By Evan Burton

photo by Ragged Racoon
    If you have found this article then you probably either have Cystic Fibrosis yourself, or you have a close loved one who has this genetic disorder and you are searching for a way to naturally treat or cure this disease. If this is the case, then you have come to the right place. I was born with Cystic Fibrosis and have spent the past 5 years of my life on the quest to finding a natural cure for my disease. Now, at the age of 23, I am experiencing vibrant health and success in my life thanks to some of the techniques I have learned throughout my search. Parts of what I have found have not only been extremely beneficial to my health, but also very detrimental, causing me extreme illness and months in the hospital. The good news is that I have been your guinea pig and I can tell you exactly what works and what doesn’t. I must urge all people with Cystic Fibrosis to not experiment with any new methods not recommended by your doctor because they can cause you great harm and take years off of your life.

    My first glimpse into the realm of natural cures was through a book called The PH Miracle by Dr. Robert Young. This book places diet in the highest regards in every human’s health and longevity and claims that, through diet, anybody can be cured from disease. It claims that through eliminating acid in the body and restoring the alkaline balance that we create an environment in our bodies in which disease cannot thrive or even survive. The diet consists of eating 80% fresh, raw vegetables, nuts and seeds and 20% cooked grains, beans and starches. It is a vegan diet, which includes no meat or dairy products. This is the common type of diet that is at the forefront of the natural health community. All Naturopathic doctors can tell you that this is the first step in correcting your health and getting on the road to wellness. This is NOT TRUE for people with Cystic Fibrosis.

    I practiced this diet strictly for almost 2 years. I went from eating McDonalds cheeseburgers and milkshakes to eating organic salads with raw almonds and olive oil salad dressings. The immediate effect was an extreme detox on my body. I had stomach aches, head aches, low energy and trouble sleeping. After that initial few weeks of detox I began to feel great. I had amazing energy and clarity, all of my acne went away, I had no body odor and my eyes looked extremely clear and alive. As the months went by I began to lose a significant amount of weight. Before I started I was 6’2” and 150 lbs but I went down to about 135-140. So as you can see I went from skinny to super extra skinny! There was no way that this could be healthy for any person with Cystic Fibrosis but I was stubborn and continued on my path to achieving perfect health through diet. In the coming months not much else changed except there was one thing that I noticed; I was coughing up significantly more phlegm and now with streaks of blood. At the time I figured that this was a direct result of my body detoxifying itself and ridding itself of disease and didn’t think much of it.

    It was after about a year and 2 months of this diet that I started to become ill. I came down with a bad cold that I couldn’t shake and decided to go to the doctor. He proceeded to tell me that I had pneumonia and my lungs were filled with fluid. I was admitted to the hospital and underwent IV antibiotics for the first time. I was 19 years old at this point. I thought that the fact that I got sick was merely coincidental and did not link it with my new diet and, therefore, continued it after I got better. It was after I was admitted to the hospital 2 more times in the next year for severe lung infections and given IV antibiotics that I decided that this diet was NOT for me.

    After I went back to a normal diet my health rebounded. I put on healthy weight and muscle and felt amazing. I started running and working out and began to feel like a normal person again. I figured out that a huge part of staying well with Cystic Fibrosis is eating a large amount of calories and protein. Calories are essential for keeping on a healthy weight and protein is essential for fighting the infection in your lungs. Without tons of protein, your body will not be able to create the white bloods cells in order to fight off the invading bacteria.

    For the next 2 years I got progressively better and stronger through a strict running and workout regimen teamed with a new style of eating which was high in calories but also healthy and natural. This was not enough for me though, I needed to know more. I felt that there must be some sort of natural cure out there that would have the ability to change my life forever. I began to study naturopathic medicine and the use of herbs. Many sources that I found claimed that through fasting and the use of herbs that one could naturally cure any disease or imbalance in the body. I researched this for months and months and came up with a list of herbs that were proven to be beneficial for my specific problems and ordered them from the best source I could find. I double checked that these were the right kind of herbs with several naturopathic doctors and herbalists and they all agreed that it was the right combo for me. I started taking these herbal supplements regularly as a part of my daily regimen. The initial results were not much to speak of. I had slightly better digestion but felt pretty odd in general. I felt as if the herbs were making me feel different in some way but not better. I also decided to combine juice fasting with my herbal supplementation in order to speed up the process of detoxification. It was from many different sources that I learned about fasting and how it was toted as the miracle cure for most diseases. The long list of health benefits and the promise for the elimination of my disease made it an easy decision for me to make. I decided that the fresh orange juice fast was the one I would start with, being that it is the mildest fast compared to others. I started off with several 2 day fasts which went pretty good. I was basically trying to build up my confidence in this process in order to go the full 10 days that was recommended. When I decided to go for the full fast I only ended up making it 4 days. The reason I stopped was because my lungs felt as if they were clogged with thick, un-moveable mucus. I couldn’t cough up any phlegm and it was making it hard for me to breath. This was a bad sign and told me that fasting was in no way going to help what was going on in my lungs.

It was after a few months of trying these different methods of herbal supplementation and fasting that I started to get sick. I got another cold that I could not shake and it entered into my lungs and began to make a home there. I had to be hospitalized and went on another round of I.V. antibiotics. After getting well I continued the herbs but decided to stop with the fasting. This was apparently the wrong decision as I soon after fell ill again. It was after a second round of I.V. antibiotics that I decided that none of this stuff was helping me and that I was better of before trying any of it. I forever said goodbye to alternative “miracle cures” and the like.

I have found that the one thing that truly heals my lungs and reverses my disease is the practice of cardiovascular workouts and weight training. It is this combination that has my doctor consistently amazed at every visit with my rising test scores and lung function. There has never been one medication, method, therapy, or technique that has given me a comparable result in terms of helping me overcome my disease. So if you came to this article in search of a quick fix cure then I am sorry to have let you down. It was my effort in writing this article to save people with Cystic Fibrosis from trying these extremely damaging remedies that are said to reverse disease. If I would have come across an article like this when I began my search for a cure, it would have saved me an amazing amount of pain and trouble and also save me from the loss of my precious lung function. The only way you can ever reverse your disease is through hard work, determination, a positive outlook, and a warrior’s spirit.

In order to fix your body, you must first fix your mind. Gaining the right perspective is the first step in your quest for health and will be your ultimate tool in the conquest of life. Please refer to the other articles within this website for more information on how to keep yourself healthy and strong while living with Cystic Fibrosis.