Setting The Stage

Getting rid of a chronic illness is the first half of ridding oneself of disease. However, that’s where most people stop.

A chronic disease is one that is long lasting or recurrent. It is often defined as lasting longer than three months or one that has developed over a period of time.

The immediate concern is to rid your body of the disease. That’s a loaded statement but not the concern of this post.

I regard ridding your body of the immediate cause of concern as just the first half of the total process. What is the “second half”?

The “Second Half”

As I studied chronic illness, I understood a very simple, logical framework of disease and healing. If you get a chronic illness, one that took some time to develop, it means that your body’s immune system broke down over time. Therefore, you need to 1) find out the causes that broke down the immune system, 2) remove those causes, and 3) build up the immune system again.

This process is what I call the “second half” of recovering from chronic illness. Without going through these steps, your chances of having some sort of recurrence of the same or another chronic illness is much greater than by going through this “second half” of the process.

Keep in mind that my terminology of the “second half” is conceptual. It is not intended to describe an amount of time or effort that each part takes. It is simply intended to recognize that there are two overall parts to a complete healing process.

The Three Points

My “Three Point Plan” refers to the execution steps I conceptualized for the “second half” of the healing process.

Step One: Discover the causes that broke down my immune system. I learned of many evaluative tests that conventional medicine wasn’t using. These tests provided much better and more complete information about the health of my entire body and all its organs. I made a list of all the tests that I wanted to have done. These tests reveal what is often referred to in Alternative Medicine as the "biological terrain" of one’s body.

They included such tests as the EAV, Electro Acupuncture According to Voll, (also referred to as EDS, Electro Dermal Screening), Hair Mineral Analysis, Darkfield Microscopy (also referred to as Live Cell Analysis), Biological Terrain Assessment, and many, many others.

These tests and numerous others are described in “An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer” by W. John Diamond, M.D. and W. Lee Cowden, M.D. I consider this book to be the single most important reference for anyone who has or has had cancer. Although, as the name states, it is specifically targeted at cancer, it provides an excellent overview for any chronic illness in how to view one’s health and healing process.

For a much broader perspective of Alternative Medicine, another excellent reference is the “Alternative Medicine: A Definitive Guide” presented by Burton Goldberg.

Step Two: I made a list of preventive actions that I wanted to take including a variety of nutritional support. Although this step will come out of the results of the evaluative tests in Step One, I still made a list of nutritional support that I wanted to use. This step helped me to become familiar with the vast variety of support that is available yet not utilized by conventional medicine to build our bodies.

Step Three: I made a list of Alternative Medicine therapies that I would use if cancer should return. I wanted to be prepared ahead of time.

Of course I hope you never hear these words, “you have cancer”, however if someone ever said them to me again, I wanted to be knowledgeable and prepared as to what I would do. Once someone says those words, or some other seriously chronic illness, my experience, which I know is extremely typical, is that your mind goes into a “fog.” From then on, it is hard to think straight. It is especially near impossible to think about “alternative treatments” outside of the conventional mainstream.

Well, that’s my Three Point Plan For Healing. I hope it’s given you some insight into your own healing processes.

Parasites Influence Or Cause Hundreds Of Illnesses

Parasites and other hidden microbes infest not only the intestinal tract but also migrate into the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, lung, stomach and every part of the organ system. There can be many species of parasites infecting different parts of one’s organs at the same time. Specific treatment may be required for each parasite.

Parasites And Allergies

Allergy problems have been on the rise for the last 50 years. Over 20% of the U.S. population is suffering from allergy related problems. This increase has coincided with the increase in the incidence of all chronic degenerative diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and cancer.

Allergies have been associated with a whole list of symptoms including asthma, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, ADD/ADHD, chronic sinusitis and bronchitis, canker sores, bedwetting, ear infections, dermatitis and hives, joint pain, behavioral problems and migraine headaches. This is only a partial list of allergy related symptoms.

Is there a missing link between allergies, allergy treatments, and parasites?

As an example, night coughs and asthma have been frequently associated with Ascaris (roundworms) in the lung. Bloating, flatulence, nausea, and change in appetite have been associated with gallbladder/liver involvement from Strongyloides (parasites) or liver flukes (another form of parasites).

Allergies and parasites are intimately related from an alternative medicine perspective. Yet they seem so far apart in the conventional medical understanding of the role of parasites in allergies. Unfortunately, parasite infestations are hard to detect by the current medical tests of standard blood tests, stool ova and parasite evaluation. Most of the parasites are deeply embedded in the organs and very difficult to eradicate. They reproduce quickly and migrate to different parts of the body.

Conventional medical treatments for allergy related symptoms are mainly designed to suppress the symptoms. The treatments rarely correct the underlying problems. They may even create a condition for the proliferation of chronic degenerative medical conditions later in life.

Parasites are only one example of the causes of allergies. One should also explore other potential causes such as environmental pollution, heavy metal toxicity, hidden dental infections, and unresolved emotions that trigger responses which mimic the allergic reactions. (See the "Five Primary Causes Of Illness" post on this web site.)

Parasites And Cancer

"Chronic inflammation" is a new catch phrase for the explanation of all chronic degenerative diseases from asthma, arthritis, heart diseases, and irritable bowel disease to cancers. Unrecognized low grade infection is one of the main culprits causing chronic inflammation. The link between infection and cancer has been recognized for many years and reported by many older medical practitioners. However, it has never been widely accepted by medical authorities due to a lack of reliable, reproducible data to support this observation – until now.

A missing link in the relationship between infection, inflammation, and cancer was finally provided by the brilliant, ground breaking research on stem cells done by Jean Marie Houghton, MD, Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Her work, specifically related to the formation of stomach cancer and, published in 2004, showed the cause and effect relationship between bacterial infection and cancer.

In addition, she showed that this relationship is hidden under the disguise of chronic inflammation. Her work led to an understanding that all forms of infectious microbes, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites, can create an inflammatory immune response which, under toxic environmental conditions, can cause cancer cells to grow.

Some other major sources of chronic inflammation to consider include: hidden dental infections, old trauma, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, chronic allergies, over training in athletes, electromagnetic stimulation, and unresolved emotional trauma. These multiple sources of inflammation create a "ring of fire" in our body. This "ring of fire" causes our immune system to lose control which then allows cancer cells to evade our immune surveillance and proliferate.

Therefore, due to the complexity of the behavior and biology of cancer cells, rather than micromanage the biochemistry of the cancer cells as in conventional treatments, our primary focus should be on detecting and eliminating the sources of inflammation. In particular, eradicating hidden infections should be one of the highest priorities for all cancer patients. Infections may come from viruses, parasites, and root canal dental infections. They can also be hidden in many different parts of organs and different layers of tissues.

Eradicating infections and inflammation should be combined with cleansing and detoxification of internal toxins and providing the nutritional support for our body to heal. Detoxification and nutritional support are the best preventive actions to reducing the cancer risk factors mentioned above.

Treatment Options

Conventional medical professionals are too eager to treat the symptoms of illness with medications without recognizing the multiple, hidden, correctable causes.

Does conventional medicine really use the proper tools to uncover parasitic infestations? One of their primary, if not sole, tests is a microbiology lab test. How reliable is this test? This test of routine stool evaluation for ova and parasites picks up less than 10 % of active infections. There are hundreds of parasites with very complicated life cycles that can exist outside the intestinal tract. Therefore they wouldn’t be detected by this test. Many of these parasites can penetrate through skin, lung, nostril and every known organ and tissue in the body.

In alternative medicine, some natural herbal remedies are often used for parasites. However, these are often not strong enough to eradicate the parasites which have been embedded deeply into one’s organs. These cases often require multiple high doses of pharmaceutical parasite medications in conjunction with herbal parasite remedies. When the patient receives the right medications for the correct dose in a proper sequence, the response can be dramatic.

For example, I know of someone who had a bronchial infection for three years that couldn’t be resolved by conventional treatments. One doctor said this person would have to live with it for the rest of his life. When he saw an alternative medicine practitioner knowledgeable in parasites, he was prescribed one course of treatment over three months that cured the "permanent" infection.

The analysis and understanding of the relationships between illnesses, symptoms, and parasites along with the proper understanding of the natural and pharmaceutical treatment options requires a special expertise even by an alternative medicine practitioner.

Unfortunately, the connection between parasites and allergy symptoms, and parasites, infection, and cancer, has not been well recognized. The only reliable proof we have for the cause and effect relationships of parasites and allergies, cancer, and other illnesses is based on clinical observation of the improvement of allergy symptoms with properly prescribed medications for the parasite infections when treated by a knowledgeable alternative medicine practitioner.

For a knowledgeable practitioner, see the description of Dr. Yu on the "Expert Friends" page of this site. Also, look for the series of articles he wrote (and I edited) on parasites.

The best course of healing is for you to see a practitioner who will create a specific course of treatment for your symptoms and condition. If you want a first start at cleansing and detoxification, I recommend this colon and parasite cleansing program.

This Is "My Story", What’s Yours?

Please share your successful experiences with Alternative Medicine on our forum.

Be sure to read the page titled "What’s Your Story?" You can access it in the sidebar navigation.

Who Is Ed Mass?

This site presents a perspective of Alternative Medicine from Ed Mass, who has worked closely for many years (and continues to do so) with a M.D. who practices Alternative Medicine, also called Complementary Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and Biological Medicine, presented from a unique perspective. Ed also works with a Dentist who practices Biological Dentistry. Here you’ll find Alternative Medicine presented from an evidence based perspective of what has worked for many people.

I encourage you to participate and provide your feedback in comments to my posts. I truly think you’ll gain a significantly greater understanding of health and healing that you won’t find in either conventional medicine or other Alternative Medicine sites.

My Story

Kidney Cancer Follow-Up – The Next Vital Step: Building My Immune System

From one day to the next, I developed kidney cancer! Of course, it wasn’t just in one day. It had been developing for some time. How long? Very fast in one month? Slowly over several years? No one will ever know.

I went to the hospital at 9:00 am one morning because I had blood in my urine and pain in my side. By 5:00 pm that day, I’m going into surgery to have my right kidney removed…and the tumor that was half the size of the kidney.

I was "fortunate", not, of course, in having the cancer, but in that the cancer had not spread outside my kidney. Therefore, I did not need any chemotherapy or radiation.

This Is Follow-up?

After the initial shock and scare of having cancer and recovering from the surgery, the next step was to have follow-up exams. Although I had utilized homeopathy, which is one aspect of Alternative Medicine, I was so scared by the thought of cancer, and the words from the conventional medical establishment, that I went to a nationally renowned hospital for follow-up.

I was on, what I now call, the "fringes" of Alternative Medicine. I hadn’t fully embraced it because I simply knew too little about it.

My follow-up consisted of x-rays and blood work every six months and CAT scans once a year. I kept wondering what they – the medical professionals – and I were doing with this information. It finally dawned on me that all they were doing was waiting; waiting to see when cancer would return.

They were checking to see if they could catch it early in its stages, as if they could treat it any better by catching it early. After all, the cancer studies follow patients for five years, as if that’s enough to extend one’s life.

Since the early 1970s and after tens of billions of dollars spent on cancer research, cancer rates are still increasing. Doesn’t this suggest that maybe this research is looking in the wrong places to cure it? How about the novel idea of just taking all of the known carcinogens out of our environment, out of our air, water, and food, and of products and manufacturing processes so people don’t get cancer in the first place? But, I digress.

My Life Rocketed Into "Serious Researcher" Mode

I had studied Alternative Medicine off and on for almost 20 years up to this point. However, I now catapulted into serious research and reading into Alternative Medicine for cancer. A "light bulb" finally lit up in my head one day when logic and common sense took hold of me.

My thinking went like this: I realized, from my study and talking with doctors, that everyone has cancer cells. A healthy immune system keeps them in check; kills them off. Since I got cancer, my immune system must have broken down. Therefore, why don’t I remove all the causes of cancer – the causes that weakened my immune system – for which I have control? Why don’t I simultaneously build the strength of my immune system? Yes, that’s exactly what I decided to do.

A Three Point Plan

In my research, I developed a three point plan. First, I learned of many evaluative tests that conventional medicine was not using. These tests provided much better and more complete information about the health of my entire body and all its organs. I made a list of all the tests that I wanted to have done.

Second, I made a list of preventive actions that I wanted to take including a variety of nutritional support. Third, I made a list of Alternative Medicine therapies that I would use if cancer should return. I wanted to be prepared ahead of time.

Once someone says that "you have cancer" your mind immediately goes into a state of great anxiety and it’s difficult to think objectively and evaluate options, especially unconventional ones. The time to prepare is ahead of time.

I "bumped" into a friend of mine who told me how Dr. Simon Yu had helped my friend’s wife get her health back after conventional doctors had "messed her up" with prescription drugs and their side affects and interactions.

I Found My "Guide"

I was amazed when I first took my lists into Dr. Yu. I found that he was using all the diagnostic tests and preventive treatments on my lists plus many more that I hadn’t considered. He was using a variety of therapies that drew upon the best that Alternative Medicine and conventional medicine have to offer. I had found the hope and the person who would be my guide to proactive health for whom I was looking.

When I started with Dr. Yu, I began my "second half" of recovering from cancer. Most conventional medical professionals exclusively focus on ridding the body of cancer. They destroy the body and its immune system while attempting to kill the cancer by poisoning with chemotherapy and burning it out with radiation.

The U.S. has some of the best surgical and trauma care in the world. But when it comes to chronic illness we are sorely lacking…often by wide margins.

Of course, I am thankful for the surgery that I had. Of the conventional treatments, surgery is the least destructive to the immune system. The cancer, however, may only be "conquered" temporarily.

The "second half" of conquering cancer is to make sure it doesn’t return. That means two steps. First, discover the causes that weakened the immune system and destroy them. Second, build the immune system.

My "Biological Terrain"

Since starting with Dr. Yu, we discovered I had mercury toxicity, parasites, and weakened organ functions. In my Alternative Medicine research, I found that these are a few of the many causes of weakened immune systems which can lead to cancer or a variety of other illnesses.

These "weak links" of my body have been remedied through the following actions: replacement of all my mercury fillings (I like to call them for what they really are and not the euphemistic name of "silver" fillings since they are at least 50% mercury.), chelation for removal of mercury in my body, parasite cleansing, and nutritional support to strengthen weak organ function and build my immune system.

I continue with periodic monitoring of my "biological terrain." This monitoring determines adjustments in my immune building routines to keep me on the right track.

There are no guarantees in life. However, I have been cancer-free since the removal of my kidney in 1996. I feel I am now taking the positive, pro-active steps to maximize my chances that cancer will not return so I can live a healthy life.

I am extremely thankful that Dr. Yu has chosen to use his knowledge, training, talents and skills toward what I consider to be the true practice of healing. I consider him one of the pre-eminent Alternative Medicine practitioners in the U.S. because he involves a wide variety of evaluation techniques and therapies. Often, even within Alternative Medicine, practitioners specialize in specific areas within the field

You can find more information about Dr. Yu at his web site: www.preventionandhealing.com.

Transition To Alternative Medicine and Health Researcher

I have studied Alternative Medicine on and off since 1977. However, I have studied it intensively since 1998. Plus I have a variety of business, marketing, and technical skills. Therefore, the follow up to my seeing Dr. Yu as a patient was that we developed a close working relationship.

This consists of numerous discussions on Alternative Medicine concepts, evaluation techniques, and therapies. It also includes planning his marketing activities, organizing the content on his web site, editing his articles, and resolving technical problems with his evaluation equipment. Dr. Yu has said that I know as much about his practice of Alternative Medicine as anyone, including his own staff.

Dr. Yu has sponsored five professional conferences on Alternative Medicine. I was in charge of the marketing for two of these. I moderated two of the conferences. I also gave a presentation on the "Politics of Health Freedom."

In addition to Dr. Yu, I also have a similar relationship with Dr. Rehme who practices Biological Dentistry. Dr. Michael Rehme is also a CCN, Certified Clinical Nutritionist. It is exceptionally rare to find this combination. You can find out more about Dr. Rehme at his web site: www.toothandbodyconnection.com.

My Blog Is Born

I talk with people everywhere I go about Alternative Medicine in both social and business activities. Either I find them or they find me but the conversations often come around to unresolved health issues for themselves, their family, or their friends.

That led me to finally developing this blog to share my knowledge. I hope your healing becomes real, you gain new insights with "ah-ha" moments, and you stay healthy for the rest of your life.

That’s my story (which, of course, continues in this blog). What’s yours?