Nexus - 0302 - New Times Magazine-pages

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unknown reason detaches itself from the uterus, moves to other ed by oestrogen, my doctor recommended that I refrain from tak- locations in the body and attaches itself to other organs or body _ ing oestrogen supplements which she said would have relieved the tissue, This misplaced uterine tissue spontaneously bleeds in severe and very unpleasant symptoms. response to hormonal changes, causing internal bleeding, scarring Several months after the surgery, the all-too-familiar endometri- and often excruciating pain that can destroy the woman's ability to al symptoms returned. My doctor assured- me that all was well, live and function normally. This disease is not uncommon among __ but when I asked for and received my surgical records from the women, but it is incurable, at least by conventional medical stan- hospital I found she had written that "all attempts to remove dards. endometriosis will be done, but complete surgical care can rarely My "little" endometriosis turned into the monster that ate be guaranteed; the patient may require further therapy for Tokyo. Three months after my doctor had 'successfully' operated, | endometriosis, medically or surgically". For my exhausted and I was again sitting in the ultrasound room at the hospital, watching bewildered husband and myself, this prognosis seemed like an as several new endometrial tumours appeared on the monitor insurmountable and final defeat. screen, accompanied by the usual excruciating pelvic pain, inter- I had one more heart-to-heart talk with a gynaecologist who told nal bleeding, constipation, haemorrhagic cystitis and acute me, "Given the severity of your case, the reality is that you could exhaustion. be facing a lifetime of corrective surgery." Given the state of my After the ultrasound | decided to contact a doctor who was rec- _ health at the time, I couldn't envision that "lifetime" meant any- ommended to me as an expert on Soe aeaaeaniinini thing more for me than a few addi- endometriosis. He told me that he tional years of mind-numbing felt that my health problems had | From the first day | began the therapy, to & pain and misery before my body originally stemmed from undiag- H 7 finally gave out. nosed severe endometriosis and an We FPUMETISS SUEDHRY I got almost After nearly a lifetime of ill- underactive thyroid which had instantaneous relief from my incurable ness, these last episodes in my probably been present since ado- constipation and fluid retention. Within @ !ate thirties and early forties lescence. He recommended an * . seemed like the final blow, and in immediate hysterectomy, which I a week, my severe abdominal and pelvic all honesty I felt that there was no underwent. The day after the oper- pain was unbelievably gone. way out and no hope in sight. No an te dace ma |The chronic cystitis and yeast infections f= m= ne 1 en would "never have a problem with (internal and external) soon disappeared, and surgery would cure the endometriosis again”. But he was and food allergies exhaustion and endometriosis and my other dis- wrong. J orders and make it possible for Twenty months later, I had more digestive problems all began to heal. me to live a normal life, the doc- tumours and another operation. tors had been proven wrong. Three months after that, the pain, A few weeks later when | tumours and internal bleeding reappeared and I was scheduled for _ heard that one of my friends from the cancer clinic had died in his what would by now have been my sixth surgical procedure in five sleep, I felt sad for his family but happy for him because he was years, which | refused to undergo. finally free of his pain and suffering. In many ways | felt that he Desperate and seriously debilitated, I flew to Mexico where | __was the lucky one and I almost wished that the same thing would spent $15,000 on an intensive course of intravenous megavitamin happen to me. It seemed that death would have been a blessing, and live-cell therapy at one of the alternative cancer clinics which _—_ especially so that my family could be freed from the seemingly _ had offered some hope for my case. For weeks, doctors poured never-ending burden of my illness and be able to get on with their nutrients and natural medicines into my veins and mouth. I _ lives. watched as many of the cancer patients around me seemed to get Sitting alone and discouraged one morning, I glanced up dis- better and better with the treatments. And I did, too—for about mally from a book I was reading when my husband came into the two months. room. "I've got something else we can try, honey," he chirped 1 spent my 40th birthday hopelessly sick and in bed, which was _ enthusiastically, and proceeded to describe his conversation with a where I stayed that entire year. The drugs, operations and woman who had cured herself of a serious and reportedly incur- Mexican treatments had completely failed, and my usual herbs and —_able kidney disorder by using an unusual therapy. "Whaaat!" | homoeopathic remedies, although they gave temporary relief, responded after he told me what the therapy was. "I don't think seemed almost useless against the disease. And by now, even _ so," said, and went back to reading my book. though I had health insurance, my husband and I had spent over But after several more days and many more horrible episodes of $100,000 of our own money, and still I couldn't even get out of | pain and drugs, my husband handed me a small book and said, bed. "You've got to try this." 1 picked up the book and began to read. 1 had one last surgery which removed another large bleeding The small, unpretentious-looking book was full of fascinating tumour. When I got home from the hospital I weighed 89 pounds __ stories about people who had been cured of even the worst dis- and developed a post-surgical infection which required several eases with a seemingly strange and little-known natural therapy. courses of antibiotics. After taking the antibiotics, I developed an The therapy seemed incredibly effective, yet | still felt reluctant to extremely severe case of candida (yeast infection). My hands and try it. But as | read further on in the book, the stories were so arms became covered with a horribly itchy fungal infection that compelling and the therapy was so simple that suddenly it didn't nothing could relieve or cure, and J remained generally exhausted, | seem strange or preposterous to me any more. And at this point in bedridden and in intense pain. my now nearly futile existence, I knew I had absolutely nothing to Because of the surgcries, I was also experiencing carly and _lose by trying it—so I did. severe menopausal symptoms: hot flushes, mood swings, water From the first day I began the therapy, to my immense surprise I retention and depression. But because endometriosis is exacerbat- got almost instantaneous relief from my incurable constipation and NEXUS ¢ 23 FEBRUARY-MARCH 1996