I passed the Shellfish Mix and the shrimp Monday! We tested a few other things. Yeast was still O.K. That still amazes me!

I wanted to test for ink, newspaper etc. because I thought it might be causing a big part of my problem in the house. I have always thought I had a problem with newspapers and when I go in my husband's office it really bothers me. I figured it was from the printer going constantly. Or when I pick up a Newsweek it's bad. Regular magazines don't seem to bother me as much. Maybe Newsweek being weekly the ink is fresher? Sure enough I flunked it big time. All organs weak. So we cleared that and I couldn't touch any paper goods for 25 hours.

She gave me some gloves to wear because it's just about impossible otherwise. It really wasn't too bad. And hey! At least I could eat anything I wanted!!

We also tested some more of the C categories....Berry Mix was bad and a couple of others. So we're going to go back and work on those again next time. I'm dreading doing that again. No make-up, no food.....well, almost no food. But have to finish them because it's in everything I need.

Christina had a great trip to Mexico with Doctors Without Borders.. She said it was so amazing and so rewarding! She would love to do it every month. She worked on a lot of pain issues. Long lines of people at the clinic and everyone so grateful.

Posted by elizabeth at 7:39 AM | Comments (0)

I have been in a little bit of shock for the last two days...trying to figure out what happened at my appointment Friday.

I should start by saying that I have been feeling steadily worse for the last couple of weeks. The allergies have gone to my chest again and I have a cough and am just extremely tired. When I go outside it gets worse, probably because of the outdoor allergies, and by the time I would get to Christina's office she would hear me really hacking and coughing. These treatments can take a toll on your strength. I said twice to her I think I should go to the doctor and probably get penicillin. Her answer was try the Chinese herbs etc., so I did that for weeks. Probably waited too long. Once it goes down there I usually have a problem.

Friday I arrived at her office after prepping to clear C again. She said she had called Dr. Nambudripad to ask for advice because she was concerned I wasn't getting better, and wasn't strong enough to keep doing the clearings. Dr. N told her she couldn't continue if my muscle strength wasn't there. So the plan was to discontinue for awhile until I get my strength back and get rid of the infection if there is one.

She suggested we do a balancing treatment to get me stronger before I left. She got 2 needles in and I completely lost it!! My head went hot and then the tears started coming and I ended up pouring my emotions out about the last 19 years of frustration, guilt, etc. over being sick. Boy...acupuncture is powerful! It opens up pathways and stuff just tumbles out. Two days later I still can't quite believe it. Christina was very nice through it all. Sat and talked to me. She then went to treat another patient. I got myself together and when I left there was no one at the front desk so I just walked out.

So yesterday, in addition to being embarrased about what happened (I know I shouldn't be but...), I am starting to get a little angry over the whole thing. I feel abandoned! How am I supposed to get better if I can't get treatments? Make me worse and then say go away until I'm stronger?? I need to get rid of the allergies so I can stop the constant bronchitis problems. It really is a catch 22.

She hasn't called to see if I'm alright and nothing was said about canceling all my appointments. Why not call me before I drove all that way if she knew she wasn't going to treat me. It is hard to prep for something like C and I could have saved all that trouble.

I liked her a lot so I overlooked some of the things she did and said that didn't conform to Dr. N's protocol. I couldn't find her listed on the website but I just thought she knew enough. Maybe I was wrong. When I found her I wasn't specifically looking for a NAET practioner. I had never even heard of it. So when she recommended it to me I said O.K. She had been recommended by my doctor as an acupuncturist and I think she is very good at that. To be fair, she told me that NAET was not her specialty.

So what to do? I'm going to go to my doctor this week to address the cough. And I have found some other NAET practitioners not too far away that are listed on the website. So I think the next step is to get some consultations. My advice to anyone out there looking for someone is to get the referral from the website. I read that advice and ignored it because I was already there for something else and just continued.

I sure am tired of this. It takes a lot of energy to get well!

On a positive note, I did pass the newspaper ink and do think I'm seeing a difference there.

Posted by elizabeth at 1:49 PM | Comments (0)

Still no phone call from Christina and I am becoming more and more irritated. I think it takes a lot of nerve to leave a patient in the state she left me and then not follow up.

I called and talked to two NAET practitioners yesterday, both listed on the website with a lot of experience. I told one what Devi had supposedly said to Christina and she said she can't believe Devi would have said that. She said that they treat people who can't get out of bed so she wouldn't send you away just because your muscle strength wasn't strong. The only reason she could possibly see for her to make a statement like that was if the practitioner didn't have enough experience to continue.

Mmmmmmm. That's interesting. I searched the site again for Christina's name and found her. Only Basic experience....two months before I started with her. Maybe it wasn't there the first time I looked or maybe I just missed it. So I think she was in over her head and wanted out?? Don't know.

I have an appointment late today for a consultation with a new practitioner. Meanwhile, it's off to the doctor's for the cough.

Posted by elizabeth at 7:47 AM | Comments (0)

Doctor's visit was a quick in and out with another penicillin prescription. Next time, (I hope there won't be one any time soon), I should go in sooner. He was hassled. A lot of sick people and a person on drugs that had to be transferred in handcuffs by the paramedics. I just tried not to touch anything! It's flu season!

Now for the best part....my appointment with a new NAET practitioner. Lisa is kind and very passionate about what she does. She has years of experience with Naet, acupuncture, nutrition etc. and loves what she's doing. I was just supposed to have a consult and she ended up spending two hours with me at the end of the day, and seemed to be really excited about helping me....said she loves doing the testing because she can find out what is causing the problems for people and get them well. She said she was so happy I was there because I will get better!

We talked about my previous experience, and I told her about my meltdown. She said it is not too surprising considering I had just been told to go away and come back when better... .all my hope taken away. Interesting!

We went back through the basics and I still cleared them. Then we tested some other things. I am NOT allergic to tomatoes, berries or apples. Now of course I am wondering how many things I had to clear that I wasn't really allergic to because Christina didn't know how to properly test. Not a good thought! Almost everything Lisa did was better...and different. There was really no grey area in the testing. You either pass something or fail it and you can see why. I think she was interested in seeing if I was as weak as Christina had said. Absolutely not. My muscle strength was good. Looking back I think it may be in what they say to you. Every time she tested something Lisa would tell me to "resist". Christina never did. So maybe I was not exerting the strength I should have or could have.

She tested to find out what was the most critical for me to clear. Another new concept. It was outside stuff...grass, pollen, weeds, flowers, trees, etc., and she adds organs, adrenals, cortisol and BBF (bone, body factors) for strength. We got a sample of "grime" off the car because that's what is around our house. She cleared all of that. I also think she's better at the acupuncture. She even put some needles in my ears for stress and taught me a good breathing exercise, (the same one that Dr. Weil talks about in his book.)

Then she tested to see how long I have to clear this time. It was two days instead of 25 hours! And she taught me how to self-treat using the paper towel with stuff from the car. I do it for one day every 2-3 hours. Also said we could go ahead and go out to dinner if I didn't touch the outside of the car and covered my face 'til inside.

So much happened in that two hours and it was all so different that I am still processing a lot. But I absolutely do believe now that I can get well. I'm supposed to go back on Monday and bring anything I want to test like vitamins etc. I also tested allergic to spices which could be what caused the tomato sauce flunking before-- since it couldn't have been tomatoes. But I just don't trust anything Christina did now. I don't think she should be treating people with NAET until she gets more training.

Hope the pollen etc. works but I could have to do it again. Lisa said she had a patient that flunked 2 or 3 times so she finally had to go to her house and treat so she wouldn't be exposed to anything outside.

Posted by elizabeth at 9:44 AM | Comments (0)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have a little time while the turkey is cooking so thought I would do a quick post.

Had another visit with Lisa on Monday. I cleared everything we did with an added bonus of dust. That was a surprise! Maybe it was mixed in with the car grime. But she said to bring some house dust in with me next time and we'll check it again.

I took a sample of the dirt from the field across the street from us. It used to be for crops and now they are digging everything up to build houses. I had a bad reaction to that and may have to spend the night in a motel to clear it. Maybe that's why I have been getting steadily worse. No telling what's mixed in that dirt...pesticides etc.

We checked all the C derivatives and I failed Oxalic Acid and Melon Mix. Christina had told me I was allergic to Vit. E and I'm not. And she also said I was not allergic to corn and I am. That's a big one! I kept wondering why I felt so lousy after eating popcorn!

We rechecked the newspaper ink and the fish and shellfish. They were all O.K. and she determined it would be good to have the salmon 4 times a week.

We also checked the natural hormones I take which were fine.

Mold and penicillin were bad. Not surprising considering my history, and I have to take penicillin every four months for MVP and teeth cleaning. I should be able to clear those two together. Mold could be a big problem because we live on the water. And a medication I take was not strong so that's what we decided to clear on Monday. Didn't have to do it for the 25 hours. Just until 10 the next morning.

So the big ticket items are mold, penicillin, field dirt, corn, spices, and the two C's. At least for now.

If anyone out there has ever done NAET I would love to hear from you! It would be great to compare notes.

I wrote a long letter to Christina and basically told her that although I appreciate her kindness and I believe she is good at acupuncture, I don't feel she should be treating people with NAET until she has more training. After 16 visits I am having to redo everything. Very discouraging.

Posted by elizabeth at 3:41 AM | Comments (0)

I have to say that if you ever consider buying an organic turkey...think long and hard....and then think again! Maybe we just got a bad brand but it was like shoe leather! And we didn't overcook it either. So if you want to eat lean meat with no fat, no flavor and no juice- buy organic! lol

It was just three of us, and my daughter -the vegetarian- didn't care. I'm just thankful we didn't invite people in. What a disaster that would have been!

Had a great day though and hope you all did too. (It makes O.K. sandwiches.)

Posted by elizabeth at 1:36 AM | Comments (0)

I posted a message on a board asking if anyone had had success with NAET and received the following message:

"We've had great success with JMT (a newer version of NAET). My daughter had so many food allergies, I was afraid to feed her anything. We had been following the Feingold program for over a year before we started her JMT treatments. While Feingold certainly helped, we were eliminating more than just the typical foods eliminated on the program, and were still having "mystery reactions". JMT helped us to find those triggers, and cure them! After 3 treatments I didn't see any changes in my daughter. After the 4th treatment, she actually seemed WORSE. But the 5th treatment was like magic for us. She is now incredibly calm, easy-going and HAPPY! -And she's eating more foods than she has in 2 years. I can't say enough about this method of treament. It has truly changed our lives!"

I have never heard of JMT before and it sounds interesting. No vials or 25 hour clearings. I think I'll ask Lisa about it on Monday. Here is their website.

Posted by elizabeth at 6:10 PM | Comments (3)

Lisa said the organic turkey should not have been tough! We must have just gotten a bad one. I'm still not sure I would want to give it another try though!

I am clearing the two Spice Mixes today...have to do it for 35 hours this time. I took in samples of onion, garlic, oregano, pepper, and a pepper mix. All O.K. except the peppers. There must be something else though since I failed both Mix 1 and 2. I also retested the Rosmarinic Acid I've been taking for my allergies from Life Extension. (Rosemary). Christina had said it was O.K. but it wasn't ...so I've been allergic to my allergy pills. A little ironic!!

The field dirt was alright this time which was a little confusing. I had added samples from different parts of the field so will have to test it again on Friday. But I tested allergic to pesticides and here we are in an agricultural community.

Because I am still trying to find out what is bothering me in the house, my husband suggested I take a sample in from our wood floor. And guess what! Yep? I'm allergic to the floor....the wood or the laminate or the glue...don't know. We're going to test wood on Friday, and I'm going to take in a bamboo sample.

So I'm allergic to the inside and the outside, and I'm getting very discouraged. But I guess I'm making progress and will have to try to keep a positve outlook. I think if I had that doctor that I think caused this in front of me right now.....

Lisa said she has heard of JMT. She has a friend who is training in it and then they may get together and combine techniques and see if it would benefit patients.

Posted by elizabeth at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)