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Better Health Update #7 - Monte Kline, Clinical Nutritionist

Electro-Dermal Testing

What if you could conduct an "electronic interview" with your body, to determine where it's weak and what it needs with a simple electronic instrument?

Doing just that is precisely what "electro-dermal," or sometimes called, "bioenergetic testing" is all about. This is the testing method used at our Pacific Health Center clinics, the method I have exclusively used in my practice since 1986. In this Update I want to explain the background and discovery of this incredible testing method, how it works, and what it can do for you and your health.

BACKGROUND & DISCOVERY

A German physician, Reinhold Voll, M.D., developed the first electro-dermal testing instrument in 1953 after having cured himself of terminal bladder cancer with acupuncture. In his struggle to integrate the very different system of acupuncture with his knowledge as a western, anatomically trained medical doctor, he found that there were electrical resistance differences that could be measured with a modified galvanometer on the surface of the skin (no needles!) on these reputed acupuncture points.

However, the idea that the body's fundamental nature was electromagnetic can be traced back to 1935 when Dr. Harold Saxton Burr, Professor of Anatomy at Yale University School of Medicine published his Electrodynamic Theory of Life.

Dr. Burr designed a voltmeter to measure energy fields surrounding every living system, which he labeled "L-Fields." He theorized that L-Fields were pre-physical fields which organize the physical body as it continually goes through the processes of growth and metabolic change. In other words he felt there is a deeper level of life beneath the physical and chemical levels we normally measure-an electrical level that is ultimately responsible for producing our physical and chemical bodies.
G.W. Crile, M.D. was a surgeon and the founder of the famous Cleveland Clinic. He wrote a work entitled, The Phenomenon of Life-A Radio-Electric Interpretation. Addressing the American College of Surgeons in 1933 he predicted that a "radio-diagnostician" would detect the presence of disease before it becomes outwardly apparent. He stated that man is a radio-electric mechanism, emphasizing that when life ends, radiation ends:

"It is clear that radiation produces electric current which operates adaptively the organism as a whole, producing memory, reason, imagination, emotion, the special senses, secretions, muscular action, the response to infection, normal growth, and the growth of benign tumors and cancers, all of which are governed adaptively by the electrical charges that are generated by the short wave or ionizing radiation in protoplasm."

That is pretty incredible-here's one of the giants of conventional medicine in the 20th century stating the basic foundation for the electro-dermal testing done today.

ACUPUNCTURE CONNECTION

Over 3000 years ago the Chinese recognized there was an energy flow in the body that could be measured and manipulated to achieve healing. The idea of energy flow along so-called "meridians" has been scoffed at by many conventional doctors, though acupuncture has gained pretty wide acceptance within conventional medicine, simply because it can be observed to work (You don't have to see too many people having open heart surgery with only acupuncture anesthesia to know that it's for real).
Research done in Paris since the mid-1980's has proven the existence of the acupuncture meridians, as a distinct system from the nervous, lymphatic or vascular systems. Jean Claude Darras, M.D. and Paul DeVernejoul, M.D., by injecting a radioactive tracer at acupuncture sites and photographing the movement, found the acupuncture meridians different from these other known systems.

E.A.V. TESTING

Dr. Voll was the developer of E.A.V. testing (Electroacupuncture According to Voll). A Voll-type instrument measures galvanic skin resistance (G.S.R.) on acupuncture points on the hands and feet using a 1 volt, 6-12 microamp current. In this type of electro-dermal testing, electrical resistance measurements are taken by the practitioner touching the positive probe to the point while the subject holds the negative probe in the opposite hand. There is no feeling of electrical shock due to the extremely low voltage involved. The ideal reading would be at "50" on the scale. Higher readings suggest inflammation or infection, while lower reading suggest degeneration. Readings that drop after a few seconds suggests chronic conditions.

VEGA TESTING

With E.A.V. testing involving over 800 possible measurement points, it was inevitable that simpler methods would be introduced. One of these was Bioelectronic Functions Diagnosis, or BFD, which uses fewer measurement points. An offshoot of BFD is VEGA testing, developed by another West German doctor, Helmut Schimmel, M.D. At Pacific Health Center we primarily use the VEGA testing method, though we use E.A.V. testing instruments.

Instead of using hundreds of different measurement points on the hands and feet, VEGA testing uses hundreds of different test vials electronically put into the circuit to measure health factors like nutrient deficiencies, allergic sensitivities, and toxicities. The test vials are normally homeopathic dilutions of substances whose resonance corresponds with a particular health problem. Dilutions of vitamins and minerals are used in the D30 potency to measure deficiencies for example, while D6 potencies of toxins are used to measure toxicities.

VEGA testing is characterized by first electrically "stessing" the body with a Piezo electric device which induces a very slight shock into the testing point. This is called "decompensating" the body, that is, confusing the body's normal compensating mechanisms for its various problems so that you get a clearer picture of what's really going on. Normally either nothing or only a very slight tingling sensation is briefly felt.

A second distinctive of VEGA testing is the use of "amplifier vials" in the test circuit. The amplifier vials are D26 dilutions of pineal glandular. These have an energetic correcting effect on the body, what I call "artificially making your body perfect." Starting from that perfect "baseline" reading, different test vials are introduced into the circuit to see which ones throw off that baseline reading. In this way nutrient deficiencies and allergic sensitivities are determined.

CAUSAL CHAINS

No, this isn't a new fashion. The main reason I switched from E.A.V. to VEGA testing several years ago in my practice was the ability to determine "causal chains," that is what is causing what. For example, we check about 40 different organ and gland areas with homeopathic dilutions of those glandular supplements. Suppose we find that your adrenals, pancreas and thyroid are weak. Causal chaining enables us to find out which is causing which to be weak, such as the adrenal is weakening the pancreas which in turn is weakening the thyroid. This tells you the root cause of the body's weakness, so you can then focus testing remedies against that particular area of the body. Strengthen the weakest area, and you strengthen the body overall.

In this instance, I would put the adrenal test vial in the test circuit and see it produce a high reading from the baseline indicating its weakness. Then I would add different adrenal glandulars, DHEA hormone, or maybe licorice root herb to see which ones will correct that weak reading on the instrument. Then I know which supplements are right for balancing that client's body.

Another example would be correlating a particular toxin, sensitivity, or deficiency with a weak area of the body. Let's suppose the sinus test vial shows a weak reaction. We could correlate a toxin like Candida albicans or dental mercury to see if it is affecting the sinuses. The information possibilities with this type of electro-dermal testing are almost endless.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

You may be wondering if there's any scientific research validating this revolutionary method of testing? Indeed there are, two of which I'll mention. A study was performed at the U.C.L.A. School of Medicine to determine if the E.A.V. lung test readings would be worse on confirmed lung cancer patients as compared to controls. A high degree of correlation was noted with 26 of the 30 E.A.V. examinations matching the chest X-ray results in a blind test. ["Evoked Electrical Conductivity on the Lung Acupuncture Points in Healthy Individual And Confirmed Lung Cancer Patients," American Journal of Acupuncture, Vol. 13, No. 3, July-Sept 1985.]

Another fascinating study sought to measure the effectiveness of E.A.V. testing in measuring food allergy. It compared the electro-dermal testing with five conventional medicine methods of food allergy testing-skin, RAST, IgE, history, and food challenge. Results showed a high degree of correlation, particularly with food challenge, probably the most accurate of the conventional methods. ["A Food Allergy Study Utilizing the EAV Acupuncture Technique," American Journal of Acupuncture, Vol. 12, No. 2, April-June 1984.]

21ST CENTURY MEDICINE

We're getting closer and closer to the electronic medicine practiced by Dr. McCoy on Star Trek. Modern physics has proven that the fundamental nature of everything is energy. Measuring the body on the energetic level offers the greatest potential for getting to the root causes of your health problems.

What I've described here presents quite a contrast from just guessing about what's wrong, what supplements to take and so on. You don't have to guess - you can test! It is possible to conduct an electronic interview with your body. Welcome to the world of electro-dermal testing.

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this publication is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose illness nor prescribe treatment. Rather, this material is designed to be used in cooperation with your nutritionally-oriented health professional to deal with your personal health problems. Should you use this information on your own, you are prescribing for yourself, which is your constitutional right, but neither the author nor publisher assume responsibility.