Not long after Graham Meakins returned from a four-and-a-half year stint working in Saudi Arabia, he developed sudden, uncontrollable itching on his legs and back, as well as terrible hives on his chest.
His discomfort led to many sleepless nights, and he decided he simply couldn't endure the three-month wait to see a dermatologist. Meakins visited a naturopath, who immediately diagnosed him with a wheat allergy.
"I was going crazy. I'd never had anything like that," he says. "There I was, at that time, 66, and I'd never had any allergies before. I couldn't figure it out. Why did this happen?"
Meakins began to steer clear of wheat, but with the prevalence of wheat derivatives in everything from sauces to yogurt to spices, his allergy was encroaching upon his entire life. An avid traveller, Meakins struggled when visiting other places, especially when visiting family in his native UK, where wheat-free products were scarce.
Seven years later, in early 2010, Meakins met holistic allergist Eloise O'Ball at the Annual Wellness Show in BC and was intrigued to try her therapies, which include biofeedback analysis testing to determine specific allergies and treatment using a process called bioenergetic intolerance elimination (BIE).
"I said, 'I just have to come and see you,' " Meakins recalls.
As a holistic allergist and former registered nurse, O'Ball is no stranger to allergies. After struggling for years with her own allergy symptoms and unsuccessful attempts at relief using allopathic and naturopathic remedies, she turned to BIE treatments in 2005 and watched her allergies disappear.
"It was a done deal. [My allergies were] no longer an issue," she says. "So I thought, hey, there's something to this."
Since 2006, O'Ball has treated clients suffering from a variety of ailments including food, chemical, environmental and animal allergies, food intolerances, digestive issues and skin disorders at the Pacific Allergy and Wellness Clinic (www.pacificallergyandwellness.com).
Despite its lengthy name, O'Ball says that bioenergetic intolerance elimination is actually a very simple method.
"It reprograms the body to accept the item, it reminds the body to go back to homeostasis," she explains. "It's kind of like a reset."
BIE is guided by the same energy meridians that are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Signals continuously flow throughout these bioenergetic pathways in our bodies, but when the pathways become blocked we can no longer recognize certain foods or environmental substances, leading to allergies.
Using a custom-built machine for holistic allergists called the GSR-120 (which was developed by a medical scientist), BIE treatments transmit a low electronic frequency on specific acupressure points to clear energy blockages.
During the procedure, clients are exposed to the positive frequency of their allergens, which are attracted to the negative energy already in the body. While the blockages are clearing, cells adapt to the allergen's frequency and are reprogrammed to no longer see it as a threat.
"BIE is Eastern and Western medicine married together to come up with, in my mind, the best allergy and wellness solution," says O'Ball.
The treatment is safe and painless, and depending on the number of allergens and their severity, O'Ball says most of her clients find relief after one to four sessions.
After two sessions, Meakins was able to eat wheat products again, and a year later, his symptoms have not returned.
"It has been a major victory and an absolute relief to me," he says of BIE. "It's made a huge impact on my life and been quite a liberation. In September, I went to the UK and I didn't have to seek out wheat-free products. I ate whatever was put before me."
O'Ball says that BIE treatments are so effective because it determines the origin of the allergy and plainly reminds our cells, which can become oversaturated with various substances, to return to a balanced state.
O'Ball also provides lifestyle advice to clients, including nutrition tips and stress management, to help them balance their lives outside their bodies.
"My ultimate goal is wellness," she says. "Not just to fix the allergy, but to find out if we can get to the root cause versus band-aiding over the problem."
Sondi Bruner is a Vancouver-based freelance journalist and holistic nutrition student. Find out more about her writing services at www.sondibruner.com, and explore vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free recipes on her food blog, The Copycat Cook (www.thecopycatcook.wordpress.com).