Many people I talk to about getting healthier say the same thing to me, "It's too much, Ameena. Maybe you could do it, but I can't change my diet. I can't change my lifestyle."
Yes. Yes you can.
If you want to.
I'm not trying to beat you up. But I know you can.
Think about this way - it's about long-term goals. Delayed gratification is very hard for people's brains to process. Myself, especially. I tend to be impulsive. When I want something, I want it NOW. I know the feeling.
You may realize you are able to do it in one way but not in another. Some people can save money. They say to themselves, "I'll skip going out to dinner or an extra drink for a bigger dent in my debt or my retirement savings." (I am not one of those people. Despite being middle-aged, retirement seems very far away. And my debt is amorphorous.)
For me, it's "I'll skip buying those boots or that coat, so I can pay the mortgage or rent." I can do short-term.
If you can think, "I'll skip that ice cream cone and my tummy/thighs/double chin will look flatter on Saturday night - or at the beach," which is just a few days' ahead, you can eat to stop or slow cancer or heart disease. If you can do a few crunches every evening, you can be stronger in less than a week.
The strict anticancer diet, which is very close to the Whole30 meal plan, is doable for impulsive people if you can think short term. You tell yourself, "If I skip the milk and sugar in my tea or coffee today, I will have so much more energy or no headache tomorrow." I can promise that you skip the grains and sweeteners (ALL of them, including artificial ones), you will definitely have a flatter stomach by tomorrow. Yes, you will probably feel a little worse while you detox (maybe for three days) and you will be dreaming about candy, but once you get rid of the addiction, you WILL feel and look amazing. Isn't that worth it? Three days to clear eyes and skin? 10 days to a glow?
Instead of thinking about giving stuff up forever, think about giving it up for a week. Or 30 days.
On evenings when you are tired and grumpy and the donuts are calling your name, you think, "Just til tomorrow. I won't eat them now and I will be so happy tonight. Then if I still feel like it, I can always get one tomorrow." When tomorrow comes, you do the same thing. Or maybe you think, "Just for an hour. I'll see if I still want one when I pass the next donut shop." Then when you pass the next donut shop, you say to yourself, "I'm almost home. I could make some sweet potatoes..." and so on.
why it's worth to stick to your anticancer diet. a cherokee proverb.
On the other hand, if you are a long-term thinking person, you say, "I'll skip sugar, dairy and grains so that I can make it to my daughter's wedding - or my granddaughter's wedding."
Or the way I think, "If I stay away from air pollution and toxins, exercise, meditate and eat organic and green today, I will remain self-sufficient and active until I die." Obviously, this is not totally controllable - I could get hit by a car or some other horrid thing, but similarly, I could lose all my retirement savings in a bad investment or if the economy tanks again.
Personally, I am less worried about leaving this world than I am about losing my autonomy and agency.
I don't want to spend the last years of my life being pushed around in a wheelchair and/or an institution. I really don't want other people making decisions for me or choosing what time I go to bed or what meds I take. I don't want to be in constant pain or feeble or lose control of my limbs.
I want to leave this world on my yoga mat, in a sufi meditation or on a surf board.
If you're a short-term person - can you change your lifestyle long enough to make it to your next doctor's appointment and see how your vitals have changed? Can you change it long enough to put your cancer in remission?
This is how I save for retirement. Eating lightly, no sugar and more greens, exercising more, sleeping well, taking supplements that reduce inflammation and strengthen my immune system, meditating - all that is better than health insurance at keeping you from diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
This may sound all superficial when you are in what feels like a life or death situation, but beauty products are actually crucial. We all know that when you are happier, you heal faster. But also, when you look better, people treat you differently. We are only human.
Getting chemotherapy and planning my skincare
I felt hideous when everything started falling apart, not least because people would stare (just for a minute and then look away). I looked like a scrawny, hairless alien. I don't know if they thought I had cancer or something else, but people tended to give me a wide berth, as though my disease just might be catching. My daughters gave me a gift certificate to a place called Spa Castle - a gigantic Korean spa with all kinds of relaxing treatments - and I didn't go because I thought everyone would REALLY stare at me in a bathing suit. It didn't help that most massage therapists, nail salons, aestheticians, even dentists would refuse me treatment because they were scared of what the cancer might do - or my compromised immune system.
Friends would say, "You look great!" in a loudish, fakely cheerful voice. Or they'd tell me about someone else who had chemo and looked much worse. I ran errands, worked and was happy that I could, but I felt embarrassed about my looks. I went to see one of my daughters in her school play and, between scenes, I came out into the lobby and sat on the floor and cried because I felt like a leper.
A few weeks' later, I was in a meeting at an ad agency pitching, of all things, a haircare line, and feeling totally awkward. I mentioned to the table that I didn't need shampoo. My boss laughed, "No, you need Miracle-Gro!" Well, that broke the tension.
So.
How you look matters.
If you are reading this for a friend or family member who is sick, keep that in mind.
To start out, let's forget serious beauty treatments and think about discomfort. Your skin feels rough, hot, dry and itchy - or some combination of the three - during chemo and/or radiation. Unfortunately, almost any commercial product you apply will irritate the skin even further. Your eyes are often red, dry and swollen.
To start with, I didn't use any cleansers at all. My skin was just too dry. I rinsed it with water. If I attempted to use anything even slightly exfoliating, it made my cheeks sting. I only wore natural make-up products so I didn't need to remove them.
Some people suggest you splash water on your face and then apply a thin layer of sweet almond oil. This is the most basic level of care but it is best for babies with eczema because their skin is naturally plump and soft. Since oil just helps seal the moisture into your skin, it doesn't give your skin the cooling, soothing, quenching it craves.
During my 25+ years in the beauty industry, I used to joke that all the expensive skin creams worked about as well as Crisco with fragrance and a nice jar. It's not totally true.
Even post-chemo, you should probably keep this list in mind - what you really need for your skin is a three-part solution - 1. an emollient, 2. a humectant and 3. an occlusive. Many skin products incorporate the three, but if you don't find one that works for you, here's what you need.
The emollient is a moisturizer. It hydrates, softens and plumps up the fine lines. It feels good on the skin. The reason you can't rely on it alone is that it evaporates very quickly. Thus it can leave the skin feeling even dryer than it did to begin with.
Next, you need a humectant. Humectants draw the moisture from the air into your skin. Glycerin, coconut oil and hyaluronic acid (sounds scary but it's actually something your body creates to lubricate itself) are humectants. If you use too much of a humectant, it can make you skin look fresh and dewy, but it can also make it feel sticky to the touch, especially as the product dries - because it does dry but not completely into a thick gel.
So to top it all off, you need an occlusive. An occlusive seals in the moisture and protects and fortifies your skin's moisture barrier. The moisture on your skin not only makes the skin softer and more resilient, it creates a barrier to bacteria, environmental irritants and pollutants. Thus dry skin is actually more prone to infection.
For me, the best moisturizer during chemo was a simple Calendula cream. Look for brands designed for first aid, like Boiron or Thompson's, or for babies. Make sure it is unscented. It cooled the skin and soothed the itchy red rash. I still travel with a tube of this as my face is very sensitive to stress and different kinds of water. (Personally, after cleansing, I start with a Vitamin C product to help re-build the collagen, reduce the dark spots and splotches you get from chemotherapy and brighten the skin. Be careful with this though, as the wrong product can irritate the skin and cause MORE redness (and that's hardly what you need). Liquid Gold is the only brand I recommend for people with cancer, since it's natural and designed for sensitive skin.)
Then I used a humectant. A friend of mine was working for Estee Lauder and she sent me the Creme De La Mer serum, a rich gel - I think it was fortified with seaweed or algae - that, unlike most commercially-prepared products, didn't have a heavy scent or color. You can also use a pure hyaluronic acid or a natural rosewater and glycerin combination mist. I also love a product called Liquid Gold cell quench which is made of hyaluronic acid and plant stem cells. I spray on some rosewater and glycerin and then roll on a little cell quench and spread it around with my finger tips.
My favorite beauty products for people having cancer treatments - and my routine today.
For my occlusive, I then used a heavy moisturizer with a sweet almond oil base called Cleopatra's cream. It's made by a friend of natural, non-GMO ingredients - including antibacterial coconut oil and homeopathic suspensions of minerals and seems to be the ONLY thing that really hydrates my post-chemo dryness. It still smells lovely but not fake in anyway.
Last, I used a balm or oil at night. I've seen herbal shops selling calendula balms made of herbal extracts and essential oils. As long as it is not too scented, you could use that instead. I would test it on your arm and see how it feels. The Liquid Gold brand also makes a balm with vitamin E that is great for sealing in the moisture and healing.
Finally, moisture has to come from the inside, too. While you are having chemo, drink water like crazy and make sure you are getting your good fats - avocados, coconut oil, nuts, rice bran oil. I took 4 capsules a day of rice bran oil, two capsule of rosemary oil and four capsules a day of seabuckthorn oil.
Just remember that everything you apply to your skin gets absorbed into your blood stream, so if you wouldn't eat it, you probably shouldn't rub it into your face, especially when you are weak and your immune system is compromised.
One month after I stopped chemotherapy. My face well moisturized - just eyeliner but nothing else!
When you are all greased-up, let it soak in for a little while so that you don't look too slippery. Then it's time for make-up! There is a little-known brand called Illuminare which was actually designed to be super gentle for a breast cancer patient and is made out of natural minerals. It's a make-up artists secret as it blends really well, a teensy bit goes a long way and it is non-irritating, even if you fall asleep with it on. Since it has a high mineral content, it works as a sunscreen as well - very useful since the skin becomes very photosensitive during chemotherapy and radiation - and it actually helps your skin heal.
Illuminare makes eye products that do not irritate the eyes (but irritatingly, require separate brushes - though that forces you to clean them often which is good) and nontoxic lipcolors that last all day. One finds that one's lips not only get dry and cracked, they become pale.
I still wore my kajal every single day, unless my eyes got too stingy. Kajal is a South Asian eyeliner made of charcoal and healing oils. I use a brand called Hashmi Kajal. It's supposedly made out of Ayurvedic ingredients and protects your eyesight. It didn't bother my eyes, it's cheap and the only bad thing about it is that the plastic cap is really cheap and can break off in your bag and smear the waterproof stuff everywhere so keep it in a ziplock bag. I rinsed it in cold water between uses.
Apart from kajal, I am sucky at applying make-up myself but there are a million great tutorials on youtube. Watch them but, be super careful with the products you choose. It is not worth the discomfort of skin and eyes that are even more irritated than before. I tried my daughters' make-up and came home and cried again because of how much they made my eyes sting and my face hurt.
My friend Mary Schook showed me how to safely apply false lashes if I needed to go out. And these days, there are no shortage of brow products (it's amazing how weird people look with no eyebrows). This was shot by my youngest daughter, Rara, and the voice-over is by Zarina. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvYyk7FDS8
Brush color on your brows - or where they were - slightly lighter than you think because it can very quickly look mad. When you first start, ask someone else to make sure you haven't turned yourself into Salvador Dali or Lucille Ball in the early 60s.
Most people undergoing cancer treatments become very skinny. Like 14 year-old bones sticking out scrawny. If you were never slim before, this is the silver lining. And here is your chance to try layering! While I'd recommend choosing fabrics that are very smooth and soft so as not to irritate your skin further, I used to start with a very thin, soft cotton t-shirt underneath everything because it gave me more options. I also found that a thin pair of cotton leggings under a loose shirt or dress were useful - because there were so many instances during treatment where one had to undress one part of the body or another. With layers like that, you could reveal an arm, a hand, a foot or a leg without leaving the rest of yourself exposed. That way, you feel like you maintain a level of dignity.
Since I live in New York City AND I didn't want to have to buy an entirely new wardrobe before, during and after treatment, I chose most stuff in neutral colors - black, white and gray - with accents in red or blue. I added a bright pop of color near the face - a scarf or hat - to cheer myself up.
In terms of fragrance, when you really look odd, it's nice to smell sweet. A lot of people find that chemotherapy and/or radiation makes them nauseated and sensitive to smells, especially artificial ones. I found that, at my most nauseated, the scent of natural grapefruit oil was fresh and clean smelling. Lavender and Rosemary - but the natural oils, not the fake stuff - have a green, camphorousness that can cut through the nausea. They are both also calming and antibacterial. Personally, I also found natural rose and jasmine oils very soothing as well as sexy (and not much made me feel sexy at that time).
My suggestion is to go to health food store or natural aromatherapy place and test out some of the oils. Or ask people to bring you a few. Try a tiny bit on your wrist and leave it on for a while. Or put it on a sweater or sweatshirt. See if it smells nice or it makes you feel sick as the day goes on. If you can't handle any scented products at all, don't worry about it. But given the endocrine interruptors and other nasty effects of synthetic fragrance, I'd recommend you avoid them all together.
Also, look at the products in your bathroom. Shampoos, conditioners, bodywash, soaps and lotions can all irritate the skin and eyes - and they also penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream. I would go as natural as you can manage. I used Dr. Bronner's Lavender soap (I didn't need shampoo), a natural toothpaste with no fluoride (another possible carcinogen) and food grade sweet almond oil or coconut oil on my body after bathing. Then I rubbed on a little natural flower oil. I used a Weleda's natural deodorant made mostly from baking soda and it seemed to work well.
If you are getting radiation, I recommend a 20-30 minute soak in 1 cup of epsom salt, 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of natural sea salt after treatment. Then take a shower afterwards.
I made a big effort to reduce the plastic bottles and artificial cleaning products - all my years of swimming laps made me adore the chlorine smell of Clorox Clean-Up - but you can get much less toxic cleaners made of hydrogen peroxide and they are just as effective at killing germs.
I did not wear a wig because I found them itchy, expensive
and ugly. (Plus, I have fond memories of Sinead O'Connor and the model
Eve as bad ass b@#ches). Since I underwent chemotherapy from October til February, I was partial to some extremely
soft cashmere beanies made by Meg Cohen.
These are the nicest, thickest cashmere I have ever felt and they are
locally-made by the nicest person. It's a tiny business that behaves
with the best ethics.
Think about it this way, if you are going to have something close to your
skin (and your crown chakra), make sure it has good energy!
I am totally indebted to my friend Evangeline Kim for making this recipe. I had only once tasted a teensy bit of Momofuko Milk Bar's famous crack pie but since they used wheat and refined sugar, I didn't really go further. Cut to five or six years' later and she was telling us how delicious it was and offered to make one while staying here. I challenged her to make a version I could eat (without sugar or wheat). So here it is - and if you eat it warm, topped with a dollop of coconut cream - you will literally not be able to stop in until you have to lie down on the floor and unbutton your trousers in total surrender.
Personally, I would not make this myself as it is too labor-intensive and then I would just eat it all up if it was lying around the fridge BUT - it would be the best thing ever to take with you when you get invited somewhere for thanksgiving or a party and there are no desserts that you can eat and everyone is making you feel like a loser as they chow down. When you bring this, they will all be won over to your side. They will all be talking about how ridiculous it is that everyone can't eat healthy and it's so easy and delicious.
Or eat it all yourself.
Organic, Paleo, Gluten-Free, NO REFINED SUGAR - even VEGAN - TOTALLY ADDICTIVE Crackpie
3/4 cup avocado puree (or 4 large organic egg yolks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation (prep: 40 min, total: 15 hrs - It's long. Plan in advance.)
Cookie Crust
Preheat oven to
300°F. Line 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper; coat with coconut oil or butter. Combine 6 tablespoons oil/butter, 6 tablespoons coconut sugar in medium bowl. Beat mixture until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides of
bowl, about 2 minutes. Add ground chia seed mixture or egg; beat until pale and fluffy. Add oats,
almond and coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended,
about 1 minute. Turn mixture out onto prepared baking pan; press
out evenly to edges of pan. Bake until light golden on top, 17 to 18
minutes. Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely.
Using hands,
crumble oat cookie into large bowl; add 3 tablespoons coconut oil/butter and 1 1/2
tablespoons coconut sugar. Rub in with fingertips until mixture is moist
enough to stick together. Transfer cookie crust mixture to
9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto
bottom and up sides of coconut oil or butter greased pie dish. Place pie dish with crust on rimmed
baking sheet.
Filling
Position rack in
center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Whisk coconut sugar, coconut milk or colostrum powder,
and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add coconut oil or melted butter and whisk until
blended. Add coconut cream, then pureed avocado/egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well
blended. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie 30 minutes (filling may begin
to bubble). Reduce oven temperature to 300°F. Continue to bake pie
until filling is brown in spots and set around edges but center still
moves slightly when pie dish is gently shaken, about 20 minutes longer.
Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack (If you can resist it. 30 minutes in is about when I ate the first half of the pie, I globbed the coconut cream on top).
Chill whatever you can save uncovered overnight.
The coconut sugar and coconut cream makes for a darker pie, but since there is slightly less of a sugar rush - and it's balanced with the higher protein and fiber - it doesn't knock you out quite so fast. But it DOES have fructose - so easy on it! Maybe try substituting Monk Fruit in places?
Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover so that no one knows what it is; keep chilled. Lock up your fridge.
The moral of this story is this: if anyone (or even everyone) ever tells you, "There's nothing you can do about it," or "There's only one thing that works, " don't believe it (especially if the only thing that works is a pharmaceutical or something else expensive).
There is ALWAYS something you can do. You just need to put the time into figuring it out.
After my 14 weeks of chemo, even after refusing to take the steroids, my bones were pretty weak. I went to a superfancy anti-aging clinic and was given a bunch of expensive tests including a bone density scan. They diagnosed osteoporosis in my hips and lower back.
Also, I noticed that my teeth were pale and gray and quite porous.
Anyone who's ever been pregnant will tell you that the bones and teeth are connected, if you don't get enough dietary calcium and supporting minerals while pregnant, your body will leach it out of your teeth and bones. Your teeth become more translucent or cracked over time.
Terrified, I asked the doctor what I should do. He said, "Well, there's nothing you can do once you've lost the bone. But I can prescribe you Boniva which slows the loss."
He was a good looking, well-spoken guy but I never trust a pharmaceutical salesman. Lots of people believe that Boniva and Fosamax (and their ilk) make your bones brittle.
A few months' later, I discovered I had a huge cavity in my tooth - also, obviously, due to bone loss. I spoke to my dentist - and I love that guy as a person. But his answer: "Well, there's nothing you can do once you've lost the tooth to decay. It's really all about prevention. We can look into crowns." (More expensive stuff).
Spending a little time thinking about it, neither idea made sense to me. If you break a bone, you set it and it rebuilds itself. So your bone is not only capable of healing itself, it's designed to do that. You just have to figure out how to support your body to do its work. And teeth are bones, so why can't they grow back?
That summer, I researched bone building supplements on a whole bunch of osteoporosis forums and chat rooms. Since I'd gone into menopause post-chemo, the lack of estrogen caused further bone loss. I added lots of minerals to my diet and exercised like crazy.
In the winter, I was crossing the street in front of my kids' school and was hit by a taxi. My face and hip hit the ground. While my face needed to be sewn back together, it turned out my hips were solid. In other words, the stuff was working. No pain and no fractures - not even a hairline - showed up in the x-rays.
This summer - about five years' later - I went to an incredible dentist, Idelle Brand, who practices holistic dentistry. She took a look at the now GINORMOUS cavity which had developed underneath an old filling and said, "Wow. No wonder you didn't have any pain. Your tooth was growing back." Basically, the dentin had grown back over the nerve.
There are actually a lot of schools of thought around re-building teeth and bone with diet, most of them based on Dr. Weston Price's studies of different cultures and their teeth, bones and jaws. (Personally, I don't process eggs or dairy products well - even raw (unpasteurized) dairy which because it isn't heated, has its enzymes intact thus making it more digestible and bioavailable to the body - though I occasionally have raw sheeps' milk cheese - so I can't totally follow his diet.)
Keep reading or scroll down for the useful stuff. What follows is a tried-and-tested bone and teeth building regimen - this is an amalgam of success stories from osteoporosis chat rooms and my own discoveries. I gave this to a friend I worked with recently as a polarity practitioner and a holistic nutrition coach. Teeth seem to be harder work than bones so it will require more of a commitment. But two things to remember, carbonated drinks and pasteurized dairy foods (sugary ones like sweetened yogurt are even worse) actually weaken your bones by stripping the calcium.
The brand names on the supplements are the ones people recommended. You should do your own research - test them out and see what feels good for your body. However, I don't recommend drugstore or Costco/Sam's club/Walmart brands as they tend to use cheap ingredients or substitute other stuff (even cheaper).
Even if you are being presently treated for cancer, you can follow this:
First thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, have a glass of water with the juice of half a lemon, ideally fresh-squeezed. Then take
3 Doctor's Best Strontium Bone Maker (separate from ANY calcium foods or supplements),
2 capsules of Bio-Kult, Dr. Mercola or Nexabiotic probiotic
1 Digest Gold or Life Extension digestive enzyme
1000 mg of a good vitamin C (I like Lypospheric vitamin C by Livon-Labs - squeeze a packet into your water and rub the remaining stuff onto your skin).
1 capsule New Chapter Turmeric Force or other curcumin.
(If you can bring yourself to have a fresh-pressed green juice, this is a good time to do it - add the vitamin c to it. You might also do 10 to 15 minutes of oil pulling if teeth are your main issue. Skip the coffee for a little while as that is not good for your bones. If you must have a coffee now, use coconut milk or cream without any added calcium, not dairy).
Drink lots of water! Personally, I also have two cups of comfrey root and leaf tea or 30 drops of comfrey root extract during the course of the day. Many people don't have comfrey as it can be hard on the liver but I have never had any trouble with it. Here's a video by Dani Katz who healed HER teeth.
Wait 60 minutes to have breakfast. For breakfast, have cooked or raw (if you buy them directly from a farmer) organic, free-range eggs. You should also crush the eggshells and add the powder to your raw egg smoothie or meal. With your breakfast, have 4 drops of Numedica Micellized Vitamin D3 and another packet of the lypospheric vitamin C.
Drink a glass of water and add 1 tablespoon of food grade Diatemaceous Earth. Drink it up as soon as you add it in as it tends to get thick and settle if you leave it. The only salt you should use is grey Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt.
with lunch and dinner
3 Jarrow Bone Up (6/day)
1 JarrowSil 5 mg
1 Digest Gold enzyme
1 capsule New Chapter Turmeric Force
1 packet of vitamin C
Avoid table salt and ALL sweetened and carbonated beverages (they leach calcium from your bones).
Have LOTS of fresh green vegetables - especially spinach, collards, kale, mustard greens - and orange vegetables - squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots - you can eat them raw or sauteed with garlic, however you like them.
Make and drink bone broth - sear organic, grass-fed beef bones on the stove (I add onions and garlic myself). Then I fill the pot with water and let it simmer for several hours.
To bump up your vitamin K2, eat eggs, brie or (raw milk) gouda cheese, hummus, molasses - just make sure everything is organic.
In order to add more minerals to your system, take 1/2 teaspoon of grey Celtic salt and follow it with 2 glasses of water. Do this any time of day but not with the strontium.
At bed time, take
1 digestive enzyme
1 probiotic
Any magnesium you like because it helps you sleep better.
For gum loss or peridontal disease, before you brush, massage the base of your teeth with one round (one water basin full) of the hydrofloss. It's a fancy version of a waterpik, but it's value comes from the variable speeds as well as the magnetized water which according to medical studies is proven to clean and strengthen gums more effectively. If you read the reviews on amazon.com, people have regenerated gum tissue within 6 months using this device (or the earlier incarnation) daily.
An easy bone building exercise - stand or hop on one leg at a time, for 30 seconds. Eventually, try to build to 3 minutes on each leg. I do this on the subway when I can't get a seat. Just leaving out the hopping.
Remember, your body is designed to regenerate and heal itself. Your job is just to help it. Unfortunately, the older you get, the more effort your machinery requires to keep it in order - but it is ALWAYS possible!
If you decide to follow or modify any of these recommendations - let me know how it works.
imagine a forgotten "cure" for arthritis, lyme disease, candida, parasites, respiratory infections, acne, allergies, varicose veins - and some people think - certain cancers.
i'm on a number of listservs where people discuss alternative and complementary therapies. since i'm obsessed with ways to help the body heal itself, i usually do some investigation - online and asking doctors, naturopaths, acupuncturists and healers i know, along with people who've tried it. if it still sounds interesting, i test it on myself and i ask my friends and family if they want to try it.
for most of the people i know who have candida, the effects can be so debilitating and so hard to resolve, that something that may CURE it, permanently, is life-altering.
so far, from everything i've know, this seems to work, despite the scare-mongering around it. it works even better if you take a little time to clean up your body first, drinking lots of water, stopping processed foods, cutting back on animal products, etc. but it seems to work even if you don't do that.
first - here's the legal disclaimer - i am NOT a doctor and am not qualified to diagnose or treat any illnesses. anything i describe is my personal, anecdotal experience and i am not instructing you to do it.
also, every time i mention this stuff on facebook or twitter or something, people get really angry about it. and they are also REALLY scared of it - which in my mind - is always something to watch out for.
so what is it?
yes, bizarre as it sounds - turpentine.
the first time i read about someone drinking it, i thought the guy was insane. then i did some research. a lot of recent information comes from a doctor called jennifer daniels who now lives outside of the u.s.- if you click on the link, she explains how it works.
there's a naturopath in canada called tony pantelleresco who explains how to mix it with honey.
think about it. natural turpentine is pine sap. it's the oil of a pine tree and in its natural state, it's what the tree uses to heal its own wounds. it's a component of propolis (what bees collect) and has strongly antibacterial and antifungal properties. it's been used as a disinfectant and cleaning product most recently. and, in this country, was also taken as a cure-all by native americans. as an essential oil, it's called terebinth.
native americans passed their knowledge to african-americans who, during the time of slavery and afterwards, had limited access to medicines. it also spread amongst poor whites and was used both topically and internally for just about everything, but especially with farm kids, mixed with a little castor oil for "de-worming."
i spoke to an iranian friend recently about trying turpentine for a cold and he said, "oh no, that's what they used to give children for worms! a little turpentine on sugar." i've heard similar things from russian friends.
personally, i've been experimenting myself with the internal and external use of turpentine. externally, i have put 1/2 a cup of it in the bath - mixed with a carrier oil like almond or olive oil (because it can be a little stingy on hot skin) - i have massaged it into sore muscles and applied it to injuries. a dot of it on a q-tip applied to a pimple does clear it quickly.
some people say it reduces varicose veins, so far no real change, but i will add to this if it does.
in theory, taking a little turpentine (1 to 1/2 teaspoon mixed with white sugar or honey followed by a few big glasses of water) kills infectious microbes and parasites almost instantly. after i do it, i have actually passed small (but dead, phew) worms. also, in a few hours, my stomach flattens out - a sign of the candida being killed off. for me, i find the optimum dose is every few months, unless i suddenly have some sort of infection.
the unpleasant side-effects of ingestion can be burping it up all day - which can be minimized by adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to the water you drink after ingesting it and brief diarrhea/loose bowels as the parasites leave your body. if it feels too intense, take less turpentine - maybe 1/4 teaspoon to start.
i've also seen the sugar-turpentine remedy work for kids, the elderly, my friends, my housekeeper, my employees and my neighbors for everything from respiratory infections, emphysema, upset stomachs, brain fog, candida, post-stroke to fibromyalgia. it has never failed to produce remarkable results. a kid with a fever and a cold jumped out of bed in a few hours, a girl with severe fibromyalgia immediately relaxed, a 90 year-old woman with a chronic lung condition could suddenly breathe (after just 15 drops in a teaspoon of sugar), a guy with bad brain fog after a stroke felt clear and sharp immediately. with regular use (every other day for five or six days), my friends with candida see relief of their symptoms.
kit campbell, a woman who overcame her IBS by cleaning up her diet and taking turpentine following jennifer daniels and tony pantelleresco shows how she does it. she decided she preferred the honey or olive oil carrier method.
the reviews on amazon for the organic, natural turpentine i buy show that i am not the only person who is using it internally.
so why does every bottle of turpentine carry dire warnings? a few years' ago, turpentine was listed in the merck manual, the NIH and the new england journal of medicine as the cure for a number of illnesses. even webmd suggests it can be used externally for skin conditions.
i've read arguments that it is a poison, but from what i understand, it is only hard on the body if ingested in very large quantities, using that logic, even in small quantities, tylenol or acetaminophen is toxic to the liver and, according to our friends at the FDA, is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S., leading 15,000 trips a year to the emergency room. (if you insist on taking tylenol or paracetemol, keep some NAC on hand as it helps re-build your stores of glutathione).
according to jennifer daniels, the reason is that turpentine is too cheap and available and resolves too many conditions, thus not appealing to regulating organizations which get a lot of support from corporations.
in any case, the kind of turpentine one uses is important. it should be pure gum spirits which are made from tree sap rather than mineral spirits which are made from petroleum. this is available in any art supply or hardware store, just check the label carefully.
last of all, there is a theory that the cancer cell mutation is caused by molds, parasites and other opportunistic microbes - in which case, turpentine might be an effective piece of a healing protocol. my suggestion is to find a doctor or healer who understands it or do your own research.
imho, it's an incredible tool. i keep it in my medicine cabinet!
In the past few years, people often call or email me to talk a friend or family member who has just discovered he/she has cancer of one kind or another.
I tell them my story and give them tips about what they can do to heal naturally, as well as what they might do in conjunction with chemo.
Burdock root has anti-tumor properties
I've been impressed that people who take the information and run with it, have incredible results. Cancer recedes, diabetes disappears, aggressive tumors turn benign. Even if it is a few years' since their cancer was treated, changing their diets, breathing, exercising and taking supplements has changed their lives. They are energetic and vibrant, their skin glows, they are optimistic and active.
Usually, almost everyone I talk to gets really excited about the options available to them. There are so many ways to heal cancer these days - and heal it in a way that overhauls your life for the better - that people come away feeling relieved and positive about the challenge.
Unfortunately, three-quarters of the people I advise, then go to the hospital and get frightened.
Their doctors say things like, "Well, if you take these supplements, we can't help you.."
Or, as they said to a friend, "If you want to risk your life like that, go ahead, because we can't guarantee the results of alternative treatment."
So remember: Healing cancer, even more than almost any other disease, IS possible - but it's uncertain, no matter which method. All of our bodies are different and react differently. All of our minds and souls have different lessons to learn. Whether you choose the traditional route or the naturopathic one or a combination, THERE IS NO GUARANTEE. Just because the doctor/healer says they have success with one method or another, doesn't mean it will work on you.
For instance, if you have a virus and a doctor mistakenly prescribes you antibiotics and you get even sicker and end up in the hospital, you don't get anything back from the doctor.
There is no money-back guarantee on healing.
And worse, there is no health-back guarantee. This is even scarier when you are dealing with your kids.
So here's the other thing, YOU live in your body. You know it better than anyone else and you have for years. See what you feel comfortable with. Try one thing and see if it makes you feel better. There is nothing wrong with testing the experiences and listening to your body.
If it's your kid - remember, this child lived IN your body - you were there from his/her earliest moments. No one knows your child better than you do.
My recommendation - cancer is systemic - so never stick to any single therapy. You need to heal, mind, body and soul. If it makes you feel better to follow an oncologist's orders, do that. But also try the dietary changes and supplements. Try hypnotherapy, try polarity, try Brennan healing. Try acupuncture, infrared heat and vitamin therapy. Try intravenous glutathione, meditation, and Chinese medicine.
Since I've been studying herbal medicine and Chinese medicine, I cross-referenced the four main ingredients with my textbooks and what I've learned. I also put in hours with my biology textbooks and reading testimonials and research online.
I should add that it has a tumultuous history with the mainstream - and even slightly alternative - medical establishment. Andrew Weil, for instance, says you should avoid it. But he also says that the formula was never passed on correctly by Rene Caisse. Apparently, Caisse refused to divulge her ingredients to the drug companies because she believed the product should be cheap and free and readily available. She did give it to Memorial Sloan Kettering, and interestingly, there are studies on their websites regarding certain ingredients, but from what I've read, she got angry at the way they handled it (they froze the herbs, making them much weaker) and took it all back.
That said, there are so many testimonials most people have bought a jar of vitamins on Amazon with fewer good reviews. And you can buy it on Amazon as capsules, pre-made liquid and dried herbs. It is also sold under the name Flor-Essence with the addition of kelp (good for the thyroid), red clover (builds iron and strength), watercress (purifies the blood, tones the kidneys and reduces inflammation) and blessed thistle (strengthens and tones the liver).
I suggest making it yourself as the pre-made versions are more expensive and, since they are not as fresh, they might not be as effective.
Turkey or Indian Rhubarb - this plant has been used in herbal remedies for over 2,000 years.
It has both anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. In Essaic tea, it's used for its anthroquinones, emodin and rhein, which have tumor killing capacities. Anthroquinones are also good for strengthening the lungs, especially after chemotherapy or radiation. Finally, it's said that the tea can be used for controlling menopausal symptoms like hot flashes.
It seems incredible. If you have any health issues that affect the pancreas or liver, from diabetes to hepatitus to HIV or cancer, you should try this tea. Some people, like Flor-Essence, add additional herbs but these are the four main ones.
(The tedious part is making the tea. This isn't the kind where you buy a teabag and put it in a cup with hot water. It is actually a herbal extract or tincture, so it is boiled for quite a long time. Then strained and reduced again. Then you have to sterilize and fill a bottle with the thick, dark substance and keep it in the fridge. The advantage is that it lasts for several weeks that way and you only take a tiny amount in the morning and the evening, ideally on an empty stomach.)
Think about it this way, if you have a horrible sinus
infection and you go to the doctor for antibiotics, you are probably
still going to drink chicken soup, take a ton of vitamin c and maybe a
hot toddy and/or watch some funny movies on netflix.
The
doctor will tell you that all these other things won't make any
difference. But, if you really want to get well fast, you'll decide that
you want to put in the extra effort.
Along with meditating and speaking gently to your body and your cancer, it's worth it to use every piece of soul and body strengthening weapons reinforcements in your arsenal.
Just know that if you want to be well, listen to your body. Love it. Put in the time to treat yourself with love and respect. Who knows what miracles you could make happen?
7 am this morning, to the sounds of the drilling two inches outside my window, i was speaking to a friend whose beautiful two year-old daughter has acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
and when i came home from dropping rara at school, i saw the ny times op-ed by michael mudd about the food industry. and it made me think about rosemary's baby, the idea of a man trading his unborn child for his career, for getting ahead in the world.
isn't that where we are now? leukemia and other cancers skyrocket amongst children under 10 and corporations continue to make and sell products full of carcinogenic and harmful ingredients because "the consumer wants them."
these are beautiful british twin girls, the one on the left has leukemia and her sister on the right does not. fortunately, they can help in understanding the DNA changes that might lead to leukemia.
we have sold our next generation to pesticide manufacturers, x-ray and microwave machine builders, pharmaceutical and junk food corporations, not to mention, the cosmetic industry. in the meantime - if your child or any child you know - gets leukemia, here's some advice:
ONE i am sure you know - keep her as quiet and rested as possible. cancer patients needs tons of sleep. the more the better. just let her sleep and sleep and find a place where she can be quiet and undisturbed.
TWO cut out sugar from her diet. http://www.mercola.com/article/sugar/sugar_cancer.htm for now, i would include fruit, or at least limit her fruit intake as much as you can, to just a little bit here and there. if she does want to have fruit, give her mangosteen, pineapple (very good for cleaning the blood, you just have to cut it carefully because it could burn her tongue if the chemo is affecting her mucus membranes), green apples, carrots. no sugar, no honey, no maple syrup and especially NO ARTIFICIAL SWEETNERS! there's been a link between aspartame (nutrasweet) and leukemia, better not to use it. http://www.naturalnews.com/037772_aspartame_leukemia_lymphoma.html
no white rice, no wheat. cut back on carbs as much as you can because they turn into sugar in the body and cancer cells feed on sugar.
THREE increase broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussell sprouts, kale - all cruciferous vegetables in her diet. http://www.naturalnews.com/038363_sulforaphane_cruciferous_vegetables_leukemia.html if you can juice them, even better. if the juice feels too strong, you can add more cucumber and green apple. i make a juice every morning with three leaves of kale, two thick stalks of broccoli, one cucumber, three stalks of celery, a small bunch of coriander, half-a-lemon, and half-a green apple.
make sure the fruits and vegetables you juice are organic and washed clean. if you can get her to drink three or four big (16 oz) glasses of this a day, that's great. make it as fresh as you can and if she can't drink it all at one go, let her drink small amounts throughout the day. it means she will continue to get nutrients because sometimes the chemo can make it hard to eat and can give you sores in your mouth and throat. if she has too many sores in her mouth for the lemon, just leave it out and add more cucumber and/or aloe with is good for coating the mouth and stomach. FOUR while she is having chemo, make sure she drinks a lot of water. i drank three liters a day but i am quite a lot bigger. the idea is to get all the noxious chemicals out of her body as fast as possible.
FIVE make her laugh. laughter strengthens your immune system. funny movies, jokes, toys. the more you can keep her laughing and cheerful (and i've heard she is a little sprite so she will be easy to entertain), the better.
SIX zhikr - for both you and your baby. tasbih (or a rosary or mala, if one is christian, hindu or buddhist) is a magic charm and for calming and energy. just get a set and keep saying, "la illaha illala" on each bead. give a set to your baby to hold or wear around her neck - and tell her they will keep her safe and strong. when the stress is getting to you - or her - find a quiet place (even if it's just in your mind) to breathe slowly and deeply and keep doing the thusbee and concentrating on LOVE because that is what God is. all-embracing love, all-forgiving love, all-healing love.
breathing deeply for both you and her is very important because getting enough oxygen in your body can kill cancer cells - and for worried mamas, it can keep you from getting sick from the stress.
SEVEN gentle massage. chemo makes your body achy. loving massage can increase her blood circulation and energy. hold her, massage her. if she loses or doesn't have much hair, one's scalp is super-sensitive, it's nice to stroke and massage her head.
EIGHT i used to take a product called polymva. it's combination of b-vitamins and palladium. it is incredible at protecting your healthy cells from the chemo. i would giver 1 tbp in a glass of water four or five times a day. it looks horrid and it tastes like marmite with no salt, but one gets used it and it will give her energy to survive the chemo. http://www.polymva.com unfortunately, it's quite expensive, but it is miraculous. i used to go through 5 bottles a month.
NINE omega-3 fish oil is very important -especially for leukemia! make sure she is taking it. maybe very small capsules - sometimes they have it flavored for young kids. http://www.healthy-oil-planet.com/cod-liver-oil-cancer.html
make sure you get a reputable brand because fish oil goes rancid very easily. also, try to feed her fatty fishes, like salmon and mackerel.
i use blue pastures http://www.greenpasture.org/public/Products/CodLiverOil/index.cfm - apparently, fermented cod liver oil is even more effective than regular and this is better than nordic fish oils. TEN if you don't live in a sunny place, make sure she is taking vitamin D. i take it in drops but it is nice as a cream which is how vitamin d enters your body in normal times. it's soothing and energizing.
ELEVEN of course, take turmeric and ginger. they help with inflammation, pain and nausea with no side effects.
LAST OF ALL - i recommend everything that you do for your baby, you do for yourself as well. please please look after yourself. it is emotionally draining to go through this.
be gentle with yourself and it will be easier to be gentle with your baby.
if you are facing cancer, you know that it affects so much more than your physical body. (and, if you're coming along with me on this ride, you're realizing that it probably started, like so many other illnesses, in the tensions and anxieties and emotional states you've been through recently).
cancer, as it progresses, shakes your sense of self, uproots your belief system and your character and makes you question the people around you. that's why brennan and other energetic healing methods were so interesting to me, though i only experienced the brennan method personally after my cancer was "cured" or at least in remission.
in my case, i'd spent months focused internally. eating, drinking, thinking my body and spirit well. one good thing about having cancer (there's not a lot) is that you get an all-access pass. as horrid as you feel, you work it (though i can say from experience it does not work when a policeman is writing you a parking ticket).
when the cancer's gone, you have to open your eyes and face the devastation - the piles of unpaid bills and taxes, health insurance, things that are lost and broken including your career and/or your love life, your emotionally-drained kids and family members - and your support group tends to move on.
people who weren't around much when things were all crazy don't get that you are still in shock and wandering around in a daze. so all those people expect you to act like the same old person you were. when you are still so fragile, that can break you.
it was in the midst of this time that the anxiety got so overwhelming, i was scared i would get sick again. that was when a friend mentioned a brennan healer to me. she told me how great it made her feel and suggested i try it.
barbara brennan was a NASA physicist who, along with a UCLA-trained engineer turned healer and psychic, rosalyn bruyere, started exploring the energy fields surrounding the human body.
laura kepshire is an incredible and very beautiful Brennan healer. she has worked wonders on many people i know, amongst them, me.
brennan healing is an especially good CAM, as they refer to it in the memorial sloan kettering literature. because you do it fully dressed, lying on a massage table, and the practitioner barely touches you, it needn't interfere with your chemo or radiation or recovery from surgery.
and because it activates your own immune system, it can help traditional cancer treatments work harder. it can also help mitigate the unpleasant side effects of chemo and radiation.
last of all, because it unblocks "stuck" energy or releases past trauma, there are those who say it can - along with diet, exercise and your arsenal of healers - cure you from illnesses all together.
one brilliant thing that a brennan healing session does is make you think about the message in your cancer. basically, any time you get sick, it's a message from your body and your spirit. for example, if you run yourself ragged, you get a flu. clearly, your body is telling you - stop, take a rest, sleep all day and get some more vitamin C and D. if you lose your temper, your blood pressure goes up. if you lose your temper too often or too easily, the inflammation from the constant surge of blood and heat in your body will cause other issues. the message is, breathe, calm down. focus on the important things.
since cancer is such a major systemic illness, there is probably a big message in there. think about it.
what struck me most about laura is that she walked in drinking a coffee (gasp) with milk (swallow) and most shocking - eating a muffin!
first of all, if you are a hardcore health fanatic like me, you rarely touch coffee - caffeine causes inflammation and can irritate the stomach lining - or dairy products - more inflammation, plus the mucus-causing issues - and, when it comes to wheat or sugar, never!
in laura's case, it was even more shocking as she had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis that was once so debilitating she couldn't walk. here she was breezily sipping her coffee and eating her muffin.
when i asked her about it, she laughed and told me that once she had unblocked the anger in her body, much of the inflammation disappeared, along with the arthritis. she said she no longer had to worry about dealing with the symptoms.
in the brennan healing science approach, the root of the illness is the energy blockage and the illness itself is the symptom.
when i experienced the treatment, i felt brilliant colored waves of energy rushing through my body like water. i came out relaxed and relieved. the tension that hummed through my body had gone quiet.
since i was not in the throes of an illness, i could only afford two treatments - along with my organic vegetables, juices, supplements, acupuncture, massages, nutritionists and other healers - it was all getting expensive. and i still had to feed the amazons!
i wasn't able to experience its effects on a long-term basis. however, i have spoken to people who've had great success with it.
there are brennan healers all over the country. if it seems like an approach that would work for you, call one. they will usually give you a free consultation.
here is laura's information:
For more information on Brennan Healing Science and pricing contact me at: +1.646.283.3265, or by email at lkepshire@gmail.com
just remember, if you really want to get well, you will. you just have to find the best way to get yourself there.
today, i interviewed a well-known hypnotist called trudy beers. (i apologize, i will edit it, i swear - but i was excited to share it, i thought i'd go back and edit it later. )
trudy beers is in her mid-50s and lives an old school sun-filled loft in tribeca. there are no crystal balls or taxidermed alligators, just lots of certificates that prove she's the real thing. she's been practicing hypnosis, reiki and the power of suggestion for about 40 years. when i was in the midst of my chemotherapy, another friend of mine who had recovered from breast cancer recommended i go to her.
my friend, who had radiation for her cancer, gave me these words of wisdom:
"you have to stay positive and you MUST believe in your complete recovery."
hypnosis operates on the theory that your mind controls your body. if you commit yourself, mind-body-soul, to your recovery and wellbeing, you will get there. it's similar to the way athletes prepare themselves for strenuous events, sort of like psyching yourself up.
everyone - including allopathic doctors and nurses - has experienced the way in which an emotional crisis of some kind
precipitates an illness. so why can't the opposite - meaning, a
resolution of that crisis - start one's body on the process of healing.
one drawback with mind healing, like most kinds of faith, is that if you get lazy or tired or let doubts creep in, you begin to slide. you need to convince yourself that you are well and then your subconscious mind will convince your body. hypnosis works on your subconscious to help you stay focused (and stubbornly attached) to your goal of returning to a balanced state. hypnotists should give you a tape or cd or mp3 to listen to as you fall asleep at night so that you can program your subconscious to keep you on track.
keep in mind is that every kind of healing process requires a multi-pronged approach. as trudy says, "it takes a village..." the more serious and more entrenched the illness, the more ways in which one needs to support one's body and mind in the process. so you still need to be conscious about eating clean, organic, healthy foods, you need to find ways in which to exercise - or maybe get regular massages - to stimulate your circulation and your organs. you still need to drink fresh vegetable juices.
honestly, it seems there is no easy way out. if you want to recover from cancer or any other serious illness - if you really want to - you can, but you will have to work like crazy.
like any other practitioner, she will tell you what i keep saying (not that i am always successful at this myself), you have to give up sugar. this means ALL sugar. cane sugar, white flour, white potatoes, alcohol... depending on how bad your cancer is, you might have to give up fructose as well, which means fruit and potatoes, all types of grains, and absolutely anything your body could turn into sugar to feed those hungry cancer cells. personally, i felt that while my cancer was active, i should give up caffeine as well, because there was no need to speed anything up.
hypnosis does work in tandem with standard western treatment for cancer. the idea is that your mind can help you steel your body against the destructive nature of the therapies.
i've tried various mind-body games myself. like, while getting my blood pressure taken at the doctor's office, i imagine i am on the beach. i zone out and feel the sun on my forehead, turn the office noise into the sound of the waves. i can bring my blood pressure and my pulse down really fast.
i've also gotten my blood pressure taken when i am still fuming over some argument or frustration and watched it shoot up, so i know it's possible.
try it yourself. walk on to the subway platform on a really hot day and keep thinking about being cold. imagine icy places. keep telling yourself you are chilled and - if you focus - you can really keep yourself cool for ten minutes or so. i haven't been able to do it for longer than that, but maybe with practice.
the goal of hypnosis or suggestion is to help you release psychological blocks - the emotional remains of unhappy incidents in your life - and return calmer to your day-to-day life. according to chinese medicine - and a lot of spiritual healers - breast cancer is connected to women's romantic relationships and lung cancer to grief and sadness - so these cancers might be an especially receptive to emotional unblocking.
in a lot of ways, it's similar to prayer. the idea is to separate, to forgive and to lift your spirit to a higher level.
the way trudy works is this: you contact her and do a phone consultation. then she sends potential patients a 12-page questionnaire she calls her "intake form."
the questionnaire goes into great detail about your personality, your tastes, your styles, your character traits. are you patient? are you easily distracted? you list what disappoints you, what irritates you and what pleases you. i found it very similar to what acupuncturists, homeopaths and naturopaths ask you to fill out. the idea being that your personality or habits tend to affect the way your body gets ill and also the way it gets well.
a good hypnotist reads your intake form and spends some time processing the information so that, by the time you get to your appointment, she feels like she knows your starting point.
in trudy's case, an appointment takes about three hours. after going through your challenges and your intake form together, you eventually end up on a cozy chaise longue with your eyes closed. a trance state is like a deep meditation. you feel like you are almost asleep - you know that feeling - you are just drifting off, the world is starting to recede. you can hear the voices in the background, but you are not quite listening because you float in and out of dream states.
for me, i feel like this at the end of the yoga class, when i am lying on the mat in shavasena, totally relaxed and listening to the teacher. (personally, i often fall completely asleep here as well, but i am a tired, stressed-out single mum.)
trudy leads your subconscious mind to release what she identifies as the four negative or blocking emotions - fear, shame, guilt and anger. in the relaxed trance-state, apparently, one is happy to give them up. one leaves feeling lighter and freer.
then she gives you a recording of the session to listen to every night as you go to sleep. eventually, your subconscious starts to act on the suggestion that is programmed into your mind.
according to trudy, you will just need a single session to get the process started. then your own mind and body takes over.
is it worth the $400-500 fee? as trudy says, "it's worth ALL your money to stay well. you won't need the money if you go." i haven't tried it myself but, as i said, i know that trudy has had a lot of success, especially with breast cancer.
on the other hand, if you, like me, had children to feed and shelter no matter what your physical state, you can't think only of your immediate needs.
clearly, there are a lot of scam artists out there - pseudo psychics and tarot card readers - so make sure you do your research. there is an organization called the national guild of hypnotists that certifies practitioners and seems to have a database. ideally, ask friends and people you trust for real life references. if you ,or a friend you delegate the responsibility to, is looking online, make sure you can cross-reference their testimonials (because there are lots of people who write them for themselves).
if you really can't afford it, sometimes it's worth it to talk to the practitioner and see if you can trade or barter. or try a payment plan.
and if all that still doesn't work, maybe hypnosis isn't the thing for you. maybe there's a way to do a D.I.Y version? if you do some research into the french dr. coue, perhaps you could have a friend with a voice you really trust, record some affirmations for you. then listen to them as you fall asleep. just to reassure you, the power of suggestion or reprogramming the subconscious is a scientifically-proven method that many doctors use with their patients today.
the advantage of going to trudy - and she does practice on skype as well, so distance needn't be an issue - is that you get a personalized set of affirmations that integrate your larger issues.
just remember there are lots of alternatives out there. but nothing works alone. it took a lot of people and events (think back, you'll remember) to get you sick. it takes a team of people to get you well.
