“What is healing, if not a new set of habits?”

This section of alisonlorraine.com contains links and information regarding cancer treatments I’ve used successfully, resources I’ve learned from and practitioners I’ve consulted in my long-term battle against the Big C.

Chemo – that drug that “targets cancer cells” (read: targets fast-proliferating cells like hair and digestive) – doesn’t address the underlying conditions that allow cancer to take hold in the first place. By the time Big C bit me, I was already down for the count, my digestive and immune system shot to hell by years of pharma and heavy metals toxicity. I’m definitely not Chemo Girl, but as always, everybody is different, meaning every BODY is different, so please proceed at your own risk.

My protocol is based on my individual set of circumstances, namely melanoma, both parents being tumor producers, a tendency toward demineralization, history of systemic fungal and parasitic infections, VERY fast metabolism, lots of dental issues, very thin and sensitive.

Starting below are treatments I’ve used, things I avoid like the plague, and other parts of my personal underground railroad to cancer survival, outside the so-called healthcare system that created my illness in the first place. 

My Cancer Protocol

Black Salve

Ingredients:  Black salve comes in various forms, the effective versions of which use a combination of zinc chloride (ZnCl2), chapparal (Larrea mexicata) and glycerine that may also contain bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), graviola leaf (Annona muricata), galangal root (Alpinia officinarium), ginger root (Zingiber officinale), oleander leaf extract (Nerium oleander) and/or other ingredients such as DMSO (carrier for deep tissue transfer).
Also Known As: Black topical salve.
Related: Bloodroot salves or pastes.
Description: Black salve is an herb-based escharotic formula, or caustic compound, that selectively causes cancerous and pathogen-affected tissue to die and slough off without harming normal, non-affected skin. It is derived from Native American herbalism, with a modern formula developed by a Dr. J.W. Fell at Middlesex Hospital in London, who created a paste made of bloodroot, zinc chloride, flour, and water. Applied directly to a malignant growth, it generally destroyed a tumor within two to four weeks.
Cost: $25 (same price in both 2001 and 2012 when I ordered it from herbhealers.com).

I discovered black salve shortly after my cancer diagnosis in 2001 (Adler, MD | Doylestown, Pennsylvania), days after my decision to stop the insanity of doing the same thing over and over (US Sick’n’Pay Big Pharma-based “medicine”) and somehow expecting a different result than what I’d been getting (sicker…and more financially compromised with each pass). 

Five minutes after I’d gotten my black salve in the mail, I applied it to a stage 2 (fairly thick) melanoma located on the inside of my right knee. Another five minutes later, the telltale “rubber band snapping” sensation happened, and didn’t stop for almost 24 hours. It swelled up, turned black, then developed a white halo around it, oozed a bit, then dried out into a scab that finally fell out a little over two weeks later (yes, there was some pain involved).

After this, I never went back to the doctor’s for the recommended further surgery. Black salve, which I use for botanical surgery or tumor debulking, has proven effective over and over again. Since late 2001, I’ve self-treated dozens of suspicious moles and skin lesions, including those on my face and breast, one at a time. All have healed as good as, or better than, the surgeries I’d had done in the past. Some take longer to treat than others (requiring multiple applications) and likewise, some have taken longer to heal than others, depending on depth and size.

I’ve also noted that black salve does the same to patches of skin infected by fungus, parasites or other pathogens as it does to those affected by cancer, but – unlike surgery – it leaves healthy skin unaffected. In 2012, I applied it to a lesion on my left breast nipple, then went to a doctor at St. Rose in Las Vegas, who removed the black salve-treated lesion and had it biopsied (results).

Please note that unfortunately, Australia has banned black salve (it is inexpensive, effective and therefore a real problem for those huge pharmaceutical firms who cannot withstand any sort of competition). Fortunately, it can be made at home cheaply.

Testimonials and other information on black salve can be found here. Searching YouTube will produce numerous results of interest. As always, do your own research and make your own choices, which brings me to…

Research

Description: Easy – looking things up. Finding studies. Talking to a variety of people having a variety of experiences, including doctors, alternative and otherwise and others dealing with serious illness.
Cost: Time.

I do a lot of this! It is how I first discovered…

Graviola

Family | Genus & Species: Annonaceae | Annona muricata 
Also Known As: Soursop, Brazilian paw paw, guanábana, guanábano, corossol épineux, huanaba, several others.
Description: An evergreen tree around 6 m in height, graviola features large and shiny, dark green leaves. Graviola trees produce edible mango-shaped fruit around 15–20 cm across. Yellowish-green outside, the fruit is covered with soft, pliable spines with white flesh inside. Graviola is indigenous to very warm, tropical areas in South and North America.
Parts Used: Leaves, bark, fruit, seeds and roots. The fruit is sold in markets in many Spanish-speaking and tropical countries and territories to which it is native.
Cost: $5 – $70 (prices of the graviola products I’ve used).

The first graviola formula I used was Cansema Tonic III from herbhealers.com, which was sour-bitter in flavor and came in a large, brown dropper bottle. I took half the recommended dose for an initial period of 18 months, working up to it over about a week to see if it agreed with me.

From late 2001 through early 2003, I treated myself using one dropperful per day in divided doses, noting that a pain in my lower left abdominal area quadrupled for several weeks’ time before diminishing almost down to nothing, though it would come and go intermittently over the next dozen years or so. During this time, I also used black salve to treat melanomas and other skin lesions along with a high-vegetable paleo-type diet, exercise and NAET/BioSET treatments for support.

After 2003, I’ve used graviola in liquid, tincture and capsules on occasion, and also consumed the fruit itself in the form of smoothies I ordered regularly from a Vietnamese restaurant down the street from my house while living in Los Angeles. I ordered mine sans sugar and milk – and they were good!

Graviola information, including in vivo/in vitro studies can be found via RainTree’s excellent Tropical Plant Database.

Humor

Description: Speaks for itself!
Cost: I have never lost my sense of humor, even with all that has gone on. Can’t put a price on that.

Live, laugh, love!

Vitamin C IV Drip

Description: Intravenous Vitamin C Injection and Drip Therapy
Cost: $100 in Tijuana and $160 in Las Vegas

How do I love thee, Vitamin C IV? Let me count the ways…

Need I say more?

Mercury Amalgam Removal / Holistic Dentistry

Description: Holistic Dentistry (or biologic/biocompatible dentistry) is that form of dentistry which considers the patient’s dental health as a part of their entire physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. It emphasizes using the least-invasive practices and the least toxic dental materials in support of a patient’s immunity and overall health.
Noted Practices: Removal of root canal teeth, safe removal of dental mercury amalgam and replacement with the least toxic materials possible. In cases of patients with cancer, holistic dentistry can lower the body’s overall toxicity burden, allowing it to recover more easily.
Cost: $0 – $1000s, depending on country, practitioner and extent of dental work needed. In my case, I’ve had extensive work done in Mexico at American Bio Dental, for about one tenth of the cost of the same work here, using the top-notch biocompatible material Diamond Crown, which tested as great for me.

Dental mercury amalgams have caused me nothing short of a lifelong nightmare of syndromes, illnesses, cancers and then some. They were undeniably the single biggest factor in my nightmare, with a close second being early childhood emo trauma.

Starting from the first few silver-mercury amalgam fillings installed when I was a child through to adulthood, these have created dozens of serious health problems and stolen years of productive time from my life, much of which was spent chasing down various illnesses and (over)paying mainstream pharma MDs (either without a clue or blinded by Big Pharma bucks).

Among the symptoms I’ve had in relation to mercury poisoning: systemic candidiasis and digestive distress, cancer, parasites, dozens of “it’s all in yer head, Sweetie” symptoms including depression, tinnitus, fatigue, hormonal problems, mood swings, attention deficits, neurological problems, that whole tired-wired feeling and more. Removing mercury became tantamount to regaining health by no longer feeding the parade of problems it was causing and compounding over time.

In 2003, someone handed me a Rolling Stone mag with Lisa Marie Presley on the front cover and barked two words: READ THIS. And so I did, with much interest along with the knowledge that even the King’s daughter had gone through this horror. Ever since, I’ve embarked on a years-long dental cleanup/revision project beginning in mid ’04, where I removed about half the mercury from my mouth, then the other half in 2008.

Neither removal was done holistically (mistake) and I thought I was getting better (MISTAKE), but unknown to me at the time, there was a lot more left to do. The amalgams were gone, yes, but their unsafe removal had stirred up levels of heavy metals in my system to new highs, putting me on a years-longer roller coaster of health problems than necessary and ever-increasing EMF sensitivity to boot.

By the time 2009 rolled around, I was nearly suicidal with all of it, managing to thin out the ranks of “friends” while attracting two of the best integrative medical pros I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and by golly, they’ve been the two that helped deliver me right back to health and sanity (though some might question the latter, lol!). As of this writing in 2015 – and thanks to them -I feel like my old self again, before my very own American Health Nightmare took over my existence.

After a stern warning from one of them – a naturopathic medical doctor in LA – to “you MUST get these heavy metals out of your system or else you’re on infinite loop, including the cancer and all the rest of it,” I stepped up my program to include a new round of holistic dentistry and long-term diet chelation, part of the one-two punch in addition to Chinese Medicine that has finally returned me to the far better life I always knew was just on the other side of the Nightmare.

Fortunately, American Bio Dental is in nearby Tijuana, and they are absolutely wonderful. They use the best materials with the least toxicity and they are not of the drill, fill and bill mentality at all. Their philosophy is to do the simpler things first and go from there. Having visited a few times during 2014, 2015 and beyond, I don’t have any desire to go to anyone else.

Which brings me to…

Diet Chelation (Long Term)

Description: Diet Chelation is the practice of using certain foods at regular intervals in a routine manner to remove toxic substances from the body.
Noted Practices: Greens and green foods as dietary chelation agents and concurrent beneficial mineral foods intake and/or supplementation.
Cost: $0 – $1000s, depending on foods and supplements used and length of time (for me: bunches of cilantro & other leafy greens, zeolite supplements, spirulina, chlorella, minerals, electrolytes, miso soup, juicing fruits and veggies over a one-year period).

Beginning in mid-2012, I dedicated myself to a year-long dietary chelation regime, done on a four days off/three days on schedule. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a little over a year, I started my day with three to six organic spirulina tablets, followed two minutes later by a zeolite preparation, 30 minutes later by a large handful of organic cilantro, miso soup and other goodies.

This was in response to a persistent fungal infection in my left nipple which later became a cancerous lesion (this has long been the one-two punch for me), and which I treated with black salve (again, successfully, even in the face of corporate medical doctor denial).

The results: Amazing! I feel better now than ever. Mood swings gone, hormonal and other problems diminished greatly. No more brain fog, fatigue is mostly history. Cancers are receding after having dealt with many skin lesions and the nipple lesion during the past two or three years. My energy is back – I always knew it would be if I found the right way to go about it.

There is also the realization when you “wake up” from the years-long fog of all this that not everything may be working right, and the old status quo of you being sick might have meant you were putting up with stuff you now feel too damn good to put up with, and changes – maybe even big ones – are necessary. That’s the boat I’ve found myself in.

Currently: I occasionally do a redux using spirulina or chlorella, a bunch or two of cilantro and mineral-rich foods along with just a few decent supplements, which I needed a lot fewer of after the regimen. What I know is that these metals and other toxins can build up again and bodies go through shifts, changes and recalibrations. Thus, I’m always reassessing what’s best at any given time, and allowing breathers in between where I let the bod recalibrate – something it is very good at, if you let it.

Music (Listening and Production)

Need I say more!

Exercise (IOW, Oxygenation-Alkalisation-Movement)

Description: Physical activity! Regularly and often.
Cost: $0 and on up, depending on what you do, where, when and how.

I can’t say enough about exercise here, because it was long ago that Otto Warburg proved that oxygen really does kill cancer cells. Exercise is free to do anytime (same with sex, as long as someone’s available, LOL!). Exercise oxygenates, alkalises and clears the head – and movement doesn’t lie!

On days when I feel like death warmed over (there are ups and downs, yes), I kick my ass out the door for some hiking or biking or something. Every. Single. Day.

If healing is just a set of new habits, then include this one among them, as it’s a no-brainer for hitting the re-set button.

Sauna & Spa

Description: Soaking in hot dry, steam, salt or mineral room or under infrared lamps until breaking into a cleansing sweat.
Cost: $10s and on up, depending where you go.

As of this writing (Q2 | 2015), I attend the Imperial Spa in downtown Las Vegas on pretty much a regular basis. Along with all the other tenets to my protocol, this one’s quite relaxing as well as rewarding. I spend a little time in each of their rooms (I like their salt and infrared rooms the best – take me away!) and go home feeling relaxed, but recharged.

Afterward, I eat and drink some healthful and high-mineral content goodies to keep the good stuff moving in as the bad stuff goes out.

Digestive Enzymes

Description: In general, enzymes used to aid digestion include amylase (carbohydrate digestion), protease (protein digestion) and lipase (fat digestion). Some formulas may also include invertase, hemicellulase, sucrase, lactase and others that digest specific substances.
Notes: Digestive enzymes are used to digest foods when taken with food. If enzymes are taken on an empty stomach, they act systemically, meaning they will dissolve materials elsewhere in the body aside from the digestive system. See the Enzymes for Cancer Page at cancerfightingstrategies.com for more information.
Cost: $0 – $100s, depending on the types of enzymes used.

I’ve used everything from animal-derived to vegetarian pancreatin, vegetarian enzymes, papaya, pineapple and more. I’ve used Enzymedica Digest Gold (great because it has no stearates or other fillers). I’ve used enzymes both for digestion and in a systemic manner (meaning I took them away from food, a couple hours on each side). Formulas that include trypsin and chymotrypsin are highly recommended…if they agree with you.

Enzymes used systemically break down fibrin in the body, fibrin being one of those things in which cancer likes to set up house, but they also digest foods if you take them with meals.

For those times when my body is just not tolerating concentrated enzymes, I use beets, spinach, soaked wild rice (in a bit of salt water) and other food-based things high in enzymes and natural betaine.

The “No” People

Description: Motherfuckers.
Cost: Don’t get me started.

Lots of people have asked me about the emo reasons for my having cancer, and my answer is always along the lines of this: not enough yeses.

So this is the part of my protocol where I describe in full something I avoid like the plague, and the “No” people are at the top of that list, aka people who say NO to all you are, do and wish for. I have made up my mind that I prefer the company of those able to be generally supportive and who can offer a kind compliment (as well as take one)…or even a helping hand when it’s really needed. IOW, people who can part with some yeses in my direction and vice versa.

The biggest “thank you” I have regarding having a serious illness was that it exposed who my friends and family really were. The family I come from has a bad habit of not choosing their enemies very wisely, or stated another way, making enemies of its own members. In the words of some professionals, “dysfunctional.” There is a history of multi-generational child and spousal abuse, substance abuse, spiritual abuse and the like.

Also throw in financial abuse out the yazoo, and thus my cure: $1000 a hit, straight into the abused kid’s bank account from the abuser’s stash, with a timely announcement about the transfer and why to the public. Sock ’em in the wallet and shame ’em, I’m telling you, it’s the only way. Being around abuse and dysfunction changes your biochemistry, not for the better, and yes, it’ll cost you plenty.

Three takeaways: First, if you stick around abuse long enough, you will eventually wind up addicted, diseased or dead. Second, if an abuser can justify hating one person for one reason – class, race, same last name/shared genetic material – they can justify hating any person for any reason. And because of that, the third takeaway is that an abuser never stops abusing – they simply change targets. Don’t be one – it’ll cost you years better spent on other things. And also know this: your abuser can be you as well. My family may have treated me very badly, yes, but guess what? It is nothing compared to what I can do to myself. Until I decided to stop, which was easier to do once I’d left the family vicinity.

Sugars

Description: The sweet stuff, most often the granulated white table sugar in common use.
Notes: From Wikipedia: Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. It’s that last sentence that opens up a whole new world, because as I’ve so often discovered, it is how (and from where) you source it that matters, sometimes far more than the “what.”
Cost: $0 – $10s, depending on the types of sugars used.

Refined white sugar, in my opinion, should be classified as a drug. If you’ve read William Dufty’s Sugar Blues, you get the idea.

Cancer feeds on sugar, similar to other pathogens such as candida yeast, and this is why I rarely use anything outside of stevia for sweetening everything from hot tea to pancakes to smoothies and more. Fruit sugars I do somewhat, usually along with the whole fruit – skin, seeds, flesh and all (see the section below called Fruit Seeds), but I don’t overdo it. Sugars tend to give me headaches and cause me other problems, so I find it easier to simply skip them for the most part.

Pharma Drugs

Description: Refined, patented substances used in treatment of disease.
Cost: $0. Because I don’t use them.

Pharma drugs are at the top of my “to avoid” list for many reasons. My history with these has been nothing short of a tragic, downward spiral. Just because it’s marketed with millions of dollars and doctors dispense it doesn’t mean it’s right – a lesson I’ve learned over and over, the hard way.

So hard that when I got my cancer diagnosis, I went to a second opinion doctor, who told me honestly and forthrightly that I should certainly avoid one class of pharma drugs, in particular…

Synthetic Hormones

Description: Birth control pills. Viagra. The like.
Cost: $0. Because I don’t use them (anymore).

The one good piece of advice I was given by a Big Pharma-based, US Sick’n’Pay MD was this: “You have melanoma??? Then you are stopping your use of birth control pills now. TODAY. And never again. Find something else, but don’t ever go back on them.”

I was lucky to have gotten that advice. As I now know, all cancer is systemic in nature. Aka holistic in nature, which means the whole body-mind-spirit, or however you think of it, is involved. All surgery can do is remove a tumor. For doctors to be allowed to declare someone “surgically cured” is insane…and can be deadly. I know several who have paid the price for this, when there are multitudes of other things going on with cancer aside from the obvious tumors.

One recently deceased friend’s predicament was that, on top of all that his MDs fed him, he was also sold a (fucked) bill of goods by the WRONG alternative/holistic doctor, who was all about himself, his ideas and nothing else, which brings me to…

Bad Doctors…of ANY Kind

Description: Doctors who act as gods, not guides. Narcissists. Egos. Me-me-me all the way home…and to the bank as well.
Cost: $1000s, $10,000s, $100,000s, $million$ and careers, relationships and lives lost. Depending on who you see and what system is used.

I’m an agnostic – meaning I’m agnostic as to whatever – or whoever – works. If it works, it works, and that’s what I’ll use. I’ve been to allopathic MDs and dentists who were very, very good. Open minded, willing to be a guide for treatments of MY choice, not Big Pharma’s – and willing to negotiate a fee schedule that I could handle. And I’ve been to holistic and integrative doctors who are excellent – again, open minded and willing to serve as guides, not gods, Big Dogma’s influence being pretty clear here.

And then I’ve been to both kinds who are predominately in it for the money (unfortunately many). These people are so full of themselves that they can steer patients right into the ground, including you if you let them.

This is why having real choice is so important, and in America, that often means money. It takes time and money to find the right doctor(s) and/or alternative health practitioner(s), and the patchwork of health plans, with their “in-network” practitioner lists, may just be the road to hell. They were for me, for a long time. Which is why I work for the day when we have all-inclusive, single payer and sliding scale in effect for all US citizens, no gouging, no corruption of science using money, no suppression of herbal treatments that work, and yes, again, ad nauseam, doctors as guides, not gods.

Healthcare.gov in the US, aka “Obamacare” (also known as “Romneycare” if I am to be accurate), does take a couple key steps in the right direction. One, no more pre-existing conditions, and two, healthcare is now transferable with no more dependence on a certain job for said benefits. There are, however, still those “in-network” requirements for keeping costs down – but no guarantee that you’re going to like those practitioners who are available in your network.

Still, I cannot stress it enough – find the right people to consult and/or work with who consider you a true equal, not just a monetary hit-and-run. I was lucky to have given voice to my situation loudly enough to score two referrals – and they were the two that turned my life around, through attitude and knowledge and persistence. Stick to your guns and your gut and don’t let anyone talk you out of what you feel is best for you, at a price you can deal with. I’ve spent years cleaning up medical and other mistakes and searching for the right people to help with all of it, negotiating with them individually, the whole lot.

Finding myself in the position where I had to handle cancer with NO financial backing whatsoever, no insurance and no real choice was absolutely frightening as hell. And all too common in America, where opportunities often knock only on the doors of those who can afford them.

Having said that, onto a treatment modality where I’ve found a very helpful individual after much searching…

Chinese Medicine

Description: Thousands of years old, Chinese Medicine is a holistic system of medicine. NIH has a fairly good impartial discussion of it, though I’d note in my case I don’t use it as a complementary therapy to anything allopathic. It is part of a mix of holistic therapies I use together with good results.
Cost: $100s per month (in my case, around $225 for two acupuncture sessions, dietary advice and four bottles of herbs per month).

At the tail end of my Long-Term Diet Chelation experiment (worked great!), I was sucked into that never-ending vortex known as You Must Go Vegan for Cancer. All I can say now is, ummmm, no, you don’t have to do that. Some people may find vegan or vegetarian works for them for a time, maybe even a long time. For me, it “worked” for about two weeks, then I just felt worse and worse.

I got onto some blogs and happened to see posts about throwing it all in and employing the services of a very reputable Chinese doctor when all else was failing – and it was. I joined in on the rants long enough to score the needed referral, having noticed that most of the supplements I was taking only led to wires crossing, where my body seemed confused by all those concentrated sups, rather than benefiting from them. I called around Vegas and spoke to those referred, then settled on one who didn’t seem to be the sledgehammer type, but rather the work-with-me type, warts, melanomas and all.

On my first visit, I was told “no, no, NO vegetarianism.” It seems vegetarianism isn’t right for my type, which she assessed to be fire. On the second visit or so, we got into the cancer discussion, which was very enlightening. My strong opinion is that the mainstream medical system vis–à–vis cancer is 100% fear and money-based and that I was jus’ plain ol’ tired of it. She agreed, and went on to tell me that all cancer has its roots in the digestive system. I’d not learned that from any mainstream MD, but rather through my research and interviews with countless people of all stripes. She was singing my song.

Some quick words here about diet – I am not a purist by any means. I’d say 80/20 – 80% organic and healthy and 20% other. Some foods have a psychological value that is so great, the pleasure of eating it outweighs any negative effects (bacon, chips, chocolate, etc.). One word: balance.

As well, with a food like beef (yes, I eat some, according to the “full sweet” advice), I’ve found that painting it all with a wide brush isn’t the way to go. If it is sourced right (100% grass-fed, organic, etc.), it can be very health-giving. If not, be wary. Same goes for fish and just about anything else – it’s where you get it, how you prepare it, how much of it you eat, and then some. As food is medicine, the proper sourcing and dosing of it is essential.

She went on talking my talk by saying that for a treatment to get into the Chinese medical book, it had to have been tested for 100 years – and it had to work, “or else…” my doctor slyly said, “…the emperor might take off your head.”

Now, THAT was more like it! Trusting my body to doctors and drugs centered around money, profits and the like, whether the treatment was good for me or not, is a slippery slope as I’ve experienced. As someone who feels any nation’s greatest wealth is its collective health (and therefore its productivity, prosperity, all of it), she was not only talking my talk but walking my walk and singing my song.

Healthcare is – or should be – a part of the commons, be reasonably priced, and should absolutely never bankrupt anyone or result in financial servitude. By all means, make a decent living helping others, but not if you have to suppress the competition or other treatment modalities to do so.

After 20 months (as of February 2015) and counting, I am light years better than I was. Things are really looking up, and I haven’t had an itchy mole or skin or breast lesion in quite a while. The combination of acupuncture, Chinese herbs and sound diet advice in my case has been highly effective.

Timing, aka Catch It Early (If Possible)

In Other Words: Know yourself and your body well enough to know when something is wrong.
Cost: Priceless. Catching cancer early means far better odds of recovery.

Knowing yourself and your body are just the tip of the iceberg. What’s under the surface are a whole bunch of other things, like how well you stand up for yourself at your doctor’s, and is your doctor a collaborator or a dictator? Is your family supportive or not? Do you have a friend you can take with you to the doc’s office? All these things are very helpful in catching things early. Unhelpful people, including everyone from family to medical pros, are not your friends when you think you have a serious problem. They can cost you time, and when fighting any disease, time is precious.

I always make sure I am heard and respected, otherwise I may be dealing with a much bigger (and much costlier) problem down the road. On several occasions, I’ve gotten up off exam tables, gotten dressed and told the front office not to bother sending me a bill on the way out.

As I’ve found, I’d rather have the option to treat at home using diet, herbs and whatever else rather than waiting and possibly having to resort to the sledgehammer approach later on because I followed advice I knew wasn’t right for me. I don’t let the white coats or certificates on the wall sway me – I always look for proof far beyond that.

I’ve been lucky to catch cancer early on many occasions, as often happens when you know you have melanoma and know what to look out for. But my initial diagnosis was a different story. I had to insist that my doctor – who was initially dismissive of my concerns – take a certain mole out. He told me it was “nothing to worry about,” but when my results came back, bang! There it was. I’d had the feeling something was wrong, and because I’d stood up for myself I was able to keep standing up for myself as regards my treatment – and stay well to a large extent.

Keep The Detox Organs Warm

Description: The detox organs include the liver, kidneys, adrenals, galbladder, skin and spleen.
Cost: Some common sense and a good diet, including fat, for the most part.

Over time, I’ve learned how important it is to keep the body warm in winter and at optimal temperature all other times. It is common sense that if your body is fighting to stay warm or cool, it is using energy that is better reserved for fighting off disease. Case in point for my situation: kidneys. They tend to weaken by candidiasis, cold, protein overload, metals toxicity and so on.

Being super-skinny, I have developed a habit of eating extra fats (fat is good, yes), pouring on some warming spices and wearing hip and abdominal warmers because I don’t have much in the way of abdominal fat at all to keep my core warm. So while I never ask “do I look fat in this?” I am the one who’ll wear a few extra layers as I tend to get cold easily and much prefer warmer climates, humid or dry. Heat is my friend if it means my body doesn’t have to work as hard to stay healthy, which brings me to…

Local Climate

My current location in Las Vegas is known in climate circles as the high desert. It has seasons, but it is very dry and can get extremely hot in the summer months.

Even though I favor warmer climates, I found this difficult to deal with at first, because I noted an almost constant dehydration and thirst. My kidneys were weak when I arrived and I was run down, demineralized and loaded with heavy metals. Not optimal body conditions for desert living.

So in addition to my diet chelation regimen, I became dedicated to staying qualitatively mineralized, and in doing so, found it easier to stay hydrated – a must in the desert. Sea salt and trace minerals became my best friends along with steady sips of water, and my health steadily improved.  I can truly say that living in the desert has taught me how to live better through changing some bad habits…and there’s nothing like a 40-degree (Celsius) day to keep me on my toes.

Mexico

Description: A Spanish-speaking country that borders the US to the south.
Cost: About a tenth of what I spend on healthcare in the US of A. It is possible to have a vacation and very fine healthcare for less than what healthcare alone costs in the US.

A good habit to get into is travel when one has taken ill. All the advice to “sit” and “stay,” like a good doggie, fell on deaf ears with me, and I’m all the better for it.

I was recommended by someone I knew in the LA film industry to go to Tijuana and see a doctor at a clinic there called American BioDental. So I went. And it changed my life. So much so that most of the time these days (2016 as of this writing), I cannot even remember what feeling lousy felt like. Amen!

This is a bit of a redux from the section above on holistic dentistry, but it’s worth repeating: American BioDental is a clinic specializing in dental mercury removal and replacement, and also offers intravenous vitamin C drip therapy. And wow, what a difference that made in my life. I had 23 diseased, damaged and mercury-filled and/or stained teeth to be dealt with and wanted nothing less than the best after all I’d been through. This Mexican clinic delivered great results, and refilled and repaired my teeth with Diamond Crown, a top-notch porcelain/glass biocompatible dental material. They charged me around $2,000 for the 23 teeth needing work, including the Diamond Crown, which was unaffordable to me in the US. The same work in the US would have cost me at least $20,000.

And you wonder why people in the US stay sick, non-productive and absent in their own lives for so long? It’s all about the goddamn money. That’s all. And most US citizens are mentally trapped in some chain of thought that they cannot vote with their feet and save themselves a bundle in the process.

For me, health is a national treasure to be protected. Not a commodity to be capitalized on while people suffer needlessly. It is for this reason that Mexico is high on my list for new places to hang my hat – that country has done more for me healthwise than any other.

Fruit Seeds

Description: Seeds from oranges, apricots, apples, raspberries, etc.
Cost: $0 (some come free with fruit) – 10s (for example, Raspex).

Another habit of mine in keeping the cancer cell count to a minimum is to eat fruit seeds (and skins) as well as the fleshy, sweet parts of any fruit. Why? Because many fruit seeds have natural cancer killers in them, in particular apple and apricot seeds. These contain natural laetrile, or B17, where in the presence of cancer cells, bonded cyanide-like substances come apart, unleashing a local dose of cancer killer right where it’s needed.

Other fruit seeds, such as raspberry seeds, contain high levels of ellagitannins, or precursors to ellagic acid, an antioxidant that is very well known for its anti-cancer properties. I’ve been using a supplement for some time called Raspex that I get from either SMDI or Amazon, which is a fantastic way to add to your antioxidant intake (see my blog post on it here).

As for oranges, I eat the whole thing – skin, seeds and flesh. Same goes for lemons and occasional limes. Note that the seeds of citrus fruits do NOT necessarily contain laetrile (possibly they do if they are native to the African continent and produced without the use of artificial cultivation). Citrus skins have d-limonene and pectin – known for their cancer-fighting properties – and of course, the flesh has lots of nutrients as well as natural sugars and acids, which I tend not to overdo. But in whole fruit form, I’m getting a balance of all sorts of goodies, which puts fruit into a whole new category apart from just “sugar.”

Fields, EMFs and Electrosensitivity

Description: According to Wikipedia, this includes symptoms purportedly caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields, and can also be referred to as geopathic stress or electromagnetic sensitivity. I’ve also heard this referred to as fields intolerance or sensitivity.
Cost: $.01s to many 100s, depending upon devices or methods used…all the way up to the cost of a house. I know a few people who literally moved house because of this one.

No small amount of controversy here because it’s not an officially recognized ailment in the US (try the UK, Germany or Oz for other perspectives), but – there’s always a but – as with so many things, some people are more sensitive to EMFs and other forms of radiation than others. In other words, it’s real if you have it.

In very early 2003, I was in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland where a nurse-practitioner told me my “earth energies” were “off due to radiation exposure” after a session on her VegaTest. I’d never heard of this before, but in the interest of completeness, it belongs here. Our grandparents were not subject to all the fields and pollutants we are. I’d noticed I tired quite easily after two to three hours of computer work, but after placing a metallic device around my neck designed to help with this problem, I was able to work 8 hours or more (good or bad?) in front of a screen if I needed to.

In 2004 and 2008, I had two mercury-amalgam removals done (unfortunately not holistically)…and noticed my sensitivities to fields took off like a rocket, especially after the 2008 removals. I didn’t realize it, but the vicious circle of EMF sensitivity and heavy metals toxicity was brewing up like a perfect storm and from 2009 onward, I had more cancers and other health problems than ever before.

The connections between EMFs and cancer are being studied continuously, and in 2011 the World Health Organization (WHO) classified mobile phones as Category 2B, or “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

Given my success with “energy medicine” and meridian-based Chinese medicine, I remain attentive to this, and to creating a “sleep sanctuary” where there are little to no electric appliances or wifi devices in the room. When I asked my Chinese doctor about my sensitivity to EMFs, she told me it was yin deficiency, and eating yin foods has helped greatly, along with taking steps to remove the toxics from my body as instructed by my Naturopathic doc in LA back in 2010. Given that I no longer feel like the EMF sensitive character Chuck McGill in Better Call Saul – I’m feeling two worlds better these days – I’d say the heavy metals toxicity/EMF sensitivity connection needs further study.

New research is being done all the time, changing the very nature of what we know (and illustrating how much we really don’t know). And short of moving to the US National Radio Quiet Zone, if cancer is a systemic, cup-runeth-over disease (and it seems to me to be) then it is my mission to minimize as many factors as possible in aiding my recovery, including EMFs and other fields possibly harmful to the human body.

Further research and time will tell…

Yours in Great Health,

Alison

[Contents of this post are for educational purposes only and all that jazz.]