My Battle With Hepatitis C

I was in my late twenties when I started feeling it. It was some time in the early '90's when I was too sick to work a full time job. I was tired, lethargic, all the time. But there was nothing wrong with me.

I would go to the doctor and tell him how awful I was feeling. He told me there was nothing wrong with me... it was probably stress. Go home and rest, I should be okay. So I did. And I rested, and rested. And I got depressed.

I could not exercise any longer - though I tried. I couldn't eat, I couldn't go out. My friends stopped calling. There was nothing wrong with me so I must just not want to hang out with them.

Finally on my third visit to the doctor he thought he would humor me and take a blood test. I didn't have insurance so I had to pay out of my pocket. This was fine because i really wanted answers and was willing to pay for them.

Then the doctor called - I was diagnosed with Hepatitis non-A, non-B. Eventually the true diagnosis, I had Hepatitis C.

So I saved my money and kept saving my money. I was going to get cured no matter what.

I remember being in a studio where I was working on a demo ( I play keyboards). The producer would leave the room where we were working, leaving me alone. I guess I forgot he was behind a window/mirror, so when I didn't hear from him and I wasn't playing, I would lay my head down to try to rest. I didn't think anyone would see, but they did.

He (the producer) came into the room, sat next to me at the piano and asked what was wrong, so I told him. Boy, that felt like a mistake (at the time. He started telling me I should "cleanse my colon" and "detoxify my liver." Accckkkk! I didn't want to hear that, it was gross. Besides, my doctor was working on it. He would do something.

I was seeing my doctor on a regular basis now for monitoring - and blood tests. When I had what I thought was enough money, I asked him for the "cure." What? You know, I said, the shot, or medicine or whatever it is I need to get well.

I could tell by his look that he was thinking something like, "poor, naive child." "There's no cure," he said. We don't have anything to heal this. I was shocked and disillusioned. So why am I coming here all the time? What's the point?

He told me he was making my "chart," to monitor me. Right now I could not hold down food. There will come a time when I will not be able to hold down fluids, or water. At this point they will hospitalize me and feed me intravenously. He went on to tell me the only drug used, interferon, worked on a very few people, something like 5-15%. He was hoping that by the time I get to the next stage they will have another drug. (I believe they use chemo along with interferon these days.)

I was flabbergasted. (Yes, I used that word.) I couldn't believe with all the years they go to school, all the training, all the money I had spent, all the time I had taken, all for nothing. He was merely making a chart. I told him I would not be back for a while, since I did not need a blood test to tell me when I can't hold down water. So I left.

I started thinking about those crazy musicians, "cleanse your colon, detoxify your liver." As unappealing as it sounded, at least they were willing to be proactive. I never in a million years would have considered the ramifications had I been offered the drug route. But that is another story.

So, taking one step at a time I bought a juicer, a juicing book, a cleansing supplement and lots of vegetables. I read the rest of the day. The book talked about the healing power of juice and it all made sense. It pointed out how the body needs nutrition to work, the organs included. I then learned the body needs ten times the amount of nutrition to heal. I get that.

It talked about how the body heals itself, but none of this was possible unless the colon was clean. That made no sense to me at all, at the time. But I did it anyway. I took my Fiberblend and I made and drank vegetable juice every day.

And it made me feel sick. In fact, I would feel so sick after drinking my juice I would sit outside until the nausea passed. For some reason, the sunshine pouring over me had a soothing, almost healing effect. This was my daily routine.

The nausea would usually last around half an hour or so after drinking the juice. I read that it might so I would sip water to dilute the juice and nutrient. (This is what the juicing book told me to do.) I stuck with it because it made so much sense that the right nutrients would help my body heal itself. Deep down I knew this had to be true. I mean, the body heals scratches, cuts and even broken bones by itself, the doctor merely sets the bone or stitches the wound to keep out infection and lessen a scar. Anyway, if the body could do this, surely it must be capable of more.

One day I noticed my nausea only lasted fifteen minutes, then ten minutes, then only a few minutes. Then I could drink my whole glass of juice and there was no nausea, at all! I must be getting better!

I was eating a certain diet too. I didn't know this at the time, but now I realize it was a type of "cleansing" diet. I remember going back to my doctor to see his diagnosis of what was happening.

I had the usual blood test and when I went in for the results he walked up to me and kissed me on the forehead. "That's a good-bye kiss," he said. "You don't need to come back." He went on to say he didn't know what happened, but somehow my blood tests were becoming "normal" looking, or within the normal range. Although I still had Hep C, I didn't have to come back until I started feeling sick again.

I tried to share with him what I had been doing. He covered his ears and walked away. He did apologize but, he said, it didn't matter because he could never advocate this. But - I told him if anyone else with this ever came in, he would know something to tell them that might help! No, he said he could never tell other patients that. He would get in trouble. I didn't understand. Now I do.

A doctor works within a medical practice, which uses harsh drugs and surgery to treat disease. Do not confuse this with nutrition. It is out of the scope of their training and practice to give nutritional advice. They must carry malpractice insurance, which states that if they work outside of "the standard of practice," they could get sued and lose their insurance. If a doctor has no insurance, he cannot work at all.

The standard of practice clause means that if they tell you something to help/heal that is not standard in the medical industry, they are open to being sued. This is why they must follow certain protocols. Medicine is the practice using pharmaceuticals and surgery to treat disease. Vegetable juice is not a standard of practice in medicine. Get it?

This was my saving grace, however. Here's the rest of the story....

I went on to live my life, keeping Hep C at bay. I met my husband during this time and he knew of my illness. We had a routine, of sorts. When I would have low points, or the Hep C would starting taking over my body, I would pull out the Fiberblend, the juicer, and straighten out my diet. I would feel better within 2 weeks. It was easier now because my husband would help me.

I changed jobs during my illness. I had been working as a director for a chamber of commerce and had to quit because the workload was too much when I was sick. My boss made me keep it a secret that I had Hep C because, "it didn't look good." I didn't understand this, but I kept it to myself. Then I quit.

I took a part-time job in a small temp office. The boss was a beautiful man from the middle east. I told him right away I had hep c, and the hours of this job would work well for me so he hired me. Much to my amazement, he called me into his office the first day I was working. He had a container and poured a drink for me. It was a mixture of carrot, beet and celery juice! He said he made it for me because I was sick and this is how you heal! Wow, small world, I thought. This sweet man would bring me and two other people in the office our juice three times a week. He said since we were part time and not eligible for insurance, this was his insurance for us.

Eventually I took a full-time job again, this time in a holistic health office. The services offered here were nutritional counseling, testing, acupuncture, massage, and something I had been trying to avoid.... the dreaded colonic.

It was December of 1998 and I had been "battling" Hep C for around four or five years, now. I was in the hospital having my second daughter. My first daughter was 1 1/2 at this time and I remember worrying if she was going to be diagnosed with Hep C because of me.

My blood was taken to test so they could be sure I was healthy enough to go home. I think between my Hep C and being R negative while the baby was positive, they had to be extra sure. Then they took my blood test again.... and then again a few hours later. There was a problem, as it turns out.

My tests were coming back as being negative of Hepatitis, altogether. They thought there was a problem so they kept testing. But three times is a charm and I was still negative. I went to my post-natal exam to my OBGYN and he did another test. It was still negative. It has been ever since.

This is unusual for someone who was very sick with it. I didn't just have traces of it in my blood... I was sick. My body healed itself. My doctor asked me when the last time I had been sick and I realized it was when I had first started working at the holistic health center.

Remember in Part I how ended with the mention of colonics? Well as I was working there, I started training in nutrition classes. I was also taking massage therapy classes and colon therapy classes, where I was learning more about anatomy and physiology.

While learning, I became fascinated with all the different types of cleansing programs. A therapist talked me into doing a parasite cleanse. I made friends with nurse that I was in massage class with and we decided to try a 7 day intensive cleanse/fast together.

By day 3 I felt nauseous, I was pale and I had a headache. A young colon therapist told me I needed a colonic. I resisted and even got angry at her. I had never in my life heard of such a thing until the musician from years before had mentioned it. I couldn't believe anyone did such things and what did that have to do with the way I felt, anyway?

Well after a couple hours of her being on my case, I finally caved. I thought, well at least I get to lay down. The colonic itself started out horrible, but then something happened. I will not go into details but suffice it to say that my body got rid of waste that should not be inside of anyone. I was shocked, and a little scared. But I felt amazing, like I had never felt before.

I called my friend, the nurse from massage class and told her what had happened. I told her that I thought I had poisoned myself from all the herbs or something. Her answer still rings in my ears to this day; you have been poisoning yourself but not with the herbs. You have been poisoning yourself with chemicals, junk foods, pharmaceuticals, and so on for thirty something years. This is why we decided to do this cleanse, to get that poison and waste buildup out. I was enlightened.

I started training to be a colon therapist after this. Over the next few years I worked in this same office as a therapist instead of receptionist. I saw the clientele were not only professionals in all fields and areas of life, but there were nurses, doctors, surgeons, psychiatrists! Why are they here? I thought.

I befriended one of the doctors as we had a lot in common. He taught me a lot over the years, including what was leaving my body. I still could not get over what kind of junk came out of me during various cleansing/fasting programs. I described the smell (like the smell of a freshly tarred road) and he told me that was not unusual. In fact, he said when they would do abdominal surgeries, many times after the incision they would stand back to let the smell out. This was the same smell I was describing, and he said they knew it was due to toxins built up on the liver. Since bile from the liver is released to the small intestine, it would not be unusual for this to add to waste and leave via the colon.

If this was true, then why don't doctors do anything about it? Because, he said, I'm a doctor. We treat disease. Toxins are supposed to go to the liver because that is an organ of detoxification. We will not treat the liver until it is diagnosed with a disease. Merely having this build up of toxins in it is not disease. I get it. And I understood why I was sick, in fact, after what I have seen what my poor body had been through, I'm surprised I'm not dead!

That is why I cleanse. That is why I have a passion to teach others, because to me, this is true prevention. We don't have to wait for disease. And if it so happens that disease does set in, I know our bodies are strong. Given the right help of getting the internal built up waste out and giving our bodies extra nutrition creates an environment for healing.

I have worked with hundreds upon hundreds of people with horrible diseases including various cancers and hepatitis victims. They were all able to heal themselves.

I recall in particular one man who was an ex pro-football player turned priest. He had cancer. After having the tumor removed, he refused chemo but cleansed, changed his diet and used herbs and high-quality nutrition to heal. He never felt so good in his whole life. A man in his parish was diagnosed with the same type of cancer around the same time. He did chemotherapy. A few months later he died. The priest told me he had been praying and praying as he was confused. Why is it, he asked, his parishioner tried to cure cancer "the right way," and died, while he had done it the wrong way and not only lived, but felt the best he had his whole life? I answered him, why do you think your way was wrong?

I had a woman client who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 50 years old. Her best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer around the same time. My client had her lump removed and refused chemo. She instead opted for cleansing and nutritional therapy. She felt great, in fact, the best she ever remembered. Her friend was going through chemo and on her death bed. She asked me one day, why is it that her friend was trying to get rid of cancer "the right way," and on her death bed, yet she was doing it the wrong way and was feeling great and healed? I asked her why she thought hers was the wrong way.

This woman came back to see me about a year later. She still looked and felt great and had had a revelation. She told me she had been struggling with her question of the cancer issue when it came to her; God wouldn't make a cure for only the rich or those with insurance, God would make a cure for everyone.