Interviews

Dr. Jens Wurster

Written by Katja Schuett

An interview with Dr. Jens Wurster, a homeopath working at one of the few homeopathic hospitals in Europe.

Welcome to Hpathy Dr. Wurster. We are fortunate to have you, a homeopath at one of the few European homeopathic hospitals, with us today. We look forward to you sharing your thoughts and experiences with us.

KS: You work in the homeopathic cancer clinic in Santa Croce, Switzerland. Could you tell us first a little about the hospital and its concept and development?

JW: Our hospital enjoys a long tradition. It was already led by nuns 50 years ago when it had 80 beds. Then the hospital was sold. The present owner wanted to make a surgical hospital of it but did not get the permission. The hospital remained vacant until Dr. Spinedi was asked whether he would like to open a homeopathic hospital.  He knew Dr. Künzli’s and Dr. Pierre Schmidt’s great wish to set up a homeopathic hospital and agreed. In 1997 he began to treat 3-5 cancer patients each month together with Dr.Keller. Dr.Spinedi asked me for support and with that my dream to treat cancer patients homeopathically came true. In the beginning we only had the permission for 5 beds, but over the years the number increased and now we have a separate homeopathic department with 25 beds, 8 physicians and several nurses.

Dr. Jens Wurster

Dr. Jens Wurster

KS: What does a typical treatment day look like for the patient?

JW: Treatment starts with a comprehensive anamnesis that lasts several hours and includes the entire history of the patient till the occurrence of the tumor. This is followed by the analysis and evaluation of symptoms to find the basic homeopathic remedy [2] and the presently indicated remedy of the patient. We search for remedies for possible miasmatic blockages and also tumor specific remedies. We keep an eye on all iatrogenic damages caused by chemotherapy or radiation and try to have remedies at hand. When these complex considerations are finished an individual treatment concept is worked out. We prepare a list of parameters together with the patient that includes all currently present and disturbing symptoms such as pain, sleep disturbances, appearance and extent of the tumor, psychic problems like anxiety and grief etc. We also include laboratory values such as tumor markers, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and blood pressure as important control parameters.

After applying the homeopathic remedy, usually in Q-potency, we analyze the patient’s symptoms daily to check their reaction to the remedy. It is very important to assess the patient’s reaction to the Q-potency as the development of symptoms shows us how to proceed with their treatment. The big advantage in the hospital is that we can observe our patients daily and investigate their reaction to the Q potency.

Many patients are interested in the treatment in our hospital since the publication of my book “The homeopathic treatment and cure of cancer and metastasizing tumors“, so that Dr. Spinedi was unable to manage all supervision by himself. Two supervision groups were built, with me leading the second, so that each of us now takes care of about 10 cancer patients each day. I visit all my patients on Wednesday in the afternoon, together with my assistants. They are being asked to report in detail about the impact of our treatment and how their symptoms developed. Otherwise, each patient is asked to enjoy the beautiful environment and to reflect on their situation. In daily conversations we also look together for strategies to solve their problems.

KS: I wish more homeopathic hospitals would be built here in Europe and worldwide! Where do you see the main problems for the establishment of homeopathic hospitals and which difficulties did you have to overcome?

JW: A broader acceptance of homeopathy is necessary. Many health insurances still refuse to pay the costs, even though homeopathy is much cheaper than conventional cancer treatment with its chemotherapy or radiation.

I think outpatient clinics should be built first, where cancer patients can be treated without the necessary investment in hospitals. Orthodox medicine and the pharma industry should be open for cooperation with homeopathic physicians. More and more oncologists successfully include alternative therapies in their treatment concept. Surveys have demonstrated that 80% of the oncologists, if they were ill, would not use the therapy they recommended to their patients. When considering that the chance of a cure for metastasizing mammary tumors is much lower today than 20 years ago (Hoelzl) despite the introduction of polychemotherapies, the question arises what the pretended progress in cancer treatment constitutes.

Contrary to chemotherapy and radiation, we offer a therapy with homeopathy that supports the patient’s immune system. The basic approach of orthodox medicine is to consider the tumor as a local disease and to treat it aggressively, what leads to a weakening of the immune system. However, when analyzing all studies on cured cancer cases it becomes evident that the immune system is always the decisive factor. When the immune system is enabled to recognize tumor cells, it will also be able to combat them.

In the past it was thought that chemotherapy kills tumor cells directly, but this only happens to a limited extent. The DNA of tumor cell is being damaged, which is recognized by an intact immune system, and then induces the destruction of the tumor cells by means of several apoptotic mechanisms. But the more aggressive the chemotherapy and the longer it is applied the more the immune system is weakened, and important regulatory mechanisms for the destruction of tumor cells are deactivated. Chemotherapy-resistant tumor cells grow rapidly and are much more aggressive. That’s why many tumor patients experience a short term remission but their tumor grows more rapidly afterwards. Usually patients only come to our hospital after their immune system has been completely destroyed by conventional therapies and their body is full of metastases. Unfortunately, this is our daily experience.

When homeopathic treatment is successful in rebuilding the immune system and reestablishing the basic regulation of the organism then tumors can disappear again. I’ve treated more than 1000 cancer patients homeopathically and we could even cure or considerably ameliorate the quality of life for several years in some, advanced and metastasizing cases.

KS: As you said, homeopathy supports the immune system and is a vitalistic approach to health, disease and cure. Its concept of treating patients individually and holistically makes it essentially different from orthodox medicine. How did you come to homeopathy and to include it in your practice?

JW: Already in my early youth I had the desire to find a cure for cancer. Many others considered that a fantasy, but I started to read everything about cancer I could get into my hands. My mother had studied homeopathy with Dr.Eichelberger. This put me in contact with homeopathy and fueled my enthusiasm. At that time I was studying Kung Fu and my teacher, a healing practitioner, told me more about homeopathy. At first, I also wanted to become a healing practitioner [1].But then I thought, in order criticize orthodox medicine I should know more about it, and began studying medicine in Munich. I only studied orthodox medicine because of homeopathy and had the good fortune, right from the first semester, to take part in a homeopathic study group, lead by Dr. Michael Barthel.

We started learning Dr. Künzli’s method. Later, I also attended courses given by his father, the famous Dr. Horst Barthel, from whom I learned very much. Since 1992 I regularly went to Locarno to attend Dr. Spinedi’s supervision, to deepen my homeopathy knowledge. I was enthusiastic when Dr.Spinedi asked me in 1997 whether I would like to come to Locarno to open a hospital for the treatment of cancer patients. I could not start immediately, as I was still working in the department of Hemato-Oncology in Munich. But since 1998 I’ve been working in the hospital in St.Croce. Each day we try to gain new knowledge, which we pass on in seminars and publications. Since 2002 I give seminars on cancer, and since the publication of my book, more and more physicians feel confident to treat cancer patients with homeopathy. Since 2007 I lead my own supervision group here in the hospital and have two assistants supporting my work.

KS: There was a study made by independent physicians of the Tumor Biology Clinic of the University in Freiburg, investigating your case studies with regard to diagnosis, course and applied medicines to determine the effectiveness of homeopathy in tumor patients. What was its outcome ?

JW: We made two studies with the Tumor Biology Clinic in Freiburg. The first was a pre-study in which we presented cured cancer cases from our hospital as best-cases. Random samples were taken from our archive and further cases investigated. The results were so gratifying that the Tumor Biology Clinic decided to make a prospective study. Unfortunately, orthodox medicine requires a placebo-controlled double-blind trial to be taken as assessment criteria. But as in homeopathy the name of the disease is not important for the choice of the remedy or treatment concept, and as subsequent prescriptions depend on the reactions of the patient to the applied remedy, these type of studies must necessarily fail.

Our study was a so-called “Matched-Pairs” study. This is a form of analysis where each of the subjects in a study group is paired with each of those in a comparison (control) group on the basis of matching certain factors, like the same cancer diagnosis, same histology, cancer stage etc. These matched pairs are chosen by independent oncologists from Freiburg. The main criteria for the study were survival time and quality of life. Patients were asked every three months to report about their state of health by answering standardized questionnaires. The investigating physicians from the Tumor Biology Clinic were very surprised by the results, as the parameters for the quality of life were significantly better in homeopathically treated cancer patients. Hopefully, realizing that our therapy can offer a much better quality of life for a fraction of the cost of conventional treatment, will convince health insurances to accept the costs.

KS: How is the cooperation with orthodox medical practitioners and oncologists?

JW: The cooperation is becoming increasingly better as many oncologists have had positive experiences with homeopathy. We also work together with the Tumor Centre in Locarno, whose physicians often send us patients, in order to treat the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. During the last years, increasingly more physicians and oncologists ill with cancer, come to visit our hospital. That’s either because they know the standard therapy and its results and look for alternatives, or because all therapies including chemotherapy and radiation did not help and we follow another therapeutic approach.

KS: Do you include chemotherapy and radiation in your treatment?

JW: Orthodox medicine considers the tumor to be a mass of abnormal cells which has to be combated. But it is important to know that the immune system has been disturbed long before the tumor appeared. We try to activate the immune system and to initiate an immune modulation by means of homeopathy. If this is successful tumors can disappear again. I have a very critical view of chemotherapy and radiation as the benefit is often very small and they diminish the chance of a real cure. Radiation can be useful in cases where metastases have invaded the spinal column and there is danger of fracture or there are already some broken vertebral bodies.

Chemotherapy may be useful in children suffering from leukemia, in Hodgkins-Lymphoma, testicular cancer and some forms of ovarian tumors. But these types of cancer only constitute 6% of all tumors. In all other types of cancer the benefit is more doubtful. We apply chemotherapy to gain some time in patients acutely affected by very rapidly growing tumors. But how can chemotherapy or radiation cure a patient ? It is only the immune system that can recognize the damaged DNA of the tumor cell and combat the tumor. However, the more chemotherapy the patient gets the more their immune system is weakened.

It is not easy to find the optimal way in such cases. We are also still seekers and wish to find better healing possibilities for our patients. Many patients in much advanced cancer stages come to us whose immune system is already severely damaged by numerous chemotherapies, but still expect a cure with homeopathy. In these cases homeopathy can only cure a few cases. Nevertheless, it can ameliorate symptoms and palliate patients for years, offering them an increased quality of life.

KS: Yes, even in incurable cases homeopathy can help palliate without detrimental side effects.Even if our primary goal is to cure and prevent cancer, many patients are far beyond this stage. You describe some successfully treated patients with long time follow up in your book. Do any particular cases stand out in your memory?

JW: There are many cases I recall. These are the moments when you are sitting together with the patient to do the case anamnesis, hearing their history and feeling their despair when they were given up “officially” by orthodox medicine. I remember a patient with breast cancer, which had been operated on, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. But the tumor relapsed, she was operated on and treated with chemotherapy again, when there suddenly appeared 17 metastases in both lungs. Chemotherapy was continued, but the metastases continued to grow. The physicians told her in 2004 that everything possible was done for her and that she would not live to 2005. The woman was sitting in front of me, telling me desperately that she had to die. I told her that we will study her case thoroughly and possibly find a good remedy for her. It was very important for her to have someone who still believed in the impossible.

Her dyspnea disappeared with homeopathic treatment, so that she could go dancing again, which she had always enjoyed. After one year a computer tomography showed that the metastases did not grow further. The patient was disappointed in the beginning as she thought everything had disappeared, since she felt so well. But it is already a great success if the tumor growth can be brought to a halt, and cure is proceeding slowly. After three years of homeopathic treatment, the metastases in her lungs decreased and now, six years after the beginning of homeopathic treatment, they have completely disappeared. It is funny, that this written off woman is now dancing so wildly at a ball with her husband, and that she is photographed by a journalist and published in the newspaper.

Another story I remember well is that of a man suffering from prostate cancer. The tumor was already inoperable and should get radiation. He had the most aggressive type of tumors (Gleason score 9) so that his death was predicted by five oncologists. When the patient came to visit me he was extremely anxious and running like a tiger in a cage with widely opened eyes, shouting all the time “I have to die, I have to die, can somebody help me”. He suffered from panic attacks at night for 10 years and feared that he would jump out of the window at night in a suicidal attempt. After Arsenicum was applied in Q potencies, his panic attacks disappeared rapidly and his prostate cancer, confirmed by biopsy, completely disappeared within three years. It is macabre, that the patient had always been impotent but always desired to have children. After regaining his potency with homeopathy he separated from his wife and took a young wife to beget children.

I would also like to tell the story of a man who had a melanoma metastasizing into the axilla. Four months after operating, the melanoma metastases appeared in the axilla and he was told by the physicians that he had only three months to live if no further operations were done. He told them that he wanted to trust in homeopathy, but the physicians only laughed at him and assured him that this would be his death sentence. But what can orthodox medicine offer in cases of metastasizing melanoma? Interferon therapy only has a response rate of 6%, chemotherapy does not have any benefit in melanoma, and the five-year survival rate is 2%.

This patient has been under my homeopathic treatment since 1999. At first the metastases decreased and now he is completely symptom-free. The physicians from the Tumor Biology Clinic checked this case cautiously in the pre-study, and all diagnoses and histological findings. I told the investigator that this case is a clear proof for the effectiveness of homeopathy. But he answered: “No, possibly the patient had prayed, so this is not a clear proof for homeopathy”. He who does not want to see the truth, will not see the truth. My patient was very angry when I told him about that, as he had experienced his homeopathic cure by himself and wanted his story to be broadcast on television. We have made a DVD in which he, the woman with the 17 metastases in her lungs, and other cured patients tell their story. Many find it hard to believe.

KS: It may be hard to believe when patients were supposed to die for sure. But truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. There are many who are convinced by homeopathy once they have seen its beneficial action. I think of Boenninghausen’s homeopathic cure from tuberculosis, when he was already about to die, or the conversion of such an inveterate allopath as Kent, after his wife was cured by homeopathy. These men became homeopathy’s most ardent followers and have made great contributions. Many old masters also elaborated different strategies for homeopathic cancer treatment which you have investigated and applied in your practice. How do you judge their success rate?

JW: Cancer treatment is surely one of the great challenges for homeopathy. We have done a lot of research during the last 13 years to explore different homeopathic approaches and to find the best methods in cancer treatment.

When patients come to us whose tumors have not been treated yet, we often get a clear symptom picture with general symptoms of the patient and tumor symptoms. This allows us more easily to find a remedy. Experience has shown that it is the best constellation in cancer treatment, if the patient’s constitutional remedy agrees with the tumor remedy, i.e. if the remedy covers the current tumor symptoms and symptoms of the patient, including their historical symptoms. Unfortunately, most cases are more complicated and we have to work like detectives to understand the case.

In the treatment of advanced cancer a very comprehensive anamnesis is necessary to develop a treatment strategy. It has to include the following points:

  1. Constitutional anamnesis (a thorough first anamnesis to determine the totality of signs and symptoms of the patient and disease)
  2. Miasmatic anamnesis (determination of the miasmatic background and active miasm, family diseases of several generations, warts, infections, vaccination damage etc.)
  3. Suppressions (such as skin eruptions suppressed by cortisone, surgically removed warts, vaccinations and the patients reactions to them etc.)
  4. Detrimental factors like noxa, viruses, diet errors etc.

  5. Former therapies and any reactions of the patient, or sequelae (radiation, chemotherapy, drugs, surgery etc.)

Only after all these points are considered is a treatment concept worked out. It may be that a typical Lycopodium patient suffers from the side effects of chemotherapy and needs nux vomica for some time to detoxify, and before Lycopodium can act.

If a remedy was chosen according on the totality of symptoms but does not act, we search for a miasmatic or vaccination blockage and the remedy the patient needs, such as Thuja, before other remedies can act. But there are other cases which need to be treated with organotropic remedies, because the tumor has alreday developed its own life. We also tried the application of ointments as recommended by Eli G. Jones and were partially successful.

The best strategy, however, is to take the totality of symptoms and find the patient’s basic remedy, which will help the most. But many cases have shown to need first a tumor specific remedy for a long time, before finally coming back to the level of the constitutional remedy.

KS: Contrary to Hahnemann, many practitioners still do not consider the size of the dose as essentially important. What is your practical experience with cancer patients with regard to the size of the dose?

JW: The size of the dose can be very important, especially when using Q potencies. Dr. Künzli and Dr. Pierre Schmidt had produced all the important cancer remedies in Q potencies, which we used with great success in our hospital. But as supplies of these remedies were running out , we did not want to use them up completely, and used the Q potencies of another manufacturer. This time we had no success with our treatment and our patients experienced a strong aggravation of their symptoms although the remedy had been carefully chosen. Dr. Spinedi had the simple but splendid idea to dilute the remedy further by taking 3 cups, and our treatment was successful again. Hahnemann wrote of poppy seed size pellets and the remedies made by Künzli were of this size. But the globules prepared by the other manufacturer had a size of 1.6 mm so that the dose was too high. This demonstrates that the correct production of Q potencies is very important. We now use Dr.Künzli’s Q potencies again, which are being prepared by our pharmacist Gabriele Stanga.

KS: Working on the perfection of his application methods Hahnemann aimed at preventing any possible aggravation in the patient. With the introduction of the water potencies, he gave us several possibilities at hand to adjust the dose to the sensitivity of the patient. After further years of research he finally introduced the LM/Q potencies which greatly expanded the therapeutic spectrum of homeopathic remedies and made many oversensitive patients and cases of advanced pathology curable. How do you see the superiority of LM/Q potencies in the treatment of cancer patients?

JW: First, there is a big difference between LM and Q potencies, which is often not recognized.LM potencies are prepared from the mother tincture whereas the 3C trituration is taken for the preparation of Q potencies, as described by Hahnemann.

The application of Q potencies offers the big advantage that we can see rapid reactions to the applied remedies, and that we don’t have to expect severe aggravations, which are not desirable in weakened cancer patients. It is also very beneficial that Q potencies can be applied together with other remedies, and that even if a dose is antidoted, the patient receives a daily new stimulus. To correctly interpret the patient’s reaction to the applied Q potency is very important. We have investigated these intensively during the past 12 years and have now an important tool at hand using them for the treatment of cancer.

KS: You are a very passionate homeopath with a deep love for and belief in homeopathy, and who only gives up a patient when seeing the obituary. What is your most important advice for homeopathic practitioners in hopeless cases ?

JW: To approach each case with a strong will and the deep conviction that there must be a way to help the patient. We often had desperate cases and sometimes it takes days to find a solution. Sometimes we give acute remedies that move the case a little forward and then new possible solutions unfold. When we have a strong acute picture of a desperate patient we take the last symptoms of the acute condition, and prescribe a remedy to help the patient out of the crisis. But there are many patients whose disease is too advanced and their cancer continues to grow despite carefully chosen remedies. I’ve accompanied many patients in their death, and what homeopathy can offer the dying patient is a blessing. When experiencing how patients full of anxiety and despair expect their death, are then seeing them dying in peace after taking Arsenicum album, one has to bow low to Hahenmann and the creator.

KS: Do you have a vision for the future?

JW: Mankind should recognize that modern life is not always in agreement with human needs. Many patients ask why they got cancer. Cancer has multifactorial causes, the environmental pollution increases dramatically in this century and the human organism is confronted with many new chemicals, and the constant increase of electromagnetic fields due to mobile telephone systems etc., strongly affects the immune system and induces changes at the cellular level. Our food is becoming increasingly denatured and society promotes a fast-food culture and lack of exercise. Who wonders that more patients suffer from cancer?

I can only wish that orthodox medicine starts to see the patient as a whole, and understand that each cancer patient has their own life story and tale of woe. I would also like to see recognition of homeopathy’s value in the prevention of cancer. When analyzing case histories of cancer patients we can often see that they had certain disease stages which finally manifested in cancer. In some of my patients the tumor disappeared completely with homeopathic treatment. I can reason that these patients never would had gotten cancer, if they were treated properly with homeopathy ten years earlier.

My greatest wish is to prevent cancer by treating children and subsequent generations with homeopathy. Unfortunately, cancerous diseases increase during the last years despite intensive scientific research. I think it is time to rethink and go in new directions with homeopathy!

KS: I agree, it is time to rethink. Medicine has failed to adjust to the profound changes physics has undergone since the last century, and which transcend the mechanistic world view. Recognizing life’s energetic properties provides a new way of approaching the concept of health and disease, which goes beyond the concept of disease as something that stems from an affected local part or a bad gene. If this is considered in the healing arts then true cure can be provided.

Thank you very much for sharing your valuable experience with us Dr.Wurster! I hope your book can soon be read in other languages.

JW: It is already translated into Russian. There are many radiation-induced cancer cases in Russia after the incident in Chernobyl. I supervise a Russian physician and we treat Russian cancer patients together, especially children with very severe cancer. Homeopathy is of great help in these cases!

KS: Yes, the nuclear accident in Chernobyl has caused incredible suffering there and demonstrates that also in this area, a rethinking is necessary. I’m sure your help is very welcome and wish you much success and good luck there and in your hospital.

For all who treat cancer patients I would like to finish with a quote written by Eli G. Jones, an American physician who treated many cancer patients successfully:

Believe in yourself, have confidence in your remedies, get after a disease with a determination to conquer it ! You will remember in the boat race in Virgil “the crew won because they expected to win”. Many a time in my professional life when things looked bad with some case I had, and other doctors had given up the fight, I went after the disease with a fixed determination that I would conquer it and I did.

Follow your vision to treat cancer patients successfully with homeopathy. Many of our dreams at first seem impossible, but once we summon the will, they soon become inevitable !

Katja Schütt

Editor

Homeopathy for Everyone (Hpathy.com)

Dr. med, Jens Wurster

[email protected]

Clinica Santa Croce SA

Via al Parco 27

CH 6644 Orselina

www.clinicasantacroce.ch

Footnotes

[1] Healing practitioner is a qualification in Germany which is mandatory to practice homeopathy, unless you are a physician.

[2] basic remedy = constitutional remedy

About the author

Katja Schuett

Katja Schutt, Msc, HP, DHM, PGHom, DVetHom, has studied homeopathy with several schools, amongst which David Little’s advanced course stands out as it offers a really deep insight into homeopathic philosophy and materia medica (simillimum.com). Her current focus lies in working with animals and studying history, the old masters, and research.

6 Comments

  • The article is quite educative & informative. Atleast one or two cases with the medicine prescribed step-by-step will be useful to know the duration of prescription, potency given each time, arriving to similimum etc. so as to know which symptoms have given more value while arriving to similimum like mentals, generals, constitutional, miasmatical etc. will be very helpful to learn more. The article is very live because it is depicted as it is from the patient. VERY VERY GOOD ARTICLE.

  • A very convincing article about the homoeopathic treatment for treatment of cancer without destroying the immune system.

  • I am suffering from testicular tumor for long time. I would like to take Homeopath traetment. Will you please advise me the Homeopath medicine for tescular treatment.

  • Vielen Dank!

    Das “System” ist leider so stark u. faschistisch, dass ich
    meine laendlichen Patienten oft verliere. Power poltiics,
    Angstmacherei, Statistikmanipulationen… Total amerikanisiert
    u. Monopolkartellisiert hier in Australien. Die “convicts”
    folgen wie die Juden in die Auschwitzwagons, oder die Armenier
    im Gewaltmarsch nach Syrien , die xMillionen “Kulaken” … es
    geht um Bevoelkerungsreduktion, also sind Krebsopfer “willkommen”.
    Reduziert auch die Rentenlast… Malthus ist ganz da.
    Bewundere aus der Ferne Ihre Arbeit.
    Meine z. Zt. beste Quelle von Q-Potenzen ist Helios.
    Vermisse aber hoehere Potenzen. Z.B. bekomm ich Arnica nur in Q48.
    Hab erstaunliche Verbesserungen gesehen nach einer z. B. Q 60 nach
    Q 30. oder Q 120, Q 240.
    Hahnemann hatte Recht mit jedem Wort u. jeder Fussnote.
    Lernte klassische Homoeopathie bei Dr. Eichelberger in meiner
    Heimatstadt Muenchen, nach HP Ausbildung daselbst u.klass. Archaeologie-
    Philosophiestudium.
    Irgendwelche Hinweise fuer erschwingliche hohe (Q 60.90, 120, 240, 300, …)
    Q – Potenzen??
    Frohe Weihnacht!
    Stefan
    Irgendwelche hilfreichende Hinweise fuer erschwingliche

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