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Elizabeth Hanson's Experiance with BodyTalk
  When our two oldest were yonger, Esther 4 - PDD, OCD and hearing impaired and Sarah 3 Autistic, were diagnosed we thought about starting the special diet for autistic individuals which is GF/CF - gluten free (wheat, rye, buckwheat) and casein free (milk products). However, I am a stubborn person and tend to need proof that something is going to help before I do it. So because of that we had the girls tested. We did a blood test and mailed it to a lab in Washington state. We got more information than we wanted. With that one blood test we found that the girls had 169 and 198 different food allergies and intolerances plus 5 environmental allergies. I was over whelmed but knew that we would HAVE to do the autism diet PLUS a great deal more. We were on the diet for 5 years. The girls did much better while on the diet but it was hard, necessary, but hard. Travel was difficult, eating out was impossible and of course any infractions in the diet took days to get over. While on the diet besides the reactions to the smallest amount of those things we knew they were allergic to we still had medical and behavioral problems. Esther continued to wet the bed no matter what we tried. Her reading and attention span continued to be very difficult. Sarah still suffered from chronic constipation, difficulty sleeping, hyperactivity and aggressive behaviors like scratching and squeezing our arms and hands. Sarah's immune system was so weak that we used to joke that she was bound to get any virus or bacteria that came into the zip code. Because their diets lacked so much we had to heavily supplement with vitamins and minerals. We also had to medicate them for the sleeping difficulties and behavioral, attention and hyperactivity problems. Of course, our allergist told us that allergies could not be cured they could only be managed. The girls were on three different medications, carried epi pens in case of extreme exposure and we followed the diet scrupulously. I however, longed to be rid of the allergies and intolerances. I kept looking for possible treatments and praying for a possible cure. We did give the girls a few days a year that they were allowed to eat anything they wanted. We called them "Stuff Days". These were family birthdays, Christmas, and special occasions like a church supper or a sleep over night. Esther would make lists of what she would like available to eat on her "stuff day" and then stuff herself from morning till bedtime with all she could hold. We would keep only the most terrible things away, like those that caused vomiting, diarrhea, migraines, hours of screaming or breathing difficulty. We would then medicate and just deal with the reactions medications did not cover. So nearly 5 years passed and in the mean time we had another little girl named Hannah. We were concerned that maybe she to would have the same food allergies and autism as her sisters. We breastfed her and delayed the introduction of solids until she was 10 months old and even then limited exposure to foods we knew her sisters were allergic. It was pretty obvious that she too had food allergies. From the time we introduced solids she was constantly on an antibiotic because of ear, throat and sinus infections. Also her speech stopped developing and we were concerned that this was the beginning of the regression usually found with autism. In the spring of 2002 a friend of ours sent me an e-mail about a book that she had come across. The book was entitled "The Food Allergy Cure" by Dr. Ellen Cutler. She sent me a copy but I never got around to reading it and had to send it back. Later I got a copy through the North Dakota State Library system and devoured it. It really seemed too good to be true. It was so simple, but so profound. I contacted the friend that had told me about the book and she told me that she had found doctors in Bismarck and Linton (which are 100's of miles away) that would do the treatments necessary. In fact she had been getting the treatments for a few weeks and they had already taken care of her allergies to sugar, milk, soy and orange juice. I was excited. Maybe it was possible to get rid of these allergies and intolerances. The Dr. Ellen Cutler system is called The BioSet System. Information can be found at www.bioset.net. This system is based on the Chinese medical system of energy fields/meridians in the body. The treatments involve no medications, needles, x-rays or anything else invasive. They also were not paid for by insurance. The treatments consisted of balancing the energy meridians of the body and resetting the immune system using acupressure points so that the body will not react to foods or environmental things. If any one you know has asthma you may want to read her book, "Winning the War Against Asthma." I read it and it is powerful, our oldest only had the signs of a pre-asthmatic condition and I would have done anything to keep that from getting worse, the treatments worked. I do not have to worry about that any more. Once we had learned all we could about the treatments we decided that we would make the financial investment (this is not covered by insurance) and try the treatments for Esther, then 10, first (we chose her because she is the easiest and most compliant.) If they really did work then we would figure out a way to do the other girls. We contacted the Deitz Wellness Center in Bismarck, ND (a 3 1/2 hour drive each way) and set up appointments with Stephanie Deitz. So I spent the months of June and July traveling to Bismarck and spending two or three days in hotels and doing treatments twice a day. By August 1st Esther had been cleared of all her allergies and intolerances and we began the process of slowly reintroducing foods into her diet. We started with milk because so many things have milk in them. For days we let Esther have a few glasses of milk anxiously waiting for the reactions to start. They never did. Finally we added eggs, the food she was most allergic to. She was so happy to eat eggs even though we made her give up the milk for a few days so we would know which one she was reacting to if there were any reactions. There were still no reactions. We then added bread once there was no reaction with that. We added citrus fruits, no reactions. Over the next couple of months we added back all 169 foods that we had previously eliminated from her diet. It was so fabulous! Besides not reacting to foods Esther's sleeping, her emotions, school work, attention and hyperactivity all improved. We were also able to take her off the Flonaze, Zyrtec, Benadryl, Prozac, and Clonidine. We also were able to reduce her vitamin and mineral supplements to just a daily multivitamin. Everything was so much better and she was so happy. There was only one thing that continued to be a problem, the bed wetting, it was disappointing but in the whole scheme of things it was a very small thing compared to all that we had gained. Then there was Hannah who continued to be very sick and was not making any gains in her speech. So in October I again started making trips to Bismarck. This time Stephanie had been to additional training sessions and had learned a similar/related treatment system called The Jaffe-Mellor Technique. JMT was developed by Carolyn Jaffe and Judy Mellor and information concerning it can be found at www.jmttechnique.com . It too is one of the "energetic medicines". It too is drug free, non-invasive, no diets, cleanses, supplements, topical applications, manipulations or costly devices and not paid for by insurance. This technique is faster than BioSet and included treatments to fix vitamin and mineral malabsorption and metabilization problems two things that autistic individuals have. We decided that maybe we should put Esther through these treatments as well. However, Hannah was our first concern. When we arrived in Bismarck for our first set of appointments for Hannah she was then 15 months old and had been on continuous antibiotics for 6 months but was still sickly, crabby, fussy, and had difficulty sleeping. Our family doctor and pediatrician both assured us that the infections were due to allergies and once she was old enough we could medicate and she would improve. Those first few days of treatment I really began to see improvement. There was so much improvement that when that prescription of antibiotics ran out 4 days later I didn't refill it. I never have had to refill it. It has been over 3 years now and she has not had another infection since. Hannah's speech has caught up to where it should be. She shows no signs of the autism that affected her sisters and no signs of allergies or intolerances of any kind. As for Esther the JMT treatments were very beneficial. A treatment was done on October 8, 2002 and she has never wet the bed again. Her health has continued to improve as has her school work. Also all the minor symptoms of her PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) have gone. We have had no problems with food or environmental allergies other than a reaction to some mosquito repellent at camp 3 summers ago. However, my daughter was able to GO to camp. Four years ago we barely and rarely let her even go over to other peoples' homes. We would have never considered sending her to camp, but these last 3 summers she has to 4-H camp in Washburn, ND every year as well as Girl Scout Camp and the special camp they have for hearing impaired kids. So with Esther and Hannah cured, next up was Sarah, then 9. Sarah was going to be a little more difficult because she is so severely affected by her autism that she could follow directions, understand what was said to her and cooperate with treatments. I thought however, that between Stephanie, who was very patient and tolerant and me who now believed this was the way we had to go, we would be able to get through it. So the time was set for us to go down on January 21st, 2003. Thankfully by that time my brother and his family had moved to Bismarck and we were able to stay with them thus saving the expense of a hotel. We had decided that we would not do the back and forth trips to Bismarck but that we would stay straight through until the treatments were done. Because of Sarah's behaviors and overall temperament we felt that it would be best and the least distressing on her. It took 18 days of several treatment sessions a day. Stephanie pulled treatments from BioSet, JMT and a new training she had attended since we had last seen her, BodyTalk. Body Talk is another "energetic medicine" this time developed by John Veltheim. Information on the web is available at www.bodytalksystem.com/. There is also a book called the BodyTalk System by John Veltheim. Sarah responded beautifully. After a few days she seemed to understand that we were trying to help her and was more cooperative with the sessions. At the end of 18 days Stephanie tested Sarah for each and everyone of her 198 food allergies as well as the environmental ones and found they were all clear. Some of the changes we noticed right away were the end of the constipation and other toileting behaviors that were very difficult for us to deal with over the last 7 years. Also, she stopped squeezing our hands and arms and stopped scratching us. She also was less hyperactive, less irritable, less frustrated and seemed just much happier. She was sleeping better, eating better and just much nicer to be around. Her eye contact was better as was her desired to be around people and be included in their activities had improved. The day we finished, I took Sarah to the store and led her to the donuts. Donuts had always been her favorite thing and she would look longingly at them in the store and try to get some each time we took her with us. At the donut display I motioned for her to go ahead take one and eat it. She was very suspicious and looked at me like I had lost my mind. She had been so used to me ripping food she was allergic to out of her hands and mouth or just saying no. I tried to encourage her but she did not seem to understand that it was o.k. this time. Esther tried to encourage her. It was so cute, I will never forget what she said, "Now that the allergies are gone Sarah it is a stuff day every day!!" Finally, she took a donut and shoved the whole thing in her mouth, still eying me suspiciously. Then she took two more, which I made her put in a bag for later. She was very happy. It took a few months for her to get used to being able to have whatever she wanted. Now she will actually pick out things at the grocery store. In addition to what I have already mentioned she is no longer doing all the pica (eating of non-food items shampoo, hand cream etc.) activities she used to. We can finally leave our bathroom door unlocked and the door open like normal people. Like Esther, Sarah no longer needs to take the Naltrexone during the day to control her behavior nor does she have to take the Trazadone at night to sleep. She also no longer needs the Flonaze, Zyrtec, and Benadryl for the allergies. The 20 various vitamin and mineral supplements she used to take are now down to one multivitamin. The fall after we got rid of the allergies, at school, she started to imitate behaviors of others which is a big step for autistic individuals. She has even started to show a sense of humor. On her 10th birthday December of 2003 for the first time she blew out her candles, opened her presents without assistance and played with them afterwords. Best of all Sarah's immune system has vastly improved. For a child who was sick every 10 - 14 days, at the clinic and emergency room very often and had pneumonia every 6 months for years in a row; she has become very healthy. In fact Sarah has been attending school for nearly 8 years and there have been semesters that she has missed up to half the days because of illness. The first school year after the allergies were gone she missed her first day of school at the end of April and this past school year was just as good. All in all it has been so wonderful! All 3 girls are doing very well. Esther continues to do better and better with her school work and is very involved with her 4-H club and Girl Scouts. Hannah continues to wow us with her counting, recognition of numbers and social interaction. Sarah is still autistic but she has improved greatly in the last 3 years and continues to improve. Sarah's improvements have been so great that fall 0f 2004 we placed her in Girl Scouts and 4-H something that was impossible to even think about just 3 years ago. We can go out to eat, over to other peoples homes and really be a normal family. We had been told that we would never be able to live normal lives because of the allergies and intolerances and the fact that there is no cure for allergies only ways to tolerate them and live with them. Well that was wrong!!! There is a cure for allergies and I am thankful that we found it or it found us. Oh, I have to tell you that I went thru the BioSet and JMT treatments myself and have had a few sessions of BodyTalk. I had always had a craving but also an intolerance of milk products. I always thought it was a lactose intolerance. It turned out that I was intolerant to Calcium. Once that was cured the cravings and the bloating, cramping and other problems I had stopped. Also, it turned out that I was reactive to my thyroid medication. Once that was cleared my energy levels went up and I have felt improved. Through the course of the treatments I have had improvements in the general aches and pains I experience and also my health. I have been sick much less often and not as severely (when Sarah would get pneumonia I would usually get it next.) I just wanted to add that although it is not so exciting to what the girls have experienced. Once I saw how much our lives had changed and improved I decided to get some training so that I could help others. Because only BodyTalk is open to training laypeople and it is the fastest and most comprehensive way to help the general public with not only allergies but many other problems I have become a BodyTalk practitioner. The websites I have given you have possible practitioners near you. I would encourage anyone that even if they have to borrow money this is more than worth it in the end. If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to e-mail  , I may take a few days to answer but I will answer.
Elizabeth Hanson Rolla North Dakota |