This leap into Traditional Chinese Medicine is not the easiest thing for someone like me. Some of it makes sense and some of it....well, some of it is just so alien to me. I have to constantly tell myself, "the Chinese have been doing this for thousands of years, there must be something to it." I say that to myself often as I lay in a dim room with needles sticking out all over my body.
The herbs make sense to me, though. Humans have been using herbs since the dawn of civilization. In fact, my colon has calmed down a great deal. Mind you, I am also on 20 mg of prednisone a day. But I have been on 20 mg of prednisone a lot over the last several months and, with a week of 41 herb-based pills a day, my colon is feeling pretty normal. Well, normal for me, that is. The external swelling and inflammation--that is a different story. But better than it was a month ago.
Dr. X had asked me to bring three things to my last appointment: wheat, corn and milk. He was going to test my body's reaction to each of those things while I ate them. How he was going to do this, I wasn't sure.
What happened blew my mind and caused the skeptical side of me to go into an apoplectic fit.
Laying on my back, Dr. X told me to take a bite of the wheat bread, to chew it but not swallow. Then, he did a muscle test. As I held the wheat in my mouth, he pushed against my leg as I laid on the table. He told me to resist his pressure. I held my right leg out to the side as stiff as I could as he tried to push my leg back to the center. Now, Dr. X is probably in his early 70s. This wasn't very difficult.
"Good," he said. Then it was time for the corn.
Same thing. I held the man back. I was feeling good.
Next came the milk. I held the milk in my mouth and laid back down, fully expecting the same result.
But I was wrong. My legs snapped together as if my muscles suddenly vanished. In my shock, I swallowed the milk.
"There you go," said Dr. X. "Your body does not like milk."
I was flabbergasted.
"It's all neurological," the doctor explained. "Your tongue sends the signal to your brain and if it senses something that it knows causes harm, your body reacts immediately. That's what you just experienced."
We tried it again. This time, I was determined to hold him back. I put the milk in my mouth, laid down and tensed my muscles as much as I could.
But it was useless. My legs snapped together even faster this time. No resistance at all.
He must have noticed the look on my face. "I've been doing this for almost 40 years. And I sometimes forget what it must seem like to someone who has no experience with Eastern or alternative medicine."
He then proceeded to prepare me for an acupuncture treatment. He stuck needles throughout my abdomen, legs and arms. I became a human pin cushion. He then covered me in a blanket, turned down the lights and told me to relax. But I couldn't. My mind was spinning. I couldn't explain at all what had just happened. It defied all logic.
This technique is called Applied kinesiology. It's been around for about 40 years and is a form of alternative medicine based the idea that body feedback can be observed to diagnosed ailments. Most of the scientific community has not embraced applied kinesiology, some going so far to call it "quackery." There is little scientific evidence to support its claims but people all over the world use it and swear by it.
I don't know what to think. I tried replicating the results at home without success. But my 7 year old is not a doctor and the bed I was laying on was not as hard as the one in the office. I probably wasn't aligned right. And my son wasn't pushing, I imagine, on the right muscle. Plus, he's only seven.
All I know is that I tried my hardest the second time to keep my leg stiff and I couldn't do it. It was like I had no control over that leg at all when I had the milk in my mouth. Last year, I went to an allergist and was tested for milk allergies. It came back negative. I am not lactose intolerant, but this may be more than just lactose. Perhaps I have a reaction to certain milk proteins or amino acids or something. I just don't know. I've given up milk before and never noticed a difference.
Needless to say, I was told to avoid milk. Next time, Dr. X wants me to bring yogurt, cheese and orange juice.
We'll see what happens on Tuesday. In the meantime, I'll continue taking the herbs and wrestling with the skeptical side of my brain as I try to fully comprehend this whole experience.
More later.
Fascinating....sometimes it's the little details that help find cures!! Hang in there!!
ReplyDeleteMom