But what you do have to differentiate between maybe there’s an infection. Maybe it isn’t a healing response. Maybe there’s a urinary tract infection that’s come about, or maybe someone has a lung infection. Certainly, if in doubt, go to the doctor or try to assess, is it something else. Usually those fevers are more noticeable in the afternoon and can run higher if the person has enough vital force, and do need to get antibiotics if you can’t recognize it early on with herbs and all.
But what we don’t want to happen, the reason we say antibiotics if needed, you’ve got somebody already that’s got a weakened immune system with cancer, and then if they have to fight another infection, it takes the body away from dealing with the cancer. So Dr. Gerson and we still feel in certain severe infections, you’ve got to have the antibiotics and get back on board. It all depends on what’s going on.
For those three to five hours, if the person’s really uncomfortable, you can give comfort measures. Tepid sponging, that means lukewarm water, not icy cold, that can bring relief. You squeeze out a washcloth and tap around the body. Increased fluids, keep the body hydrated. Good air flow in the room. You don’t want to blow cold air on them, of course, but just air flow in the room.
Then the pain triad, which is one vitamin C, 500 milligrams; one niacin, 50 milligrams; and one regular strength aspirin. We don’t do that, again, until at least five hours. If that fever’s still high, the person’s getting weak from that fever, then we may bring in the pain triad. So the niacin will help the aspirin actually, help it disperse better. The vitamin C, I’ve heard it may protect a bit from the aspirin, but vitamin C is just such a good antioxidant and healer.
That can be taken once every four hours, if the person doesn’t have, of course, gastritis or stomach problems that would preclude the use of aspirin. I would try to have a little snack, for sure, even when you take the pain triad, to protect the stomach. Anything you want to say on that?
SPEAKER 1: No. I remember the first time I developed a fever after several months on the Gerson therapy. My temperature normally was 96.2, 4, 6, somewhere in there, really low. So when the thermometer registered 104, I was actually excited. It was proof, to me, that I was definitely experiencing healing reaction. I got Charlotte on the phone, talked to me, asked me a few questions, and then said “Well, happy healing.” I took a bath, a tepid bath, and then I got in bed. It lasted till probably the evening the next day, and then it was over. But definitely was quite an experience.
I have had so many different healing reactions and seen and observed different people that, with sprained ankles, old broken bones – my little finger was broken at one time, another toe was broken, and just as Dr. Smith explained, you’ll feel that soreness again. In some cases, the area that’s inflamed will be just as painful as you recall it when you broke it. The accident that I was in and the facial stitches that I had, and then later the impact, was with the head, right at the level where the eyes and the windshield, and that was 50 years ago, more now. But on the Gerson therapy and during a healing reaction, my eye sockets hurt so bad for three days, as if somebody hit me in the head with a baseball bat. I could not focus on anything else.
But then it passed, and as Charlotte explains, you complete the healing in that area. The scar tissue that was lumpy and bumpy to the right of my nose because it never really healed properly, dissolved. Where for many years I couldn’t even feel the bone on the side of my nose, it was just thickness of tissue. It’s gone. It’s the same way, it’s dissolving tumors, malignant or benign. But the remedies work. It’s amazing.
I was in one home and the gentleman had an injury with his leg involving sciatica nerve. I was new at helping people, but got the book out and I said, “Well, look, it says take an enema and then put a castor oil pack on the area.” So we took an enema, and the whole leg hurt. I said, “Where does it hurt the most?” We just put the castor oil pack on the thigh/knee area. Within 15 minutes after that pack was applied, the pain was gone, and this gentleman was in excruciating pain with that nerve. His leg was just shot out straight and a huge muscle man, not the type that complains of pain – it was gone. I was surprised it worked so fast, but it really – follow the book, follow the instructions.
Okay, pain. The things that I found the most helpful with pain after doing the coffee enema is the castor oil pack or the clay pack. If you can find that that helps reduce the pain to a tolerable level, then you don’t need to take the pain triad. But if you’re losing sleep because you’re in pain, then you need to take the pain triad, because the pain is just as much an irritant to the body, causing trauma, and it’s interfering with your healing. So don’t not take it.
For example, a couple years ago I broke a bone in my elbow, and it required surgery, and the doctor wanted to put a pin in and a plate. Well, I ended up just putting the pin, but for four months, every night, because of the break I couldn’t bend my elbow. It was real stiff and swollen. But every night for four months, I’d wrap it in a castor oil pack – and we’ll show you how to do that – and put the hot water bottle on top of it and sleep with it that way. Each morning, I could actually move my arm closer, till eventually I could start feeding and combing my hair again.
It’s been my experience, first of all, the coffee enema really reduces the pain. But then after that, it’s these packs that we’re going to demonstrate. Sprained ankles. One difficulty that I witnessed with someone here in San Diego, I had heard Charlotte talk about a gentleman that needed to come to the clinic and he really needed oxygen to fly, and they didn’t have really the time to go through the red tape to get it approved on the airplane. So she suggested, she felt comfortable, in his case only, to suggest that he pat hydrogen peroxide on the chest to bring more oxygen in. He made it safely here.
Well, one year when we had so many fires in San Diego, there were several people that were damaged with the smoke inhalation. So I suggested that, hydrogen peroxide, just pat it on your chest, and it worked. They breathed easier; it just got them through a difficult time.
We’re so surprised when these natural approaches really make a difference. It doesn’t come in a bottle and doesn’t have a prescription label on it, and it works, and we’re surprised. That’s what the odd thing about it is.
Lymphasizing. As I mentioned yesterday, the CD, the disc, Samuel West, he’s a promoter of the rebounder. The results of that is that it stimulates your lymphatic system. Highly recommend that. There are other ways to lymphasize. Lymphatic massage therapists. The rebounder is part of the Gerson therapy and recommended. The TENS unit, I’m not that familiar with. Maybe Dr. Smith can address that.
DR. SMITH: It’s a unit – I think it stands for Trans-Electrical Neural Stimulation. It sends in little electrical signals. You would wear it, and it supposedly interrupts the pain pathways. So it can give some symptomatic relief. Another thing, someone that’s not able to stand up and get on a rebounder, they say just if the bed is fairly bouncy, just bounce them on the bed. Not bounce them, but move them. It’s that gravity, anti-gravity that can somehow decrease pressure on pain nerve endings. So it’s worth trying.
And there’s a pain management protocol in your binder. It’s page 224, that covers things we’ve talked about maybe in a little more detail. So refer to that.
Lastly, I want to manage stress reduction techniques. Not only to help get through healing reactions, but for dealing with life and illness and all the challenges that we have. I think for me, the mind-body connection is so important, because we’re not just physical beings; we’re not just mental beings; we’re not just emotional. We’re mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual beings. To address what’s going on in the inner world, there’s so many…
We have a book. I don’t know if it was highlighted, a little booklet that we put together on mind-body resources, and it covers so many from things, from Reiki and massage and guided imagery and hypnosis and touch for help. It’s a wonderful resource. I’ll show that, since I already mentioned it. It’s on order. We have it at the Gerson Institute, and it’s updated regularly when we hear of new tapes and books and self-help resources. It’s very inexpensive.
But it can cover things like just breath work. How many of us don’t even realize and are not breathing? Deep, abdominal breathing. I don’t mean – but breathing down into our belly, not just shallow. Because when we’re stressed, we generally tend to hold our breath. We tend to be a little more contracted. Contraction is less oxygen, less flow of energy, which makes us feel uncomfortable and more tendency to pain. But just if we can start to become more aware, every time we think of it, breathing deep.
When you take a deep breath in, or even a normal breath, if it’s a full breath, what happens? Nature designed us; the diaphragm descends, and it massages the organs, the digestive organs and the liver and the spleen. When you exhale, the diaphragm comes up and it massages the lungs and the hearts, and increases the natural lymphatic flow in our body. The studies just measuring people’s levels of stress response go down. So breath work.
Then there’s particularly techniques that people can do for periods of time, if they want to go into the science of breath work and healing, guided imagery, music. Everyone might be different on what it is that they feel more attracted to, to help them relax, to help them get a different perspective on life when you’re going through a challenging situation; healing touch, Reiki, hypnosis, prayer or meditation. I had to throw in Qigong, which is using the mind and using the universal healing energy. It could be yoga.
I didn’t mention this earlier, and I was going to, but there’s a quite well-known doctor, Dr. Gonzales, who also has an alternative cancer therapy system. He has very high regard for Charlotte; they know each other. Carol had given me an interview with him, in writing, a transcript of an interview. One of the questions at the beginning was, “What is the one thing about all the things you do, or if you had to pick one most important thing for a person for healing?” He said, “It’s your mind and attitude. I wouldn’t have said that a year or so earlier. It would be ‘do this, do the therapy, adhere to it.’” And that’s important, but he says, “I’ve seen it over and over.” Positive and relaxed and centered and having a belief system in something beyond just what we see here, he thinks is one of the biggest factors.
It doesn’t mean that a person goes into denial that they may have a serious illness, but you don’t focus on that. Every day, you meet and respond and try to stay as calm and centered – I’m now going beyond what he said, but I found that very interesting, for someone that’s very, very scientific.
SPEAKER 1: Let me mention, too, Dr. Smith, that these things that she’s going over, the breath work, the breathing techniques, the imagery, the music, even touch, especially helpful when you’re getting through the initial difficulties of getting used to a coffee enema. When you’re really releasing a lot of toxins in the beginning, you can have a lot of cramping and discomfort.
But believe it or not, breathing deep and exhaling – Dr. Gerson says to breathe deep while you’re doing your coffee enema. How many remember to do that, or even massaging your stomach or in the back? I found that it can almost instantly stop the cramping, just a small rubbing motion. But the relaxing, because when you cramp, you tense up; you’re just going to make things worse. So all these things she’s talking about, put them into practice as you’re doing your enema, and you’ll see them work.
DR. SMITH: Be kind to yourself. I like the term having compassion for yourself. There’s nothing that anyone has done wrong. We don’t know, ultimately. We can come up with all these reasons, yes, that have contributed to illness; but ultimately, are we in charge? Are we in control? It’s how we respond. Just smiling inwardly, sending love no matter what, and being compassionate to whatever is going on is tremendously healing.
