Have you been diagnosed with an illness that has many “medical” treatments available but all involving either medication or surgery?  Recently I was told to take a specific medication for a type of inflammatory arthritis.  I stood facing the doctor and told him, emphatically, I will not take any medication.  He responded that my fingers would curl up and become completely deformed. As if to allay my fears, he continued “If you take the medication NOW, we can stop the progression of the “disease.”

My response was total disbelief and indignation.  When he informed me that I had this diagnosis (which he labeled “disease”)  and that there were many treatments available, I was expecting him to suggest that I improve my diet, do more exercise, get some physical therapy or massages.  I did not expect that the first line of defense would be medication.  Now medication is not so bad if it is temporary, something I would take for a few weeks to alleviate a current problem.  But this is meant to be a lifelong medication.  A second doctor, a leading specialist in NYC, corroborated the diagnosis and the treatment.  Thinking he was reassuring me, he said “There is nothing to worry about.  We monitor you by taking blood tests every 2 weeks.  If the medication causes a problem for your kidneys or liver, we can see that and switch to different type of medication.”  I had read the potential side effects and they included lowering the immune system response and liver damage, among many other details.  And, once taking this medication it is important to stay out of the sun (difficult to do while living in Florida) and to not drink any alcohol (also difficult to do at the end of a stressful week when I meet a friend for a cocktail).

So I made a firm decision to prove these doctors wrong.  Immediately I visited the office of a local naturopathic doctor who practices Persian Medicine (similar to Chinese Medical Theory).  She gave me a very strict, almost totally vegetarian and quite bland diet along with a substantial and expensive cache of supplements and herbs.  The cost of that one visit was prohibitive for me.  So I followed the diet for a while, but then altered it to suit my needs (such as a cup of coffee midday – obviously coffee is not allowed nor is alcohol).  After about a week on that strict diet I was invited by a friend to visit The Hippocrates Institute in Palm Beach, Florida, a place that is renowned around the world as a healing retreat offering a completely raw food diet.  Although it feels good to indulge in a total array of green lettuce, sprouts and vegetables, this diet also is bit too restrictive for my lifestyle.

At the Hippocrates Institute I met a lady who had been diagnosed with lymphoma many years ago and had finally decided to stop the chemotherapy and radiation.  Instead, she was eating a mostly raw food diet along with regularly doing internal cleanses.  She recommended a 7 day colon cleanse and then a 6 day gall bladder and liver cleanse along with taking regular enemas.  I followed her advice and took a bentonite cleanse  (Sonne 7) for 7 days. I ordered a book that explains the liver and gall bladder cleanse.  It requires taking 32 ounces of apple juice, along with only warm, cooked food for 6 days.  On the 6th day, you take all of the apple juice in the morning and then drink Epsom salt with water and later olive oil with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice in a specific amount and on a specific schedule.  Instead of taking enemas I chose to get a series of high colonics to further cleanse my colon.

At this point, the swelling, the movement and the flexibility in my fingers and toes has returned almost to normal. I continue to exercise and stretch and crunch my fingers past the point of pain to bring back the mobility. Many of my neck and shoulder aches and pains have disappeared.  And I have not followed this extremely strict diet.  I had my favorite pasta (rigatoni vodka) filled with cheese and I added parmiagian  cheese on top – and – a small glass of my favorite wine, Pinot Noir and I felt fine that evening and the next day.

Several of the books I have read about healing the body naturally tend to claim that most physical ailments begin in the digestive tract.  When something gets blocked or disturbed in the colon, all the other organs and organ systems get affected.  Heal the colon and most illnesses will begin to heal.  Our bodies have an amazing capacity for self-healing once we eliminate the blockages and allow our natural immune responses to take over.

It is essential to receive an accurate diagnosis of any illness and sometimes pharmaceuticals are the best first line of defense.  For example, when my back was out of whack and I was lying on the floor unable to move, when I finally did get up, got to an emergency room, and received the pain killer and muscle relaxant medications, I was never so happy.  But that was for a temporary, acute problem, not taken continuously and indefinitely.

One caveat.  If you do decide to attempt to heal your own illness through natural methods, it is not easy.  You definitely have to make some major changes in diet, exercise, lifestyle, attitude, time schedules, etc.  But having to sit in a doctor’s office for many hours every week or two is also affecting your lifestyle.  And the medications have so many side effects, especially if combined with other medications.  It is not an easy choice to change your diet and do the internal cleansing required. Some physical problems could require many colonics or enemas and many rounds of colon, liver, gall bladder and kidney internal cleansing.  The end result, however, is a return to feeling good in your body without worrying about potential irreversible side effects.