X-Rays

Aajonus's most detailed accounts of radiation damage come from his own medical history following surgery in November 1967. After a stomach surgery involving a vagotomy pyloroplasty, the surgical incision became tumorous and keloid, growing to as much as three-quarters of an inch high and up to one and a half to two inches wide in places, extending all the way through to the stomach. Physicians told him the tumor had to be irradiated to prevent it from choking off his esophagus.

He underwent ten weeks of intense radiation therapy beginning in early 1968. The radiation machine swept a beam across his body repeatedly in a pivoting arc, not in the millisecond bursts of a diagnostic X-ray but in continuous passes lasting approximately 20 to 22 seconds per sweep, repeated ten times per session, once a week for ten weeks. He calculated that each individual pass delivered the equivalent of approximately 2,000 X-rays. The total accumulated exposure was therefore enormous, equivalent by his reckoning to more than a hundred thousand standard X-ray doses across the full course of treatment.

He described the mechanism of injury using the analogy of firing malleable clay in a kiln. Clay before firing is soft, pliable, and workable. When fired at low kiln temperatures such as cone 2 or cone 4, it becomes a solid, brittle ceramic. Fired at higher temperatures such as cone 10, it becomes glass. The radiation did to his spine what firing does to clay: it cauterized the tissue, hardening and solidifying the vertebral structures. The result was that his entire spine lost its normal mobility. His movement afterward was severely restricted to only a few degrees of rotation in any direction, and any movement at all produced excruciating pain.

Getting into a chair required a process that took anywhere from three to ten minutes. He would begin to lower himself into the seated position, then the pain or a spasm would force him back upright, and he would have to begin the process again. Sometimes he would reach a seated position only for a spasm to drive him back up immediately. The pain was present day and night. He described not sleeping ten minutes at a stretch during the worst period.

He gave multiple accounts across workshops of the specific physical mechanism: the radiation had cauterized two-thirds of his spinal cord directly. Whenever the vertebrae moved even slightly, they would pinch, cut, and lacerate the surrounding nerves, producing constant pain. The spine had gone from a malleable, living structure to something he compared to granite, gritty and granular, grinding on the nerves with any motion.

In addition to the spinal damage, the radiation produced severe radiation poisoning. His gums turned purple and began bleeding profusely. The bone around all of his teeth dissolved from the radiation. His teeth became loose and dangled in his gums. When he pressed his teeth together, he bled heavily, losing enough blood that he required one to two transfusions per week during that period. Everything he consumed had to be liquid, which he managed using large straws to drink blended combinations of powdered donuts, RC Cola, 7-Up, and similar foods. He acknowledged that this diet compounded his illness dramatically.

He also described the radiation causing blood cancer and bone cancer as direct consequences of the spinal irradiation. The bone marrow throughout his ribs and spine was damaged, which he identified as the mechanism by which radiation induces leukemia.

He contrasted modern radiation therapy, in which the exposure is delivered in microsecond pulses, with what he received in 1967, when the beam ran continuously for 20 to 30 seconds at a time. He noted that when his mother was later diagnosed with breast cancer and told she would receive "pinpoint radiation," he told her that the radiation would still pass through the tissue behind the target area, just as it had passed through his tumor site and continued into his spine. He was deeply skeptical of claims that modern pinpoint radiation avoided the collateral damage he had experienced.

One of Aajonus's more specific technical claims about X-ray harm concerned the minerals naturally present in the human body. He stated that everyone carries iodine, cobalt, and other metallic minerals in their tissues. When the body is exposed to X-ray radiation, those minerals become radioactive. He described this as a process of radioactively charging whatever metal is present in the tissue at the time of the exposure.

The radioactive half-life he cited for these activated minerals was substantial: 55,000 years minimum for most metallic minerals, rising to 550,000 years for uranium-containing compounds. He acknowledged that conventional medicine describes the half-life of radioactive iodine as approximately 62 hours, but he rejected this framing, arguing that the studies underlying that figure only tracked excretion for a day or two and then extrapolated, rather than following the substance to its actual elimination. In his view, the true persistence of radioactivity in activated body minerals was measured in tens of thousands of years.

Once these minerals become radioactive inside the body, they irradiate the cells in their immediate vicinity continuously. Those cells become irritated, damaged, and diseased. If enough cells in a given area are affected, the body experiences that damage as pain or a reactive pulse. The body attempts to respond by sending nutrients to neutralize or isolate the damage. When it cannot dissolve and eliminate the radioactive material, it may begin mummifying the surrounding cells to create a containment barrier, analogous to using thick concrete walls to contain radioactive material in industrial settings. He noted that industrial containment requires walls 12 to 15 feet thick to prevent radiation from escaping, and the body is attempting the same function with biological tissue, without anything remotely approaching that level of shielding.

He connected this specifically to the barium used as a contrast agent in X-rays and CAT scans. Barium, he stated, has a radioactive half-life of 100 years once it enters the body. Every subsequent X-ray reactivates the barium and increases its radioactive intensity. He noted that barium toxicity research was deliberately curtailed by regulatory agencies because the pharmaceutical and medical industries depend on barium contrast for the revenue generated by imaging procedures, and acknowledging its full toxicity would jeopardize those revenues.

He also linked this mineral radioactivation to dental X-rays specifically, stating that a trip to the dentist for X-rays was sufficient to cause some of those metallic minerals in the mouth and jaw to "glow in the dark" with radioactivity, with consequences lasting 25,000 to 50,000 years in the affected tissue.

He described receiving radioactive iodine as a contrast agent before one of his own X-rays, which then left him with radioactive iodine in his body. He challenged the conventional claim that radioactive iodine has a half-life of approximately 62 hours, arguing the actual figure is closer to 58,000 years for a full life. His interpretation of the studies was that researchers measured excretion over one day, found that roughly 7 percent exited through urine and 24 percent through feces, and then assumed this rate would continue for the next four to five days until all the iodine was eliminated. He argued that if the study had continued, it would have shown that elimination slowed dramatically, and the bulk of the iodine remained in the body indefinitely in a radioactive state.

He described his body's attempt to counter the radioactive iodine as eating its own bone to obtain the minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus needed to neutralize the radioactive iodine and other radioactively charged minerals such as barium. This is the mechanism he identified for his teeth losing all their surrounding bone following radiation therapy: the body was stripping bone mineral to neutralize the radioactive load, and the bones of the jaw were among the casualties.

Despite his deep opposition to X-rays, Aajonus's accounts describe multiple occasions on which he consented to diagnostic X-rays under emergency circumstances, always negotiating to minimize the number and the exposure level. Across several workshop accounts of injuries to his leg, he described a consistent pattern: he was injured in Thailand when a motorcycle fell on his leg, causing the tibia to split from the knee downward, with the tibial pyramid broken off the top and bone fragments throughout the knee joint. Both major tendons were torn completely from the bone at opposite ends, forming lumps the size of golf balls.

When he arrived at the hospital in Thailand, physicians at every stage refused to examine or treat him without X-rays. He resisted at each encounter, insisting they could feel the leg and put it back in place without imaging. When resistance proved impossible, he negotiated the following terms: two X-rays only, one from the front and one from the side, taken only from a specified region of the leg, with the radiation machine set to the lowest possible exposure level. He personally supervised the settings on the X-ray machine before the shots were taken. In one account he described setting the machine himself; in another the radiologist cooperated willingly with the restrictions and found it "great that I just took command of it." In the newsletter account, he described agreeing to only two X-rays, described as "top and outside views of the knee and connecting bones."

Those two X-rays revealed the full extent of the tibial injury: the tibia split in two along its length, open in the back by approximately a quarter of an inch, the top broken off and lodged up into the femur joint, and cartilage fragments throughout the knee. Surgeons told him he would never walk again without surgery involving eight to twelve pins, cutting from the outside of the leg all the way down, opening the knee, removing fragments, and reattaching tendons. He refused all surgery and recovered through diet alone, a recovery he described as ongoing and which he stated he would document with follow-up X-rays in a future book.

He applied the same two-shot protocol to another injury involving the femur, where he negotiated two X-rays of that region and the images showed a split down the femur with broken tissue in the knee joint.

He also described a scenario in which physicians wanted to perform a bone density scan using only X-ray equipment, and he declined because ultrasound bone testing was not available at that facility. He was willing to do the bone scan by sonogram but not by X-ray.

In a letter to a patient named Jacob who had sustained neurological damage, Aajonus stated directly: "X-rays can prevent proper healing for up to 18 months." He described this as a specific concern because Jacob had received X-rays after the insistence of people around him, and Aajonus worried that if the neurological tissue scarred rather than healed properly as a result of the X-ray exposure, the outcome would be much worse than if the body had been left to heal without that intervention.

He did not elaborate extensively on the precise biological mechanism by which diagnostic X-rays inhibit healing beyond the radioactive mineral activation and cellular damage he described elsewhere, but the figure of 18 months appears as a specific claim in his written correspondence.

Aajonus addressed the question of whether food shipped through carriers such as FedEx is exposed to X-ray scanning and whether such food is safe to eat. His answer was unequivocal: any shipment from any company is subject to X-ray inspection, X-ray exposure alters food, and if he knew food had been irradiated he would not eat it.

He provided a practical workaround: placing a notation on the shipping box stating "For Medical Reasons, Do NOT X-ray. Hand inspect if necessary" would eliminate the risk. He wrote this type of letter for patients to use when shipping or traveling with food.

He also addressed food scanning at grocery stores. He described telling a cashier not to scan his groceries because the accumulation of low-level radiation from repeated scanning could cause nausea, particularly given his history of radiation therapy. The cashier, a former radiologist who had quit her job, told him a story that Aajonus found validating: she had accidentally left two lead shields over the area she was supposed to X-ray on a patient and expected the film to be ruined, but when she developed it, the image came through perfectly. Aajonus interpreted this as confirmation that the X-ray machine settings and the shields were far from the precise science that practitioners claimed.

He addressed food irradiation in a broader framework as well. Research, he cited, showed that exposing food to high-intensity gamma radiation depleted the amino acids l-cysteine, l-histidine, and l-tryptophan, as well as vitamins C, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B6, and B12, folic acid, and omega-3, 6, and 9 essential fatty acids. Some minerals in irradiated food become toxically radioactive. He described irradiation as destroying the health-giving properties of food and posing public and environmental hazards.

He extended this concern to checkpoint radiation at airports. He stated that luggage going through checked baggage X-ray scanners receives approximately 100 times the radiation dose of a single standard X-ray. Carry-on bags put through the hand-luggage scanner receive approximately one and a half X-rays' worth of exposure. He described carrying a letter stating that his food could not be passed through radiation and must be hand-inspected, and he wrote equivalent letters for patients. He stated that telling airport security personnel that he had received radiation therapy and could not afford any more radiation exposure was sufficient to get them to allow a hand inspection without further argument.

Aajonus described X-rays as one of many sources of accumulated radiation exposure that the body must manage simultaneously. His list of radiation-poisoning sources included medication, medical testing, X-rays, fluorescent lighting, television, computer monitors, laser printers, cellular phones, Bluetooth technology, irradiated food, microwaves, scanners, industrial pollution, jewelry, building materials, and electromagnetic fields from improperly grounded electrical connections and operating machinery.

He described old-style CRT monitors and televisions as containing three laser guns that emit radiation for 27 feet, meaning that anyone within that radius is continuously exposed regardless of whether they are facing the screen. LCD flat screens, by contrast, have a radiation fallout zone of approximately one inch from the surface. He described switching from a tower computer to a laptop specifically to eliminate the radiation from the monitor guns, and noted that the electromagnetic field from a laptop breaks down at approximately six inches from the device.

He described grocery store scanners as a low-level but cumulative radiation source, significant enough that he routinely asked cashiers not to scan his food and explained his radiation therapy history as the reason.

He also described construction workers being exposed to radioactive material from building steel that may contain up to 22 percent depleted uranium under government regulations. Workers who drill, cut, or sand such steel inhale radioactive particles that then lodge in the stomach and intestines, where they irradiate surrounding tissue continuously.

He identified barium milkshakes and barium injections used as contrast agents for X-rays and CAT scans as a specific ongoing hazard. Once barium enters the body, he stated it has a 100-year radioactive half-life. Every subsequent X-ray reactivates and intensifies its radioactivity. He also stated that barium prevents cells from regenerating and healing. He recommended blueberries and blackberries as the most effective foods for removing barium from the body.

He described the pharmaceutical industry's financial incentive to suppress the true toxicity of barium: CAT scans at the time were generating $1,500 to $1,800 per procedure, and barium contrast was necessary for the quality of those images. He argued that barium toxicity research was therefore deliberately limited, with studies stopped before they could establish the full scope of cancer risk from barium exposure.

Aajonus described the symptoms of radiation poisoning in his own body following the 1968 radiation therapy as including constant nausea, vomiting, and frequent diarrhea lasting for years. Burns appeared throughout the skin. Gums receded and bled, turned purple, and the surrounding bone dissolved. Teeth dangled and caused profuse bleeding when teeth were pressed together. He required one to two blood transfusions weekly. Bone cancer and leukemia developed as consequences of the bone marrow damage.

He described the general symptoms of radiation detoxification as nausea, nervousness, and a feeling of extreme sensitivity throughout the body.

For detoxification of stored radiation, he stated that eating avocado with orange, or avocado with melon, facilitates the body's ability to discard stored radiation. If a person had received barium or iodine as contrast agents, he referenced additional specific supports, including blueberries and blackberries for barium removal specifically, with a suggested amount of four to five ounces by volume of berries once daily.

He stated that if a person had undergone radiation therapy or chemotherapy, the quickest way to clear that contamination from the body is to eat large quantities of animal fat. He identified cream as the only fat that soothes the nervous system, and described the reason people crave ice cream in summer as being related to the need to buffer sun radiation with the animal fat in skin tissue. He stated that radiation from the sun is normally absorbed into animal fat in the skin, where it is transformed into vitamin D and a range of complex fats and cholesterols that support strength, protection, and energy. Without adequate fat in the skin tissue, the radiation causes damage instead.

He also noted that eggs can bind with radioactive acids and cancer acids, and recommended eggs prepared Rocky-style, meaning raw and consumed directly, for people dealing with radiation exposure alongside cancer.

He described cheese, consumed in very small amounts such as a half-teaspoon piece roughly the size of a sugar cube every 15 minutes, as a protocol for workers continuously exposed to radioactive materials such as depleted uranium in building materials. He described construction workers using this protocol with a buzzer-equipped watch to prompt them to eat a small piece of cheese every 15 minutes throughout the workday.

He credited his eventual recovery from the radiation damage, particularly the spinal cauterization, to transitioning to a raw food diet. He described the cheese and onion combination as what finally stopped his chronic back pain, which had persisted for somewhere between 15 and 30 years after the radiation therapy depending on the account. He stated that drinking large quantities of raw milk in the period following his radiation therapy restored the bone around his teeth within approximately one year, which he described as remarkable speed given the extent of the bone loss. He still retained his original teeth, though several were capped.

He used his own recovery as evidence that the body can reverse radiation damage given proper nutritional support, and he held up the tibial fracture recovery without surgery as further evidence that the body's capacity to heal without medical intervention exceeded what physicians predicted, provided the right dietary conditions were present.

He mentioned dental X-rays as a specific category of concern, noting that a visit to the dentist for X-rays is sufficient to render some of the metallic minerals in the body radioactive with consequences lasting 25,000 to 50,000 years. He used the phrase "you're going to glow in the dark" to describe what happens to those minerals after dental X-ray exposure. He did not provide a specific dental X-ray avoidance protocol beyond the general principle of minimizing all X-ray exposure, but the severity of his characterization placed dental X-rays in the same category of persistent biological contamination as therapeutic radiation.

In clinical discussions, Aajonus noted that a lesion in the body may contain accumulated radiation from a person's lifetime of X-ray exposures, stored in that particular area. When a tumor forms around such an area and begins secreting fluids to decompose the dead tissue, or when that stored radioactive material begins decomposing and entering the system, the result can be severe: massive vomiting and significant systemic disruption. He cited this as a reason to ask patients detailed questions about their X-ray history when evaluating any lesion or tumor, since the contents of that dead tissue determine the severity and nature of the detoxification reaction when the tissue finally breaks down.