Our Healing Water

Will Burson (WB): How did you hear about Hippocrates Wellness (HHI)? 

Wiltraud Salm (WS): From my daughter, who is very well-versed in alternative treatments and the holistic approach to health. I was open to the idea of HHI because I was exposed to many specialized spas in Germany. I was with my late husband for 30 years. He was very ill and I traveled around the world with him from spa to spa and treatment to treatment. But none of the spas I’d seen were as comprehensive as HHI. I have been very impressed with the multitude of treatments offered here and the true professionalism and expertise that I’ve come across. My experience here has been amazing in every category.

WB: Why did you come to HHI? 

WS: I was so ill that I crawled in here on my eyebrows. I was determined to come to Hippocrates, and my daughter pushed me onto the first available airplane in a wheelchair. By the time we got here, I was suffering so badly I couldn’t even make decisions for myself. Fortunately my daughter helped me because I couldn’t even walk to get from here to there. I had just had a kidney stone removed surgically and my psoriasis had reached the point that it had paralyzed me. It all came crashing down on me at that point. Three days after the stent (from the kidney stone) came out, I was on an airplane heading to Florida — and it’s a good thing I made the trip.

WB: So your daughter was here with you for part of your visit? 

WS: Yes. She travelled here with me and checked me in. Then she got enthusiastic about the possibility of improving her own health and stayed for some treatments. She is totally into this. She is coming back this weekend and bringing my son, who has other issues. He was a tough sell, but I think he saw my progress and it inspired him. He also brought some friends in need of therapy along.

I think I inspired many guests here, as well. They witnessed my transformative recovery and were in awe and somehow wanted to go on that same journey. It can take a while before you get it together. The emphasis here is on healing yourself, on finding out what heals you and listening to your body. As opposed to visiting a doctor who says, “You must do this,” and sends you the bill. Some of the people I helped were newcomers. Others had been here a while, but were too weak or close-minded to make great progress. Some were too shy to do what was good for them. I think I inspired a few.

WB: Your most noticeable recovery was from psoriasis. Can you talk about that and your other conditions?

WS: In addition to healing my psoriasis, I lost 30 pounds during my six weeks visit at HHI. Something really unexpected happened for me here. I have connected the dots on another issue I’d been struggling with. I had a problem for years with spontaneous heart racing and an irregular heartbeat and have been around the world looking for a way to fix it — catheters, experimental procedures, anything the cardiologists could think of. My heart starts racing as if I turned it on by a switch — and stops racing just as promptly, sometimes after hours. Totally unrelated to what I’m thinking, what I’m doing, where I am, what I ate — it has nothing to do with anything. One of the things the doctors gave me for my heart were beta blockers. One of the side effects of beta blockers is psoriasis. In Germany, information about side effects is more available than in the United States.

On top of this, I had Lyme disease and anaplasmosis (human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) (previously known as Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, or HGE)), which is also transmitted by ticks. It reached a level where I was treated with intravenous antibiotics for a month. Between the antibiotics and beta blockers, I had a total collapse.

The psoriasis started on my shins and eventually took over 80% of my body. I had it on my shins for three years and on my whole body for three months by the time I got to HHI. My body was inflamed. My back was a minefield. The skin on my legs literally had craters. It was horrific.

The itch was very persistent and completely unbearable. I underwent a lot of psychotherapy to train my subconscious and break the habit of scratching. This was impossible. I would scratch in my sleep, to the point of becoming bloody. Every morning, my sheets were a sea of blood. My shirt looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. It was really bad.

Before I came to HHI, I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. The arthritis was largely caused by the Lyme disease. The allopathic doctors said the only thing that could fix it was chemotherapy such as methotrexate.

WB: Can you tell us how your emotional state changed during your stay, and what parts of the Hippocrates program stood out the most to you?

WS: When I arrived at HHI, I was so ill I had fever chills. I couldn’t walk or even stand, and I was really miserable. I was in a pissy mood and I barked at everyone that came across me. And then I cried on everybody’s shoulder. I really was a mess. Gradually, it started getting better. The key was allowing my mind to detoxify so I could open myself up to a new, holistic healing process.

The minute I laid eyes on the wheatgrass juice bar and the awesome living food buffet I knew I was in the right place. It was time for my healing to begin. The various, highly sophisticated blood tests and well-targeted supplements were also most effective. The choices and quality of therapies offered as well as the therapeutic technology available are surely unique in the world. I am speaking from years of experience with Wellnesss and spas worldwide.

I found that every aspect of this process was supported by a loving and caring staff who offered spiritual guidance as well as professional medical advice. This facilitated profound soul-searching on my part.

In the course of my learning experience, I found out that one’s skin mirrors the condition of their intestinal lining. The healing had to come from the inside. Anything I applied to my skin topically had little positive effect, if any effect at all. It could even worsen my condition. I also learned that I must avoid chlorinated water (both drinking and skin exposure) and be cautious about the types of detergent I use.

The food did a lot, and made a big impact. I’m not a junk food junkie. I live on a farm and grow my own fruits and vegetables. I think my diet was pretty solid, but it did include dairy and meat, which I’ve learned is toxic. I’ve learned my old culture is for the birds. It just doesn’t work any more. Except for the plant foods I was growing, everything was polluted and adulterated and compromised. It’s very sad. I feel like I’m relearning how to eat at my ripe age.

I thank the HHI staff for all their help. There are too many to list them all, but I would especially like to thank Nurse Tom for the knowledgeable guidance that facilitated my relearning. He’s just amazing. All the therapists are also outstanding. The colonics with Lynne and especially Elfriede were very important, as well as the lymph drainage with Linda. Abdominal massage with Dr. Keith was a great help. Reflexology and other massages were also wonderful. I did some great work with Bodhi to get my body back in shape. Spiritual guidance with Antony and Andy was phenomenal. As I went along, sharing experiences and stories with other guests taught me a great deal, too.

I plan to take what I learned home to Long Island, New York. I’ve already ordered a dehydrator and will replace the juicer I have at home with one that can handle wheatgrass. I’ve also found a local source for sprouts.

The biggest challenge I face at home is water pollution. We used to have our own well on our farm, but when the water became polluted from conventional farming, we signed up for town water, which of course is chlorinated. The negative effect of the chemically treated water on my skin prompted me to install a very sophisticated purifying system, especially after learning that it takes no more than two minutes for a human body to absorb all the chlorine from the bath water through the skin.

It has been great spending time at Hippocrates Wellness, especially sharing the experience with my daughter and my son. I just wish my husband had found out about Hippocrates in time. It might have saved his life.

Vol 31 Issue 2 Page 42