Fire Your Doctor - How to be independently healthy - Safe and Effective Natural Therapies for More than 80 Health Conditions

212 Pages·2005·21.205 MB·English

by  Andrew W Saul PhD, Abram Hoffer MD PhD

FIRE YOU
DOCTOR’
Good health books are an indispensable part of getting useful and
meaningful information from the enormous amount of health-related
material available these days. Each person must develop a diet
and lifestyle that works best-for him or her, but in order to do so,
they need to understand the alternative treatment options that
are available to help them achieve good health.
Fire Your Doctor! helps them do precisely this.
—Abram Hoffer, M.D., author of Putting It All Together:
The New Orthomolecular Nutrition
AndrewVV . Saul, Ph.D.

aD South SanT Francisco EPublic Libr a
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How to Be Independently Healthy
A\ndrew Saul, Ph.D.
Tamer eueAcbiant llc teeea haai is
“>. PUBLICATIONS, INC.
~ The information contained in this book is based upon the research and personal and professional
experiences of the author. It is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or
other healthcare provider. Any attempt to diagnose and treat an illness should be done under the
direction of a healthcare professional.
The publisher does not advocate the use of any particular healthcare protocol but believes the
information in this book should be available to the public. The publisher and author are not
responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of the suggestions,
preparations, or procedures discussed in this book. Should the reader have any questions concern-
ing the appropriateness of any procedures or preparation mentioned, the author and the publisher
strongly suggest consulting a professional healthcare advisor.
Basic Health Publications, Inc.
28812 Top of the World Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
949-715-7327 ® www.basichealthpub.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Saul, Andrew W.
Fire your doctor! : how to be independently healthy / by Andrew W. Saul;
foreword by Abram Hoffer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59120-138-0
1. Self-care, Health. 2. Health. 3. Medicine, Popular. |. Title.
RA776.95.S28 2005
613—dc22
2005022059
Copyright © 2005 by Andrew W. Saul
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other-
wise, without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
Editor: John Anderson
Copyeditor: Susan Andrews
Typesetter: Gary A. Rosenberg
Cover design: Mike Stromberg
Printed in the United States of America
TO: 9 8 eZ
Ccontents
Foreword by Abram Hoffer, M.D., vii
Preface, ix
Part One—Tools for Healthy Living
A Pep Talk to Get Started, 2 Tips for Healthier Eating, 47
Educating Yourself, 11 Juice Fasting, 56
A Quick Start to Better Health, 22 Supplements and How to
Three Steps to Health, 32 Use Them, 61
Go Meatless, 38 Discovering the Nature-Cure, 78
Part Two~ Natural Healing Protocols for All-Too-Common Health Problems
Acne, 66 Fungus Problems, 128
AIDS, 66 Gallstones, 129
Anxiety and Panic Attacks, 90 Headaches, 130
Arthritis, 93 Herpes, Cold Sores, HPV (Human Papilloma
Behavior and Learning Disorders, 95 Virus), & Shingles (Herpes Zoster), 133
Bipolar Disorder (Manic-Depressive Disorder), 97 Indigestion, 135
Caffeine Addiction, 98 Lupus, 137
Cancer, 100 Macular Degeneration, 136
Motor Neuron Diseases, 139
Cardiovascular Disease, 106
Muscular Dystrophy, 140
Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction
Syndrome (CFIDS), 110 Osteoporosis, 143
Chronic Pain, 113 Prostate Problems, 145
Colitis, Ulcers, and Other Psoriasis, 147
Gastrointestinal Problems, 115 Respiratory Infections, 149
Constipation, 117 Sinus Congestion, 151
Coughing, 119 Sore Muscles, 152
Down Syndrome, 120 Sugar Cravings, 153
Earaches and Ear Infections, 122 Tobacco Addiction, 154
Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis), 123 Tooth Care, 155
Emphysema and Chronic Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), 157
Respiratory Diseases, 125 Weight, Excess, 158
Fever, 126 Yeast Infections, 161
Fire Your Doctor! Health Truths, 162
Quick Reference Guide to Additional Health Conditions
Adrenal Exhaustion, 163 « Hepatitis, 165
Alopecia, 163 Loss of Taste and Smell, 166
Anorexia Nervosa, 163 Lyme Disease, 166
Bloody Nose, 163 Memory Loss, 166
Burns, 163 Menstrual Cycle Irregularity,. 166
Conjunctivitis (“Pinkeye”), 164 Molluscum Contagiosum, 166
Dandruff, 164 Mononucleosis, 166
Diaper Rash, 164 Motion Sickness (Airsickness), 166
Drug Addiction, 164 Nausea, 167
Ear Wax, 164 Nightmares, 167
Epilepsy (in Children), 164 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), 167
Esophagitis, 165 Postpartum Depression, 167
Eye Twitches, 165 Postsurgical Swelling, 167
Fingernail Spots, 165 Rosacea, 167
Food Poisoning, 165 Sciatica, 167
Glaucoma, 165 Scleroderma, 167
Gums, Receding, 165 Sleep Disorders, 168
Afterword, 169
Select Bibliography, 172
Internet Resources, 175
Endnotes, 177
Index, 190
About the Author, 196
To my best teachers,
the ones who took me seriously.
And to my beloved parents,
who really had no choice.
“

btS a eword
Why do we need a book educating patients on get well and stay well, and to learn this in spite
how to stay healthy? Is it not the responsibility of of lack of medical interest.
the medical profession and other allied health Even worse are the attempts of the medical
professions to look after all our needs? Are we profession to suppress valuable information if it
not all supposed to be medically pious, meaning does not conform to the conventional viewpoint.
that we look upon medical advice as the word It takes at least forty years for major paradigm
from all high, as writ in stone? To answer these shifts in medicine, and while the battle of the
questions we need only to read the headlines in paradigms rages, patients are deprived of the
the daily press, where constant and recurrent information that may save their lives. Excessive
cries are heard about the costs of treating the conservatism is very costly. When my colleagues
sick, the number of sick, the death rates, the and | first published our paper on the use of vita-
increase in cancer, the resurgence of tuberculo- min B3 for treating schizophrenia in 1957 (Hof-
sis, the great calamity of HIV/AIDS, the number fer, A., H. Osmond, M. J. Callbeck, and |. Kahan.
of Alzheimer’s patients. If the healthcare profes- “Treatment of Schizophrenia with Nicotinic Acid
sions were able to maintain our health, then and Nicotinamide.” Journal of Clinical and Ex-
why are we in such poor shape? perimental Psychopathology 18 (1957):131-158),
The main problem is that often the best it was mostly ignored because the popular para-
information gathered so painfully by the profes- digm did not consider schizophrenia to be a bio-
sions remains hidden within the obscure jour- chemically based disease. Rather, it was a way of
nals that were rash enough to publish them, and life and therefore could not have any connection
most people have not heard of, nor know how with the use of simple vitamins in above-average
to use, the findings. This is still the hangover doses. But as we continued to publish our find-
from the centuries-old tradition of guilds who ings, based upon double-blind studies, orthodox
maintained their secrets at all costs. medical resistance actually began to mount. By
Modern medicine has failed, not in discov- the 1970s, the bias of the American Psychiatric
ery, but in effectively bringing the attention of Association had denounced orthomolecular (nutri-
the people to the discoveries that have been tional) psychiatry. Their position has been used
made. The one field that has not failed in its as a shield to protect psychiatry from the vitamin
educational effort is the drug industry, which heretics like myself, who found that patients truly
has an enormously successful history of inform- recovered with nutritional treatment.
ing the public about the advantages of the drugs Orthomolecular medicine involves active
that they sell. The other discoveries, those deal- participation between people and the profes-
ing with nutrition, with herbs, with innovative sions, for it involves dietary and _ lifestyle
treatment, remain buried in the tons of literature changes, which cannot be done by the doctor
published every year. We need books such as alone. There is a keen need to educate the pub-
this one by Andrew Saul to fill in the gap, to lic, and motivate people to read and learn for
bring to the public what they need to know to themselves. Fire Your Doctor! is precisely about .
Fre Your Doctor!
this (and certainly not about performing one’s to nutrition, the dietary evils of sugar and chem-
own thoracic surgery, as a hostile critic might ical food additives were supported by misinfor-
choose to mistakenly presuppose). The great mation to counter the facts. When vitamins
orthomolecular educators, like Linus Pauling, were found to be very helpful, the establish-
have long aimed their work directly at the gen- ment quickly mobilized and released tons of
eral reader. They did so because life-saving misinformation about nonexistent evils of vita-
knowledge is too important to be passed over, mins. Vitamin C was alleged to cause kidney
and the academics, physicians, and physician stones; it does not happen. Niacin was sup-
associations were not listening. In this tradition, posed to cause liver damage; it does not. The
Fire Your Doctor! takes it straight to the people. construction of dangerous toxicity is limited
In 1945, we were taught to write prescrip- only by the imaginations of the doctors. Fac-
tions in Latin. Over the past sixty years, things toids are created with wild abandon. The truth
have changed enormously. Now patients have is that vitamins do not cause kidney damage, do
access to whole libraries of material via the not cause pernicious anemia, do not decrease
Internet. There are so many different informa- fertility, do not cause liver damage, do not
tion sources that many people get confused. We cause iron overload, do not interfere with glu-
are flooded with new books for every known cose blood tests, do not decrease the effective-
disease. Treatments are described in detail and ness of chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
for every known condition. The whole diversity Authors of health books should also be heal-
of modern medicine, including the alternatives, ers, should know what to emphasize, should
is so diverse that it is impossible for lay people know what are the values and defects of any
to properly assess the value of the treatment therapeutic program, and above all, should write
described. for the public. Good health books are now
The information world has changed from indispensable to help readers efficiently sort
one with hardly any useful information written through the enormous amount of material so
for the public to one where there is too much, that it becomes meaningful for them. Each per-
and it is accumulating ever more quickly. We son must develop the diet that works best for
are compelled to turn to people who are knowl- him or her. But in order for them to do so, they
edgeable and trustworthy, and who are more have to understand the treatment options that
interested in healing the sick than they are in are available. Fire Your Doctor! helps the reader
prestige or money. Such people sift the amazing do precisely this.
amount of information, blow away the chaff, So, from an era fifty years ago, when no
and harvest the kernels of truth. information was provided, we come to the pres-
Health-promoting information must include ent, where so much conflicting information is
the correcting of misinformation that is so prev- available that we depend on books such as this
alent in the current medical literature. A pro- one to glean from the vast literature some of the
fessor of medicine once started his lectures by main tenets of modern nutritional treatment.
advising his students that only half the informa- New information raises new questions, and this
tion he would give them was correct and he in turn creates new ways of dealing with the
was not sure which half it was. | once opened a problems. Experience has taught us that we
lecture at Columbia University by telling the cannot depend upon the professions to make
students that most of the stuff they were being alternative health information available. Much
taught in psychiatry was wrong. The third-year of it is still controversial, but that is the nature of
medical students got up and gave me a standing medicine. Fire Your Doctor! is about the medi-
ovation. cine of nature, orthomolecular medicine.
Misinformation is used to support, or to
attack, a popular belief system. When it came
—Abram Hoffer, M.D.