7-th day of fasting

In my experience, this is the most difficult day. Some people may experience such difficulties on 4-th or 5-th day of fasting. Your body enters into a higher level of purification. Everything which was easy to dispose is already gone. Now your body is getting ready to expel toxic deposits which are much more difficult to metabolise, and usually are more toxic too.

Your best strategy is to perform an enema in the morning (or in the evening of the previous day) and increase the intake of water during the day. Depending upon how you feel, you may have to perform another enema in the evening. It is not only the quantity of the waste in the bowels that is now important. The stuff in your intestines is now extremely toxic, and you want to flush it, thereby minimising the chance of the secondary absorption. Try to use pure water to make the enema solution.

8-14 day of fasting

No food. Water only. You should feel great. Your body just got rid of a huge amount of the most urgent waste deposit during previous days. Your natural instincts and healing have been awakened.

Go to work as usual.

If you feel that lack of food is indeed making you quite uncomfortable, you can add a teaspoon of natural honey to your water two or three times a day. Notice how little is required to restore complete comfort of your body and mind.

Use the increased efficiency of your mind to do some useful creative work. It is not uncommon to write an article or even a book in just a few days.

*29\96\8*

Prosper Meniere, a physician to the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in Paris described the condition that bears his name in 1861.

This is a disorder which affects the organ of balance located close to the inner ear. Twelve pair of nerves arise direct from the brain rather than the spinal cord and control structures mostly in the head and neck.

The eighth cranial nerve consists of two separate parts, the auditory and the vestibular.

These differ in their function and in the area of the brain to which they are connected.

The end organs, that of hearing and balance, lie close together but have separate functions.

True Meniere’s disease involves balance and hearing.

There are paroxysms or sudden attacks of vertigo or giddiness associated with a progressive deafness and tinnitus or ringing in the ears.

Meniere’s syndrome is a term applied to periodic attacks or vertigo without tinnitus.

The cause of this disease is unknown but is believed to be a degenerative process.

*498/71/1*

Cannabis has been used as a social drug for as long as alcohol.

It found a place in medicine as a sedative and mild pain reliever but was abandoned because its behavioral effect was so unreliable.

Those who advocate its use claim it is less dangerous than alcohol and say that there is not yet enough scientific evidence to prove its dangers.

That isn’t true. The active chemical in cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The dried leaves, the stems, flowers or resin may be used.

Marijuana is the weakest form of cannabis. It is usually smoked. The other stronger forms of cannabis are also usually smoked, often with tobacco.

Most people who try it for the first time experience little effect. Some may feel giddy or even vomit. A few may feel light-headed with tingling of the hands and feet. This may be followed by a feeling of euphoria.

It usually takes about five marijuana cigarettes (reefers or joints), smoked all at once or over a week or so, to raise the level in the body sufficiently to experience a “high”. The drug is stored in the body in fat and is slowly excreted. Sixty per cent may still be present in the body after a week and 10 per cent after 48 days.

*241/71/1*

Although no conclusive data exists yet, many doctors and nutritionists feel they are going in the right direction by recommending limited intake of arachidonic add and supplements of gamma-linolenic add, or GLA, to women with endometriosis.

Arachidonic add is an essential fatty acid that is linked to inflammatory conditions, as is the case with endometriosis. What does this mean to you? Inflammation is often mediated by prostaglandins. Knowing this, many doctors are suggesting to patients that they eliminate foods containing this add, which is found in dietary sources of saturated fat, such as butter, animal and organ meats, and lard. It is also possible to alter the balance of arachidonic add by taking another oil to counteract its effect. This is where linolenic acid comes in.

Found in sources as diverse as mother’s milk and cold-pressed safflower oil, gamma-linolenic add, or GLA, is one of the body’s more essential fatty adds. It is most important for the woman with endometriosis, both as a possible pain inhibitor and as an immune system strengthener.

GLA is made in the body from a conversion of vitamin F, or linolenic add, which is the basis of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins E2 and F2 Alpha have been linked to uterine contractions producing menstrual cramps, while GLA, called prostaglandin El, may offset some of the worse symptoms of the opposing prostaglandins. In a number of studies, it was also found to oppose the constriction of blood vessels, prevent blood dots, and prevent cholesterol buildup in the arteries. It has also been tried experimentally to help alcoholics over their addiction and to reduce some of the irritation of eczema.

Suggestions for daily intake: Take one to two tablespoons of safflower, walnut, or nutritional linseed oil (not the commercial variety used for varnishes) a day, preferably on a fresh tossed salad, flavored with herbs. Follow with a tablet of vitamin E to help absorption. GLA is also available as evening primrose oil—cither the essence of oil or in 500-mg tablets. You should be aware that this oil is very costly (approximately thirty dollars tor 180 tablets) and may not be much more effective than a daily salad with the above-mentioned oils.

*67\43\4*

The susceptibility to sun-induced damage also depends on one’s skin type. This is largely governed by the amount of pigment in the skin, and one’s ancestry. Those individuals with a darker skin have more protection than those with a fair skin. Similarly, those with skins that tan easily are more protected than those who burn rather than tan. Races with a black or brown akin are much less likely to suffer from sunlight-induced problems than the Caucasians, with their light-coloured skin; they are certainly not exempt, however, from the deleterious effects of prolonged sun exposure.

Ones ethnic origins therefore are most important in assessing the skin’s response to prolonged sun exposure. People of Celtic origin are statistically much more prone to irreversible sun damage. These tight-complexioned people, who are descendants of the Celtic natives of Britain. Scotland. Ireland and northern France, appear to have some biological defect which interferes with normal pigment production and the repair of sun-induced damage. Even amongst Celts, though, those who are blue-eyed and have a lighter complexion, red or blond hair and freckled skin, are more susceptible to sun damage than darker individuals of the same race.

*95\44\4*

If you still have your ovaries, you will continue to produce oestrogen. Without a uterus, however, you will have no periods, so you won’t be aware of the irregular and unpredictable winding down of periods that heralds the natural menopause. Eventually, your ovaries will start to produce less oestrogen, and you will begin to notice the typical menopausal signs, such as hot flushes. This will probably happen up to two years earlier than it might have done if you hadn’t had a hysterectomy because it is thought that the uterus may release certain hormones which control levels of oestrogen, and without a uterus these oestrogen-controlling hormones are no longer produced. Many quite young women stop producing oestrogen within two or three years of a hysterectomy, even though they still have their ovaries.

If you had just one ovary removed (a unilateral oophorectomy) you may continue to produce some oestrogen. If you had both ovaries removed (a bi-lateral oophorectomy) you will no longer produce any oestrogen; this operation produces an instant menopause. For this reason, ask the surgeon who performs your hysterectomy to discuss with you beforehand whether he will remove the ovaries, and if so, why. Many surgeons remove them at the time of the hysterectomy to ensure that they won’t become cancerous in later years. This is a valid medical point, but to remove otherwise healthy functioning ovaries can cause severe menopausal symptoms after the operation. If you have this operation before the normal menopausal age, the loss of oestrogen can produce a striking and rapid appearance of menopausal symptoms. These symptoms are so severe that it is almost certain that you will be prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT) straight away. If you are not, ask for it, and be prepared to keep taking it until about five years or more past what would have been your normal menopausal age, that is until you are about 55, or longer if you get on well with it. The sudden fall in oestrogen also increases the risk of developing the serious bone disease osteoporosis.

A premature menopause – whether natural or surgical -is one which occurs before about the age of 45; some doctors say before 40. If you have a premature menopause you have a greatly increased risk of developing osteoporosis and also arterial diseases that could lead to heart attacks and strokes, and you should seriously consider taking HRT from the time your premature menopause or hysterectomy or oophorectomy occurs, and be prepared to take it until you are about 55. The National Osteoporosis Society reports that of women aged 60-65 who have osteoporosis, a disproportionately high number had a premature menopause.

*5\42\4*

Infections and surgical procedures are common causes of adhesions, which are filmy or thick strands of scar tissue that bind organs together. Adhesions can develop between the uterus, ovaries, bowel, bladder and rectum because of their proximity in the abdomen. Pain can occur any time that adhesions are stretched, for example during movement, a pelvic examination, sexual intercourse, passing urine or a bowel motion. If adhesions are constricting the ovary, pain may occur only, or mainly, during ovulation; if constricting the bladder, the pain may be intense when the bladder is full, easing as the bladder empties. Adhesions can also result in infertility by constricting the Fallopian tubes, covering or displacing the ovaries, or impeding the movement of sperm and egg or interfering with the growth of embryos. Ironically, while hysterectomy is sometimes successful in overcoming pain caused by adhesions, hysterectomy itself may be responsible for severe adhesions that result in long-term pain and intestinal obstruction.

The diagnosis of pelvic adhesions in a woman relies mainly on her history of infections or surgery and the nature of her pain. The diagnosis is usually confirmed by laparoscope although ultrasound can be useful in revealing adhesions surrounding the ovaries or bowel. If laparoscopy is performed in the presence of extensive adhesions it can result in puncture of the bowel, so great care must be taken with this technique and alternative methods (such as a mini-laparotomy) may have to be considered. (A mini-laparotomy entails a small incision through the abdominal wall to allow inspection of the internal organs. It is like a mini-Caesarean section.)

It is possible to remove adhesions without going to the lengths of hysterectomy in most women, and one of the most useful techniques is laparoscopic surgery. The laparoscope or viewing tube (for inspecting the internal organs) is used in conjunction with fine forceps which can hold the adhesions steady or break them with a blunt action, scissors to cut the adhesions, lasers to vaporise them, or high frequency electrical currents that produce heat and destroy them. In order to minimise adhesion formation, it is important that your surgeon is gentle and careful in his or her handling of the tissues, that techniques are used to prevent bleeding, and that solutions or

special membranes to reduce adhesion formation and other complications are used in the abdomen.

*20\198\4*

In 1963 Kleitman postulated that the rhythmic recurrence of REM sleep is only a part of a biological rhythm which is continuous in both sleep and wakefulness. He called this the basic rest activity cycle (BRAC). In 1967 Franz Halberg, a scientist working in the USA, named such cycles the ultradian rhythm, which is also known as the 90 minute cycle or the REM/NREM cycle.

The hypothesis concerning the 90 minute cycle is as follows. We know that each sleep cycle consists of REM and NREM stages and that each sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. This is believed to be a basic biological rhythm innate in our state of awareness. The 90 minute cycles go right round the 24 hour clock. Every 90 minutes there is a window of a few minutes duration during which a person feels sleepy and can fall asleep. This is why some insomniacs, if they miss the sleep window, may find it hard to fall asleep until the arrival of the next window 90 minutes later. This 90 minute cycle appears to be REM-stage related, and, during the window, other REM-related phenomena may be noted, such as day dreaming, penile erection, or just poor concentration.

Much research was conducted to demonstrate the existence of the ultradian rhythm. Extensive work was carried out on cats and monkeys to chart the activities of these animals in relation to their EEG recordings. It was found that, during the awake state, fluctuations in their activities correspond with the stage in the REM/NREM cycle.

However, the most convincing experiments were carried out by La vie and Scheson in 1981. They tested human subjects in the sleep laboratory. The subjects were instructed to close their eyes and to fall asleep if they could during a 5 minute period of darkness occurring every 15 minutes over 12 hours. It was demonstrated that EEG recordings of stage 1 sleep were evident every 90 minutes but not at other times during the experiments. It was also demonstrated that, when these subjects were sleep-deprived and were very sleepy, their ultradian rhythm disappeared. In other words, when one is very sleepy, one- can fall asleep at any time irrespective of the 90 minute window of the ultradian rhythm. It is also now apparent that this 90 minute cycle is not exactly 90 minutes but can vary from 60 minutes to 130 minutes, with a mean of 90 minutes.

The present controversy over this 90 minute cycle is, when a person falls asleep, how are the cycles relating with each other between the awake state and the sleeping state? Most researchers favour the suggestion that, when a person falls asleep, the first period of NREM sleep or the first sleep cycle appears to reset the 90 minute cycle for the rest of the 24 hours. Also there seems to be a phase reversal after this first NREM sleep. After falling asleep, the brain activity of each REM stage is highly aroused with dream experience. However, during the awake state the 90 minute windows which are REM-related are of low arousal.

*20\174\4*

We all have varying degrees of intelligence. But the extent to which we can use our intelligence depends very much on another factor, the integration of our personality, the way in which the different aspects of our mind work as a unity.

Those of us of less intelligence and less well-integrated minds find many ordinary everyday tasks quite difficult, while other more gifted people do these things naturally and easily without giving the matter any particular thought. The less gifted among us are therefore under a constant stress which others are not. As a result they remain tense, and at the same time are usually unable to see the cause of their tension.

Of course, this situation is relative. A highly intelligent person who is doing a job requiring exceptionally high intelligence is relatively in the position of being a dullard, and he experiences the same tensions as a dull person does in a less exacting job. Similarly, the intellectually backward individual may learn to live a useful and happy life as long as he can work and live in an environment which is not too demanding for him.

A disparity of intelligence between husband and wife may be a constant source of tension, especially when the wife is the more gifted one. Unless she is a very perceptive woman this disparity will lead her into a dominant role in the household which is likely to clash with her husband’s masculinity and so produce further tension.

*45\57\2*

My first confrontation with biological methods of treatment for arthritis was at Brandals Health Clinic located in Sodertalje, a little idyllic suburb town, a few miles south of Stockholm, Sweden.

Alma Nissen, directress of the Brandals Clinic, met me at the railway station. For the past 12 years I have followed the work of Alma Nissen through the Swedish magazine Tidskrift for Halsa (the Magazine for Health) which has published many remarkable cases of arthritis cures accomplished at Brandal. Mrs. Nissen, after curing her own arthritis a few decades ago, has dedicated her whole life to helping thousands of other arthritis sufferers.

A fortyish-looking, dark-blonde, slim, elegant lady stepped from her station wagon, warmly greeted me with “Valkommen” opened the back door, and threw my heavy bags in. Then she walked around the car and opened the door for me, which made me feel rather old at 50. Imagine my surprise when I found that she is 70! And not a grey hair on her head! There was no doubt in my mind that whatever her “method” is, it certainly works for her!

The Brandals Clinic is beautifully located on the shore of the Baltic Sea and is surrounded by majestic woods. An ideal natural setting for rest and contemplation with a “back-to-nature” atmosphere. It is an old three-floor villa with a huge sitting room featuring a TV, grand piano, other musical instruments, library, and a collection of crutches and prostheses left here by grateful patients who didn’t need them any more. The clinic has facilities for accommodation and treatment of 30 patients. At the time of my visit—July, 1966—it was filled to capacity.

Alma Nissen’s Own Story

“Tell me, how and why did you become interested in arthritis and what prompted you to open this clinic?” This was my first question when we met at a smorgasbord table in the dining room at Brandal.

“Twenty-five years ago I was so incapacitated by arthritis that I was practically bedridden. After trying all the available medical treatments, consulting dozens of doctors, and several fruitless stays in hospitals I was becoming progressively worse. My hands and fingers were stiff and in constant pain. I could not bend myself, walk, or even turn myself in bed. In addition, I had a chronic ovary inflammation and constant migraine. I was suffering from a bad case of insomnia with resulting nervous exhaustion. I also was chronically constipated…

“I felt hopeless. Nobody could help me. I could not see my way out of the indescribable suffering I had to endure. But my spirit was strong and wouldn’t give up. I was not willing to accept my lot as a bedridden invalid for the rest of my life. With the typical Scandinavian sisu and perseverance I rebelled against my fate. I wanted to live, become healthy again…

“A book by a British physician, Sir Robert McCarrison, gave me new hope and become the turning point in my life. It opened my eyes to the relation between nutrition and health. I started to experiment with myself. I changed my diet. I fasted. I drank fresh vegetable juices and broths made with cooked vegetables. I drank herb teas. I took enemas and utilized colonic irrigation to cleanse my intestines of accumulated toxins and wastes. I read all I could on the nature-cure methods and picked up ideas here and there. I met the famous Danish raw-diet pioneer Dr. Kristine Nolfi, M.D., and read and studied her book The Living Foods. I also took heat treatments and hydro-baths. I must admit, I didn’t have faith in much of what I did, but desperate as I was, I was willing to try anything.

“Imagine my surprise, when I started to feel better and better! The stiffness in my joints started to disappear. I slept better; pain gave way, and after just a few months I was, to my and everybody’s amazement, completely cured!

“This was 25 years ago and I never had a sick day since. No traces of arthritis… Would you like to see how flexible and elastic my body is?”

With this she took her shoes off and gave me a gymnastic demonstration which many a young athlete would be proud to equal

“But I do have visible evidence of my former arthritis. The toes on my feet were so deformed and the joints so fused together, that they never have straightened out completely. Look at them!

“When damage is so extensive that joints are completely destroyed and fused together, nothing can restore them, not even biological methods. But in the great majority of cases, even with deformation, but of shorter duration, the complete restoration of health is possible.

“Now, when I cured myself I was so overjoyed with the discoveries I made that I wanted to share them with others and help as many as I could. I visited Dr. McCarrison and he advised me to open a clinic and help other arthritics regain their health.

“Encouraged by the enthusiastic endorsement of this great scientist, I transformed my seven-room apartment in Copenhagen to an arthritis clinic. Patients came from everywhere. They were brought in on stretchers; they came supported on crutches; they came in wheelchairs. And after four to eight weeks on my simple regime they left the clinic on their own feet, without wheelchairs and crutches. The grateful patients spread the news of their cures and a long line of patients were waiting to come in under my care.

“My arthritis therapies and extraordinary results became widely publicized in the press. The Norwegian Medical Association invited me to present a lecture on my therapies before the leading medical authorities of the country and the students of the Oslo Medical School. Well-known rheumatologists such as Prof. Olav Hanssen, Dr. V. G. Kofoed, Professor Roald Opsaht and others attended and took part in the discussions.

“My fame spread to Sweden and a wealthy benefactor offered the Brandal, a beautiful estate with a large villa, for my disposition, to be used as a rheumatic clinic. I accepted gratefully. That was 13 years ago. During these years we have helped thousands of arthritis sufferers…”

My First Day at Brandal

My first day at Brandal was mostly spent walking in the huge, shady woods, which surround the estate, and listening to Mrs. Nissen tell of her work.

At 5:00 P.M. the bell rang and called all for dinner. I found about half of the patients in the living room, the other half in the dining room. Those in the living room were the “fasting” patients, who were served fruit juice or vegetable broth.

I joined the “eating” patients in the adjoining dining room, where the huge, festive table, decorated with flowers and candles, was filled with colorful and delicious lactovegetarian courses. It was a smorgasbord at its best! The table was laden with at least ten kinds of different salads of fresh, organically grown vegetables; cottage cheese with cummin; baked potatoes, sauerkraut, tomato soup, soybean puree, buttermilk, whey cheese, whole grain bread, and fresh butter. Some guests, just off fast, were advised to avoid certain dishes, mostly bread and cooked foods, but others, including yours truly, enjoyed the whole colorful palette of appetizing “rakost.”

After dinner everyone assembled in the living room—Salongen -to watch TV. The favorite Swedish show, 10,000 Crown Question, was on and everyone sat in a state of hypnotized attention waiting for the answers of the competing “experts.” It reminded me of our TV in the mid-fifties and the famed scandals of the $64,000 Question.

When the 10,000 Crown Question was followed by the Andy Williams Show, that was enough for me, and I left the Salongen for my room and a good night’s sleep.

The “Miracles”

The next morning developments followed in a fast tempo, which prompted me to use the word “miracle” in the subtitle above.

A little Danish woman, who had depended on her crutches for years, left them behind and walked through the hall outside of my room without them. This was her eighth fasting day. She never needed the crutches again.

Another lady from Gothenburg reported that the pain in her joints disappeared on the second day of her fast and that on the fourth day she was able to leave her crutches.

On a big, sunny balcony I met several patients trying to cutch as much as they could of the warm, life-giving sun—in a country where sun is so scarce.

A young girl of approximately 20, was rolled onto the balcony in a wheelchair. She had been afflicted with arthritis for seven years and was a complete invalid. Her hands were grotesquely deformed. She could not move or lift her legs. She came to Brandal in a wheelchair and was still in a wheelchair. But she was already feeling much better, her pain was gone. She was determined to continue fasting for a few more weeks in the hope that she might leave her wheelchair there.

I also met a 43-year-old woman from Stockholm. She had been ill with arthritis for 14 years. For 14 long years she visited hospital after hospital, took drug after drug. You name it— she’d had it: gold injection, cortisone, Imagon, Butazolidin, etc. The best arthritis specialists in the country from Sodersjukhuset and the famous Karolinska Institute in Stockholm treated her until finally they all gave up, admitting that they could do nothing more. She had come to the clime just five days before and started fasting immediately.

“I am so happy. It is unbelievable!” she said to me with enthusiasm. “In just four days all pain is gone. I could not straighten this leg before—look at it now! It is completely straight. After 14 years of pain and suffering-it is just unbelievable! It’s a miracle!”

As I walked on the balcony among all these sunbathing men and women, this word “miracle” lingered in my mind. In this clinic alone—and the little country of Sweden has at least half a dozen other clinics with similar biological methods of treatment—thousands of hopeless arthritis sufferers were helped; most of them to a complete recovery. Crippled, deformed, doomed to lifelong invalidism, labeled by official medical authorities as incurable, they had come there as a last resort. After a few weeks of simple biological treatments, without fancy drugs and injections, they walked away happy and grateful restored to complete health. Is this a miracle?

*1\176\2*