Counseling Sheet

NOTE: Because of the very serious, life-threatening nature of tuberculosis (TB), and the fact that it is becoming even more contagious than previously, we do not recommend that you delay professional treatment of this disease with anti-tuberculous drugs. The problem is especially compounded when small children are involved, as in a family. We are offering this document as informational only, in hopes that some of the techniques might prove helpful as adjuncts to conventional treatment. It has just been estimated (as of August 1999) that one-third of the world is infected with TB!

This is the story of a woman who had a long struggle with tuberculosis. In her late 20s, she had her first attack of TB. She suffered 19 hemorrhages in 21 days, and it was feared she would not live.

She then spent 13 months in the TB sanitorium. No sugar was allowed as "it drew on the calcium which the lungs needed to enclose the germs in calcium capsules." She could have plenty of dried / fresh fruits and nuts. She learned that the diet should contain no meat, milk, eggs, or cheese. She took a cold shower every day. As soon as she was able to walk, she had to walk as far as she could without getting too tired. Working in the flower beds and vegetable gardens was also useful. She was given instruction on nutrition and general health, and it was emphasized that "Contentment is the greatest thing in the cure." After 13 months, she was pronounced an arrested case and allowed to return home.

She was well for seven years, but at age 36, after three years of a heavy program involving day and night work, she suddenly experienced a lung hemorrhage one night.

This time, in a different sanitorium, she was given absolute rest in bed, but got weaker and weaker and started coughing more and more. Her evening temperature gradually rose higher until it reached 102° F every evening. She coughed so much that her throat got raw. She suffered intense pain any time she tried to talk. Silence therapy was begun, as well as several drug therapies for her throat.

Her case deteriorated and she appeared ready to die. The doctor said she could go home to die. She was not able to walk without assistance. Her outlook was so hopeless that she gave all her clothes away except something to be buried in. Yet, she lived 51 more years with no other breakdown with TB.

Here is how she did it ...

Her husband had taken nursing training and began an altogether different routine. It was summer so he kept her out-of-doors all day, but not in direct sun, especially not during the middle of the day.

He believed exercise for patients was a must. So, with his help, she walked from her chair 10 steps out and back, three times a day for one week; the next week 20 steps and the next 30, and so on until she could walk all by herself. Soon she was able to walk one-quarter mile three times a day. Then she began to take two baskets to pick up sticks for kindling the next winter. Finally, she was carrying tree limbs she picked up in the hollow. All this occurred within three months from the time that she left the sanitorium.

‍Hydrotherapy:‍

She had only cold treatments, no hot ones. A tepid bath was for cleansing only. She had a cold mitten friction three times a day. Because there was no shower in her home, her husband gave her cold pail pours after he finished the mitten frictions.

A heating chest pack, which begins cold, was applied on retiring at night and removed in the morning. At the sanitorium, she had been coughing almost all the time, day and night. The first night she was home, her husband said, "Now for a heating chest pack." She said, "Oh, that will kill me. I can't stand the shock of the cold cloths put on at first; and if they're too loose, one can get pneumonia." He said, "Don't worry, I'll fix it snug enough so no air can get to you." She coughed only three times that first night. The throat pain disappeared, and she was able to stop the silence therapy.

Not long after starting the hydrotherapy, her temperature became normal. She slept eight hours at night and took two naps during the day, one between 11 a.m. and 12:00 noon, and another between at 5 and 6:00 p.m. She took two glasses of water at 6:00 am, 11:00 am, and 5:00 pm, with more in hot weather.‍

Diet:

‍Olives are good for consumption. Plenty of high-calcium collard greens, turnip greens, broccoli, etc., are helpful to provide the extra calcium to wall off the TB germs. Within a year, she was gardening, helping her husband some in his work, and doing her own housework. She began teaching again in two years. She died at age 87.

Massage:

Get a full body massage one to three times a week to boost the immune system.

‍Herbs:

‍Use echinacea and golden seal for the immune system and for tissue healing. Use mullein and red clover for cough and as an antitubercular antibiotic. Take one tablespoon each of echinacea and golden seal and boil gently for 25 minutes in one quart of water. Pour it all into a bowl containing one to two tablespoons each of red clover and mullein. Cover and steep for 30 minutes. Make fresh daily. One quart is one day's dosage.

TB Remedy from a layman who wrote to us: "We have used clay poultices also on a man who was said to have TB of the bones in the spinal column. We are not sure of the diagnosis, but the doctors in the Salvation Army Hospital diagnosed the problem. In the beginning, we gave him clay treatments every half an hour for pain relief, along with herb teas, a simple diet, lots of water, sunshine therapy and rest. We reduced the clay treatments to every hour for 15 days, then once every evening for 2 months. When he went back to the hospital and had X-rays, the doctors said he had no more TB. His pain was gone and his hope was high. The Lord has blessed us."