How did I find out that I need to breathe correctly? (part 1 of 5)

Why do I ask the question?

My second son starting with having bronchial spasms or at least that is the label that was placed on them when he was very young. We brought him to traditional doctors in Europe and the standard response was an Aerosol (breathing apparatus) and Cortisone (a strong medication) to deal with the symptoms. [Please note: I am sure there are doctors who look with a wider view but unfortunately these were not the ones in the communities where we lived].

We questioned why our son may be in this position and we went through an incredible amount of ideas to why he was suffering in this way starting with reactions (we thought he had either allergies or intolerances) to our environment, materials and food. From skin rashes, to a regulary blocked nose and generally lesser level of energy that our first child who motored along as normal.

So we had two sets of issues on our hands with our son, those of breathing and allergies.

Where do we go?

Well when it came to breathing, we simply found the standard answer. We also had an internal problem (at least I had it). I did not want to put the label of asthma on my child. My wife is wonderful and yet she suffered the same problem as me i.e. we were in denial of what we considered at point to be the ‘dis-ease’ of asthma.

Then when it came allergies and the like, we had more avenues to persue. ‘Luckily’, my family has a long history of suffering from what I understood to be allergies [later I found that this term was an incorrect diagnosis and label]. Anyone reading will now say that I am mad but let me continue. My grandmother, my mother and last on the long list of migraine sufferers ‘me’ have had to deal with the periodic thunderstrom of a migraine headache that disabled us completely for a minimum of a full day with a frequency of every few weeks. Due to this genetic misfortune, there has been an on-going search for ‘cures’, ‘ remedies’, and ‘reliefs’ of any sort to minimise impact of the storm when it hit and mitigate its possibility of arriving in the first place. Placing a list of all the various methods, traditional, alternative and way-out, will take some time and I will at a later stage list those methods and my opinions of them in relation to our afflictions.

When did it start?

1996 – First Hope for Change

The first sign of hope came for me back in September 1996 from a lady in Ireland who practised applied kinesiology in simple terms meant muscle testing for identifying allergies and intolerances which would allow avoidance of the suspect materials and foods. The focus was on foods, which ones to avoid, which would lead to giving me more energy. The lady gave me a list of food I could not eat, mostly cow-realted products, which was a frustrating experience and I explicitedly asked her for a structure for my diet i.e. to drink and eat what and when.

On the way home, I went to the supermarket to find that almost every product on every shelf in every aisle was a pattern I had established. I had been going to exactly the same shelves on the same counter in the same aisles UNLESS the supermarket actually rearranged where they were placing their products. So I found a ‘new’ supermarket’ within the supermarket I had been going to for years, drinks and foods that I honestly did not know had existed beforehand and I left that supermarket feeling like I had moved from one dimension into another.

Let me start with stating that my imagination when it came to preparing food was very very limited. I found it hard to compose a meal of these foods in my mind. But I was determined to overcome this painful ‘inheritance’. The structure the lady gave me was drinking 8 glasses of water a day and eating a meal comprised of protein, carbohydrates and vegetables every 3 hours and in between those meals to have snacks of nuts, popcorn etc.

For a full 21 days consecutively, I executed the diet according to the agreed schedule and I vividly remember the experience of commuting into Dublin on the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport – Dublin’s electric train system) and as I was passing through the scenery I was seeing the colours more brightly, my mind was more connected and the feeling of energy running through my body full and flowing. This is an experience that I often refer back to motivate myself to behave in healthy ways for myself.

1997 – 1998

I lived on the experience of the 21 days and waivered up and down in my adherence to the agreed schedule and my energy was impacted accordingly. With all the ups and downs, my life had a new energy baseline, “life without migraine headaches”, and for the odd headache that I gave to myself I could easily put it down to my variance to the agreed provision regime for myself. So life was getting up ther with the best of them. A ‘normal’ life was becoming possible as long as I did not stray too far from what I understood to be good for me. Thank you to the lady who opened the door and my family who had reason enough to search.

It is wonderful being with a person who really enjoys the preparation of food for a good meal for us and for company for social occassions. During one of her trips she came across an Italian Vegetarian Cookbook “Il Cucchiaio Verde” which had a supplementary smaller book explaining and focussed on the principles of food combining. This book illustrated with simplicity the principles of food combining and to this day I remember the lunchtime meal my wife made for me. Actually I mostly remember the feeling after the meal of lightness and energy as I was used to fully slipping into the “afternoon lull”. ‘Wow’ is my body’s understanding. By combining food in certain ways we can eat, digest and feel great.

1999 – 2000

As with all success we come to a new level of living and find fault with even this dramatic improvement. ‘Avoidance’ had become the new ‘thorn in my side’ – why did I have to suffer the lack of pleasures in life? why could I not live a full life choosing any indulgences whenever I chose? A new desire was smouldering in me to ‘Conquer and Eliminate’ this defect that I had. With the help of others I had already reduced the defects effectively enough to live a much more manageable life than before. This was not enough! I wanted to beat these intolerances. I was building the energy to turn the tables on these ‘intolerances’, as it turned out I had no real allergies just over indulging behaviours that reduced my body’s ability to process certain over-consumed elements of drink and food.

In parallel, other members of my family were still suffering and searching. They had also benefitted from the ‘avoidance’ strategy allowed by the use of Kinesiology identification practices. Avoidance had become the word we all lamented about. Along with most of the population, some members of our family had ailed from back issues where we had requested the assistance of physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors. And some members of my family had also engaged in asian practices such as acupunture and reiki to try to find more results as these eastern practices were slowly being introduced to Ireland. Unknown to ourselves we were moving in good direction and a part of the answer we looking for would be the result of integration between some of these previously independent disciplines. A lady named Nambudripad who started as a Chiropractor and then added Acupuncture to her medical toolset combined them with kinesiology to develop her own Allergy Elimination Technique, a.k.a. N.A.E.T. Nambudripads Allergy Elimination Technique.

Fortunately, a New Zealand Chiropractor who had gone on to study NAET had set up practice in Dublin City and through a reference from a Chiropractor in Greystones and my aunt through her searching located this new source of future help. One after another members of the family brought all their scepticism to try and test this potential panacea for our cures to allergies and intolerances.

My first experience with the New Zealander was unusual, not for the interaction as I was used to Kinesiology and Chirpractic operations, but for what happened afterwards. During the time in with the NAET Practitioner, the diagnosis that I was given was that my body was not processing the protein in meat which not understanding completely why as previous diagnosis had always milk and its friends but I accepted it and went along with the treatment. My brother was with me and he agreed todrive the way home. Ten minutes out of the treatment, I started sweating profusing with the feeling that my body was letting go of something and I feel asleep in the car. Thankfully my brother had decided to come with me for the treatment, our intent was so we could have some extra time and conversation not that he would drive his ’supposed’ conversation partner home asleep!

2001 – Our second son was born!

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To Be Continued … Part 2 (Coming in February 2009)