Emphysema Diagnosis: The Nightmare Begins
My mother was diagnosed with emphysema in late 2002. I had worked in a hospital more than 20 years earlier and did not remember any emphysema patients surviving the disease. I made sure my mother took all of her medications and performed all of her nebulizer treatments yet, even in the absence of smoking, her emphysema continued progressing. I knew my mother’s emphysema had been caused by 30 years of smoking. I also knew she had not smoked in more than two years yet her condition had deteriorated down to end stage emphysema.
The Emphysema Mystery
The doctors said they did not know why this disease continued progressing long after smoking cessation so I began thinking about it logically. I noticed that as her breathing became more labored and her supplemental oxygen requirement increased her food intake decreased. She lost weight as a result but I realized there was more going on than that.
Logical Observations
Logically, it appeared that something was growing or proliferating in her lungs. This would explain her worsening condition in the absence of smoking, the obvious cause of the emphysema. As this unknown pathogen proliferated, her body adapted by distending her lungs creating additional surface area for necessary gas exchange, namely breathing. This distention of her lungs crowded her stomach and reduced the amount of food she could eat. This problem eventually reached critical mass when the energy from her food intake was less than her energy requirement for breathing. This prompted weight loss and the common “skin and bones” appearance.
First Steps Toward Recovery
I was not sure what the unknown pathogen was but I had taken a graduate level Pathology course some years earlier and remembered that pathogens eat sugar. Since my mother was already in end stage emphysema and weighed only 77 pounds, I took all of the sugar out of her diet out of desperation. I thought she would be dead soon if I didn’t do something. Remembering Biochemistry, I decided I would also eliminate grains, potatoes and anything else that would convert to sugar in only a few biochemical steps.
Two weeks elapsed before I noticed any real change in her condition. She was on 4 liters of supplemental oxygen gasping for air most of the time using an oxygen concentrator machine that only went to 5 liters. At the end of only two weeks she was not gasping for air anymore. It did not seem that she was in any distress. I could not believe that this simple diet change had actually made a difference.
From this small, rapid improvement I reached the following logical realizations:
- The doctors were not doing everything that could be done for my mother even though it may have been all that they knew from their training.
- There was some unknown pathogen proliferating in my mother’s lungs and this diet change had effectively stopped it from continuing even though the improvement at this stage was slight.
- Making further improvements in my mother’s condition would require additional changes in her daily regimen.
- Current protocols, including emphysema medications and emphysema treatments, were ineffective at reversing the underlying cause of this disease or stopping its progress.
At this stage I began developing protocols based on what I had observed with my mother’s declining health along with what I had learned from my research which at this point totaled more than 6,000 hours. I began addressing specific problems that plague all emphysema patients in an effort to help my mother such as excess mucus production, inflammation, compromised immune system and excessive use of medications especially antibiotics and corticosteroids. I also worked diligently in developing high quality nutritional protocols for achieving optimal health so the body’s adaptive abilities would function at their highest levels.
Cured at Last
I eventually developed six general protocols that did reverse my mother’s emphysema completely, something the doctors told me was impossible. By December 4th, 2008, my mother’s 77th birthday, she celebrated with the family and without any supplemental oxygen. She had also gained all of her weight back a few months earlier.
After sharing these protocols with a friend suffering from severe asthma and allergies I was persuaded by him to write the book which is now published under the name, “How I Reversed My Mom’s Emphysema.” Over 1,100 people in 6 countries have now reversed their emphysema also.
The book has not generated enough revenue so that I can pursue this endeavor full-time but I hope someday I will be able to help the 200 million people worldwide who suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), many of which suffer specifically from emphysema. According to the World Health Organization, emphysema is the 4th leading cause of death in the world and currently more than 400,000 Americans die from the disease annually.
