Hi All,

I thought I would share a little bit about the background of my wife's
illness and explain my approach towards a cure. This e-mail is long, so
please read when you have time.

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My wife Shivani travelled to India in summer 2003. Before going she had
a double vaccination against Polio and Hepatitis A (I am not suggesting
there is a connection, but .....). She also came down with a cold/flu.
Shortly after arriving in Delhi, her hands and feet swelled up and
stayed like this for the whole summer. She also suffered aches and
pains in the hands and feet, but the symptoms were lessened by the heat.
We visited many doctors, but they told her it was anything from a urine
infection to a simple reaction to the extreme heat.

Just before we made an internal trip within India by train, she seemed
to come down with flu. The extreme cold of the train's air conditioning
seemed to make her worse. Her symptoms continued through the summer.
After 6 weeks in Delhi, she returned to London. Her condition worsened
and she soon started to feel very ill - she swelled up like a balloon.
We called out the doctor and he tested her and found she was leaking
protein into her urine, which is a sign of the body breaking down itself
down. She was admitted to hospital where she did not improve, and
subsequently she ended up in ICU.

They tried everything else before finally resorting to high dose
steroids. After 6 days in ICU she started to come round. From here on
she continually improved, and the steroids were gradually reduced over
the next 12 months. She was diagnosed with Lupus. It has taken her
around a year to get back to reasonable health, but she continues on 5
mg prednisone daily, with anti-malarials and stomach protection. She is
also on high-dose calcium for her bones, and was recently put on an
immunosuppressant. She also takes Ibuprufen daily for aches and pains.

She has been in excellent health all her life and had never seen the
inside of a hospital. It was very difficult to explain how such a young
healthy person could end up like this. The doctors give drugs and make
no promises, but they certainly discourage us from trying alternatives.
Our consultant (25 years experience) says that natural health does not
work, and we should stick to conventional medicine. After further
questioning, he changes his statement to "there is no evidence that
natural or alternative medicine works". I turned this around and
suggested that what he meant was he doesn't really know that it does
work, but he also doesn't know that it doesn’t work. He says that they
were never taught about it at medical school. Upon further questioning,
he confessed that he has been out of medical school for over 25 years,
and since then has only been following his specialist field.

I therefore come to the conclusion that he is no more experienced than
me in this field. In fact, I probably know more. Just as we would not
expect an accountant to be an expert in law, conventional medical
practitioners are not experts in any field beyond their specialism. In
fact they are rarely experts in any other field of conventional
medicine, other than the one they specialise in. We are now under the
control of one of the UK's leading Lupus specialists in London.
However, the more specialised the doctor, the harder they are to argue
with (as they think they know everything).

I have been doing a lot of reading this past year (especially the
internet), and have skimmed pretty much every theory out there. I
noticed that there are a lot of common theories on natural health - all
take a holistic view and attempt to treat the whole body rather than
just parts. All try to deal with causes rather than symptoms. I will
talk about these later.

I now believe that Lupus and probably most other Auto-immune diseases
are caused by either some sort of virus or toxin build up/overload in
the body. Genetics may be involved in that a person is genetically
pre-disposed to react in a certain way to certain viruses/toxins, that
may not even harm other people. But it must have been triggered by
something - I do not believe the theory that she may have always had it.
In fact, in Delhi her ANA was tested in Delhi and came out negative.
Yet our consultant said she may always have had ANA in her blood (he has
no explanation for my observation).

Our bodies were made with their own defence mechanisms, yet these have
been completely suppressed by the drugs. Its no wonder the body cannot
fight the virus/toxin. I believe in Lupus that the bodies natural
chemical-processing plant (the liver) is overloaded and therefore reacts
adversely to low levels of toxins. This is why the body is intolerant
to cooked foods (which are mildly toxic by a healthy person's
standards) among other things. As for high level of toxins, like
artificial ingredients in food, the body has no chance.

It is also possible that the Lupus was caused by a virus - it may be an
unusual virus that the body finds difficult to detect and fight in the
first place. Now that the body's natural defences where the antibodies
are produced have been completely shut down, the body has no chance of
overcoming it.

I believe that Lupus is not specific, but rather is a generic term
describing a condition where the body has been overcome by virus or
toxins (as described above). The body reacts in the same way, as the
defence mechanism is the same in each case. As a result the body is
treated in the same way, hence all conditions have been described as
"Lupus". But each case of Lupus may be different and display different
symptoms - and the cause may also be different. Therefore, Lupus
sufferers must not expect that there is a 'one size fits all' solution.
What works for one person may not work for another, since the specifics
of the illness may be different.

My approach is to follow a combination of solutions proposed by the
following:-

1) Curezone www.curezone.com
2) Dr Richard Schulze (via curezone.com)
3) Hallelujah Acres www.hacres.com
4) Dr Keki Sidhwa http://members.rotfl.com/sidhwa/

All are located thousands of miles apart, yet all pretty much follow the
same approach. This pretty much disproves the Conspiracy theory
suggested by many conventional medical practitioners.

Put very simplistically, the approach is to first of all stop the intake
of all toxins into the body by adopting the raw food or nearly all-raw
food diets proposed above. This then gives the body time to heal. The
next stage is to cleanse the body of toxins contained therein - the
methods above do this in slightly different ways, but the general
approach is the same. After detox, the body can then start to heal
property. On top of this must be a full and regular exercise regime,
consisting of cardiovascular (running, steps, etc) and muscular
exercises (weights, etc). (Swimming does both). To help strengthen the
bones, there also needs to be some impact activities (weights is good
for this).

Our approach will ideally also include regular massages - either
conventional or alternative (such as the Bowen technique), to promote
self-healing and relax the body. In addition, the steam room or sauna
is important, as it is a good detoxifier and also helps the body relax.
Finally, my approach would ideally also include some sort of
mind/body/sprit activity, such as Tai Chi or Yoga (both of which are
good for stretching the whole body). Summary as below:-

1) Diet
2) Body Cleanse/Detox
3) Exercise - cardio, muscular & bones.
4) Massage - self-healing and relax.
5) Steam/Sauna - detox & relax
6) Tai Chi/Yoga - mind/body/spirit and stretching.

My wife already trains in the gym once a week (both cardio and muscular)
and swims every week. She will be starting on the diet shortly. I will
keep you updated on our progress.

Regards,
Naveen