Positive Health Online

Introduction

One of the benefits that I enjoy as a therapist is the opportunity to swap therapies with other therapists. I have had heavenly aromatherapy massage, reflexology, and Reiki to name a few. Yesterday, my friend and colleague Coralyn took me into a relaxing hypnosis. She also worked to heal my sprained shoulder using the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a powerful meridian therapy.

Coralyn has had an amazing journey of discovery over the last few months. Diagnosed with breast cancer, she chose to take her life in her hands and to discover as much as she could about the causes of this illness. What she learned was fascinating and horrifying. It was also empowering because she was able to decide how she would deal with the cancer, and plan her own course of treatment.

This enabled her to remain stronger in the face of dire circumstances.

Pre-Surgery Self-Hypnosis and EFT

The waiting time between tests and diagnosis, and waiting for surgery, are stressful times for most people. During this time, Coralyn used Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) with great effect, reducing her level of anxiety and preparing her body and mind for healing.

However, she had a remarkable experience prior to and after the surgery where she used hypnosis. She knew that hypnosis was powerful because she had given hypnosis for pain to clients with cancer and in preparation for surgery. They had told her this was very effective. However, we do not always realize how effective our skills really are until we need them ourselves!

Coralyn prepared a CD for deep hypnosis to allow her to relax, ready for the surgery and to programme her mind and body for rapid healing. She was so deeply hypnotized that she was only vaguely aware that she was being taken to the operating theatre! When she awoke, she had no pain or sickness. She was allowed to leave hospital the next day, feeling very well. Hypnosis is a very powerful therapy.

Dietary and Nutritional Treatment

As Coralyn recuperated at home, she decided not to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy, feeling that subjecting her body to toxic drugs and radiation would not support her recovery. Instead, she decided to look at lifestyle, diet and nutritional supplements.

She read Professor Jane Plant's book In Your Life in Your Hands,[1] which tells the story of her own fight against breast cancer and her discoveries and subsequent belief that dairy products are the major causative factor. The argument is compelling; there is a correlation between milk production and the incidence of breast cancer in that country. For example, Japan and China do not consume dairy products and have very low levels of breast (and prostate) cancer; only one in 10,000 population. In the UK and USA one in eight woman is diagnosed with breast cancer! Coralyn had been a vegetarian for 20 years, eating large amounts of cheese to ensure adequate protein intake.

Cow's milk contains 59 active hormones but one of particular concern is IGF-1. This is a natural hormone, not an exogenous one. A 1995 report by the EU Scientific Committee concluded that "risk characterisation has pointed to an association between circulatig IGF-1 levels and an increased relative risk of breast and prostate cancer".1 An American and Canadian research team showed that among premenopausal women, those with the highest IGF-1 concentration in their blood had almost three times the risk of developing breast cancer".[1] Milk is the perfect food for a baby animal and provides high levels of important hormones and other substances for a vital growth and development stage. After the animal has been weaned it should no longer have milk in the diet, because nature has not intended us to be suckling as adults!

After reading this research, Coralyn removed all dairy food from her diet. She asked for my advice on nutritional support and I was happy to oblige. I dearly wish all cancer sufferers would do the same because the link between diet and cancer is well documented. I believe that diet and supplements can have a profound effect on most illnesses, as an adjunct to orthodox treatment or otherwise.

The diet I recommended excludes milk, coffee, tea, salt, hydrogenated oils or oils labelled 'pure', sugar in all forms, wheat and rye.

Artificial sweeteners and other chemical additives are banned. All food should be organic and freshly prepared, with lots of vegetables, pulses, beans and lentils, seeds, especially sprouted, and fresh juices like carrot. I advised that she include soy for phytochemicals that have been found beneficial against hormone-dependent cancers.

The following supplements were recommended:

• Multivitamin: colloidal minerals, vitamins, amino acids;
• High potency antioxidant complex containing: vitamins C and E, carotenes, grape seed, pine bark, curcuminoids, glutathione, astaxanthin, green tea extract, Rosemary officinalis extract, alpha lipoic acid, resveratrol, etc.;
• Maitake mushroom and lycopene complex;
• Essiac tea; Hawaiian noni juice;
• Garlic dried or freeze dried, but not garlic pearls;
• High dose vitamin C;
• B complex;
• Digestive enzymes with meals;
• Liquid vitamin A, fat soluble;
• IP6 with inositol;
• Apricot kernels 30-50 seeds per day;
• Laetrile B17;
• Flax oil 15mls or more;
• Selenium.

Environmental Factors

I advised Coralyn to avoid toxic substances in the environment. This meant having a water filter installed and excludes cosmetics and bathroom products containing chemicals like sodium lauryl/laureth sulphate, DEA, TEA and MEA.[2] Other substances to avoid are talc, formaldehyde, fluoride, saccharin, crystalline silica, phthalates and coal tar dyes.

Reducing levels of dairy along with meat and other animal foods and obtaining more protein from vegetable sources also reduces the intake of dioxins. These environmental poisons, found in highest concentrations in animal fats, are carcinogenic and hormone disruptors and are linked with the development of endometriosis and lowered sperm counts.

Conclusion

Coralyn made her own choices in how she wanted to treat her illness. Coralyn's website detailing her approach is www.drugfreetherapy.com. See also www.notmilk.com

References

1. Plant Jane. Your Life in Your Hands. Virgin Publishing. London. 2000.
2. Thomas Pat. Cleaning Yourself to Death. New Leaf. p12. 2001.