Symptoms of Allergies
The following are some of the many symptoms and conditions associated with allergies.204 You can see that they range far beyond the runny nose and teary eyes most often thought of in connection to allergies.
“Our psychiatric hospitals might be empty if the causes of our energy blockages could be found and removed,” states allergy authority Devi S. Nambudripad, MD, DC, LAc, PhD, of Buena Park, California.203 Allergic reaction is a primary cause of impeded flow of energy through the body, says Dr. Nambudripad. Often, people are not even aware that they are allergic to something. The allergy goes undetected, and the chronic reaction, with its attendant energy blockage, can create a panoply of symptoms, including those of bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and schizophrenia.
Dr. Nambudripad's work has transformed the field of allergy treatment. In the early 1980s, she developed a highly effective, noninvasive, painless method of both identifying and eliminating allergies—NAET (Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques)—which is now practiced worldwide by more than 5,000 health-care practitioners. Dr. Nambudripad and other NAET practitioners have found that the elimination of allergies can in some cases reverse bipolar disorder and other “mental” illnesses.
Allergy elimination can be beneficial for bipolar disorder in several ways: (1) directly, by removing the source of allergy-related bipolar symptoms and (2) indirectly, by easing other problems that may be exacerbating or producing symptoms. In the latter category, eliminating allergic reaction improves digestion, which can help reverse the nutrient assimilation and absorption problems that may underlie the deficiencies in amino acids, B vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and other nutrients frequently associated with bipolar disorder.
Increased absorption of all nutrients will improve the health of all body systems. Getting rid of allergic reaction also reduces toxic substances in the body, which lifts a burden from the liver and other parts of the detoxification system, leading to more optimal processing of toxins in the future. Finally, allergy elimination lifts a large burden from the immune system, which leads to better overall health.
NAET uses kinesiology's muscle response testing (MRT) to identify allergies. Chiropractic and acupuncture techniques are then implemented to remove the energy blockages in the body that underlie allergies and to reprogram the brain and nervous system not to respond allergically to previously problem substances.
Like many revolutionary inventions, NAET began with an accidental discovery. Dr. Nambudripad, who had long been allergic to nearly everything, one day ate some carrot while she was cooking the two foods she could safely eat—white rice and broccoli. Within moments of eating the carrot, she “felt like [she] was going to pass out.”205 She used muscle response testing to check for an allergy to carrots and was not surprised that she tested highly allergic.
A student of acupuncture at the time, she gave herself an acupuncture treatment, with the help of her husband, to keep from going into shock. She fell asleep with the needles still inserted in specific acupuncture points, and when she woke almost an hour later, she no longer felt sick and tired. In her hand were pieces of the carrot she had been eating. When she repeated the MRT, she no longer tested allergic to carrots. To check the validity of this result, she ate some carrot—no reaction.206
Dr. Nambudripad then ate bits of other foods to which she knew she was allergic, and her reactions were as they had been—she was still allergic. “[S]o I knew my assumption was correct. My allergy to carrot was gone because of my contact with the carrot while undergoing acupuncture. My energy and the carrot's energy were repelling prior to the acupuncture treatment. After the treatment, their energies became similar—no more repulsion!”207 She then tried this technique, which she later named NAET, on other foods to which she was allergic. The same thing happened—the allergies disappeared. After many years of living with pervasive allergies, she was able to systematically eliminate them and restore her health.
NAET is based on the medical model of acupuncture, in which disease is diagnosed and treated as an energy imbalance in one or more of the body's meridians, or energy pathways. These meridians—there are 12 major ones—carry the body's vital energy, or qi (chi), to organs and throughout the system. Acupuncturists rebalance a meridian's energy by treating acupoints, the points on the body's surface that correspond to that meridian. Via the painless insertion of needles or the application of pressure, the acupuncturist can remove energy blockages, get stagnant energy moving, or calm an overactive energy meridian.
According to Dr. Nambudripad, who is a licensed acupuncturist, allergies are “energy incompatibilities” that create energy blockages in the body. That is, the body's energy field regards the energy field of a substance—eaten, inhaled, or otherwise contacted—as incompatible with its own, and its presence disturbs the flow of energy along the body's meridians. One, several, or even all of the meridians may be affected. The central nervous system records the energy disturbance and is then programmed to regard the substance as toxic. NAET uses chiropractic and acupuncture techniques to restore the smooth flow of energy along the meridians and reprogram the central nervous system to no longer regard the substance as incompatible energetically.
The energy disturbance created by an allergy is the key to muscle response testing. To be tested for a potential allergen (something that causes an allergic reaction), you hold a vial containing the substance in one hand. You hold your other arm straight out in front of you and attempt to keep it there while the person testing pushes down on it slightly. Normally, you can easily hold your arm in place, but when you are allergic to the substance in the vial, your muscle response is weakened by the energy disturbance the allergy causes. A weakened response in testing indicates a possible allergy.
Those who have not experienced this test often find it difficult to believe that it can tell you anything, much less identify allergies. Upon undergoing the test, however, most people are amazed to discover that their arm seems to have a life, or mind, of its own. One moment, while holding one test substance, they see their arm drop slightly, and the next, with a different test vial, the arm holds steady. The person being tested usually does not know what's in the vial, so they do not unconciously influence the outcome.
For the treatment phase, the person holds the vial of the offending substance while the NAET practitioner uses slight pressure, needles, or a chiropractic tool to treat the appropriate points to clear the affected meridian(s). Keeping the vial in your energy field during this process reprograms the brain and nervous system to regard the substance as innocuous. In general, it is then necessary to avoid ingesting or otherwise having contact with the substance for 25 hours after treatment.
Dr. Nambudripad explains the reason for this time period: “An energy molecule takes 24 hours to travel through the body, completing its circulation through all 12 major meridians, their branches, and sub-branches. It takes two hours to travel through one meridian…. When the allergy is treated through NAET, the patient has to wait 24 hours to let the energy molecule carrying the new information pass through the complete cycle of the journey.”208
To be safe, one hour is added to the 24-hour cycle. If the person eats the allergenic food or has contact with an allergenic substance before the cycle is complete, the clearing treatment will likely have to be repeated, and the food or other substance will need to be avoided for another 25 hours.
You can have sensitivities or allergies to anything you eat, drink, inhale, or touch or are touched by, such as fabric, cosmetics, chemicals, and environmental pollutants. Many people are allergic to the same basic substances. In many cases, people are not aware of their allergies. They may even crave the food or other substance that they are allergic to.
“An allergy can manifest as an addiction or an aversion,” explains Dr. Nambudripad. “It can go either way. I treat people with addictions for allergies because they're allergic to something that is causing them to be addicted to the substance.” Once you clear that allergy, the addiction disappears, she says. Conversely, some people strongly dislike certain foods or other items, and they are actually allergic to them. After you clear the allergy, the aversion is gone as well.
—HELENE AND FRED, parents of a recovered daughter
For the purposes of clearing people of their allergies more quickly, NAET combines the most common allergens in five basic groups: egg mix (egg white, egg yolk, chicken, and the antibiotic tetracycline); calcium mix (breast milk, cow's milk, goat's milk, milk albumin, casein, lactic acid, calcium, and coumarin, a phenolic or natural component found in milk); vitamin C (fruits, vegetables, vinegar, citrus, and berry); B complex vitamins (17 vitamins in the B family); and sugar mix (cane, corn, maple, grape, rice, brown, and beet sugars, plus molasses, honey, fructose, dextrose, glucose, and maltose).
You may wonder why tetracycline is included in the egg mix. The answer is that chickens are routinely fed this antibiotic to keep infections that might kill them from doing so and also to prevent the spread of infection from chicken to chicken. Thus, tetracycline is a component of commercial chicken products and, as such, has become a common allergen.
For some people, it is sufficient to clear the five basic groups, but most people with severe conditions such as bipolar disorder have more extensive allergies. The larger basic collection of allergens includes magnesium, essential fatty acid oils, amino acids, grain mix (including gluten), yeast mix (including acidophilus), artificial sweeteners, food additives, and food coloring, among others. A number of these substances have implications for bipolar disorder.
Deficiencies in magnesium, essential fatty acids, and amino acids are common among people with bipolar disorder. If a person is allergic to a nutrient, the body cannot absorb it and thus becomes deficient in it. An allergy to these nutrients might explain the deficiencies. An allergy to gluten (a grain protein) could also contribute to the amino acid deficiency common in bipolar disorder, as the body cannot properly digest this food and therefore cannot assimilate the amino acids it contains.
As noted in chapter 2, digestive problems have an impact on the brain. An allergy to acidophilus means that this beneficial bacteria is unable to perform its function of keeping the Candida population in the intestines in check. The result is digestive dysfunction.
Artificial sweeteners, food additives, and food coloring contain chemicals that are neurotoxic to some individuals. NAET practitioners would say that the neurotoxicity stems from the fact that the individuals are allergic to the substances. Once cleared of the allergy, in most cases, people can eat foods containing these additives without suffering the negative effects. The same is true of gluten and casein (in the calcium mix), which is good news for those who have struggled with a gluten-free and/or casein-free diet.
It is worthwhile to note at this point that people can develop allergies to anything, even to nutrients that are natural to and required by the body. Says Dr. Nambudripad, “Any substance under the sun, including sunlight itself, can cause an allergic reaction in any individual.”209 The body can even develop a reactivity to its own tissue and brain chemicals, such as an allergy to one's own brain, hypothalamus, nerves, lung tissue, and neurotransmitters such as serotonin.
For more about allergies to neurotransmitters, see chapter 7.
Allergic reactions tend to affect certain organs or meridians in individuals, depending on where their weak or vulnerable areas are, says Dr. Nambudripad. The organ most affected is known as the “target organ.” The weakness can be genetic in nature or created by environmental factors such as toxic exposure or lack of adequate nutrition. The target organ can be the nervous system or the brain. If that is the case, chronic allergic reaction can negatively affect brain and nervous system function.
In the case of food allergies, “with the first bite of an allergic food, the brain begins to block the energy channels, attempting to prevent the adverse energy of the food from entering into the body,” says Dr. Nambudripad.210 Chronic blockage of the Stomach meridian can also affect brain function. Manic disorders, depressive disorders, and schizophrenia are among the manifestations of this blockage. When the liver is the target organ or the Liver meridian is blocked, emotional imbalances, anger, mood swings, and depression are among the outcomes.211
As for how the allergies or sensitivities develop in the first place, Dr. Nambudripad cites heredity, toxins, weakened immunity, emotional stress, overexposure to a substance, and radiation. Anything that causes energy blockages in the body, which throws off the body's electromagnetic field, can cause an allergy to develop, she says. Toxins of any kind, from the neurotoxin mercury to the by-products of bacterial infection, disturb energy flow, as do synthetic food additives and artificial sweeteners.
The electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of televisions, computers, and other electrical devices in the house are common culprits in the development of allergies, according to Dr. Nambudripad. The practice of feeding infants and children in front of the television so they will keep quiet and cooperate can be a recipe for allergies. The television's EMF extends at least 20 feet, she notes, and throws off the child's own energy field. You could say that it “short-circuits the energy patterns,” she says. And it does so while the child is eating, which is akin to doing NAET in reverse, programming the child to be allergic to that food.
NAET removes the energy blockages underlying allergies, which returns the individual's own energy field to its normal state. In the following two cases, NAET reversed severe bipolar disorder by eliminating the many allergies from which the people suffered, unbeknownst to them.
Delia, now 46, had a major breakdown at the age of 16, received the dual diagnosis of manic-depressive disorder and schizophrenia, and was hospitalized. She was in the hospital for years, and treated with shock therapy and drugs.
At the age of 32, she was released from the hospital. She was on lithium and other psychiatric medications. The lithium kept her violent and angry episodes only somewhat under control. She still experienced periods when she would explode in anger. Her family was having a very difficult time with her.
Delia's mother had come to Dr. Nambudripad for pain and skin problems, both of which had been resolved by NAET. She asked her to treat Delia. Dr. Nambudripad wasn't sure that she could help her, not because she didn't think NAET would improve her condition, but because Delia, with her anger and violent tendencies, was such an extreme case to handle in a clinic situation. If she were treating Delia in a hospital, Dr. Nambudripad would not have hesitated. But Delia's mother wanted desperately to try it, so they did.
In the beginning, when Delia came into Dr. Nambudripad's clinic for her NAET treatments, she would fight with all the office staff, and everyone was scared of her.
From the very beginning, Delia submitted to NAET without protest or resistance. “For some reason, she took a liking to me,” recalls Dr. Nambudripad. “We got along fine. The rest of the office staff was afraid, but I wasn't afraid. She knew that something was going to happen here, so she stuck with me and became one of our best patients.”
Delia needed many, many treatments. It took four years to clear her of all of her allergies, and sometimes she was getting treatments three days a week. Dr. Nambudripad notes that hers was a very extreme case; the number of treatments she required was far beyond what is normally needed. She had a host of allergies, most of which took multiple treatments to clear, instead of the usual single treatment. In the case of chemicals, pesticides, insulation, materials in her own house, including the paint, and other environmental allergens, it took many, many treatments to clear each one. She had around 170 allergies in all.
Despite the daunting prospect of clearing all these allergies, she never quit, says Dr. Nambudripad. Within the first two months, she could see that her condition was improving, and so she stuck with it. “She was very, very faithful to treatment. Now, if she feels that she has an allergic reaction to something, she immediately comes to our office and gets treated. She knows this is the only thing to help her so far.”
At the end of four years of NAET treatment, she was off all of her medications. She no longer had violent outbursts or fought with the clinic's office staff. She was doing yoga exercises twice a day, eating a healthful diet, and taking vitamin and mineral supplements. Dr. Nambudripad encourages people with bipolar disorder “to get involved with yoga, meditation, or such disciplines to help maintain their mental balance. They also should check their vitamin B complex and trace mineral levels periodically and continue to take these nutrients as needed because they can become deficient very quickly.”
Delia got a full-time job and wanted to go off the disability payments everyone thought she would be on for the rest of her life. Dr. Nambudripad suggested that she have the disability put on hold, rather than cancelled, so she could go back on it if she ever needed to. Delia agreed, but in the five years since then, she has still not needed it. Both Delia and her mother consider Delia to be fully recovered.
Bruce, 44, also had a dual diagnosis of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He had just graduated with high honors from a prestigious university when he became sick. He had been unable to resume his life since then. When he came to Dr. Nambudripad in his early forties, he was on three or four different drugs and in worse shape than Delia had been.
“Sometimes when I treated certain things, his head would feel like it was exploding,” Dr. Nambudripad recalls. “He would hit his head on the wall and on the floor.” At times during the first two weeks of treatment, he got so violent that she had to give him an injection. His family was highly supportive of NAET, and his mother, a nurse, always accompanied her son.
Bruce got NAET treatments two or three times a week. After the first two difficult weeks, he was calmer and felt better, and there were no more problems during treatment. In his case, there were around 80 allergies that needed to be cleared, but they cleared more easily than Delia's allergies did. His were mainly food allergies. He was highly allergic to orange juice, sugar, minerals, and all the gluten grains, especially wheat. He was also very allergic to fat. “He used to crave fatty foods, like fried fast foods, with those terrible hydrogenated oils and additives,” says Dr. Nambudripad. “He used to go and eat at Carl's Jr., and that day would be the worst nightmare for the family.” His allergy would plunge him into an episode.
Bruce had two years of treatment, at the end of which he was back to what he considered to be about 80 percent normal. “He was doing very well; he could drive, he could do a lot of things on his own. He was working in the family business again, as he used to do.” Dr. Nambudripad taught Bruce's mother how to do NAET, so if any allergies arose, she could treat him.
Now, three years later, Bruce is “100 percent normal,” no longer takes any psychiatric medications, and is highly successful in the business world. Like Delia, he practices yoga regularly, takes vitamins and minerals, and eats healthfully.
