CANCER CLEANSING

Be realistic - expect a miracle!

by Walter Last

Cleansing the body is vitally important because of the extremely toxic effects of a growing or disintegrating tumor. The basic aspects of cleansing are fasting, liver and lymph stimulation, sanitizing the bowels and flushing the kidneys.

On any kind of cleansing program you will experience weight loss and lack of energy. With advanced cancer these effects may be rather severe and a cause for anxiety. However usually a low point is passed, often with fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, after which weight and energy begin to improve even without any change in diet. Nevertheless, if underweight and with difficulty in gaining weight, I recommend limiting cleansing to the first three days of the Basic Cleanse. Afterwards you continue cleansing in a mild form with a diet high in fresh raw foods.

On cleanse or diet, be sure to have enough fluid intake, aim for about 3 liters daily from juices, herb teas and ionized water, but less if you eat much fresh fruit or juicy salads. A more accurate way of assessing the required fluid intake is to measure the output. Use so much fluid that you urinate about 3 liters per day, provided you do not noticeably sweat or have runny stool.

At the first sign of a reaction with either fever, severe pain, weakness or nausea, use frequent coffee enemas, and keep the fluid intake up, otherwise the liver may become too toxic, resulting in drowsiness and coma. If necessary, use double strength coffee enemas and also use hydrogen peroxide enemas; try retention enemas of fresh juices if food cannot be tolerated.

Energy healing as with Reiki or laying-on-of-hands, pyramid energy or other energy devices can be useful during times of weakness, reactions and in crisis situations. Even if bedridden, rest as much as possible outside, on a veranda or in the garden rather than inside the house. During a cleanse activate the tumor site or the area of the main cancer activity with suitable packs or hot and cold water, reflexology, magnetic pulser and guided imagery.

Learn to listen to your intuition and the language of your body, rather than just following expert advice or sticking to a pre-determined program. Sometimes it may be better to ease the program, have some cooked food, or less of a particular food and more of another, or choose a less severe type of cleanse or therapy. If you are not addicted to a certain food but develop a craving for it, then it is most likely good for you. You also need to keep your 'inner child' reasonably happy. Ask your inner self for cooperation, and in return promise and deliver some treats for any hardships that have to be endured.

Furthermore, a good cleansing program is likely to trigger healing reactions, lasting for days and sometimes weeks. Commonly, during a healing reaction pain or areas of discomfort shift around to different body locations. During this time you may ease any strict program and do whatever is necessary to make yourself more comfortable. For a better understanding of this important subject see the article on the Healing Crisis.

The Basic Cleanse

This is recommended at the start of any health improvement program, and also from time to time thereafter, say once a year. It is designed to clean out and sanitize the gastrointestinal tract, the liver and the gall bladder. Eat apples only for the first three days, as many as you like. Granny Smith apples are usually preferable, but if they are too acid for you then use a sweeter variety. If organic apples are not available, remove the skin and core of commercial apples.

In the evening have a hot castor oil pack on the liver and upper abdomen: Coat the area liberally with castor oil, cover with a woolen cloth folded in several layers, and keep warm for one to two hours with a hot-water bottle. At bedtime take a tablespoon of olive oil. Normally extra-virgin is best, but in this case light olive oil will be easier to swallow. Shake the oil in a jar together with a spoonful of lecithin granules and some fresh citrus or grape juice. However, on the evening of the third day take half a cupful of olive oil in this way. Then lie down immediately on your back or right side. After the first bowel movement the next morning look in the toilet bowl for gallstones. There may be hundreds of little greenish wax balls of different sizes floating on top of the water.

First thing in the morning of the first to fourth day take a glass of water with a crushed clove of garlic and about 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt (more or less to cause a good bowel clean-out within a few hours). If you cannot take Epsom salts then try another strong herbal laxative instead (e.g. senna). If you have trouble taking raw garlic, you may fill it into empty gelatin capsules. About one hour after the Epsom salt and garlic take a large dose of acidophilus-bifido, either as high-potency capsules, powder, yogurt or a combination of these. Continue taking acidophilus culture before meals for several weeks.

If you are underweight or do not have the time or energy for the full cleanse, then you may now return to your normal diet and possibly do the rest at another time. Otherwise, from the fourth day on stop using the apples, Epsom salt and garlic and for another five days drink only freshly pressed (or frozen) vegetable juices, although these may be flavored with apple or some other fruit.

However, if you do not have a juicer, then just continue with the apples or possibly vegetable salads. In addition, every 3 hours or 5 times daily take a heaped teaspoon of psyllium hulls together with 2-3 teaspoons of ground linseed. Mix in a glass of water and drink immediately followed by another glass of water. The linseed should be freshly ground in a blender or coffee grinder and refrigerated or frozen.

Take a spoonful of lecithin granules and plenty of digestive enzymes together with the juices, apples or salads. With every glassful of juice you may take 2 or 3 tablets of pancreatin, bromelain or mixed enzymes. Alternatively, if available, use mature green papaw (see Cancer Diet), also ripe Kiwifruit is high in digestive enzymes.

On the morning after the last cleansing day, or possibly already at bedtime the night before, take a tablespoon of Epsom salt in water or enough of some other laxative to produce a strong bowel clean-out the morning. Often there are long strings and parts of compacted matter looking like sections of bowel in the toilet.

When returning to your normal diet pay attention to any sensitivity reactions. Preferably keep a diary of tested foods and any reactions, such as nausea, pain or discomfort, and also record your pulse rate before and after eating a test food or meal. Usually the pulse rate rises slightly 30 to 60 minutes after food intake. A stronger rise than with other foods indicates an allergy; the stronger the rise, the stronger the allergy. Allergy testing may not work if you are exposed to tobacco smoke or use coffee, tea or other drugs.

If complications force you to interrupt the cleanse prematurely, return to your former diet and try again at a later time.

The Long Cleanse

A Long Cleanse of about 6 weeks duration on either a small amount of vegetable juice or grapes has been shown to shrink or dissolve tumors and normalize lymph and blood cancers in thousands of cancer victims. If the body is starving it starts digesting its own non-essential tissues and it starts with diseased parts and tumors. Famous examples of this kind of cleanse are the Breuss Cure on half a liter of fresh vegetable juice, the grape cure of Johanna Brandt, the wheat grass cure of Ann Wigmore and even the urine fast of John Armstrong (for details see the article on Urine & Urea Therapy).

However, these cures are only suitable if one has good energy and weight before starting, and if one has not had radiation or chemotherapy, except if one has fully recovered from any medical treatment.

On the Breuss Cure you drink half a liter of fresh organic juices daily, extracted in a non-centrifugal way as described in Part 3. The recommended composition is 3 parts of beetroot, 1 of carrot and 1 of grass juice or celery, and preferably a small amount of horseradish, radish or turnip or their leaves. However, if you cannot take it this way, even if diluted with water or herb tea, try some additional apple for flavoring. Best make fresh juice 3 times during the day, and drink in spaced-out sips that you savor in the mouth for several minutes before swallowing. In the evening you may drink a hot onion broth. Commercially a heat-treated 'Breuss Juice' is available. This lacks any life-force or enzymes, and I regard it as useless.

As an alternative you may use 1-2 liters of juice consisting mainly of about equal parts of grass juice and beetroot juice flavored with ginger and pollen and perhaps an apple, again with hot onion broth in the evening. Purple onions are best; cook the skins as well. This larger amount of juice is more suitable for those who cannot afford to loose too much weight.

During any juice cleanse keep the bowels clean and stimulate liver and kidneys with a daily coffee enema, or Epsom salts, senna or aloe vera laxative. Also continue with 2 tsp of psyllium hulls in a large glassful of water with another large glassful afterwards. These measures are not required on the grape diet if it produces daily bowel movements. The weight loss during a 6-week fast is usually between 5 and 15 kg, mainly due to losing water and from half a kg to one kg of fat per week.

With the grape cure eat black or purple grapes. Eat them with skins and pips. Preferably chew some of the pips to release their antioxidants. Soak the grapes with the addition of some hydrogen peroxide to kill and remove any fungi.

Eat about 1 kg daily according to appetite. If a temporary aversion to grapes develops, have a few days of juices with plenty of beetroot in-between. Eat only a few grapes at a time to avoid a strong rise in the blood sugar level. Be very careful to store grapes cool and dry, a good way is to hang them over a washing line in a garage.

If you feel that you definitely need something savory to keep going, prepare and drink a warm strained vegetable broth in the evening, including plenty of purple onions. Also simmer the outer purple onionskins. Furthermore, you may make a tea from savory herbs and spices or (wheat-free) curry powder or ginger. After a Long Cleanse increase the variety and quantity of food only gradually. Remain on a raw food diet afterwards. Do light daily exercise, even if you have to stay in bed, and also plenty of meditation and guided imagery.

From time to time you may experience strong cleansing or healing reactions and feel very unwell for a few days. During this time increase the use of laxatives and liver stimulation and use coffee enemas several times daily to relieve the accumulation of toxic matter in the liver. If you cannot hold food down because of constant vomiting, try ginger and slippery elm powder in strained water from cooked brown rice.

Liver Stimulation

The liver is the key organ in cancer cleansing. Fasting releases toxins from the tissues, lymph stimulation transports them to the liver and kidneys, a high fluid intake flushes the kidneys and removes water-soluble waste products. Liver stimulation acts to detoxify fat-soluble chemicals and toxins, and releases them with the bile into the bowels, from where they are finally flushed out by stimulating bowel activity.

The detoxifying power of the liver is increased with antioxidant and enzyme-rich nutrients but especially with sulfur compounds, as in onions, radish, and the amino acids taurine, L-cysteine and L-methionine. Also useful are liver herbs, castor oil packs on the liver, reflexology, magnets, magnetic pulser and acupuncture-related therapies.

However, the main effort is directed towards frequent release of bile to clear toxins from the liver. Linseed oil and extra virgin olive oil do this in a natural way, especially if used as described in the Basic Cleanse. Epsom salts help by relaxing the sphincter muscle of the gall bladder, and various bitter liver and gall bladder herbs stimulate the release of bile directly. The strongest action is produced by a coffee enema, which may be used during the disintegration of large tumors, and brings much relief from pain, nausea and weakness. For instructions see below.

Instead of taking a coffee enema, you may experiment with a glassful of psyllium water followed by a tablespoon of Epsom salts and a cup of filter coffee. The idea is that the coffee activates the liver, the Epsom salts dilate the gall bladder and induces the release of bile, the psyllium binds the toxins, and the Epsom salts quickly removes it all from the body.

Some toxins can be removed before they reach the liver. First thing in the morning take a large sip of sunflower oil or grape seed oil and swish it around the mouth for about twenty minutes, then spit it out (be careful, it may clog the sink). Continue this for several months.

Bowel Cleansing

Healing programs may fail if bowel cleansing is neglected. Toxins are reabsorbed from the bowels and accumulate in the blood, and can cause fatigue, migraine, eczema, boils, colds, inflammations, coughs and swellings.

Early in the 20th century a British surgeon became famous for curing all kinds of incurable diseases by removing the lower part of the large intestines of his patients. Keeping the lower bowel very clean is important with all forms of cancer, but most of all with bowel cancer.

Take steps to increase bowel movements to two or three a day. Ordinary toilets either need straining, or do not allow complete emptying of the lower bowels. A squatting position is preferable. If you cannot squat on top of the toilet, you may support your feet with a footstool; additionally, bend forward to exert more pressure on the bowels.

Alternatively, you may rinse your lower bowel after each bowel movement. You can do this by sitting on the toilet and having an enema bucket or bag hanging from the wall near the toilet. After a bowel movement you insert about half a liter of hand-warm water and expel it immediately. You may bend forward to let the water penetrate further, but this is not essential. Finally rinse the outside. Use some gel or oil before inserting the douche piece, and possibly use a plastic glove. The tube or end-piece should preferably have side holes in addition to the central opening.

A good way of keeping your whole intestinal tract clean is to have one or several drinks with psyllium hulls, or psyllium and ground linseed before meals. This is especially important when on a limited food intake, as on a juice diet. Stir either 1 teaspoonful of psyllium hulls or 1 teaspoon of psyllium and 1 or 2 teaspoons of ground linseed in a glass of water. Drink immediately and drink more water afterwards. Occasionally you may also have a flush with crushed garlic and Epsom salts in plenty of water.

Colonics (short for colonic irrigations) can bring immediate relief with many health problems. The more serious the condition, the more often colonics should be used, especially if foul-smelling wind indicates putrefactive processes.

The aim of colonics is to remove all putrefying matter from the bowels, clean out bowel pockets, and remove the hard crust that often coats the walls. In order to achieve this, the bowels should be filled repeatedly with as much water as possible. Aim to have a bowel movement before starting the colonic.

For a colonic add one heaped teaspoon of salt and one level teaspoon of baking soda to 2-3 liters of moderately warm water. Use a bucket enema or enema bag; hang it on the wall or place about two feet above the body on a table, chair or the rim of the bath. A good position is to kneel on the floor with the head down. More comfortably, you may lie in a warm bath with the rectum elevated, or you may lie in bed in a similar position, or on the right side; use a plastic sheet underneath.

Lubricate the rectal tube and insert it slowly up to a depth of about 20 to 30 cm. If there is any pain or discomfort, do not insert any further. Expel the first lot of water when increasing pressure is felt. After that, you should be able to hold much more water. When renewed pressure is felt, stop the inflow of water and assume different positions, especially lying on the right side for a while to fill the ascending colon. Repeat the expulsion and intake of water until all of it has been used.

Finally, if available, you may introduce a pint of diluted fresh juice of grass or green leaves and retain that for up to 30 minutes. This is the standard procedure for home colonics that applies to all people with normal or acid body conditions. The addition of baking soda is to neutralize the often overacid bowel conditions, while the salt acts partly as a drawing agent, and partly to prevent demineralization of the blood plasma by osmosis, which could cause shock. This is important for people with low blood pressure and a poor circulation.

However, those with high blood pressure or very weak kidneys should not add salt and baking soda, but use very diluted lemon juice instead. If this causes soreness, or if the body is not too alkaline, use diluted fresh juice of green-vegetable leaves. If you cannot use a colonic at home, have a series of professional colonics at a hydrotherapy centre.

Coffee Enema: Boil 2 tablespoons of ground coffee, preferably organic, not instant coffee, for 3 minutes in 1 liter of water, simmer for a further 15 minutes, strain and rinse the coffee grounds with some more water. Use this as a retention enema after cleaning the bowels beforehand with clear water colonics or an Epsom salts flush. Insert half a liter of coffee, hold for about ten minutes, and after expelling it, insert the rest and hold again. It helps taking a glassful of water with a teaspoon of psyllium hulls an hour beforehand to absorb toxins released by the liver. Test for allergy to coffee. Sometimes about 150mg of caffeine is used instead of coffee.

Oxygenating Colonic: This can lead to considerable improvement, although initially you may feel worse. After the colon has been cleaned with an ordinary colonic, prepare one liter of hand-warm water with 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of 3 per cent hydrogen peroxide. Use half of this and hold inside for about 10 minutes. If it comes out too soon, try the rest. If it is well tolerated, double the amount of hydrogen peroxide with each successive treatment until it becomes too uncomfortable and you cannot hold it. Then cut back to the preceding level and continue at that rate.

Mucus Release

Many individuals have an increased tendency towards mucus congestion. This is a contributing factor, especially with lung cancer and lymph cancer, and often also with leukemia.

A quick and effective way to clear the headspaces of mucus is with sugar. Keep a teaspoonful of sugar in the mouth for several minutes until it is dissolved, then spit out and take another spoonful. Fine brown sugar dissolves much faster than other types. Repeat this for 2-4 hours, once a week, or more often with continuing congestion.

With lung cancer keep a hot pack of mashed onions on the chest in the evening and best overnight. In the morning let the torso hang for 10 to 30 minutes over a chair or from the bed at about a 45-degree angle with the head to the floor. Also a slant-board is suitable. Try to cough up mucus and any dissolving tumor mass. Have someone patting the back with cupped hands or using an electric vibrator for this. It also helps to drink warm horehound tea beforehand. Do this daily for a while or as required.

Reactions and Pain

In the course of therapy you can expect repeated short but sharp healing reactions (see Healing Crisis). You may develop vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, weakness, fever, indigestion, strong pain, swellings and skin reactions. These reactions are a favorable sign and show that the body is finally strong enough to attack the cancer. The symptoms are caused when a shrinking tumor generates more toxins then can be eliminated.

The first reaction may come after days, or after months on the program. The stronger the body to start with, and the stricter the program, the sooner it will be. Often a reaction lasts only for a few days but can be so severe you may fear that you are dying. Unfortunately, that can happen in advanced conditions if cleansing efforts are not sufficient, and especially if all cleansing stops when the patient is admitted to a hospital.

Recovery from reactions may be slow, especially if a tumor continues to disintegrate rapidly. Reactions are generally less severe on the Long Cleanse as much of the disintegrating tumor is being digested rather than decomposed. For this reason it also helps to have a high intake of protein-digesting enzymes.

A high fever is a very efficient method of killing microbes and cancer cells. Therefore keep the temperature up as long as possible. Do not be afraid of the fever going too high. Believe instead that the body has its own wisdom and knows what it is doing. Drink hot herb tea, put a hot castor oil pack on the abdomen, and remain wrapped in sheets and blankets, especially in the evening.

With fever, vomiting or diarrhea increase your fluid intake to at least three liters daily, including plenty of warm peppermint tea, which is soothing to the digestive system. Vomiting and diarrhea are attempts by the body to rapidly expel poisons. Commonly, negative reaction symptoms can be stopped or relieved with frequent coffee enemas. These stimulate the liver to release its overload of toxins with the bile. In crisis situations patients survived by having a coffee enema every 2 hours, sometimes even at night.

Generally, take a coffee enema whenever you feel that the benefit received from the previous enema is wearing off. In case of vomiting, or difficulty in handling any kind of food, try a broth made of 1 tablespoon of cooked slippery elm powder and the strained liquid from brown rice well cooked in plenty of water. With any food take plenty of digestive enzymes. Take liquids in small sips several minutes apart; keep in the mouth for some time. If necessary, nutrients may be introduced as a retention enema of fresh juices. Also press on the foot reflexes of the stomach and liver, and use warm castor oil packs on the upper abdomen.

Diarrhea can be made more bearable by taking psyllium hulls with a minimum of liquid, but not so much as to stop it altogether. Blue light on the liver and abdomen is helpful and also on any area of pain. Use DLPA (d, l phenylalanine) 2 tablets of 500mg 3 x daily for persistent pain, when it eases, reduce intake. For short-term or occasional pain try homeopathic Hypericum 30 C. Put several drops in a glass of water, and take a sip every 5-30 minutes, keep in the mouth. Also try Hypericum cream rubbed onto the painful area.

Making the body sufficiently alkaline reduces or eliminates pain, for details see Part 5: Nutrients. Also make sure that the lymph fluid is not stagnating around the tumor, because that would keep it acid and painful. Attempt to move the lymph fluid in the tumor area towards the middle of the collarbones. In a general way you may do this by assuming an inverted position several times a day for all tumours below the neck.

Try a position like a shoulder stand by leaning the raised hips against a wall or propped up with some large pillows. The longer you keep the inverted position the better. For a breast or lung tumour you may also lie on the bed with the head to the floor. In addition you may squeeze the lymph fluid along limbs and the chest with gentle squeezing in the direction of the nearest collarbone.

A strong magnetic pulser may relieve pain, the faster the pulse the better. Use the south-pointing pole with up to 10 pulses per second. Also helpful is the south-pointing pole of a strong magnet towards the skin over the painful area. Leave in place as long as required to control the pain.

Try hot packs of castor oil (over abdomen), or of Epsom salts over muscle spasms, or of raw honey or fresh outer cabbage leaves over the pain. Even warm soft bread, possibly soaked in yogurt can relieve pain. Press the foot reflexes related to the painful area, press very hard. Visualize the pain as a red-hot fireball that is gradually washed away with each breath of cool blue prana until completely gone.

Another successful method is a fast on (preferably energized) water, possibly as part of moderate urine therapy, with an occasional warm vegetable broth. Commonly, persistent pain and other problems disappear after about 3 days of fasting. However, the most consistently effective method of preventing or relieving pain is a raw-food diet. Take morphine only as a last resort (in addition to DLPA and others). It depresses breathing as well as the central nervous system, and improvement may not be possible while using it.

Gerson Therapy

This is an excellent diet-based therapy with a good rate of documented successes. The following is an overview provided by the Gerson Institute; visit their web site for further information.

The Gerson diet is naturally high in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and micronutrients. It is extremely low in sodium and fats, and rich in fluids. The following is a typical diet for the Gerson patient:

Thirteen glasses daily of fresh raw carrot-apple and green leaf juices prepared hourly from fresh, organically grown fruits and vegetables.

Three full vegetarian meals, freshly prepared from organically grown fruits, vegetables and whole grains. A typical meal will include salad, cooked vegetables, baked potatoes, vegetable soup, and juice.

Fresh fruit available at all hours for snacking.

All medications used in connection with the Gerson Therapy are safely classed by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) as biologicals (materials of organic origin). These organic materials are supplied in therapeutic amounts. Here is a list of those holistic medications used with the Gerson Therapy:

Potassium Compound

Lugol's Solution

Vitamin B-12

Castor Oil

Thyroid Hormone

Injectable Crude Liver Extract

Pancreatic Enzymes

Enemas of coffee or chamomile

A very important part of the Gerson Therapy is frequent detoxification of the tissues and blood. This is accomplished through a variety of means, but first and foremost through the use of coffee enemas. The scientific basis for the use of coffee enemas is well documented, and can be obtained from the Gerson Institute. Patients report that the enemas decrease pain and hasten healing. Biologically, enzyme systems of the gut wall and liver are stimulated, and bile flow is increased. This has been shown to enhance the body's ability to eliminate toxic residues from environmental, chemotherapeutic, and other sources. Tumors and other diseased tissue are also more rapidly eliminated.

Other means of detoxification include the use of castor oil, used as an additional stimulant of bile flow and to enhance the liver's ability to filter the blood.