Like over half the US population, I suffer from allergies. Many, many allergies. But it wasn’t always like that. [...]]]> Yes, get rid of allergies. Something you NEVER hear a “regular” doctor say. You’re either given medications that only mask your symptoms and come with some pretty nasty side effects, or told to avoid the allergen altogether.

Like over half the US population, I suffer from allergies. Many, many allergies. But it wasn’t always like that. Apart from a life-long allergy to strawberries, I wasn’t allergic to anything when I was younger (as far as I know).

That all changed when I was 17 and a friend got a kitten. I went over to her house to watch a movie (Blues Brothers, if I remember correctly), the kitten was all over the place as kittens usually are (running along the back of the couch, hanging from the curtains…), I started sneezing and assumed I was coming down with a cold. Woke up fine the next day, went over to my friend’s house and the sneezing started again.

That was the beginning of the downward spiral. Within a few years, I had become allergic to most animals (not dogs, strangely) and some foods. I had to give up horseback riding and stop eating chocolate. But it was manageable.

Then, in my late 20s, I was sitting on the couch in the living room, pigging out on a large bowl of black cherries when I suddenly noticed that it was getting more and more difficult to breathe. I stopped eating the cherries, drank a lot of water, and it got better. But from then on, over the next few years, I became allergic to almost all fruits and some vegetables. And pollen, mold, dust mites, and a million other things.

Nothing Helped

I tried all the medications for environmental alergies on the market at the time – Claritin, Allergra, Zyrtec, and I forget what else. The side effects from all of those were worse than the actual allergies, so I stopped using them.

Since Western medicine does not offer anything at all to help with food allergies, I just stayed away from the foods I knew I couldn’t eat. But since I became allergic to new foods all the time, it was difficult – one day eating a blueberry was fine, the next it made my throat swell up. You get scared of eating when you don’t know if you’ll have a reaction or not. And restaurants, forget it. I have many times asked if a specific food item contains nuts, been told no, ordered it, and it did indeed have nuts in it. I have been fortunate in that I am not anaphylactically allergic to anything. I feel so very bad for people who are – that same ignorance could kill them. How do you ever dare to buy anything or eat out?

Soybeans

Soy was another difficult one. I was allergic to it and it is everywhere. Do soy growers give it away for free?? I was food shopping and wanted to get a can of PAM (which I had never used but thought I’d try for a recipe). I looked at the ingredients and what do I see? Soy. In canola and olive oil. Sigh. It’s in skin care, non-voc house paint, candles, everywhere.

I had started to fear that I would eventually not be able to eat anything at all except meat (which I hardly ever eat and don’t like eating for ethical reasons) when my chiropractor mentioned that an acupuncturist had successfully treated a few of her patients for their soy allergies and gotten rid of them completely. She gave me her number, and what did I do? Nothing, for 6 months. Then, in one month, I all of a sudden started reacting to avocados, red peppers and chickpeas. Foods I love and eat all the time. I dug out the number and called Terry (the acupuncturist).

NAET To The Rescue

Terry told me that she herself had gotten rid of her many allergies and asthma through the system she practices called NAET. It uses kinesiology (muscle testing) to test for allergies and acupuncture and NET (Neuro Emotional Technique) to treat them. She warned me that it might be a long and sometimes difficult process, but I decided to go for it and in January of this year (2009) I went for my first treatment.

What Is NAET Therapy?

NAET stands for Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique. It was invented in 1983 by Dr. Devi Nambudripad (MD, D.C., L.Ac., Ph.D.), herself a lifelong allergy sufferer, who took what she describes as “the best” of several different healing modalities (Oriental and allopathic (Western) medicine, chiropractic, kinesiology, acupuncture, acupressure and nutrition) and combined them into a natural treatment method she named NAET. If you want to read more about her story, as well as others, check out the books in my Kitchen Sink store.

What Happens During A Treatment?

Acupuncture treatment

The practitioner will determine your level of allergy with the muscle testing. You then hold a vial (or several if needed) with the substance while lying on your stomach. The practitioner uses a tapping technique up and down your spine (sort of like a massage). You then turn on your back, still holding the vial, and the practitioner inserts acupuncture needles on specific points (or uses pressure, not everyone does the needle thing) on your body. You then rest for 20 minutes (still holding the vial). The practitioner then removes the needles, takes the vial from you, and that’s it. That’s the easy part.

The difficult part is that for 25 hours after each treatment, you need to completely avoid that particular substance (and related substances). For example, for 25 hours after the Egg Mix treatment (#2), you are not allowed to go into your kitchen, a grocery store, or restaurant, you cannot wear a down jacket or sleep under a down comforter or be near feathers in any form, and you may not eat or touch eggs, chicken or anything made with eggs (you must also avoid things like skin lotions, shampoos and conditioners that may contain egg products in some form).

As you can see, this means that you need to prepare yourself in advance of each treatment. Anything you are planning to eat within 25 hours after the treatment needs to have already been bought and cooked (since you cannot go into a store or your kitchen). Unless you have a very helpful family member who is willing to cook for you, of course!

Also, if you have pets, make sure to check the ingredients in their food and treats to make sure you don’t touch anything with eggs (or whatever you’re avoiding).

How Many Treatments Does One Need?

Well, that depends on your allergies. The system is set up so that you have to go through 15 basic treatments before you can move on to the things you want to have treated (pets or nuts for example). This is to boost the immune system and prepare it for coming treatments. You may also find that you are allergic to many of the basic 15. I didn’t think I was allergic to any of them, but it turned out I was, on some level, to all of them! Salt especially (who knew?!). Once you’re done with the 15, you can move on to the substances you want to have treated. Unless your body needs more than 25 hours to process each treatment, you can get several treatments per week, and speed up the progress that way.

Am I Cured Yet?

No. I have so many allergies and sensitivities that I don’t expect to be done with this for some time yet.

But I am really optimistic and have already had some very positive results: I have had eczema on my left hand for years and years, and just barely kept it in check with the help of steroid and cortisone creams. It’s gone now. So are my debilitatingly painful headaches, which I used to have as often as once a week. My pollen allergies used to be horrible: 3 weeks of feeling like I had a really bad hangover followed by a month of sneezing, eyes swelling almost shut and coughing. This year (because we snuck in a pollen treatment before we were done with the first 15) I was smelling the flowers and feeling great!

Follow Me On My Journey

Instead of making this so long that nobody will have the time to read it, I will post separate pages for treatments where I share my experiences and tips. Read about the first 5 treatments, where I discover that, in spite of what people have been telling me, the needles hurt and distilled water is nasty.

During treatments 6-10 I find out that I’m really allergic to minerals, not so allergic to pollen after all, and discover how to get a stuck ring off your finger.

Treatments 11-19 take care of two allergies that have been a huge problem for me: dogs and cats. They also get rid of a few allergies I didn’t know I had – salt, grains and yeast.

During treatments 20-24, we finally get to soy, and also eliminate my caffeine and gluten allergies.

Hopefully my experiences can help you decide if NAET is something you want to try. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments!