Allergy Cure?!

While hopping from blog to blog earlier this year I came across a novel treatment for allergies.  I was immediately intrigued and had to investigate further.  The treatment is called Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique or NAET. The NAET treatment uses a blend of medical knowledge and practices from chiropractic, acupressure, kinesiology, allopathy and nutritional disciplines.  This therapy is a way of reprogramming the brain to accept substances that it had previously identified as harmful or toxic.  The result is allergy elimination.

That first night I spend hours researching this too good to be true answer to Milo's food allergies.  I found the official NAET website which describes how it was developed and the treatment process.  I found many blogs of people who had wonderful experiences for themselves or their children with this therapy. The next day I went to library and check out Dr. Nambudripad's book "Say Goodbye To Illness".  I will honestly say the diagnosis and treatment does sound kind of suspect in the context of our familiar western medicine concepts but are widely accepted in Eastern medicine.  That first night (late at night), I texted my friend Liz, who is an acupuncturist, to find out if this was for real or some kind of "to good to be true" scam.  I talked with her the next day and while she had not heard of this specific method by name she did know several practitioners who did successfully treat allergies in a similar method. I can not tell you how excited I was at the prospect of getting rid of Milo's food allergies!

The NAET website has an extensive list of practitioners who have gone through the training.  I located an experienced acupuncturist in our area.  After talking with her about Milo and his medical challenges as well as his allergies I set up Milo's first appointment the very end of February.


So what happens during these treatments?  I'll try to summarize it for you the best I can.  Each week Milo receives a treatment for a different allergen which is part of a series called the Basic 15 which he has tested as having a reaction to.  These are 15 most common allergens that should be cleared before others, the theory is that clearing these 15 will strengthen the body and immune system to better receive the following treatments. 
Each treatment begins by conducting muscle response testing.  Muscle Response Testing or MRT is a testing technique based on kinesiology to test allergies by comparing the strength of a muscle in the presence and absence of the allergen.  Because Milo is young and generally not cooperative, I serve as a surrogate for the testing.  The allergen is in a small glass vial which I hold against Milo's skin with my hand and the muscle response test is performed on me.  As long as I remain in skin to skin contact with Milo, his results are transferred through me.  Sounds weird I know but it really does work.  When an allergen or combination of allergens is identified the treatment can take place. 

I serve as a surrogate for the treatment as well, as long as I remain in skin to skin contact the treatment is effective in him.  The allergen in the small glass vial and placed against Milo's skin and I remain in skin to skin contact with him, normally my hand on his back under his shirt.  The doctor then uses chiropractic and acupressure techniques along my spine to bring the body's energies into a state of balance. She also stimulates the acupressure points on his back.  It is said that by doing this, NAET is capable of erasing the previously encoded incorrect message about a specific allergen and replace it with a harmless message by reprogramming the brain. 
For the next 10 minutes the vial(s) are placed in Milo's sock so they remain in contact with his skin to reinforce the treatment.  He can play during this time as long as he doesn't get too crazy.  For an adult it is supposed to be used as a time of meditation.


Milo must then avoid that specific allergen for the next 25 hours, here's why. There are 12 major energy pathways (meridians) in the body. Energy molecules take 2 hours to pass through one meridian when there is normal energy flow. During the NAET treatment, the normal energy flow of the molecule of the allergen is established through the energy pathways. If the energy molecule can complete its travel without interruption and return to the original starting point in 24-25 hours, the uninterrupted journey of that energy is imprinted in the brain as harmless or beneficial energy.

We return a week later so that Milo can be checked with MRT to see if the allergen has cleared. If the allergen has not cleared the treatment will be repeated.  If the allergen has cleared we move on to more MRT testing and will treat the next allergen.
I found this video of a NAET treatment session, it is similar to Milo's treatments.  The instrument used on this child's back is what Milo's practitioner uses on my back and she uses more of a gentle massage type technique on Milo.




Many of the blogs I found described using NAET to treat Autism.  The theory is that autism may be allergy linked.  The testimony on these blogs is encouraging to me.  Milo doesn't have autism but I'd say he has some tendencies, especially the sensory problems, just not to the same extent.  I am hopeful that this treatment will also have a positive effect on his behavior and attention to tasks in school. 


There are 15 basic essential nutrient treatments that each person must be tested for and receive treatment for if necessary. Many of Milo's known diagnosed (by an allergist) allergies are within these first 15 treatments.  During the first session I had the practitioner muscle test Milo to some foods I suspected he had an issue with and sure enough, he is sensitive to tomatoes, flax and chicken.  He was also still sensitive to corn and dairy products which he has successfully passed food challenges to at National Jewish.  We are currently on Milo's 3rd treatment, so we still have a long road ahead of us.  So far Milo has been treated for eggs, dairy & sugar.  Yup he's sensitive to sugar, guess that's why he doesn't like sweet things very much!

I have already seen some improvements!  By the end of the first week Milo's breathing became totally silent for the first time in over a year and has remained that way.  He always had a gurgle in his throat, secretions that he just wouldn't clear without me prompting him to cough.  That noise is gone!  His skin was much softer the first week but last week he was itchy again.  I'm not concerned, huge changes are not expected right away :0)

Here are some of the websites/blogs I found that had wonderful information about NAET. 
NAET website
Warrior Mama
Extinguishing Eczema
Owen's Journey -- NAET journey starts January 2009
4fordsblog

If you have any questions let me know in the comments and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability.

It's About Time!!

I'm sure that's what you are all saying and I don't blame ya!  Really life has been pretty uneventful around here.  There was Milo's 4th birthday and Christmas that I missed blogging about (oops).  I learned that Milo is very much into routine so changes that occur with holidays are stressful to him.  We did have some good experiences this last holiday season but there was some icky behavior to deal with too.

Milo is LOVING school this year.  His teachers are great with him!  He is talking all the time (even when he is supposed to be listening) although he can be hard to understand sometimes.  His pronunciation is the area he needs the most work in.  His little lips and mouth just can't quite figure out how to make some sounds but he's getting better every week.  He recognizes and names all his letters and numbers 0-9, can spell his name, knows his colors & shapes, recently learned to cut with scissors and is learning to write his name.  His IEP review meeting and Parent/Teacher conferences are next Tuesday and I am eager to hear what everyone has to say.

It's the time of year to check-in with most of Milo's doctors.  He had a cardiology appointment in early February and for some reason he hates that department and screams the entire time so he earned himself a cardiac MRI under anesthesia to check on his heart and pulmonary arteries.  That will be done mid April.  His cardiologist feels he is doing well she just wants to be proactive and the MRI will give them a better understanding of his unique anatomy.  Today he had a pulmonology appointment and Dr. D was more than happy with how his lungs & airway sound.  She will take a quick peek of his airway with a flexable bronchoscope just before the MRI while he is sedated and if everything looks good we'll be talking about stopping one medication, reducing his steroids and maybe even getting rid of our home oxygen, BIG steps!  The MRI might also be able to give us good view of the repaired portion of his trachea, BONUS.  In January he saw an endocrinologist for the first time because his bones have osteoporosis but no big answers there, not a suprise, just another wait and see.  He saw the dermatologist because I thought he might be getting warts on his arm again but the doc assured me it was just bad spots of eczema and to put stronger steroids on them, I've done that a couple times but they seem to be fading on their own.  ENT only wants to see if there is a problem so we get to skip seeing her for now.  I think that brings us to allergy.  I asked to have his blood tests repeated to see if the numbers had gone down after 3 years of avoiding major catagories of food.  His numbers have come down significantly so that is wonderful news.  The appointment with Dr. A isn't until the end of March but I called to check on the results :0)  Hoping for some food challenges this summer and Milo being able to eat some new foods.  On the topic of allergies, I found a method of potentially eliminating allergies using accupressure techniques that sounds very promising.  Milo has had 2 sessions with an accupuncturist (no needles though) and so far I've seen some positive results with him.  I promise to write more about this soon, it deserves an entry all to itself!

If you have made it this far I wanted to share a couple of photos with you.  Four years ago this week Milo spent his first week outside of a hospital.  It was short lived, just 7 days and some of those were not a ton of fun.  I did get some great pictures though!

March 7, 2007

And here is his school picture from this year.  He looks so big and I can't believe they got him to pose like that!

I just love looking at these photos, it makes the chaos of the 4 years between them SO worth every moment.  Thanks for checking in on us!