Written by: Paul E. Wanvig, published in English: 4. April 2019

First published in Medium Magazine (Norway) 03.2018

My three weeks' stay at the Paracelsus Clinic in Lüstmuhle, Switzerland was an intensive experience for me! After 15 years of in-depth searching to find the causes behind my complex chronic disease state, I finally found several causes for my condition (see related articles and video interviews for details), yet none of the specialists I had seen before had found them.

This, in itself, was worth the stay.

The clinic uses a wide range of treatment methods stemming from both Western medicine and biological medicine. Several of the treatment methods are unique to the clinic. They also have a very extensive way of diagnosing the causes of complex disease.

The staff was wonderfully kind, and the same was the case for most doctors, therapists, and nurses during my stay at the clinic.

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Regardless of which health clinic we visit; none can be better than what is seen in the qualification and experiences of the Paracelsus Clinic's medical staff! It does not matter if the clinic has the best treatment modalities and methods in the world—if the physician who is responsible for your health is not capable of understanding your situation, the reasons for your illness, and how to use the clinic's treatment modalities in an optimal way—results will be limited.

That is why I always would recommend a brilliant physician with limited treatment modalities at hand rather than a mediocre physician with all the treatment tools in the world.

The star of the Paracelsus Clinic was Dr. Thomas Rau, who built the clinic to be one of the best of its kind in the world until he had left to start his new clinic, “Swiss Biological Medicine Center,” in Summer 2018.

If I would get Dr. Rau to be personally responsible for diagnosing and treating me, I would probably go wherever he was in the world. The case was unfortunately not this for me at the Paracelsus Clinic, since he was fully booked with other patients during my stay and only had time for the three interviews with me.

During my stay in November/December 2017, the clinic was in a difficult situation with an acute shortage of qualified physicians, as most of the clinic's doctors either had left or retired. In the summer of 2018, Dr. Thomas Rau also left the clinic.

The medical doctor who was assigned to me (not Dr. Rau, since he was fully booked) was unfortunately not able to handle my complex medical history in an adequate way. I requested another responsible doctor, but the clinic refused and said this was not possible.

In a desperate state, I chose to stay; what was the alternative?

About one month before my three-week treatment, I visited the clinic to take all the tests (blood tests, etc.) they needed to create an optimal treatment program for me. The frustration was great when the doctor did not have anything ready on my first day of treatment, even though most of the results from the tests had arrived at the clinic.

It took the doctor more than one week (with a lot of stress and reminders from my side) to complete an optimal treatment program for me that was executed during the last week of my stay.

At the end of my stay, I talked to one of the board members of the clinic who told me right away that the clinic was in the state of a doctor's emergency, since most of them had been leaving. The board member strongly regretted that I had been suffering because of this.

I had been promised that I would be invited back to the clinic for a free treatment stay when they had hired new doctors, and the clinic's difficult times were over.

Today, more than a year after my stay, the clinic has hired five new medical doctors, but I have not heard anything from the clinic either as a follow-up of me as a patient or the promises I received.

Since 2015, the clinic has been building and expanding its size. One of the consequences of growing and expanding is that it is easy to miss having a personal touch with the patients. I felt more like I was in a small hospital rather than in a private, exclusive clinic. I was often sent from one treatment station/modality to another, sometimes from 8 a.m. in the morning to 6 p.m. in the evening. I felt that I was a small fish in a big pond, and any personal touch was missing. I was expecting a five-star follow-up and experience for the money I was paying.

Most of the clinic's employees were polite, nice, and always trying to help me in the best possible way. The center place for helping me coordinate my days and answer my questions was the reception desk, where the very nice and helpful ladies were always in a good mood.

After you have filled out and submitted an information form to become a patient at the clinic (see the clinic's homepage), you will receive your first email that asks you to fill out a form for your medical history. They also want to receive the latest test results you have from your physician.

In the next email, you will receive suggestions for your treatment stay (2–4 weeks, depending on illness).

Here you also get stipulated approximate treatment costs, which in my case were:

• Two days of diagnostics and testing: 8000–8500 CHF (approximately 8,000–8,500 USD)
• Treatment stay, per. week: 8,000–8,500 CHF (approximately 8,000–8,500 USD)
• Additionally, all dietary supplements, infusions (IV), and medications that are recommended for you (this cost me about 12,000 USD for a three-month period)
• Travel, food, and accommodation are additional expenses.

My total expenses for my three weeks' stay with diagnostics and including three months of supplements and medication was approximately 47,000 USD, plus travel, food, and lodging came to 12,000 USD—in all, 59,000 USD.

If you are considering staying at the Paracelsus Clinic (or any other private clinics for that matter), it is important that you take responsibility to make sure that the doctor the clinic wants to use for you is a responsible physician. My error was that I took it for granted that I would get Dr. Rau as my physician. Ask to receive your assigned doctor's CV and an overview of the experience your doctor has with your medical condition.

After receiving information on prices and suggested treatment dates, I strongly suggest that you insist on talking to the doctor who will be responsible for your care at the clinic! The best thing is to set up a Skype call, in which you can see the doctor with video.

It is important that you find out if this is the right doctor for you before you say 'yes' to your stay. For your best experience, please remember that they did not accept my wish to change my doctor during my stay. I recommend that you check with the clinic how they might handle such a request during your planned time there.

If you are a European patient, you will want to know that the clinic had recommended for me to come for two days of diagnostics about four weeks prior to the stay. I recommend booking a second call, via Skype or phone, with the responsible doctor a few days before coming to your treatment stay to discuss your test results and the treatment program your doctor will have tailored for you before you arrive. This leads to starting an optimal treatment plan on the first day of your visit.

There are several guest houses and hotels in the clinic's immediate vicinity. I recommend that you choose a hotel where the clinic offers bus transportation for you. You can get more information about this from the clinic.

I stayed at Hotel Säntis (which is the hotel Dr. Rau recommended where they also serve his special diet; this diet is not available at other hotels). This is small and nice 3-star hotel with excellent service.

I recommend this hotel, since the diet was so important to the clinic's treatment program when I visited. Patients who stayed at other hotels or apartments had a difficult time of maintaining the right diet during their stay. Some of them were joining us for the meals at Hotel Säntis. When you are done with the day, you are often very tired and do not have much energy to make proper food according to Dr. Rau's diet. If you need a 5-star hotel, the clinic will help you find one according to your needs. 

I was at the Paracelsus Clinic at what was probably the worst time in the clinic’s modern history. Today, the clinic has hired new physicians and is probably much better equipped to give their patients the proper service they deserve. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to experience this to the extent I would have expected during my stay.

If you are very ill and already have tried "everything" of other therapies, have enough money, and get a qualified and skilled physician responsible for you at the clinic, I would highly recommend a stay! I also warmly recommend their dental clinic.

Parcelsus Clinic homepage (Switzerland)

Swiss Biological Medicine Center homepage (Dr. Rau's new clinic, Switzerland)

Overview: Introduction to my journey with Dr. Thomas Rau and Swiss Biological Medicine

Article 1: One of the biggest downturns in my life!

Article 2: Serious illnesses can originate from the teeth

Article 3: Holistic diagnosis and treatment of complex and chronic diseases

Article 4: Find inner balance in your life through the art of self-regulation

Article 5: Summary, prices, and recommendations