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THE MEDICATION has to bring into the body two minerals - iodine and potassium. Iodine, or I, is an item of the positive minerals traveling to the negative pole or negative tissues, while potassium, or K, is the leading mineral of the negative group traveling to the positive pole or positive tissues. To help the cells function, the minerals must be activated or ionized, then they work partly as "perpetuum mobile".
Iodine is applied in two forms - as thyroid in organic composition, and as lugol in inorganic combination. Thyroid is administered in relatively high doses - one gram five times daily - during the first three to four weeks, then five times one-half gram daily, and later three times daily one-half gram. When the B.M.R. (Basal Metabolic Rate) and P.B.I. (Protein Bound Iodine) remain normal for a period of three to four months, thyroid medication should be discontinued.
Lugol solution (always use half strength) - given during the first weeks in larger doses three drops six times daily - has been proved to be a favorable iodine combination for this therapeutic purpose. Lugol solution contains five per cent iodine, ten per cent potassium iodide in water. According to Holler and Singer,169 iodine invades cancer tumors when inflamed, not otherwise. Therefore it was important to describe v. Bergmann's explanation that "allergic inflammation fluid" dissolves cancer tissue.
My own observations confirmed that favorable inflammatory reactions in skin cancers and melano sarcomas start before healing sets in and again later in "flare ups", gradually diminishing in intensity and reappearing in longer intervals. (The findings of both authors are thus confirmed by my clinical observations.) It is assumed that iodine is necessary in the control of normal cell differentiation. Experiments on cancer cultures demonstrated that smaller iodine doses made the cancer cells grow more rapidly. A larger dose - such as is used at the beginning - is favorable in inhibiting any excessive growth. Some patients - about 20 per cent - also need some additional thyroid doses later. These are mainly those who have a higher percentage of lymphocytes or show adipositas with a low Basal Metabolism Rate.
A later article published by Del Conte and Maria Stux (Acta Endocrinol. November, 1955 20. 246-256) shows "definitely that iodine inhibits production of thyrotropin by the hypophysis", ... It is evident, therefore, that "the inhibiting action exerted by iodine on the thyroid is mainly due to pituitary inhibition".170
The majority of newer studies using radioactive iodine have come to the conclusion that iodine acts directly on the thyroid cell and not by interference with the action of the thyrotropin.171
The clinical conclusion that thyroid helps to eliminate Na, Cl and H2O is old but in cancer therapy it is important to know that it paves the way for refilling with K minerals while the intracellular removal of Na, Cl and H2O in different tissues and cells is correspondingly acoomplished. (See my Tuberculosis book)
The absorption of edema brings a great deal of additional toxins and poisons into circulation. It is noticeable during this time and the following periods of "flare ups" that the patient suffers from nausea, distended abdomen and spasms. Detoxication and elimination have to be set in motion quickly and efficiently.
Potassium appears to play an indispensable and unique role in tissue protein synthesis, although the mechanism of its utilization is at present unknown. Potassium ions are indispensable in certain enzymatic reactions, and this may be one reason for its urgent need in the medication. It appears that the heavy isotope K41 (See Lasnitzki)172 is definitely lower in tumors, as well as in tissues of tumor-bearing animals.
Muscles, brain and liver have normally a much higher potassium content than a sodium content. It can be accepted as a general rule that as long as potassium is not diminished (normal), sodium is diminished. A similar relationship exists between magnesium and calcium, so that where magnesium is increased, calcium is diminished and vice versa.
Potassium composition (ten per cent) is administered immediately; four teaspoonfuls ten times daily in all juices, except liver juice, mostly for three to four weeks , according to the previous degree of the disease. Then the amount of potassium is reduced to half. In some cases it became necessary to repeat the first medication and the dietary regime after some time to activate the treatment again.
The decision to apply large K-doses in a compatible composition immediately was finally made after about six years of indecisive clinical experiments, until I saw regularly better and more extensive clinical progress. The laboratory reports about K were fluctuating and not in conformity with the clinical picture. The literature presented a different viewpoint; there, almost all tables except the articles of Moravek173 showed an undiminished K-content in cancer tissues. He found diminished K in the beginning and later uncertain ups and downs. The situation was cleared when Lasnitzki found the ionized K41 "diminished in cancers". The leading cancer specialists still rely on the laboratory work in their decision. For example, one says: "Jedenfalls ist von irgendeiner gesetzmaessigen Abweichung der Tumoren in ihren anorganischen Stoffen bis jetzt keine Rede."174 The translation of which is: "Anyway, there is no regular deviation of the inorganic substances found in tumors."
Dr. Joseph Ross of Los Angeles Medical Center used tracer atoms of radioactive potassiums. He and Dr. Belton Burrows of Boston found that patients with chronic illnesses showed a marked decrease of potassium, one of the substances important in muscle contraction and strength. They came to the conclusion that the extent of dilution of the radioactive atoms with normal body potassium can indicate the total potassium content of the body. Such measurements enable physicians to recognize potassium deficiency in a patient and indicate the amount of potassium that should be administered to make up the deficiency.
According to my clinical experience, it is very difficult to bring the potassium deficiency in a body back to or near to normal.
The addition of the lacking potassium does not make up a deficiency even in a relatively healthy body. In seriously ill bodies, many months, sometimes even one to two years, are needed to restore normal potassium content in the vital organs. We do not as yet know enough about the extent of potassium restoration in the various organs, without a separate examination of each organ, because the blood potassium level does not provide decisive information thereon. A few of my examinations were not sufficient to supply more certain indications in that respect.
In a recent article, Barnell and Scribener175 came to the conclusion that serum potassium concentration can be used as an excellent guide to potassium need. My experiences in advanced cancer cases and some in chronic diseases contradict these findings. The serum is only a passage channel for support and exchange. Low K-figures may show best healing, because the depleted tissues reabsorb K, while high figures may be found in failures, because the tissues lose K.
For practical purposes, it is advisable to apply the potassium medication until the blood serum level is in normal range. Higher fluctuations are frequent at the beginning of the treatment; some lighter fluctuations continue even in the later periods. We see then even in normal persons, more even during menstruation and during pregnancy. Even a common cold can effect deviations for short periods. The interpretation of the potassium blood level can be quite misleading. In the beginning, we often see a potassium level above the normal range, which does not show that there is an abnormal amount of potassium in the body; on the contrary, it indicates that the body is losing greater amounts of potassium constantly. The reverse can be seen during the restoration period, when the potassium level is below the normal range, which may indicate that the body is reabsorbing greater amounts from the blood serum, affecting the equilibrium to the extent that it goes below the normal level.
The combination of the blood level with the clinical observations teaches us that the restoration of the potassium content in the organs is a difficult and long drawn-out process.
Niacin (or nicotinic acid, the pellagra medication) is one of the B2 vitamins and should be given from the beginning in sufficient amounts; it should be given without too much interruption and should not be diminished too fast. Niacin helps to bring back sufficient glycogen into the liver cells. It helps, furthermore, in the protein metabolism and acts to open the small arteries and capillaries; therefore, it must be discontinued in the event of bleeding. It also raises the electrical potentials in the cells. It improves the characteristic pellagra phenomena, especially: glossitis, stomatitis, vaginitis, urethritis and proctitis, the dermal erythema and some mental changes, as well as porphyrinuria.
Niacin is administered for a long time: 50 mg. six times daily, rarely more; after four to six months the dosage should be reduced.
Patients are easily frightened in the beginning when niacin causes a diffuse redness and heat all over the body or, more often, on the head and arms; this reaction is harmless and lasts only a few minutes. To avoid such reactions it is advisable to dissolve the tablet on the tongue after a meal or a glass of juice.
In regard to the other vitamins it may be stated that in general, one vitamin or one mineral should not be applied to relieve a vitamin or mineral deficiency. We know particularly from the work of Werner Kollath and other authors that the application of one vitamin or one mineral can be, in turn, responsible for unfavorable functional changes in the intestinal tract or nervous system. Niacin is an exception in cancer. On the other hand, it is observed that niacin while curing pellagra can manifest a thiamine deficiency. Kollath demonstrated in chronic degeneration cases caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies that a single vitamin or single mineral can easily bring about an acute sickness.
We should not overlook the fact that in some slightly acute cases an artificial vitamin is helpful, but in cancer it is different. We have to face a very sick, poisoned body. In such a milieu, cancer cells can work, and grow freely and undisturbed. The non-cancerous tissue (normal tissue) in a cancer body does not react as other healthy tissue, according to my observation.
Vitamin B12 was discovered about eight years ago by Dr. Tom Spies in Birmingham, Alabama during the course of his work on undernourishment. He found that the vitamin works especially against different types of anemia to the extent that they are caused by malnutrition. Even degenerative changes on the spinal cord can be brought back to near normal with greater doses of B12. The nucleus of the vitamin is a cobalt substance, which is present in most fruits and vegetables in minimal amounts. The daily requirement is unknown. It is assumed that B12 helps to combine aminoacids to build protein substances. A sick body and especially a cancer-bearing body is unable to combine aminoacids to build proteins properly, but burns them to form the end products instead. Animal experiments show that vitamin B12 is very potent in the restoration of all different tissues, be they damaged by age, chronic illness, operations, degenerative diseases, intoxications or by other means. This may be the reason why we find it part of all different vitamin combinations on the market today.
Several times I observed that vitamins in good combinations with or without minerals produced a regrowth of cancer or new spreadings in a few days. The patient felt better for a shorter or longer period through what may be regarded as the stimulation of the entire metabolism. However, the cancer regrew, caused by what some other authors explained as the greater attraction power of the cancerous tissue.
To these observations also belong cases of young boys and girls suffering from osteosarcomas who at first showed remarkable results but ten to fourteen days after the administration of calcium compound the cancers started a rapid regrowth and were beyond cure. I had the impression that calcium-composition worked in the cancer body like Na; according to Rudolf Keller, calcium belongs to the Na-group, but stays on the borderline. I don't know any other reasonable explanation for it.
In the development of that therapy 15 years ago, I had several other setbacks: the worst was the loss of 25 patients out of 31 who were just a few months symptom-free and to whom I had administered the opposite sex hormones to give them strength - in accordance with the initial findings of Dr. Charles Huggins. The first five patients felt so much better within a few weeks, and this misled me. This disaster threw me into a deep depression. I almost lost the strength to continue this cancer work, as the worst blow of all was the loss of my young hopeful friend J.G.176 who was treated by more than fifteen cancer authorities and given up with a prognosis for a few weeks. However, after a recovery within eight months, I agreed to let him have some sex hormones. Six weeks later the brain tumor regrew, histologically, an astrocytoma. He was returned to the former treatment and died.
The therapeutic work for restoration of the liver was difficult and took the longest time to be built up. Even today it is the most difficult problem for the therapy. We apply the following:
1 Liver Juice1 preparation and its importance are described in other chapters, tables follow. It is the most powerful weapon we have against cancer, bringing into the liver and body all essential minerals, enzymes and other substances to replenish after the detoxication of the sick liver, which is incapable for some time of building and activating these substances. (Cellular Therapy)
2 It should be mentioned here that the liver injection returns some vitamins into the body, enzymes and minerals which are valuable in helping replenish this organ, and in addition that it contains some hormones, including that of the adrenal cortex as well as sexual hormones and many others in natural form but in minute quantity which were never found to be harmful.
3 The more intensive detoxication treatment made the use of lubile less necessary. Today it is used mostly for castor oil enemas and, in some cases, when the liver remains hard for a long time or where the entire bile apparatus is damaged to a greater extent by adhesions and scars.
4 Hypodermic trypsin injections (made from pancreas) were advocated against cancer in 1905 by J. Beard and in 1906 by Shaw-Mackenzie, but they proved disappointing. The administration of digestive enzymes in digestive disorders has not fulfilled early expectations. Despite this fact, I found pancreatin in many cases a valuable help in the therapy. A few patients cannot stand pancreatin; the majority are satisfied to have less digestive trouble with gas spasms and less difficulty in regaining weight and strength. We use the tablets after the detoxication; each contains five grains and is uncoated. The patient takes two or three tablets two or three times after meals, and later less.
It should always be borne in mind that cancer is a degenerative disease . The regeneration is only possible through the metabolism. Its restoration is hard work, but it is essential and the last refuge for these advanced cases.
Retrospectively, I think the results were arrived at because I did not follow most of the scientific literature nor the laboratory findings, as far as they did not accord with the clinical confirmations. "Der Erfolg am Krankenbett ist entscheidend", Professor Kussmaul said. (The result at the sick-bed is decisive.) I do not want to make the mistake Winston Churchill expressed so clearly: "Men occasionally stumble over the Truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened".