Allergies - for many people the word connotes seasonal reactions to ragweed and pollen. These reactions can affect the nasal passages, eyes and head resulting in sneezing, sniffling, congestion and watery eyes. Perhaps the word refers to an acute life threatening reaction to penicillin, peanuts or bee stings. Allergies can also mean avoiding or limiting exposures to foods or other substances to which one is sensitive. Sensitivities are sometimes called allergies but they are not the same. In true allergic reactions, there is a measurable antibody reaction in the body to an antigen or allergen. Reactions can often be immediate. In a sensitivity, there may not be a traditional measurable reaction and reactions can be delayed. Many people have unknown allergies/sensitivities which stress their body and decrease their immunity.

Conventional or allopathic allergy testing usually tests for a limited number of substances. Many substances tested test safe because they are not a true allergy. Other substances will test allergic and, in some cases, can cause severe reactions. Alternative medicine evaluates a large number of substances, particularly food, for sensitivity. Multiple items frequently test reactive. Preventive Medicine Group uses the Immuno Laboratories lgG ELISA Bloodprint Food Sensitivity Assay. With one blood sample, 115 foods are tested. Foods which cause a reaction, even if delayed, can be avoided. Safe foods are consumed on a rotation basis. It is helpful to know which foods are non-reactive and to follow a list of safe foods to reduce total allergic stress load in the body. Until now, elimination/rotation has been the best way to deal with the sensitivities.

Stanley M. Gardner, M.D., also of Preventive Medicine Group, is taking allergy/sensitivity testing to a new level with an approach based on energy medicine. Energy medicine refers to any modality involving the energy that flows through the body along set pathways, just like blood and nerve transmissions flow along set pathways. We can be reactive to more things in our environment than just food. Inhalants, chemicals, plastics, toxins, medications, nutrients and metals are some examples. Whether the reaction is a true allergy or a sensitivity, the muscles of the body become weak upon exposure to the offending substance. This response can also occur on the physical, mental, emotional and/or energy levels. It is on the energy level that this new approach both tests and treats reactions.

The concept of energy medicine may be new to most people. However, energy medicine is an ancient principle with a modern scientific basis. Everything is made of atoms which are vibrating particles. Through research in quantum physics, we know that at the particle level all matter is energy. All living beings, including humans, are made of particles, making us energy beings. As energy beings, we can be affected by energy and our energy can be disrupted. Conventional medicine employs energy medicine techniques through EKG, EEG, EMG, MRI, TENS, laser and sonic technologies. Lie detection equipment used by law enforcement measures bioenergy. Complementary alternative medicine delves more deeply into energy medicine in such techniques as acupuncture, acupressure, jin shin jyutsu, homeopathy, chi machines, kinesiology, reiki and more.

The basic premise of treating allergies/sensitivities through the energy level is that when we are exposed to substances that are negative or harmful to the body, the body weakens. When we are exposed to something good, our body strengthens. A method to test the negative or positive effect of substances is muscle testing through applied kinesiology. A limb of the body is held in position in the presence of a test substance and light pressure is applied. The degree to which one is able to resist the pressure indicates whether or not the test substance is strengthening or weakening to the body.

Once test substances that have a weakening effect are identified, it is possible to "reprogram" the body/brain on the energy level to have a positive response to the substances. Dr. Devi S. Nambudripad, D.C., L.Ac., R.N., Ph.D. developed Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET), a method of treating allergies by identifying sensitivities with muscle testing and clearing them with acupressure and/or acupuncture. NAET has been successful in eliminating allergies/sensitivities to a wide variety of substances. Another similar method is Bioenergetic Sensitivity and Enzymatic Therapy (BioSET). Developed by Ellen Cutler, D.C., M.D., BioSET claims to take NAET one step further, claiming more permanent results. This method utilizes specific organ detoxification, bioenergetic testing, enzyme therapy and allergy elimination techniques. The method Dr. Gardner is using with patients at Preventive Medicine Group is based on a combined study of the best of NAET, BioSET, and other modalities including homeopathy.

If a person is not already a patient of Preventive Medicine Group, the physician will take a comprehensive health history, review nutritional supplements, and order conventional and nutritional laboratory tests, including heavy metal testing. The actual allergy/sensitivity testing and desensitization process involves a series of subsequent treatment. Muscle testing is used to determine reactions. The desensitization process begins with a large variety of substances including various food groups, additives, indoor and outdoor allergens, minerals, chemicals, plastics, vitamins, and hormones. The purpose of desensitization is to provide tolerance or normalization throughout the system toward a wide variety of potential allergens, thus providing a foundation for desensitization of subsequent individual items. Each of these substances has its own energy or frequency. Items causing a reaction are items that have an energy or frequency that the body perceives as negative. A person holding a vial of the test substances places the test substances in the person's field of energy for both testing and desensitization purposes. In the desensitization process, energy techniques such as acupressure open the energy flow in a positive manner in the presence of the substance. This repatterns the frequency or energy of the substance in such a way that the body now perceives the frequency or energy in a positive manner. Thus, the body now registers the substance as "friend" not "foe". The technique can be used with children as well as adults. For further information, contact us.