Naturopathic Medicine
While naturopathic medicine places emphasis on prevention, the professionals at Gerson Retreat are able to treat many, if not most, already existing common medical problems and conditions treated by Gerson Retreat naturopathic therapeutic modalities. The conditions listed below all respond well to the naturopathic approach used at Gerson Retreat. If you do not see your condition here, it does not mean that we cannot help you. Please contact Gerson Retreat to learn if Dr. Ferchoff has insight into possible treatments for your condition. Please contact us to discuss what we can do for you. 928.239.4589
Nutrition levels can be affected by stress, diet, chemical exposure, alcohol, prescription drugs and impaired circulation. Even when a person feels perfectly healthy, their tissues and organs may be depleted of his/her required nutrient levels.
In this therapy, vitamins, antioxidants, amino acids and other natural nutrients are given intravenously. IV Therapy bypasses the digestive system for faster absorption and is customized to meet the need of each patient. The therapy can restore and improve health performance; improve circulation, the metabolism and the immune system, and naturally relax and detoxify the body. IV therapy is used as an aid for patients with various conditions and may be included in their Personalized Treatment Plans.
Immune Enhancement
Your immune system is on constant guard to protect against viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. This system keeps you free of not only serious infections but also cancer and autoimmune disorders like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, in which the immune system attacks healthy cells. Unfortunately, the older we get, the harder we are hit by these immune-related conditions.
As with all disease, a number of nutrients play well-defined roles in the immune response, and chief among them are antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. For patients suffering from immune disorders — or anyone who just needs an immune boost — we offer immune drip therapy. Our unique IV cocktail contains high doses of B-complex vitamins along with vitamins C, E, beta-carotene, selenium, and zinc, all of which are vital for a healthy immune system.
Conditions Treated by Gerson Retreat: Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia
The fatigue, pain and depression from chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia are real and they have a cause. More importantly, help is available. Not only are conditions treated by Gerson Retreat, the symptoms of these disorders are not just treated— a comprehensive approach is followed that has the potential to reverse these conditions, alleviating pain, increasing energy, and boosting immunity.
People suffering with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue are believed to have impaired cellular function — particularly in the way muscle cells handle calcium and phosphate. This, in turn, stimulates painful contractions and muscle spasms. To address these problems, Gerson Retreat attendees are prescribed a full regimen of therapies, including IV doses of B vitamins, magnesium, vitamin C, and other nutrients proven to boost energy, improve tissue repair and relieve stress.
Infusions for Macular Degeneration, Cataracts, and Retinopathy
Deterioration of sight is one of the most common health problems of aging. Around age sixty, the likelihood of serious ocular disorders — macular degeneration, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy — accelerates.
Fortunately, these vision problems can be slowed and even reversed in many cases. Because free radical damage is a significant contributor to these problems, antioxidants have a strong protective effect. Over the past 15 years, several studies have shown that the risk of macular degeneration, retinopathy, and cataracts can be greatly reduced using antioxidant supplementation.
We offer specialized therapies to prevent, treat, and reverse vision loss. IV administration of high doses of antioxidants, fatty acids, carotenoids, amino acids, and minerals — sometimes in conjunction with chelation therapy — can dramatically enhance nutrient delivery and arrest degeneration of vision.
Ozone Therapy
What is Ozone Therapy?
Ozone therapy is a unique form of therapy that both heals and detoxifies at the same time. It used to treat a variety of chronic disease including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Lyme disease, chronic hepatitis, herpes, chronic fatigue states, chemical sensitivity, macular degeneration, chronic bladder conditions, colitis, auto-immune diseases, and Crohn’s disease.
What Is Ozone?
The oxygen you breathe is present in the air as a pair of oxygen atoms. This is the most stable form of oxygen, and it’s colorless. Ozone is a blue colored form of oxygen (it’s what makes the sky blue), and unlike regular oxygen, it is composed of three oxygen atoms instead of two. It is the addition of the third oxygen atom that makes ozone “supercharged” oxygen, and gives it all of its remarkable medical properties.
The use of ozone to treat various medical conditions was first developed in Germany in the early 1950’s. Today, medical ozone therapy is common throughout Europe, and its use has gradually been spreading in America over the last 25 years.
Ozone Is Toxic Isn’t It?
Anything, including water and oxygen, is toxic if given in amounts that exceed the body’s capacity to utilize it. Ozone is found naturally in the body. The white cells make it as part of the immune response. Pure medical grade ozone, when it is used according to the established medical guidelines, has a safety record that is unparalleled.
Medical Properties Of Ozone
Ozone has five properties that account for why it works so well not only for macular degeneration, but also for most other chronic age related conditions as well:
Ozone is a potent regulator of the immune system. This means that when the immune system is overactive (as in auto-immune disease), ozone will calm it down. Conversely, when the immune system is under active as in cancer, AIDS, and chronic infections, ozone will stimulate it. This unique ability of ozone stems from its action on the membranes of white cells that causes them to produce immune related messenger molecules called cytokines. Examples of cytokines are gamma interferon, interleukin-2, colony stimulating factor, and TNF-alpha just to name a few.
Ozone stimulates increased uptake of oxygen by stimulating the enzyme diphosphoglycerate (DPG). DPG enables the release of oxygen from the hemoglobin molecule so that it can be taken up into the cell. In the absence of an adequate amount of DPG, our cells become starved for oxygen. This is a common problem in diabetics.
Ozone improves circulation. It does this by enhancing the flow characteristics of blood as a liquid. This effect enables more of the oxygen carrying hemoglobin to reach the capillaries where ultimately the cells will receive more of the oxygen they require. Many patients with chronic inflammatory conditions have impaired circulation.
Ozone increases antioxidant protection more than any other therapy including vitamin C.Most people with chronic disease have deficient antioxidant defenses.
Ozone is a powerful mitochondrial stimulant. The fundamental underlying cause behind all degenerative disease from diabetes to heart disease to cancer is decreased mitochondrial energy production. Ozone can often correct this problem.
Is Ozone Therapy For Me?
This is a decision for a doctor who is trained and experienced in the medical use of ozone. Some conditions simply will not clear up unless ozone is used, and of course many conditions will clear up without ozone. Because of its many therapeutic properties, ozone can be used as part of a therapeutic plan for almost every disease.
It is invaluable in the treatment of heart disease and circulatory disorders. Chronic infections such as hepatitis-C, herpes, Lyme, and AIDS respond very favorably to ozone. It is also very helpful in chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and autoimmune diseases.
It is important to realize that ozone therapy is not a panacea or some kind of magic bullet. Although it is often an indispensable modality, it is only rarely effective by itself. In the great majority of cases it must be combined with an individualized program of other alternative and natural therapies, such as nutrition and detoxification.
What is Hydrogen Peroxide?
HYDROGEN PEROXIDE (H2O2)
The dramatic advances over the past 50 years in medical science’s understanding of physiology and in its ability to monitor disease states are so profound that it is now possible to achieve a better grasp of how Light Therapy works. In turn, this provides better insight into various physiological processes as well as an opportunity to fine-tune the therapy and apply it to new indications. This allows Medical Science to achieve significantly better results than the pioneers of UVBI were able to achieve or even dreamed of achieving.
We know that without oxygen for more than a few minutes, serious consequences follow. Without oxygen, we die very quickly. Breathing oxygen is an oxidative process. There can be no life if oxidation does not occur. The body uses oxidation as the first line of defense against bacteria, virus, yeast and parasites. When we use the principals of oxidation to bring about improvements in the body, it is called a therapy, herein referred to as Oxidative Therapy.
Most biochemical reactions in the body are “Balanced” through “Redox” mechanisms. Redox means (red)duction (ox)idation. Anytime a substance is reduced (chemically changed), something else must be oxidized (chemically changed the other way) for the reactions to stay in balance. As an example, oxidation is the process that causes rust on metals (slow oxidation) or fire (rapid oxidation). In the body, some types of oxidation are thought to be harmful by producing Free Radicals. (It is suggested people take Vitamin E, an antioxidant to help reduce Free Radical formation.) We know there can be no life if oxidation does not occur. Oxidation is the process through which the body converts sugar into energy. The body also uses oxidation as the first line of defense against bacteria, virus, yeast and parasites. Even breathing OXYGEN is an oxidative process. Without OXYGEN for more than a few minutes, serious consequences follow. Without oxidation, we die very quickly. When we use the principals of oxidation to bring about improvements in the body, it is called a therapy, herein referred to as Oxidative Therapy.
A number of substances are known to cause oxidation in the body but the most important of these is Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). Although a natural substance made in the body, it is still considered a drug when used in Oxidative Therapy. Hydrogen Peroxide, when exposed to your blood or other body fluids, containing the enzyme CATALASE, is chemically split into OXYGEN and water. Remember how Hydrogen Peroxide foams when you put it on a wound? The foam is OXYGEN being produced by the action of catalase on the Hydrogen Peroxide. A small amount of Hydrogen Peroxide can supply large amounts of OXYGEN to the tissue.
This therapy is administered as follows: Weak, very pure Hydrogen Peroxide (0.0375%) or lower concentration) is added to a sugar or salt-water solution, the same as used for intravenous feeding in hospitals. This is injected in doses from 50 to 500 mL into a large vein usually in the arm, slowly over a period of 1 to 3 hours depending on the amount given and the condition of the patient. It is painless, excluding the very small needle stick. Treatments are usually given about once a week in chronic illness, but can be given daily in patients with acute illness such as pneumonia or flu.
Physicians may recommend 1 to 20 treatments depending on the condition of the patient and the illness being treated. The patient is rechecked in 1 to 3 months to evaluate the benefit and determine if additional treatments may be necessary. Some patients, especially with chronic illness, may need to take follow up treatments in series of 5 to 10 treatments, or may need maintenance indefinitely on a regular monthly schedule. Several patients have been administered as many as 50 treatments without complications. An experienced physician must decide how many treatments are necessary in your individual case.
Over the past 50 years, hundreds of patients have received Hydrogen Peroxide without serious side effects. Early use of Hydrogen Peroxide was reported to occasionally cause irritation of the vein being infused. This troublesome side effect was eliminated after the concentration and rate of infusion were adjusted downward.
Oxidative therapy, using Hydrogen Peroxide, has been reported in scientific literature and by physicians in the treatment of many conditions or diseases, with varying degrees of success.
Physicians from around the world constantly share knowledge and experience and the list of uses for Oxidative Therapy is growing everyday. Since Hydrogen Peroxide is a natural substance produced and used in body chemistry, there will be discoveries about its importance in biochemistry for years to come.
IV PolyMVA
The Poly-MVA complex is a proprietary blend of the metal, palladium irreversibly bound to the exceptionally strong antioxidant, lipoic acid. Antioxidants neutralize free radical damage caused by the normal oxidative process that occurs in every living cell of your body. Antioxidants prevent inflammation and promote healthy cell regeneration and growth. They boost the immune system and probably protect against cell mutation which of course is the cause of cancer!
Poly-MVA has been approved by the FDA as a nontoxic nutritional supplement. Experts have found that this complex creates natural energy at the cellular level and may have significant applications as an anti-aging therapy.
In reference to cancer, Poly-MVA has already undergone extensive independent study and is scheduled to be investigated by the FDA as a N.I.D. or new investigational “drug”. Studies in tissue culture show that Poly-MVA causes apoptosis or cell death in cancer cells while not affecting normal cells. Animal studies have also been nothing short of phenomenal! Independent human studies are now being conducted and thus far the results have exceeded expectations. While additional human studies need to be completed before the FDA approves this therapy as a cancer “treatment”, people battling cancer now have few if any options beyond chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Poly-MVA does not interfere with either chemotherapy or radiation therapy and, in our experience, may actually minimize the side effects of these therapies. The majority of patients feel an increase in energy and maintain a healthy appetite. This is critical since the majority of late stage cancer patients actually die from malnutrition! Theoretically, Poly-MVA challenges cancer cells by increasing cellular energy in the “engine room” known as the mitochondria of the cell. Cancer cells have mutated to function on low energy and this increase in energy “shorts them out”. Increased energy at the mitochondrial level stimulates DNA and in the case of cancer cells, creates complexes which may actually expedite natural cell death known as apoptosis.
DISCLAIMER:
Not licensed through Gerson Institute?
There are a number of reasons as to why we are not licensed through the Non-Profit Gerson Institute Group in San Diego. The main concern is that Gerson Therapy claims to have treated and cured cancer. So stating the Gerson Therapy means that it is a treatment that cures cancer. This is not allowed in the US and does not have any double blind placebo controlled studies and millions of dollars spent to publish this type of work. So the FDA does not approve Gerson therapy or similar therapies for the treatment of cancer as well as other diseases. That is why most clinics go to Mexico. Another reason is that we also offer other treatments and modalities such as water fasting, juice fasting and customized cleansing programs.
We can offer the similar approach, and utilize the works of Dr. Max Gerson, use the same modality, offer the meals, juices and coffee enemas, but we are not allowed to use the name. We are not allowed to state that we are treating or curing cancer. Some of the medical staff and supportive staff have attended the Gerson Institutes educational and training programs, and the physician training module 1. The retreat group has been offering wellness retreats for the past 10 years. The doctors are Naturopathic Physicians that learn and a trained in this method of therapy and care. This is what we specialize in as well as work with each individual to customize the treatment, modalities and therapies that are right for them.
The doctors will order and monitor blood levels and have daily follow up consultations with each patient that comes to the retreat. We are here for you and we look forward to working with you towards a healthier tomorrow.
The Information contained on this website is for educational purposed only. We do not claim to cure any disease. We do not offer chemotherapy, radiation or surgery, of which cliam to treat and cure cancer. Our approach to health is through diet, nutritional and cleansing the body back to better health. Through this, the body and immune system will support the body to the level and ability that it can.
We see many patients come here and see great results with better health, vitality and longevity. Decreased pain and inflammation. Improvements in blood tests. Over all health and wellness. Better outlook and hope in life.
We Look Forward To Working With You Towards A Healthier Tomorrow!