Nutrition Response Testing™

For a few months now, I’ve been making the hour-long drive from the north to south of Boston, meeting once a week with Susan Miller, D.C. Susan is a gifted chiropractor and nutrition counselor who owns Café of Life, a small, successful Chiropractic, Allergy Elimination, Shamanic Healing and Nutrition Response Testing Center in Braintree, MA. Most of the clientele that make up her practice are people who have eaten themselves into their current state of ill-health. The deficiencies or imbalances created by poor dietary habits lead to a breakdown in resistance, or immunity, and a loss of the ability to cope with environmental stresses. How those imbalances make themselves known differ from person to person depending on factors such as genetic makeup, previous injury, chemical exposure, stress level and/or inherit weaknesses. In my case, they presented as IC.

Nutrition Response Testing is the study of how different points on the surface of the body relate to the body’s state of overall health. The first thing Susan does is an analysis of the body’s neurological reflexes and acupuncture points via muscle testing. Each reflex corresponds to a specific organ, tissue, or function and indicates the effect that energy, or the lack of energy, is having on the body. Susan contacts these points with one hand, meanwhile with her other hand, she tests the muscle strength of the patient’s extended arm. If the reflex she tests is active, the nervous system responds by reducing energy to the extended arm, and subsequently the arm weakens and drops. This drop signifies underlying stress or dysfunction. Once Susan has an indication of what’s going on in the body as it responds to muscle testing, she puts together a natural health program, adding nutrients to the diet in order to bring about balance and better health.

I’ve done different versions of this type of work in the past, including the Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) and Electrodermal Titration, but never had the success that I’ve experienced with Susan and in such a short time. Part of the key is determining the body’s priorities as to what it needs to work on first rather than trying to heal everything at once. Then it’s a matter of taking “turtle steps” is the way Susan puts it, adding one supplement at a time as my system builds up the ability to assimilate and handle the help it is being given. Right now, we’re concentrating on detoxifying my liver.

It is especially important for IC’ers to be aware of what they are allergic to as most everything we take into our sensitive systems is a possible threat for a flare, especially when it comes to food, vitamins and supplementation. In addition to figuring out what nutrients the body needs, Susan can determine potential allergens by placing the substance on the body and muscle testing for a reaction. What amazes me the most about this method is that for the first time in the ten years I’ve been struggling to heal IC, I’ve actually been able to take a supplement that was recommended by a practitioner without having an adverse reaction. I’ve literally spent hundreds of dollars on products that have ended up in a stack of boxes in the basement. As I remarked to Susan the other day, “Not only can I take what you’ve recommended and at the dosage you’ve prescribed, I’ve actually finished the last of what you’ve given me and need to replenish my supply!”

In a matter of a few weeks, Susan has done wonders in helping me recover from a major set-back in my IC symptoms that I had been in the midst of since this past Thanksgiving. The onset was most likely brought on by my lapse in watching my diet, meaning eating too many acidic foods, carbohydrates and sugar as well as exposing myself to noxious chemicals, i.e. doing a woodworking project using an oil-based varnish and glazing ceramics without gloves…negligent activities on my part. It always surprises me how easily I forget how susceptible I am whenever I start feeling better. Old patterns and bad habits reappear long enough to put me back in hot water, a vicious cycle you’d think I would have learned to break by now.

I still have a long way to go to being symptom free, but at least I’m back to where I was before and standing on more solid ground. For example, I had a two hour stretch the other day where I actually felt normal, or least what I think was normal (it’s hard to remember, it’s been so long!). From what I can tell, it was the biggest improvement I’ve experienced yet and a sure sign I’m on the right path. Going forward, I’m armed with a new incentive to take care myself and I expect my constitution will only keep growing stronger. I also want to mention that doing routine physical therapy with a therapist who specializes in Pelvic Floor Dysfunction has played an important part in bringing me to this stage in my healing as well. It’s always a combination of efforts and looking at all the pieces of the puzzle that works best when managing this condition. Now if only I could get my diet under control and remember to protect myself from the hazards I come in contact with everyday, or better yet, avoid them altogether, I’d be in really good shape!

For more information about Nutrition Response Testing, you can reach Susan Miller, D.C. at 781-849-0498, Café of Life, 21 Storrs Avenue, Braintree, MA 02184.