practicing in NYC

I also have two kids, btw, and a husband who travels a lot. So I empathize with the exhaustion issue. I’ve been trying AdaptaMax, which is an adrenal support supplement made by Nature’s Sunshine. Someone metioned to me Equilib, which I think is an animal derived souce of Vit B12, among some other things.

CK

[seekay]

Dear Patti,

Thanks for the posting. I would recommend the following to start:

A Cancer Therapy by Max Gerson, MD
Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther
–Dr. Gerson treated his son, a precocious, highly intelligent and sensitive boy in his teens who had a brain tumor. Gerson’s treatment succeeded in switching off the cancerous tumor activity and the tumor spontaneously died. Unfortunately, the boy had undergone mustard gas treatment (this was the earliest form of chemotherapy) prior to the Gerson therapy, and Charlotte believes the release of these harbored toxins back into Johnny’s system caused a regeneration of the cancerous biochemical environment, allowing tumor regrowth. Dr. Gerson, who knew nothing of chemotherapy (because it was before his time) believed that hormones that the boy took for a skin condition, caused regrowth of the virulent tumor that killed him.
Living Proof by Michael Gearin-Tosh
The Gerson Therapy by Charlotte Gerson
Beating Cancer Naturally by Patrick Quillin, Ph.D.
Superimmunity for Kids by Leo Galland, MD
–this book was written in the late 80s, so is a little dated, I feel, but has an excellent explanation of what essential fatty acids are and why they are so important for immune system function in particular.
The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.

CK

[seekay]

Thank you for posting that information. I have heard of Price-Pottenger Foundation before, but have not until now come across their website. I will study these sites in detail.

I realized after posting that people with blood related disorders have specific issues regarding absorption of minerals/vitamins from food that might be better addressed by the inclusion of certain meats in the diet. (I believe Gonzales talks about this on his website?) Also, I checked in my Gerson list of desirable foods and see that they do include nonfat organic yogurt after the sixth week of therapy, or as allowed by the physician.

The question is a complex one, and perhaps requires looking at the individual’s particular history, for example, if the person has other chronic conditions affecting the liver, that need to be addressed first with a diet that does not further tax the liver. Then perhaps once the liver has been strengthened, it is good to look at adding clean animal sources of certain minerals/vitamins into the diet. Or perhaps those needs can be better met by supplementation and a healthy diet of fresh organic plant-based foods grown in rich soil? I do not know the best answer to that question, and perhaps it depends partly on the individual.

Finally, I note that Dr. Campbell recognizes that most plants sold in stores today are grown in “lifeless” non-organic soil, stripped of the microorganisms that make vitamin B12 and that animal proteins contain more of this important nutrient than most plant foods. He states that vitamin B12 is made by microorganisms in the intestines of most animals, including in our own intestines, but that this amount we create is not adequately absorbed. Thus, it is recommended to consume B12 in food. He further notes:

“[W]e live in such a sanitized world that we rarely come into direct contact with the soilborne microrganisms that produce B12. At one point in our history, we got B12 from vegetables that hadn’t been scoured of all soil. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to assume that modern Americans who eat highly cleansed plant products and no animal products are unlikely to get enough vitamin B12 in food,.” (The China Study, p. 232)

So he advocates supplementation: “If you do not eat any animal products for three years or more (he states that it is estimated we hold a three-year store of vitamin B12 in our bodies), or are pregnant or breastfeeding, you should consider taking a small B12 supplement on occasion, or going to the doctor annually to check your blood levels of B vitamins and homocysteine.” (id.)

I believe that MDS patients may have even higher than normal B12 needs, from reading the study posted on the orthomolecular oncology website.

As for zinc, I do not know too much about that mineral in particular, and did not find, immediately, information on it in Dr. Campbell’s book. I know I read about how ingesting certain minerals with others sometimes cancels out their absorption in the body (see, e.g., Leo Galland’s Superimmunity for Kids). I don’t recall specifically with which mineral(s) zinc was combined. Why wouldn’t supplementation, though, be as good as getting it from an animal source, Marla, if you know?

Thanks,

CK

[seekay]

Dear Terri,

Are you taking digestive enzymes? Wobe Mugos? AbsorbAid? That might help his stomach. At age 60 and with health problems, he may not be creating enough hydrochloric acid in his stomach to digest and absorb nutrients from the food he eats. The constipation is a concern. That definitely should not be a side effect of the ingredients in Essiac. Perhaps try Nature’s Sunshine brand Essiac capsules? Also, JUICING is a great way to get nutrients into the body, I would think, when one is not digesting food well. The green juices, with organic apple, also will help the body to detoxify.

What are you doing for detoxification?

Have you read up on soy products? (See, e.g., Gerson.org FAQ, mercola.com) I think the jury is still out on whether they are good/bad for you. (I’ve read that they have something in them that is an immune system inhibitor, if I recall.) Probably okay to have small quantities, though, of non-processed soy products Soy probably is better than dairy, if you need a milk substitute.

CK

[seekay]

My one concern about the Gonzales approach is the inclusion of animal proteins in the diet for some individuals. My feeling about animal proteins, including dairy, is generally 1) they are acid-forming foods; 3) they are the hardest foods to digest, putting strain on the liver, which in MDS patients is often very compromised; and 3) they have been shown in many instances to be positively correlated with cancer (see generally The China Study, by T Colin Campbell, specifically long term studies involving red meat and cow’s milk, showing that, for example, casein turns on mutant, cancerous DNA behavior in cells).

On the other hand, I am by no means an expert in this area. I do agree with the detoxification and enzyme treatment aspects of Gonzales therapy.

Also, I note that his therapy is really the work of the dentist, Dr. Kelley, who acknowledges having drawn heavily from the work of Max Gerson (father of the Gerson therapy).

Seekay

[seekay]

Hi G-Masenews,

I second what Patti said about Nature’s Sunshine products. We use their line, and the products, all of them, are TOP quality. The best. Much better than what you can find at Whole Foods or GNC, or any nutrition supplement store.

If you use herbals, you have to be concerned with quality. I think herbals sometimes get a bad rap because the product source/manufacturing process is bad. Potency depends directly on the quality of the plant used, etc.

Nature’s Sunshine has an extremely high standard for products they use. They reject a lot of plants that other companies end up buying and using to create herbal medicines. They are based in Utah, I believe.

CK

[seekay]

Fran,

That message was meant for “G” in London. Do you want her tel # as well?

CK

[seekay]

Dear Janice,

Arsenic is poison, if I am not mistaken. I don’t believe that the body fully excretes these drugs once ingested. I think that residues of them remain in the body, putting further stress on the system.

Have you considered a nontoxic alternative first? What would be the harm in that?

CK

[Author]

Posts