Saturday, August 22, 2015

Even If Gerson Works The Way They Say It Works, It Still Doesn't Work

How many times have we seen the Gerson people claim that the reason Gerson failed was because the patient did something wrong?  It's a running theme with them.  If a cancer patient dies after doing Gerson it is because they most certainly did something wrong somewhere along the line.  Well how could they not?  How could they not miss one of 3,650 totally pleasant coffee enemas (five a day for two years)?   Did the patient once sleep in and not do their morning enema?  Of course.  Did the patient once cave after day after day of juice and salt-free boiled potatoes and grab a cheeseburger?  Yup.  Every single person doing the Gerson protocol will mess up at least once in two years, and they probably "fail" way more than once, and that is what the Gerson people count on.  They have developed a protocol that is essentially impossible for people who are living their lives in the real world to follow, and then they use that fact to weasel out of ever being responsible for the failure themselves.  Thus, I submit that even if Gerson therapy actually did work, it would only ever be purely theoretical, because human beings simply cannot follow such a rigid regime for two years.  I am looking forward to seeing the film The Food Cure simply because I highly suspect there will be lots of fantastic quotes where Gerson staffers go on and on about how you have to follow the regime perfectly or else it won't work and you will die from cancer and it will be all your fault (because hey, you're lazy and you have low character and not enough motivation and perseverance to save your own life).  

52 comments:

  1. "Thus, I submit that even if Gerson therapy actually did work, it would only ever be purely theoretical, because human beings simply cannot follow such a rigid regime for two years."

    And that there is their out.

    It saddens and disgusts me that this organisation prey on people when they are at their most vulnerable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah, so I gather that "The Food Cure" is finally nearing release (I refuse to sign up for updates from the filmmakers' website on principle, so I have no idea how imminent this may be).

    Having re-watched the trailer it seems that this is YET another Gerson hagiography - just how many do they think they need?

    It's all too reminiscent of the Burzynski 10-card trick, alas, it seems to appeal to an even wider range of the desperate. I agree with Anonymous above. It saddens and disgusts me too when organisations with no evidence-base** prey upon people at their most vulnerable point.

    **Beyond anecdote, the Appeal to Nature/Antiquity Fallacies and exploitation of the natural trepidation caused by having to submit to a course of treatment which the patient may or may not understand the science behind...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The filmmakers claim that they are making a "balanced" film, but I am quite suspicious of that claim since their film is endorsed on the Gerson website.

      Delete
    2. Yes, the fact that there are two articles about the documentary (which I guess it still is despite the glaring bias) on the Gerson website hadn't escaped my attention. The fact that one of them was plugging their crowd-funding site and an interview with "Crowdfund Insider" revealed the filmmakers actually sourced four of the six final subjects through Gerson management hadn't gone unnoticed either...

      Delete
  3. Oh, I forgot that there's yet another way these kind of folks pass the buck and make an (almost inevitable) death the patient's "own fault" - they simply didn't buy the most ridiculously expensive juicer on the market. The brands hawked on sites which recommend Gerson cost upwards of $3000AUD and make fuzzy claims about extracting "live" juice (unlike your average centrifugal juicer)!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Candy just posted on FB 'wow when I started studying Naturopathy I had no idea it was going to be on the same level as a medical degree'. Ummmm... I have no words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Given the course availability in Perth, Candy is saying a diploma from the Academy of Woo is the same level as a PHD from a recognised university. So pleased she sees herself capable of dispensing advice to others.

      Delete
    2. I saw that too. She has absolutely zero notion of what it takes to study medicine. She thinks that taking introductory biology and chemistry is equivalent to going to medical school. I have always sort of suspected that many people who are attracted to practicing woo are just like Candy; namely, they are average people who think of themselves as geniuses. They also think they are extra special on a spiritual level as well, which is why so much woo has that "laying on hands" element to it.

      Delete
  5. You may have gathered that I despise anything Gerson and I'm pleased to see this post. I think it's safe to assume that the documentary The Food Cure is in trouble 18 months after the crowd funding and near completion. Obviously the patients have not been and never will be cured by Gerson, so re shooting and editing was most likely not foreseen by these amateur producers.

    It's infuriating that they chose to engage in social media to garner funding and support, and these same platforms now lay dormant with most questions going unanswered. I have tried to contact them but their stock standard answer is still about waiting for festival submission - yeah right! Perhaps the Gerson Mob are dictating what is to be included in the stories to not make them look bad - let's blame someone or something else. If you are so inclined, head over to their FB and continue asking questions........

    On another Gerson (non) success story, here is a FB entry from a young lady I have been following for awhile now. Unlike the crop of 'natural' healing wellness warriors we have encountered on blogs, this young lady is not trying to sell anything and she doesn't really give out medical advice, only telling her story. Her blog entries during the time at the Gerson clinic in Mexico made my sparse chemo hair stand on end. She was only able to be on it for 3 months.

    ""I have stopped the Gerson therapy, it was not working for me Physically, mentally, or emotionally.
    I spent a few days terrified of letting it go, moving on, and figuring out what to do next.
    I finally made the decision not to make my next move out of fear, and shortly after that my next protocol sort of fell into my lap. I don't think im going to mention the details yet. Because its not chemo I get a lot of negativity from trolls on this page and I understand the importance of staying positive.
    I debated on even putting this on here, but you never know it may help someone. A lot of times you hear about people who have healed going the alternative route, and you dont see all the twists and turns, or how long it took to get there.
    So, in the words of Thomas Edison "I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that do not work." ‪#‎justkeepswimming‬ ‪#‎fearisaliar‬""

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my, I've just read her I remember... post. I'm not surprised she turned to alternative therapies. So sad.

      Delete
    2. I read her blog too. I have definitely noticed a pattern of people getting uncaring and poor conventional medical care turning to woo. I do not let conventional doctors off the hook in the tragedy that is woo. They seem especially bad at listening to young women. I think that there is definitely some sexism going on here in that many doctors might still think that these women are simply "hysterical".

      But as Rose points out, this poor young woman could only stand to do Gerson for three months. She really wanted Gerson to "work" for her and you can read between the lines that she has only been getting sicker on it. It seems that she found a way to preserve her ego, but I must wonder how many people like her feel like total failures when they inevitably stop Gerson.

      Delete
    3. As usual, I'm the resident cynic here.

      She claims to have been deathly ill in June of 2014, and had major surgery, But on her FB page she posts a profile pic in July where she looks totally fine, and not one person comments something like "Wow! You look great of having just had surgery" or whatever. That seems odd.

      She also has multiple fundraising pages.

      And just like our dear Candy, she posts pics of herself wearing head scarves even though she never had chemo.

      Plus she was desperately seeking answers, got an ultrasound, and they never got back to her, so she didn't bother contacting them (despite being a nurse)?

      Huh. Maybe. But maybe not, ya know?

      Delete
    4. I really wish this site had an edit function. I cannot type on my phone worth a darn!

      Delete
  6. Grace Gawler says Ian Gawler's experience on the Gerson diet was horrific and he only followed it for 3 months: http://gracegawlermedia.com/2015/03/10/if-ian-gawler-did-it-then-i-can-do-it-too-the-painful-unraveling-of-false-cancer-cure-claims/
    "His weight peeled off day after day. He experienced colic and severe pain with his condition deteriorating to such an extent that he was given a prognosis of 6 weeks. However, was his massive weight loss associated with his cancer? No: in reality it was a result of the Gerson Diet." He also had a severe Tuberculosis infection at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I see she has shared a few of that Damian Donoghue' s posts, about how wonderful cannabis is at curing all cancer, yet another quack, sharing quack posts... gives people false hope

    ReplyDelete
  8. Please, someone, take them up on their offer to see their treatment protocols and examine their records!!!
    http://www.gersontreatment.com/if-it-is-so-good-why-havent-i/

    I have a friend who went to this clinic. She spent 2 years following the protocol. I met her a few years afterwards (She had a molar pregnancy that she 'cured' using Gerson.) When she had a migraine she'd tell me she was going to do a coffee enema. I naively thought that meant brew a strong pot of coffee, drink it and crap. You can imagine my horror when I figured out what she was really doing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. here is the latest one : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3236311/People-need-faith-given-24-cent-chance-survival-woman-claims-cured-cancer-going-vegan-drinking-91-juices-week-having-FIVE-coffee-enemas-day.html

    Again, nothing to do with the surgery she had at all..... another wannabe wellness warrior!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh my goodness! Why do so many of these women seem to be from Queensland? I notice the woman virtually filled out the entire "Wellness Cancer Myth Bingo Card": "I believe that every illness has an emotional root cause" (always goes down a treat in the NICU!), what I am pretty sure is the deliberate conflation of survival rates without *any* conventional treatment vs survival rates after surgery but without adjuvant therapy, which of course is flatly referred to as "poison" whereas that Salve sh*** is inexplicably described as being a natural, efficacious remedy. Oh, and of course her disease only returned as "I had become complacent over the Christmas period". Got to focus on the "Its your own fault, after all" trope...

    Of course adults are free to pursue worthless rituals and dangerous quackery like salve and coffee enemas over medicine if they so choose - but I feel incredibly sorry for her children, who quite probably will be robbed of having their mum around for their High School graduations etc. when there was a tangible possibility of achieving remission.

    I really wish that the media would stop promoting these stories, especially when there is a paragraph or so of medical rebuttal at the bottom of the article to add to the illusion of false equivalency.

    ReplyDelete
  11. My distain for anything Gerson is fuelled even further when kids are involved. I'm so anxious to find out what happened to that little boy shown on The Food Cure trailer that was handed a baby bottle of green juice in his cot. The producers of the doco are not giving away much and the release is not looking imminent... Check out their FB page and comment

    ReplyDelete
  12. Not related to this post at all.. But about another one of the Jess ainscough clan.. Has anyone seen any recent pics of Melissa Ambrosini!? One just popped up on my newsfeed. I am shocked.
    She looks like she's very unwell.. Lost so much weight and she was already skinny

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yes, Melissa does look unwell, unlike her thriving Marie Forleo e-business that preys on these young women with all the love, peace, meditation and of course wealth brain washing. I would love to be a fly on the wall at one of her sessions.

    On another note, The Food Cure documentary release date is still a big mystery as is the reasons for the huge delay. Money issues?, incompetence and arrogance of the producers?, Gerson Institute pulling the strings? the patients are so unwell they can't possibly call the film The Food Cure?.....or all of the above?

    Posts on social media and emails continue to go unanswered. Where in the heck are the 7,500 likers of their FB page and the financial backers of the movie?

    Too many questions!

    ReplyDelete
  14. i really like this article... thank you so much for posting this great information...


    walk in clinic brooklyn

    ReplyDelete
  15. I want to become a pharmacist? Any suggestion for me? Thanks!
    kratom

    ReplyDelete
  16. It can be only a theory and wouldn't be put into practices as it allows little mistakes in such a long period of time. Drug design or therapy design should carefully take the feasibility into consideration to be persistently followed if it's needed.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gerson was not wrong, because the patient did not do as it was said. The need toxicology services to be right.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It's really an informative and well described post. I appreciate your topic for blogging. Thanks for sharing such a useful post.

    cardiologue casablanca

    ReplyDelete
  19. this blog is informative and I have learned a lot from this blog, as well as the comments you guys post here.
    susan
    http://www.creative-proteomics.com/product/detail-hq-tpa-cpg-1_28584.htm

    ReplyDelete
  20. I have been searching for details about this topic for ages and yours is the best I’ve discovered so far.

    smart enough to think

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hey guys,
    Do we have a new Jes Aincough or Belle here?
    Stage 3 ovarian cancer healed through natural methods...
    http://joiningjessica.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's an Aincough situation I think, in the sense that she really did have cancer. But she appears to be trying to build a business on her claims of a natural "cure", when in fact she had both chemo and surgery.

      Wish Violet would come back and address this one!

      Delete
  22. Replies
    1. Having read the "About Me" section in joiningjessica.com - I'm actually hoping that it's more of a "Hypochondria"/Belle Gibson-style-grift situation than a foolish 21 year-old woman who actually was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer yet who has deluded herself into thinking 7 weeks of a "lifestyle change" have magically expelled it.

      The latter situation is incredibly sad (also, there doesn't seem to be any detail about staging, etc.)...

      Delete
    2. The lack of staging info is odd...that's the first thing us cancer patients tend to focus on. But she does say that she had surgery and low-dose chemo, so she has had traditional treatment, just focusing on the life-style to sell her blog, I suspect.

      Delete
    3. Oh...and the stuff about being told she had only 5 years to live is a bunch of bs. Even if she was stage 4, she has almost a 70% chance of being alive five years out. The prognosis stats for lower stages are quite a bit higher.

      Delete
  23. http://joiningjessica.com/about/: grade-3 germ cell ovarian cancer, teratoma

    http://www.cancer.gov/types/ovarian/hp/ovarian-germ-cell-treatment-pdq#cit/section_1.6 So I guess this would be immature grade 3 teratoma, if chemo was offered? I did not see any staging info either.

    What she considers remission is the results from bloodtests, I wonder how reliable those are...

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hiya, I am going to look into this this weekend and update the blog. Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been both remodeling my house and traveling a lot for work. I am still passionate about exposing the truth about "natural" cancer cures and since things have settled down a bit for the winter, I am looking forward to getting the blog back up and running again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey! Great to hear that, looking forward to posts.

      Delete
  25. I prefer the idea that such theory should be payed more attention before it comes into the clinical trial.

    Biotech

    ReplyDelete
  26. I visited your blog for the first time and just been your fan. I Will be back often to check up on new stuff you post!
    Growing Medical Marijuana

    ReplyDelete
  27. I really loved reading your thoughts, obviously you know what are you talking about! Your site is so easy to use too, I’ve bookmark it in my folder
    Exercise Workouts

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi!

    I got my statement of purpose written by http://www.dissertationdesire.com/ They do produce a good quality work but then they are from India. I got the SOP well written but then I told them to get it proofread by someone from England or USA. They got it done. I had planned for this extra service to make sure that their English is of top university level. The charged me for this extra service but then the work was absolutely good. I liked it and of course the university liked it too because I got admitted in a top university! However, I think that they should have got it proofread on their own instead of me telling them. I don’t say that the earlier SOP produced by them was bad but yes it did have some grammatical mistakes which then needed a proofreader. They are not cheap but yes they are legit. This was just my experience and the experience of my friend with them. Hope it was helpful!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Nice service there are just few who are providing this service great job.
    back pain

    ReplyDelete
  30. Thanks for the update you have nicely covered this topic. keep it up
    eczema treatment for kids

    ReplyDelete
  31. Valuable information in your blog and I really appreciate your work and keep it up dude I really very informative blog about the health exercise.
    Chest and Triceps workout

    ReplyDelete
  32. Interesting blog and I really like your work and must appreciate you work about the cure for brain disorders.
    cure for brain disorders

    ReplyDelete
  33. Your articles are easily understandable and great content.. Keep doing it.. And thanks for sharing this..
    Covid

    ReplyDelete
  34. Great Services there are very less provider of this kind of services Chiropractor Clermont FL

    ReplyDelete
  35. What a beautiful day to share love in this quiet day of love. But Cancer has affects all of us, whether you’re a daughter, mother, sister, friend, co-worker, doctor, or patient. Thinking when will I be free from my nightmares but God have his own way of reaching his children, I was once a breast cancer patient for two years and eight months but now, happiness and joy has filled my soul. "ALL THANKS AND PRAISE TO GOD ALMIGHTY" for using Rick Simpson and the entire team of Phoenix Tears Foundation to cure my cancer with the Rick Simpson Cannabis oil, the God sent natural plant (Hemp oil) to help stop this cancer madness on earth. Help a life by reaching the Phoenix Tears foundation at ricksimpsoncannabisoil_phoenixtears@outlook.com or call 850-588-3358 to help save a life today. Nothing is impossible; if I can cure my cancer then you can too.


    Never lose hope fighting cancer, only the strong continues.

    Lindsay Payton, Paloma Lane, Harlingen,Tx

    ReplyDelete
  36. I have read many blogs but your blog are always very nice and now here I got some detail about the neuroscience it's Good work keep it up.
    neuroscience

    ReplyDelete
  37. thanks for sharing this informative posts with us.
    Tacrol

    ReplyDelete
  38. I was diagnosed as HEPATITIS B carrier in 2013 with fibrosis of the
    liver already present. I started on antiviral medications which
    reduced the viral load initially. After a couple of years the virus
    became resistant. I started on HEPATITIS B Herbal treatment from
    ULTIMATE LIFE CLINIC there website is (ultimatelifeclinic. com) in March, 2020. Their
    treatment totally reversed the virus. I did another blood test after
    the 6 months long treatment and tested negative to the virus. Amazing
    treatment! This treatment is a breakthrough for all HBV carriers.

    ReplyDelete