Dear Dr. Cabot,

I was diagnosed more than three years ago with Primary Billiary Cirrhosis. Of course, as everyone who receives such news, I thought my life was over. But I had faith in God and prayer and began to research the disease and prepare for recovery. When I discovered that PBC was 'incurable' with no known cause, I ignored it and pursued an answer with more energy than before. I immediately removed dairy from my diet, at least all but butter; I wasn't ready to do that yet. I removed all meat except wild Pacific salmon after a few months.

I found your book in the library and read it and learned. I found your site and read it and learned. I found notmilk.com and read it and learned. I found so much information and read it and learned some more. I began to learn how to check information and sift through it.

I weaned myself from all medications -- I was taking dexadrine for ADHD, blood pressure pills to counteract the dexadrine, wellbutrin for depression, and sleeping pills because I would get too wired on the others and needed to settle everything down at night. Slowly I removed the sleeping pills, dexadrine, and wellbutrin from my life, then began to cut back on my blood pressure pills. I was going to the local pharmacy three to four times a week to take my blood pressure. I watched it gradually lower and after several weeks, when I was taking only 1/4 pill per day, I went to my doctor and received his blessing to go off them completely.

In the meantime, I was researching vitamins and minerals, foods, cooking methods, organic foods, etc. I had bloodwork done every three to four months and asked for copies of each one. I researched each test and began to ask for some they hadn't requisitioned. Because I knew what I was talking about, the doctors gave me the tests I wanted. Each time my counts would decline a little.

I received the best news last week. My doctor had a huge smile on her face, congratulated me, and told me to keep doing what I had been doing. My AST was 30! I had actually won the game. My plan is to continue to research and to continue to eat well and exercise moderately. I will never eat dairy again (I did cut butter from my diet about six months ago). I faced a lot of negativity, ran into people who said I HAD to have dairy to get my calcium, that I HAD to eat meat to get protein, and on and on. I didn't listen, but instead I followed my heart, prayed to God, and used my brains and the internet. I have a new lease on life.

Sincerely
Susan Earl
Canada