NAET Assessment or How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation

I've been conspicuously absent from the blogosphere lately. We've been doing quite a bit of driving this summer -- which has sucked up a lot of time. Being the procrastinator I am, when the end of the day rolls around, I find every excuse in the world NOT to blog. I'm stressed. I'm tired. I'll do it tomorrow.

One of the reasons we've been on the road so much is due to an alternative treatment we've started for my daughter's chronic eczema. (I first talked about it here.) The treatment Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) uses muscle testing, acupressure and "energy medicine" to eliminate allergies. It's incredibly difficult to explain and, if you're looking for a technical explanation of how it works, you won't get one from me.

When I begin explaining how the treatment works to other people, they start looking at me like I've got 12 heads. The best explanation I can offer is that allergies are detected through muscle testing. Then, by massaging my daughter's back and having her hold a vial of water charged with the energy of the said allergen, the allergy is eliminated. She then has to avoid all interaction with the allergen she's "clearing" for at least 25 hours following treatment. When I say "all interaction" that means she can't ingest, touch or have the said allergen come within a certain number of feet from her.

It's fun times, let me tell you. Especially with two other children running around.

We are halfway through the "Basic 15" treatments. I'm offering up this post for anyone who's interested in how things are going, but also for the people who regularly come to this blog through Google searches on NAET. There are at least a few of those visitors each day.

The thing with NAET is that you don't start out eliminating allergies for things like peanuts or milk. You begin with clearing large groups of nutrients. Here's what we've done so far:

Egg Mix
Calcium
Vitamin C
B Complex
Sugar
Iron
Vitamin A
Mineral Mix

We try and do two treatments a week, although Jillian gotten sick a couple times. The Vitamin C treatment required her to avoid all interaction with Vitamin C for 120 hours. That's five days without fruit or vegetables. We followed up Vitamin C with the treatment for B vitamins. Ever try finding a food that doesn't contain B vitamins? Yeah. There aren't really any, other than McDonald's french fries and hash browns. Which is what she ate for 25 hours. No wonder she got sick.

There have been several times during the course of treatment, as I'm driving an hour and 45 minutes EACH way for treatment (or serving up french fries for breakfast, or press and sealing door handles because she can't touch metal for 25 hours), that I've thought, "I am absolutely crazy. This is ludicrous. Why are we doing this?"

But.

I can't dispute the results that I've seen so far.

Jillian is 5 and has had cradle cap from the time she was an infant. By about the third NAET treatment, her scalp began to clear up. She complained that her head was sore where it was flaking, but within two weeks every single flake was gone. Her scalp is now completely clear.

I also stopped using any creams on Jillian beginning with the third treatment, as we determined that she had an allergy to the creams I was using (even though they were olive oil, not petroleum, based). I figured my not moisturizing her skin would result in huge flare ups. I would normally moisturize her every morning and evening. But, her skin actually has never looked better. It's soft and smooth. I haven't had to do a thing.

But, perhaps most notably, I have not given Jillian any Zyrtec for two weeks. This has NEVER happened before. She has had Zyrtec every night of her life from 15 months old. If we would forget to give her the Zyrtec, she would wake up itching. When we cleared for sugar, I couldn't give Jilly the Zyrtec because it contains sugar. I figured I was in for a long night, but I didn't hear from her once. Since then, she hasn't needed it at all.

I'm not saying that she is "cured." I'm not willing to concede victory, yet. I've been to this movie a time or two. Jilly's skin is notorious for looking good one minute and flaring the next for no reason at all. But, I cannot deny what I've seen so far. In six weeks I've seen more improvement in Jilly's skin from NAET than I've seen in five years from modern medicine.

So, long story short, we're sticking it out. Will this fix the problem once and for all? I have no idea. But, we're hanging in there. Ultimately, time will tell.

I Know it Sounds Crazy: Using NAET to treat eczema

My daughter Jillian has been struggling with eczema since she was 2 months old. And when I say eczema, I'm not talking about a few dry patches here and there. Her arms and legs are covered with it. Recently, it's moved to her eyelids.


In the past five and half years, I think I 've done enough research on eczema and skin to write a thesis. I've gone the standard medical route. I've used Eucerin and Aquaphor. I've applied steroid cream. I've given her Zyrtec religiously from 15 months old. Nothing changed.


So, I looked into other options. We saw the chief of pediatric allergy at a local children's hospital. I kept food diaries. She was allergy tested three times. Nothing ever came back positive except for one slight allergy to dog. The allergist told me that the Zyrtec and cortisone would be a long-term treatment. In the meantime, I could take comfort in the fact that she might grow out of it and her case was really not as severe as I thought it was.


I went back home. Did more research. I joined discussion boards. I prayed. I looked into nutritional supplementation. I dumped the petroleum based creams and switched to olive oil based creams. I began using evening primrose oil to treat the itching. I gave her cod liver oil and flax seed oil daily in effort to provide her body with the "essential fatty acids" her skin needs.


I would see improvement, and then for no reason at all, the eczema would flare up again. That's where we are now. Five and a half years later and I have no more answers than when I first started.


One of the things that surprised me most about motherhood is how horrible it feels to not be able to help your hurting child. I am desperate for an answer. Which brings me to the latest and greatest that I've been looking into: NAET treatments.


NAET stands for Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques. Here's what the website says:

"a non-invasive, drug free, natural solution to eliminate allergies of all types and intensities using a blend of selective energy balancing, testing and treatment procedures from acupuncture/acupressure, allopathy, chiropractic, nutritional, and kinesiological disciplines of medicine."

That's about as clear as mud, right?

The technique claims that through muscle testing and acupressure, you can identify allergies and then desensitize the body to the identified allergens so that they no longer cause problems. Ever.

I know, it sounds too good to be true.

NAET can be used to treat everything from depression to autism. The practitioner that I found claims she has almost "cleared" her daughter of autism. That's a pretty bold assertion. She says that it's taken a year and a half of treatments, but her daughter is now in a class with children her own age and reading above grade level. According to her, NAET is just beginning to get some "mainstream" press. Oprah is supposedly working on an episode that will feature NAET and Dr. Oz sometime in the coming year.

My husband (ever the practical, scientific type) thinks it sounds nuts. And I'll agree that I do tend to be somewhat of an "easy sell" when it comes to these things. But, on the other hand, when I step back and look at the "solutions" provided by modern medicine -- giving your child an antihistamine and steroid cream every day of her life from 15 months old -- that sounds pretty darn crazy, too.

Taking Jillian to these treatments will not be easy. The nearest practitioner is nearly two hours away and I have to take her twice a week to start. But, based on the research I've done, coupled with the first-hand experience of friends, I'm going to give it a shot. And, while I have no intention of turning this blog into a blog about allergy and eczema, I will post occasionally about our experience with the treatment in the hopes that it might help someone else out there looking for answers. Friday will be our first official treatment, during which Jillian will be cleared for egg. She will have to avoid egg, chicken, feathers and all egg derivatives for 25 hours following the treatment to ensure that the treatment "takes."

So, interpeeps -- what say you? Has anyone out there had any experience with NAET -- positive or negative? Do you think it sounds crazy? I 'd love to hear from you if you'd be so kind as to leave a comment.