Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Using BioSet to treat eczema a scam?

This has been in my mind awhile and I'm semi-hesitant to post. Basically I want to say that I'm not sure BioSet is what it proclaims to be.

A few weeks ago we went back to our follow up appointment w/ our BioSet practitioner. The night before, I finally found the time to Google BioSet. There's a website out there that basically lays out what it's all about, how it's derived from this other type of treatment (N something), who started it, what she claims, etc. After reading that, I started wondering about the whole thing.

Bear in mind that during the 3-4 weeks between our appointment, our eczema got better. But I think due to the antibiotics cream and CeraVe we kept applying, not the neuropathic stuff we were given; because w/ my busy schedule, I only seriously fed Astroboy that for 3-4 days before I gave up. Just no time.

So at our appointment, I really looked at what the woman was doing and that's when I started thinking that she's manipulating the whole thing.

Let me back up and talk about how this all works.

During first appointment, we'd discussed what was going on. I talked about how I was on full-course antibiotics for 3 days due to blood infection, how Astroboy had baby acne and then eczema starting from month 2. How our diets have changed (vegetarian first month of life, how I craved carbs, how our trip to Taiwan cured his eczema mostly). At that appointment, that's when we found out what we were both sensitive to. She wanted me to bring the detergent and water to our next appointment to see if we were sensitive to it.

Now bare in mind that I think we're not like some children who are very allergic to many things and have very severe reactions to certain food. All our symptoms so far have been just eczema. The baby is very sweet tempered.

So our second appointment I didn't tell her that we hadn't even really been taking the medicine. She thinks his eczema has improved due to it. We talked about what's happened since then. She noticed how his breathing is kind of "wet/congested". I talked about how he'd caught a cold from sister. She then ran a whole body test to see what parts of his body is having issues. (it turns out to be only lung and some other related body part). The test is just like the first time. I hold a rod in my hand, with one finger touching his body. Then the machine will run some energy through this rod to see what part of body is "blocked" (that's how I think of it, whether or not the chi is flowing correctly).

I believe in Chi so this is why I didn't think this was a hack in the first place.

Amazing how the only body part he has issues with are his lungs. *sarcasm*

She then cleared his body a bit by having me still hold the rod while she massaged his back. I don't know how this helped but it supposedly did. I guess some sort of good chi was flowing through the machine/rod?

We tested to see if he was sensitive to the water and detergent. She pored some of each into a clear glass and put it on top of the machine. Somehow the machine can test the chi passing through this?

This is when it gets way too new-agey and highly suspicious for me.

We then cleared his body by again, having both things in the glass on top of machine, while she massaged him and I continue contact w/ rod in my hand and finger touching him.

Afterward, we tested again other food I had questions about. This is when I asked again how the machine worked. So, she takes a metal pen, dips it in water (for connectivity I assume), and presses it in the palm of my hand. The computer registers a particular food with a graph while making this swoosh sound. If the graph goes up really fast (or was it really slow?) then it means we're sensitive.

What *I* noticed was how she manipulated the pen. I didn't notice it the first time because I was busy talking to her and looking at the computer output. But this time I noticed that she'd press down on my palm (the graph starts low), then press down again. And that's when the curve graph goes up. Sometimes when it didn't go the way it's supposed to go, it's because she didn't press down twice.

This is why I think the thing is a hoax. First, I just don't think you can clear any chi/energy by having it in a container, passing through some machine, through a rod, to me, to baby. Remember, I actually believe in this whole chi thing. Being Asian, I've seen/heard a lot of chi-related stuff, things that may seem unbelievable to Westerners. But still, chi through a machine, chi with objects? hmmmm......

Don't get me wrong, the woman is also a nutritional consultant so I don't necessarily not believe what she says. BUT, now that I've read up more on allergies, I would say the same thing! I think she's basing her diagnosis more on what I say than anything else. I'm Asian, so very likely I'm sensitive to dairy. I was on antibiotics so not surprising I'm sensitive to wheat now. Since I am sensitive to these things, baby more likely to be. Baby has eczema, so obviously baby sensitive to something. I'd told her RAST test shows wheat and egg, so of course those show up on her test. The rest of the stuff he's allergic to, those are all things babies can't eat (eggs, dairy, wheat, citrus, nuts) before the age of 1 because many babies are sensitive to it. And since his eczema shows that he IS a sensitive baby, then she made the graph go positive on all THOSE things. Some of the things I was surprised at (apples) I've since learned from my slow food allergy book that it is a common allergen.

When we left, she said that now that the vitamin C sensitivity has been cleared, his eczema should get better in a day or two. That didn't happen.

Another thing that's changed my mind is how she couldn't explain how humidity helped because humidity usually exacerbates people w/ asthma/allergies. But from my allergist point of view humidity of course helps (and his reasons makes sense to me)

What I'm unhappy about is that people actually believe in this. I don't want to diss the people who really think it worked for them because one never knows. But it's one of those things that maybe it's not the machine or clearing that's working for people, but the change in diet, lifestyle, combined with neuropathic medicine (which I think COULD help) that's actually doing the trick. And I just wish if this were the case, why can't they treat people with the diet/medicine advices without the equipment?

Or maybe I should just say that maybe BioSet worked for others, but not for me/us.

Anyways, now that I've read up more on allergies, another post forthcoming on what I've learned.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi there,

I came across your site through googling about baby eczema. I know you have not been posted any updates for quite a while now. Just wondering how your son's eczema is now? My little one is also suffering from eczema since he was 3 month old. He is now 8 month. We also use Cerave.

Smurfette said...

we've been fine. Definitely keeping skin moist helped for us. And also avoiding food that he's allergic to. We got him tested twice and each time it came back w/ different allergies. I know he still has a slow food allergy because his arms have these bumps. But in general he doesn't have eczema anymore.

Oh and probiotics.