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Stiff Person Syndrome
Part Five

By Gary F. Zeolla

This article is continued from Stiff Person Syndrome: Part Four.

The treatment for chemicals ended up being one of the last treatments I underwent. The final one was a home treatment for antibiotics on June 20, 2002. I had another appointment with the chiropractor on the first of July. Her testing at that time showed that I needed no additional treatments. So after five and a half months, I was finally finished with my NAET treatments with the chiropractor. I had undergone 44 treatments at the chiropractor’s office and had done 28 treatments at home with my dad for a total of 72 treatments. Add in the dozen treatments in five months with the previous chiropractor, and altogether I had undergone a total of 84 NAET treatments over a period of almost 11 months. Moreover, since most of these treatments involved combinations of several items, these 84 treatments represent hundreds of individual items that were treated. So I had obviously been a highly allergic person. And the chiropractor even said she had never treated anyone who had needed as many treatments as I needed.

But since the testing showed I didn’t need any more treatments, theoretically, this meant I should now be allergy free. However, as indicated previously, I was still having what seemed to be allergic reactions to quite a few things. And my symptoms were nowhere near gone. Mornings especially were still a problem. I would still wake up being barely able to move. However, a hot bath would always loosen me up, and then for the rest of the day I could move about almost normally. That is, unless I took a nap. If I did, I would end up as stiff as I was in the morning and need to take another bath. Also, the fatigue was still very much a problem. I would need to rest frequently during the day. And most disconcerting, I was still getting the feeling of having injured myself from doing the simplest things. But still, I could move around rather well during the day. So it was a very clear I had benefited quite a bit from the treatments. But what to make or my remaining problems?

The chiropractor told me at the time of my last treatment that Dr. Devi has said that sometimes it can take up to six months for one to fully realize all of the benefits from NAET treatments. The reason for this is a lot of “changes” need to be made in the body as a result of the treatments, and these can sometimes take quite some time to be completed. This especially made sense in my case given the speed at which I underwent treatments. Most people only undergo one treatment a week. But since I had so many allergies to clear, it simply would have taken too long at that rate. To get through them in a reasonable amount of time required the three a week treatments. But treating this often meant that my body was still working on making the necessary changes from one treatment when I did another treatment. So in a way, the effects of all of my treatments got “backed-up.” It was like water building up behind a dam. But now that I was finished, my body could get “caught up” and make all of the needed changes.

So the bottom line was I needed to wait quite some time before I would know how effective the NAET treatments had been.

Now that I had finished with the NAET treatments, I had some more time to devote to trying to get back in shape. And since I was doing significantly better during the day, I was able to start to doing more. So I began walking a little bit further and faster each time I went for a walk. I also began stretching more, a full 45 minutes after my walks. But most of all, I decided to try lifting weight again. I figured the best way to go about it was to start with very light weights and increase them very gradually. So I borrowed my mom’s two and three-pound dumbbells and began doing exercises at home. I gradually worked up to five-pound dumbbells. Then after a couple of weeks, I went back to the gym for the first time since the previous November. I followed a basic beginner's routine for 15 workouts. Then I switched to a more standard powerlifting-orientated workout. See Training Routine and Cycle (9/12/02) on the Powerlifting Training section of this site for an update of where I am now. Here just, let me say that my workouts have been amazingly going well.

In a phone conversation, I mentioned to the chiropractor about how well I was doing at the gym. She commented that when she first saw me back in January, even with knowing how much improvement she had seen in patients after NAET treatments, she still thought that there was no way I would ever lift weights again. And with now being able to lift weights again and with being able to eat normally, I am now slowly regaining the weight I lost. My current weight is also indicated on the Current Training Routine page.

But while things were going so well at the gym I was still having problems otherwise. But it was with these continuing problems that being able to do the self-testing in a diagnostic manner proved to be invaluable. On three different occasions during the next two months I ended up paralyzed. And these episodes lasted longer than my previous episodes had, each lasting 7-8 hours. And let me tell you, not being able to move for 7-8 hours is unbelievably trying. Most difficult was not being able to go to the bathroom! I honestly didn’t think I could “hold it” for that long. But I had no choice. There were also times when I got so exhausted that I could barley move. With these episodes occurring, it could have been very easy for me to conclude the NAET treatments hadn’t really worked, and it was time to try something else. But my self-testing was telling me that each episode was a “healing crisis.” And in a way this made sense.

Since I had experienced such effects during the avoidance times after quite a few treatments, it was reasonable that if “changes” were still occurring in my body from the treatments that I would still be experiencing side effect from them. And this was confirmed by the fact that my workouts at the gym were continuing to go surprisingly well. I couldn’t see how I could be doing increasing well in the gym if my condition was continuing unchanged. [If I had known then what I know now, I would have realized that these continuing problems were signs that the NAET treatments had not worked. The reason I was doing better was fortitude and trusting in the LORD.]

But one thing that was still bothering me at the gym and even at home was the feeling of constantly pulling muscles. One several occasion at this time it felt like I had really hurt myself. And over a period of  several weeks I felt like all of the pains I had experienced over the previous year and a half flared-up at one point or another. The worst pain was in my right thigh. This was the same pain that had forced me to stop doing lower body work at the gym back in October. So it was very worrisome when this pain flared-up. Getting an actual injury was something that I was very worried about at this time. I knew that if I were to injure myself it could bring my progress in the gym and otherwise to a grinding halt.

But each time I felt like I had injured myself I used the muscle testing to determine if I really had. And each time I found that I hadn’t and that I could safely ignore the pain. So rather than stopping lifting like I should have if it were in fact an injury, I ignored the pain and kept lifting. And each time, the pain would go away. So this was rather strong proof that the testing was in fact accurate. [This proved to be very dangerous. Later I would truly injure myself, but the silly testing said it was not an injury. Thus I continued to lift and severely injured myself, so much so that the injury still bothers me now years later.]

A flare-up of being paralyzed occurred on August 20th, exactly two months after my last treatment. And it was after this flare-up that I really began to notice a significant improvement in my symptoms. In the days following I was gradually less and less stiff in the mornings. After a few days I was noticeably improved in the mornings, but still far from “normal.” But I took a nap one afternoon, and for the first time in months didn’t need to take a hot bath afterwards. So there was finally a breakthrough in this regard.

The fatigue was also gradually improving. In fact, I wrote the bulk of this and related articles August 24-27. Up until this time, I would get fatigued and have to stop working after just an hour or two of typing. But on these days I was able to work for several hours before having to quit. So I was finally able to write this update on my condition that I had been promising for some time. And I honestly thought my remaining symptoms would gradually disappear over the next several days. But instead, I ended up with the worst flare-up of my symptoms that I ever had.

Starting as soon as I got home after my workout on August 28, and for almost the next two weeks, I was virtually or even completely paralyzed. And when I could move, the fatigue was unbelievable. Just trying to read or type for a few minutes would bring on indescribable fatigue. I was also experiencing waves of pain throughout my body. And after not being a problem for months, my “tics” began flaring up again, so I had trouble sleeping most nights. To make matters even worse, throughout this entire time, the weather outside was unbelievably beautiful. Perfect blue skies, about 80 degrees, with low humidity. But during this string of gorgeous days, I was trapped inside, vegetating in front of the TV.

I wasn’t able to make it to her office, but I called the chiropractor. Over the phone she couldn’t say for sure what was happening. But she did say that it sounded like I was undergoing a “healing crisis,” and all that I could do was to gut it out and wait for it to pass. However, she did say that she never had anyone have such a crisis as a result of NAET treatments. Once the flare-up has lessened somewhat I was able to make it to the chiropractor’s office. She determined that various environmental items were still clearing, and that it would take about a month for these remaining allergies to fully clear. So it was probably exposure to several of these remaining allergens that caused the flare-up.

I started with the NAET treatments in the middle of January, and it is was the second week of September. So I had already given this treatment method eight months to work. And the idea of having to wait another month was not very appealing. But I really hated to try something else while there was still a chance that this treatment method will work. And the chiropractor gave me a treatment method that I can do at home that she hoped would help to prevent any more flare-ups. So that left me hopeful. At least it gave me something I could do to help myself rather than just waiting. But I should mention that the chiropractor did tell me that for people with serious allergies, it does generally take quite a while for the allergies to fully clear. However, she has never had anyone have flare-ups like I had. They generally just gradually improve.

Due to two-week last flare-up, I ended up going over two weeks without working out at the gym. And once I got back I had to once again drop the weights down and gradually build back up. I even had to go once again through the normal soreness that anyone feels when they first start lifting weights, or engaging in any “new” activity for that matter. And to be honest I was sure if I it was worth it or not. But I did want to get back in shape and regain the strength I had lost, and lifting weights was the best way to do it. So despite the frustration, I went on lifting.

At this point, it might be helpful to address more fully an issue touched on earlier. With such a flare-up occurring and with things dragging on with the NAET treatments, might not it be an idea to try some other treatment method, most notably drugs? A drug like Prednisone might prevent another flare-up. And since, allergies seemed to be the root cause of my problems, wouldn’t a prescription antihistamine prove beneficial?

I considered taking this route, but decided against it for several reasons. First off, as indicated previously, drugs like Prednisone can have serious side effects, so I didn’t think it would be worth the risk. Also, if I started taking a drug and did improve, I wouldn’t know if it were the drug or just continuing effects of the NAET treatments. Also, I was afraid that a powerful drug like Prednisone might somehow stop any beneficial changes that were still occurring in my body from the NAET treatments.

But what about an antihistamine? The side effects would not be as severe as with a drug like Prednisone, and I did talk to my primary care physician about this. But he said that it probably wouldn’t help as my reaction to allergens was not the classic histamine response, and this is all that an antihistamine would prevent. But he did give me some free sample of one if I did want to try it, but I never did.

My concern was as follows. Any time an allergen had caused me to become stiff I first became very congested. So my congestion was an “early warning signal” that I was inhaling something that might bother me. So it at all possible, if I got very congested somewhere I would immediately leave that area. However, if I took an antihistamine it might prevent me from getting congested since that is a histamine response, but it wouldn’t prevent the stiffness. So I would lose this warning signal. And again, if I stop getting congested from exposure to say cosmetics, I wouldn’t know if it were the drug or the effects of NAET.

So that said, I still thought it was best to just wait it out. I had stuck with NAET this long I might as well give it another month.

As I finish this article it is September 21, 2002. It has been almost two weeks since the two-week flare-up ended. But I am still not back to feeling as good as I did before the flare-up. The morning stiffness, fatigue, feelings of pulling muscles, and even insomnia are still a problem. So I am frustrated as I thought these would have been improved by now. However, these problems are not as severe as they were at one time. And if my remaining allergies do fully clear within the next month, I am hopeful that I will see significant improvements. Once I see how this all turns out, I will post an update to this article. But I will say now that even if the NAET treatments do not give me full resolution of my symptoms, they have definitely helped and are worth considering for the person who struggles with allergies or allergy caused conditions like stiff person syndrome. [DO NOT take this advice. It is wrong-headed.. NAET caused my problems, and they continue to one degree or another to this day.]

And finally, all of my various health problems over the years have caused me many spiritual struggles. This subject is discussed in the two-part article Suffering and Spiritual Struggles. [For an updated such article, see Steps to Being Emotionally and Spiritually Uplifted posted on my Christian Web site.]

This article is continued at Stiff Person Syndrome: Part Six.