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Onion Cases

Categories: The Analysis of Disease States: Helping the Body Recover
Sources: How And When To Be Your Own Doctor

All too many of my cases are what I privately refer to as onion

cases. By this I mean the opposite of a simple case. There are

multiple complaints. I call them onion cases because these people

get better in layers, like pealing an onion. As each skin comes off,

the next becomes visible. Sometimes when the patient overcomes an

existing complaint, another appears that was not there in the

beginning, probably this new one
is a complaint that they had at an

earlier point in their life, one that had gone away. Onion cases

take a long time to completely heal, sometimes years. There

frequently are psychological aspects to the case that surface with

different physical problems. If I were not an effective psychologist

I could not succeed with most of them. The average medical doctor

probably considers onion cases to be hypochondriacs, but they

usually are not.



Almost always the first symptoms that demand attention are the most

life-threatening, like immune system failures, liver failures,

pancreatic failures, nervous system failures and heart failures.

With these eliminated, new complaints appear. Often these are

endocrine system imbalances or weak endocrine glands, anemias, mild

heart conditions. Then it gets down to eye or ear infections,

muscular or skeletal weaknesses, mild skin problems, sinusitis,

teeth problems; things that aren't serious but that do degrade the

quality of life. Each one of these layers also carries with it a

psychological component; each of these layers can take three to six

months to resolve.



I had a pretty good idea from the first visit that Daniel, not yet

30, was going to take some time to get well. He already had a

degenerative condition not usually seen until middle age--crippling

gout and arthritis. He had badly distorted joints, walked with

considerable pain, lacked a full range of movement, had enormous

fatigue and consequently, a well-justified depression. Daniel was

about to give up working as no longer possible, but he liked his

job. And he certainly needed it.



Daniel's analysis showed massive allergies to foods, a systemic

yeast and multiple virus infections and multiple organ weaknesses: a

life-threateningly weak immune system, weak pancreas, weak adrenals,

weak large intestine. Because he could hardly accept anything he

wasn't allergic to and because he could not afford to quit working

even for a few weeks (though he was about to be forced into complete

disability) I put him on a Bieler fast. This is a monodiet of fairly

substantial quantities of either well-cooked green beans or

well-cooked zucchini, the choice between these two foods depending

on the acid-base balance of the blood. (Henry Bieler, 1965) In

Daniel's case my choice was zucchini, one pint of plain zucchini

puree with a little kelp and garlic added (no salt, no butter, no

nothing else) every few hours. I also put him on heavy vitamin

support and protomorphogens for his desperate immune system. While

on the Bieler fast he did daily enemas at home. Had colonics been

available to him, Daniel couldn't have afforded them.



Within three weeks he was far more comfortable, had less pain, more

energy even though he was still eating nothing but zucchini, had

less swelling in his joints. During the first month he lost about

ten pounds and had been skinny to start with. I then added other

cooked nonstarchy vegetables to his diet and we continued the same

protomorphogen and supplement program for another month.



Once each month Daniel came to see me. Each time he had slightly

improved organ strength and was able to tolerate a few more foods.

By the third month he stopped losing weight because we added small

quantities of cooked rice and millet to his diet. However, to

continue his detox, I had him water fast one day a week, staying in

bed and resting all day. At the start and end of the fasting day he

also took an enema. He continued a weekly one-day fast for many

months. By the fourth month, his immune system testing stronger, a

new problem appeared. Daniel had intestinal parasites. So I also put

him on a six month program to eliminate those.



Daniel required monthly dietary adjustments because he quickly

became allergic if he ate very much of anything very often--broccoli

or rice for example. During this time he became aware of many

negative emotions associated with childhood, of young adult

frustrations and disappointments. He was really very angry about

many things in his life, even though he had for many years

maintained an invariably pleasant social veneer. But now he began

expressing some of these feelings to me and to his associates.



Daniel had an abusive girlfriend, but as he improved this

relationship became insufferable. So he broke off with this woman

and found a new relationship that was much more positive, one based

on mutual respect and admiration. There are frequently strong

connections between repressed anger and depository diseases like

arthritis and gout. Daniel could not permit himself to constantly be

made angry and still get well.



His next layer of symptoms did not appear until nearly eighteen

months after he had first come to see me. By this time he had good

energy, had returned to hiking and skiing, camping and canoeing. He

had worked as a printer but was now bootstrapping his own print shop

on a shoestring, and became entirely self-employed. He had a good

romantic relationship. The parasites were gone; his gout and

arthritis was virtually gone; many of his food allergies were gone.

Now his body was demanding that its acid/base balance be adjusted

and he began to pay attention to the minor back problems he had all

along. Daniel had also developed a new problem--inflammation of the

eye. It was so severe that he went to an opthamologist seeking

immediate relief because he could hardly see. I put him on massive

doses of vitamin C and protomorphogens for the eye and we attacked

the other problems.



Now I still see Daniel every three months for minor dietary and

supplement adjustments. His emotional space is very positive. His

business is doing well. His love life is doing well. He has

developed no new problems and all the old ones are under control.

His organ systems, though better, will never tolerate many insults,

physical or mental, but if he lives within his limits, he has every

chance of a long and happy life.



Daniel has become a friend of mine by now and I like to see him but

I expect I won't see Daniel very much at all any more. He has

learned what he needs to know to take care of himself. This is a

typical onion case that resolved successfully. However this case

might not have worked out so well had Daniel not possessed a high

degree of personal integrity and bravery, had he not faced and

resolved his emotional conflicts. Fortunately, Daniel had always

conducted an ethical life, without dishonesty or a secret collection

of disreputable acts. Bodies are easy to fix; they are carbon oxygen

engines that work on chemistry and respond unfailingly to physical

measures. But the entity that runs the body is not so simple. The

thoughts and emotions of the spirit impinge on a body as powerfully

or more powerfully than all the vitamins, dietary reform or

protomorphogens I can provide. The mind, and the spirit behind that

mind, can make a body sick or can prevent it from getting well or

staying well despite everything I do.



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