Allergy Update November 1, 2011

Since today marks the beginning of a new month, I decided to update my readers on how I am feeling allergy-wise since my last BaxAura appointment.

I feel very good lately! I am still doing the gluten-free and tomato-free thing, and I feel that it is paying off and helping my body to further heal.  I am trying to stay on top of taking a probiotic (preferably in the form of homemade kefir) fairly regularly, and have also been taking digestive enzymes when I feel the need, which do wonders.  I even ate out last weekend and did not have any repercussions!

So there you have it, my little positive update. :)

BaxAura and General Gluten-Free Update

My allergies have generally been pretty good. Sunday I had a little bit more intermittent enviro(I think-it was usually when I was in our vehicle)-induced throat itching, but overall I am doing very well in that department.

I am still getting over the "Glutening" from last week. It's rather weird, but I have gotten a hiatal hernia that has decided to present itself possibly as a result of my gluten exposure.  This happened to me last year as well, and the chiro was able to adjust me and I was fine until a few weeks ago. Yesterday I went in for a chiro adjustment and she adjusted me again and it was great for the rest of the day... I wonder too if it might be a response to something environmental at this time of year....

I had brought in something I had suspected might be a trigger food(and wasn't), and my polarity was blocked again! Ugh! It was an easy fix, but I still wonder why the blocking?

So there it is, my little update. :)

BaxAura and General Gluten-Free Update

Last week, I went in for my BaxAura appointment, to see how I was doing. My allergies are very minimal now, thanks partly to the weather being rainy (although others are still complaining about allergies) and partly due to my homeopathics actually working. My polarity was just fine this time around, and my allergies are very minimal. She ran my bottle through the machine and told me to finish it up and I didn't need to make another appointment unless I felt the need.

So, I am dutifully finishing my bottle--3 sprays, 3 times a day.  Sometimes I forget, unlike those few weeks where I was desperate for it to work...

On to my Gluten-Free Update...
I seem to be doing pretty well with the gut healing, Gluten-free eating. Unfortunately, I ate something this weekend that did not agree with me, and it's taking a few days for my system to recuperate.  So many places to watch for Gluten when it's not all under one's control/in one's own kitchen! Aah!

Also, I have slacked off on drinking my kefir daily, AND had a few cups of coffee last week that weren't really doing me any favors. How quickly I forget...(but it *was* great coffee!)... And on top of this, spicy food is not my buddy either....my poor gut!


SO...As of this Monday, I am back on the Gluten-free thing, after my unintended "test" on Sunday. I am drinking homemade Kefir daily (which goes a long way in how I feel and how my gut deals with what I eat), and have made myself a huge pot of beef soup based on the GF Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup recipe I posted recently. Bone broth is also my friend. :) And taking digestive enzymes certainly aren't hurting anything!

BaxAura Update

Today I went in for an allergy/BaxAura appointment. I told how I was feeling the last couple weeks. (rather yucky, if you've not been keeping up with my posts)

So she ran the computer test while I was holding the metal rod. Still fighting with Chenopods (not Ragweed or Nettle) and the ileocecal valve<--I suspect this might be related to my cycles/hormones, though I didn't ask.

When the doc went to do some preliminary muscle testing, she found that I couldn't be muscle tested at first, due to my polarity being blocked. We are not sure why this happened, but it has happened once in the past with the other chiro, when I first started AAT.  The first attempt at resetting my polarity didn't work (rubbing lymph area of the upper left chest), testing with a couple of different vials didn't bring anything up (I'm sorry, I didn't read what they were), but once she rubbed the point between my eyebrows, that seemed to fix the problem enough to be able to muscle test. (I really need to learn/remember the names of these acupuncture points, lol!)

Weird. Apparently, people who have problems wearing watches because they run the battery down so quickly have problems with their polarity as well. "Normal" polarity has one side of the arm with a positive charge, and the other with a negative charge, but the people with polarity issues will have the same charge on both sides of the arm.  The phenomena of the full moon causing lots of people to end up in emergency rooms is also related to this polarity thing.

It sounds sort of "out there" to my ears, but knowing that our bodies operate using electric charges, I suppose it's not a wholly "supernatural" thing. 

Just out of curiosity, the doc is going to look back and see if anything significant occurred around August 17 as far as the earth's polarity, the time this year and last year that my allergies really started acting up (and quite close to the same time the years before). 

I believe she is also going to contact the BaxAura people to see, if I am having problems with polarity, whether my body will know what to do with the homeopathics, which operate with polarity/specific charges.

Bax Update: After My Struggle

After my last (sad) update, I wanted to update again.

Interestingly, looking back at previous years' blog posts, August 17 or so is the day that I really started complaining about fall allergies, both this year and last year. Something to take note of.

I re-evaluated my hayfever problem and have made some changes around the house to hopefully help me out this season.

1. I am continuing the Gluten- and Tomato- free thing, especially through the end of this allergy season.  I am also avoiding cucumbers and melon (and zucchini), as they are associated with Ragweed allergy and can cause problems similar to hayfever when consumed during Ragweed season (Oral Allergy Syndrome). Just because I've had that problem in the past and know I am still struggling with hayfever....trying to give my body the best chance to NOT increase the "bad" things it has to deal with.

2. I have closed nearly all windows in the house.  I'd prefer to let the cool night air in to cool the house off, rather than torture us with hot rooms to sleep in....but for now, the (clean) fans are working 'good enough'.

3. I have made our bedroom an Allergy Safe Zone.
This means:

• Closing the windows
• I have gotten a not-doused-in-pollen-fan to help circulate air
• I swept the floors with my vacuum that has a HEPA filter
• I got rid of the laundry pile on hubby's side of the bed
• I took off ALL of the covers and pillows from the bed and washed them on HOT and dried them thoroughly in the dryer.  As I was taking the pillow cases off of the pillows, I had a sneezing fit. A couple of our pillows' allergy covers are worn out/holey and I need to replace them. 
• I have also mandated that we each need to take a shower before going to bed---no bringing pollen from being outside into the bedroom!

After my sneezing fit when handling the pillows, I really think my "Allergy Tank" was overflowing when I was trying to sleep in my pollen-doused room/bed.  Even I wasn't showering every night (tsk-tsk)...the pollen built up over a couple days on our pillows and bedding---pollen that was stuck to our hair after walking around outside in the garden/fields.  I wasn't getting the rest I needed to recuperate at all, and it was having a snowball effect.

At my last post, I mentioned that I thought about taking Claritin on top of my homeopathics. I did so, and drank a TON of water to hopefully prevent the sinus-clogged-effect I got the last time I took a 24 hour allergy med.  Still, once the Claritin wore off, I found that I actually felt better OFF the Claritin!  (makes me wonder whether there is something in the allergy meds that doesn't agree with me...corn? I hope not.)

Weird. Especially since today's allergy level on Pollen.com is even higher--a 10.6 on a 12 point scale. Maybe finally taking these precautions is actually helping.



So anyway, yesterday and today so far I have only taken my homeopathic and used my Neti Pot once or twice.  It's supposed to get HOT today...we'll see how it goes from here on out.

Bax Update: I am Struggling

I am at 6 weeks after my treatment with the BaxAura. I am really struggling with the environmental allergies lately, even taking the homeopathics. Pollen counts have been in the 9.8 area (on a 12 point scale), HIGH. According to Pollen.com, the culprits are Ragweed, Chenopods, and Nettles.  What is bothering me the most is my eyes, which is a new thing in the last week once the pollen counts got to the High point.  I haven't had this severe of eye allergies for a long time. :(

There has been a few nights that I have resorted to Tylenol PM so that I can sleep ....and Benadryl or Zyrtec some days when I *have* to function, albeit through a medicated fog. The last time I took Zyrtec, it only made my congestion worse so I don't know that I will be doing THAT again anytime soon.   Besides that, Zyrtec makes me feel weird...

This is the worst time of year and is horrible for most allergy people. I do have to say that it's better in comparison to other years, but still, I could really do without any allergies at all.  I've had hayfever my whole life as far as I can remember, so maybe there are just some things that the Bax systems (the Bax3000 and the BaxAura) can't treat and have results right away (or ever).  Maybe I am just still working through it/healing.....  Alternative medicine has done wonders for me as far as foods go, as well as the molds around my house, and most of the summer I have done well without any antihistamines (until August).

I just can't seem to kick these fall allergies.  I want to go outside and enjoy the cooler fall days and the beautiful weather and sunshine....work in the garden, mow the lawn, haul wood...walk, even, but I still pay for it to some extent if I do so.

Ugh.

Maybe I should move to Antarctica.

BaxAura Update, 4 weeks 3 days after treatment

Today I had my BaxAura consultation, 4 weeks and 3 days after the initial treatment.

As you may have read in my previous posts, I went back a few weeks ago and was told to continue using my homeopathic sprays because my body was "still working on healing". Which I have been doing.

The last 3 days and nights, (especially the last 24 hours), I have been having  more and more flareups. Last night I woke several times with an itchy throat and with insanely itchy ears.  We have a fan in our bedroom window(blowing out-a compromise with hubby b/c if we turn it off altogether and close the windows it's too hot to sleep). I realize the fan is sucking air(and pollen) from outside from other windows of the house, but it's the best we can do at this time.

I explained all this to my chiro, and we started up with the BaxAura computer system. I held the metal cylinder thing while  she used the program.  Then she did some muscle testing with and without my homeopathic bottles and I got new bottles since mine held mere drops.

I was also given a different bottle to replace my previous Gall Bladder bottle. This new bottle is labeled as BioPhasic 4 Lung and Large Intestine Support.

I can take my homeopathic drops more often than three times a day. They will do more good, taking 3 sprays more times a day than, say, simply upping my dosage to 16 sprays 3 times a day.  Since I am struggling, I am going to take it on a day-to-day basis, maybe doing 3 sprays 6 times a day or so. That way, I will hopefully have enough to last me until my next appointment. That's my plan, anyway.

My issues are with stuff that I was treated for before but have risen to the top and am dealing with more currently: Cut Weeds being the one we made note of as being pretty prominent. Cut Weeds as in mowing the grass.  So if I am going to be cutting weeds or mowing or otherwise harming vegetation (So sorry, Mother Nature...), I may need to take my homeopathic sprays more often.


We'll see how the next few weeks goes until my next consultation.

BaxAura Update, 4 weeks after treatment

I am still taking my homeopathic sprays. I still have some intermittent allergy symptoms, so I suspect I am still in the healing stages.  I'm doing surprisingly well, considering I am not taking any allergy medication other than the homeopathic and it's peak allergy season. I do wish, though, that I didn't have these "spells" and have to rely on the sprays 3 times a day (or more--there's been a few times I have taken an extra dose rather than resort to antihistamines)...


I do have to say that I am doing better than 4 weeks ago, before I did the BaxAura treatment (having had AAT a few years ago, and BioAllergenix through the last year +). The treatment seems to have reached more than the other two systems for me (or the not having to avoid all the pollens is a big positive compared to the other systems).  Previous to the BaxAura treatment, I found myself reaching for the Claritin or Zyrtec as I approached (my) peak allergy month, but I haven't done that since the BaxAura treatment.

Editing to add: We had our annual Awana Carnival last night.  3 and 4 years ago, before treatments, it was horrible. Constant itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, feeling hot/flushed, tired, itchy skin, etc. And this was while taking daily Claritin.   Last year (after BioAllergenix treatments) was better, though not perfect by any means. I was newly pregnant and it was hotter this time of year last year. This year, I went inside a few times for a tissue and had one small flareup of itchy throat, but it was nothing near the years previous. I was worried, the whole time (and have been this whole season) that it wasn't going to work at all. But it seems to have worked/be working fairly well, especially considering I'm not taking anything other than my vitamins and the homeopathics.

One of the worst times of day for me is first thing in the morning. For some reason, that time of day usually includes itchy throat for me, but is usually remedied once I get something to eat or drink. I sometimes wonder if it's a conditioned response, after living so long with allergies and having this happen....I do find that if I can control to urge to "give in" to the itching, that it passes much more quickly. Probably because I'm not rubbing the roof of my mouth with my tongue and triggering more histamine production in my body.  I do find that this itchy throat phenomenon is more noticeable if I have eaten something "questionable" the day/night before. (By questionable, I mean something with gluten, the dreaded GMO corn-->soda, or lots of junk food/food with lots of additives.)

My next appointment is on Saturday, so I will see where we are from there. I would be willing to bet that I am "still working on it" and will need a refill of the spray(which should take me through the rest of the allergy season)...hopefully I won't be asked to spend more on it, as I simply can't afford to do so.

If it's suggested that I get another BaxAura treatment, I will probably:
1. Opt for staying inside more (hard to do out in the country, trying to pick and prepare our own food);
2. Taking antihistamines when I plan on going out a lot, and
3. Being even more picky about what I eat, especially in regards to gluten and GMO's.
 
Much as I would love to pursue further treatment with the BaxAura, sometimes the almighty dollar wins. Unfortunately.

BaxAura Update, 3 weeks after treatment

Today marks week 3 after my BaxAura treatment.  I am still taking the homeopathic sprays 3 times a day or so.

The last week or so has felt weird to me, weather-wise. Maybe I expect August to be horrible every month, but this year it's actually rather enjoyable. The weather is cooling, and even though the local pollen levels on pollen.com are Medium-High (8.2 today on a 12 point scale), I only have short-lived itchy throat ever so often. I am definitely not going through the tissues like I have in past years.

Last year, when I'd had the BioAllergenix treatments, was better than the previous years. This year, I think the BaxAura has reached the things the Bax3000 hadn't been able to reach.  Maybe because I did not need to fully avoid the stuff after the treatment. I think the avoidance period required with AAT/BioAllergenix is one problem I have  had with the many different pollens/molds: I can't completely avoid them when I live in a 100 year old farmhouse!

I am still going through the healing process after my BaxAura treatment(taking the homeopathics). I hope it improves even more and maybe I won't need the homeopathic in the future. As it stands, even if I do need to get a bottle of homeopathic each year, this is working far better than antihistamines ever worked for me in August before!

How does the BaxAura work?

I asked the chiro for a layman's explanation of how the BaxAura does its job.

I didn't bring my handy dandy notebook to my appointment, so I hope she will forgive me (and chime in, perhaps, if she reads this) if I mess up the explanation. :)

So, here goes.

When the cuff is on the arm and the scan is running on the computer, the computer sends a digital signal to the nervous system  of many, many different items and measures the body's response. This is not only for allergens, but for anything to which one's body could be having an abnormal response.  As the computer runs through the test, it tags each item that the body responds abnormally strong to, and puts it on a list.

When the laser light is used for the treatment, your own personal list of allergens is loaded into the machine, and the full signal is sent to the nervous system. At the same time, there is a signal the body associates with euphoria that is sent through the laser light. 

So, the full signal of the treatment is being sent along with a euphoric ("this is good") signal to encourage the body to associate the things on your list with good, not with the prior "this is bad", negative response.  This alleviates undue stress on the body and overall health.

The homeopathic bottles given for use after the BaxAura treatment are given a homeopathic digital dose of your allergens/items that came up in the testing. So, for instance, if your full dosage of item X with the laser light was 888, your homeopathic dose would be 8. The homeopathic dosage is a "baby dose" of the full laser light treatment dosage. This homeopathic is what you use during the weeks after treatment to aid the body's healing after your initial laser treatment with the BaxAura.

I hope this helps you to understand somewhat how the BaxAura system works.

Here's to better health!

Allergies: Presenting Differently After Alternative Treatments?

Have you had allergy treatments with AAT, BioAllergenix, or Bax Aura? If so, have you noticed that your allergies seem to be presenting differently?

I asked my chiro whether other patients have had this experience.  I have noticed this in myself and have seen it mentioned on various online boards, and finally had the presence of mind to ask this the other day, since I had no other pressing issues at the time.

Her answer was that often the noticeable symptoms of the allergy that bring people to seek out treatment are addressed with the treatments, but that as the cause of those symptoms are addressed, there are often other underlying issues that are brought to light. Things that you may not have noticed when you were dealing with the other allergy issues.  As treatment progresses, you address the cause of those "new?" symptoms, and so on, until you get to the bottom of things.

What this translates to for me is that the hayfever I remember having since I was a very young child, that progressed to multiple food allergies, year-round indoor allergies, chronic sinus problems and gut problems is what brought me to the point of seeking out more than a mere pill for treatment. (A pill that didn't work by that time, anyway.)

When I began seeking treatment with AAT, then BioAllergenix, these treatments took care of many of the food and environmental allergies (ie. most of my hayfever symptoms and sinus problems).  Once these symptoms had been gone for the most part, I started to notice a "something's in my throat" feeling here and there.  My family doctor ordered a thyroid test (which came out perfectly fine) and chalked it up to GERD/reflux/heartburn and told me to take Pepcid. 

I wasn't happy with the "take a pill" solution to my throat problem; I wanted to get to the source of the problem rather than slap a band-aid on it...a band-aid that could bring some long-term health problems if used regularly.  Having had the experience of keeping a food journal and keeping track of symptoms, I noticed a correlation between tomatoes grains and the throat feeling in my throat.  When I stayed away from those things, the throat issue would go away. With internet research on WebMd and online medical journals, I learned about Eosinophilic Esophagitis.  While I don't have the means to pursue an actual diagnosis, the end result would be the same for me were I given that diagnosis: avoidance of known allergens/triggers. (The other alternative would be swallowing, rather than inhaling, the contents of a steroid inhaler. Something I would consider only as a last resort.)

So that is what I am doing: avoiding gluten and tomatoes.And trying to eat healthily and maintain a healthy gut.

My body is apparently working deeper on this allergy issue. According to the chiro, there is a good chance that I had problems even as a child. They were just not recognized at that time (EE is a relatively newly-discovered and named disorder; one that is alarmingly rising in our young children).  With food and environmental allergies on both sides of my family, I would not be surprised if that were the case.

So, there's that.  I wanted to just set that out there in case anyone was wondering. :)

Here's to better health! 

BaxAura, Take 2

I went in today for a followup appointment with the BaxAura. 

As per instructions the last time I went in, I fasted an hour before my appointment.

The doc and I discussed how I was feeling since the treatment 10 days ago.  The first 2 nights I still struggled with nighttime throat itching due to our window fan dragging in the pollen with the cool night air.  The nights after that I have generally been able to get a good night's sleep without allergy problems.  A couple times during the last week or so, I have had very minor allergy itchy throat/eye/sneeze episodes and some arm itchiness after picking beans and cucumbers in the garden (which I think any non-allergy person might experience).  When I was mowing part of our grass weed/plantain acreage, I did have a little-more-than-minor episode but it passed quickly and I was able to go out and mow w/o it happening again.

I am definitely not going through the tissues like I have in years past. A definite blessing!

The doc had me hold what looked like a small aluminum(brushed steel?) cylinder hooked up to the computer and ran a Mini-scan. My body is still working through the grasses, ragweed and something else(can't remember) from the last treatment. And Gluten is still a no-go. (tsk-tsk)  Apparently, with the BaxAura, the treatment takes more time to fully take effect.  My homeopathic spray was run through the machine again, but I didn't need to get another treatment(and thus no fasting afterwards). I just need to continue taking the homeopathic until my next visit.

I was not charged for the followup appointment.

My BaxAura Experience - The Day After

So far the environmental allergies haven't been horrible after getting the treatment with the BaxAura.  Last night, it was quite difficult to sleep, but that could very well be due to the high temps/humidity and we live in an old farmhouse with only fans for cooling. It's stinky hot these days, folks!

I did have a few episodes of itchy throat last night. It sort of came in waves, though. I found that if I concentrated enough and did NOT rub the inside of my throat w/my tongue (fellow allergy sufferers know what I'm talking about, I'll bet), then I wouldn't get near the histamine response/pileup that I would get if I gave in.  And then the feeling left and I could sleep a little bit.

I have had my jaw tension come back, again, in waves.  It comes and goes.

Interestingly enough, my head itchiness has gone away for the most part. I mention this because one of the things that came up on the scan had to do with this issue I've  had off and on for some time. (I have had such a hard time finding commercial shampoo/conditioner that doesn't cause this!)

I am taking my homeopathic sprays as recommended and waiting to see what happens next.

My BaxAura Experience

With August (historically my worst allergy month) approaching and the need to take a Zyrtec ever so often increasing, I decided to give the BaxAura a try.  I am told it would take 1 visit to do the scan/treatment, and then 1 visit to follow up. I am not sure if they charge for the follow-up, but I figure Zyrtec isn't cheap either.  My visit today cost me $85. The price may vary from location to location.

The BaxAura operates in a similar way to the BioAllergenix system(which uses the Bax3000). Apparently, though, it tests for even more things than BioAllergenix, and it makes a homeopathic remedy for you to take home with you. I went today in hopes of the BaxAura being able to treat the little things that have fallen through the cracks with the BioAllergenix system. 

I am MUCH better than I EVER was pre-AAT/BioAllergenix with the environmentals. But I still feel the need to take a Claritin/Zyrtec ever so often. Especially because I don't want to operate on the "tough it out" mindset that may have had some role in getting me to the point of having so many allergies in the first place.  Trying to ignore the allergies and making my body fight and fight and fight just wore my immune system/adrenals out.  "Get tough or die" might have some truth to it....when you can only get so tough...

But I digress.


The first step of the BaxAura testing/scan was to have a cuff strapped onto my forearm. The cuff is similar to something you would use for a sprained wrist, only without the padding, and with little metal pieces on it much the size of the rivets on a pair of bluejeans. The cuff is hooked up to the system and the computer runs through the scan. This lasted under 10 minutes for me. (You can't have magnets or batteries on your person during the scan.)

After the scan, the machine pulls up how your body responded to each item scanned for, and the practitioner selects the items over 10,000 (I am not sure what the units are here).

Once the items are selected, then the laser is used the same as with the BioAllergenix/Bax3000 system. Forehead over the head and down the back with eyes open, forehead over the head and down the back with eyes closed, same with a full breath in, then the same with a full breath out, then at the points on the feet, arms and hands.

A homeopathic remedy was also made using the machine, specific to my needs after this treatment.  I got two, one for the regular treatment, plus one for my gall bladder issues.

I was to fast for 3 hours after the treatment, only taking in pure water(no flavorings or sweeteners). Then, starting tonite I use the homeopathics 3 times a day until my followup appointment.

One nice thing about this is, with the environmentals, it is not necessary to completely avoid them for the treatment to work. I think this is a definite plus compared to the Bax3000/BioAllergenix and AAT, because who can really avoid all that stuff in the air....anywhere, much less in a 100 year old farmhouse? Not being able to completely avoid things may be my handicap with the other systems....time will tell.

So far, I have gotten extremely tired, my jaw(self-diagnosed TMJ type issues) has acted up, and I had a little bit of heartburn for just a few minutes that quickly left (all at different times).

It will be interesting to see how well this works on my August allergies.



Oh, and as an aside--you know that Gluten-free pizza crust I posted about a few days ago and got a headache afterwards? Coconut came up on the list that needed treated. Listen to your body.