My health problems started at an early age and progressively got worse and worse. As a child I was the victim of countless ear infections, colds, viruses—basically, if someone around me was sick, it was a guarantee that I’d be sick too. This continued all the way through my teens and early 20′s. Unfortunately, a fast-paced lifestyle of partying mixed with a part-time job and full-time college led to a full collapse in the winter of 2000. The collapse was gradual—I felt it coming on, but I told myself that I was simply tired or under the weather. I went to doctors complaining about the symptoms I experienced, but they offered me no recourse of action to take.
In January 2001, I found myself unable to work or attend school. I went from doctor to doctor pleading with them to tell me why I felt so lethargic, disoriented, and so detached from the rest of the world. All of my doctors thought the issue was in my head; all that is, except for my psychiatrist.
Around May of 2001, I decided to give up on conventional medicine–the same way that they gave up on me. I searched for alternatives, visiting a naturopath first. I was diagnosed with candida albicans, an opportunistic yeast that can enter the bloodstream when there aren’t sufficient beneficial bacteria present in the intestines to hold it in check. From years and years of antibiotic use, I suffered from leaky gut, irritable bowl, and a myriad of other digestion ailments which were symptomatic of the poor lifestyle I accepted from youth to adulthood. The antibiotics also killed off my good bacteria, which led to the yeast outbreak in my body.
The naturopath gave me hope—he provided me with the first set of concrete evidence that this was not in my head. However, the naturopath was not so unlike the western doctors that I visited in the past. He focused his treatments on the symptoms rather than isolating the cause of my poor health. He prescribed anti-fungals for the systemic yeast as well as herbs to help boost my energy levels. Nothing seemed to help, and once again I became discouraged that I would never conquer my illness.
Months later I started seeing a chiropractor who specialized in nutrition. He put me on a six-week juice fast and supplements to eradicate my body of the yeasts. He also dictated that I become a vegetarian after my fast. At that point I decided that I would do anything to get myself back on my feet again. So I followed his protocol and experienced a minor improvement in energy. Although I lost more weight, and soon became unable to use the bathroom without supplemental aid, I pressed on in hopes that this was a symptom of my body healing itself. I began to work out around this time—which proved to be one of the stepping stones towards getting my life back.
By the fall of 2002 I decided that I was going back to work regardless of how sick I appeared. It was a monumental struggle every day because no one around me knew how sick I felt. Here I was a 6’2″ tall 23 year-old, weighing a paltry 125 lbs. I looked sickly; my skin was orange from the vegetable juices I drank every morning; and there were large black circles under my eyes. And yet every day I had to pretend that everything was perfectly fine.
After my 5th month of working, I gave up on the chiropractor. I felt that I gave him enough time to prove himself to me, and that he failed in curing me of my illness. I was no stranger to research and I found myself on Dr. Joseph Mercola’s website where he instructed people to find a diet that was suited to their bioindividuality. The program was called Metabolic Typing and the premise, not the program, saved me from wasting away. By that point I had dropped to 120 lbs., my diet consisted of raw vegetables, nuts, seeds, and oils. After adopting this new mindset on diet, I started to cook my foods and began integrating meat into my diet. Within a few months I gained about 10 lbs, but I was still reacting to the foods I was eating, as well as my environment. So I decided to seek a conventional allergist.
The allergist was ineffective to say the least. In fact, any measure of success I was experiencing through my dietary changes and exercise were nullified by the weekly injections I received to eliminate my environmental allergies. When pressed about my recovery time, my allergist told me that it could take 6 months to a year or longer before I’d notice any improvement. In the meantime, I was sick every weekend as the injections would wipe out any sense of well-being that still lingered within me.
It was through one of my many visits to the local health food store that I first picked up a health publication with an ad from Dr. David. The first time I saw the ad I scoffed, thinking that this guy must be another quack with some unsubstantiated ineffective modality of treatment likely as effective as most placebos. However, it wasn’t until I saw the ad again months later that I thought about trying it out for myself. I thought, “How could he make such a bold claim unless there’s an ounce of true to it?”
I was desperate—my allergist wasn’t helping and wasn’t offering me anything except a weekend of illness and discomfort. I called up Dr. David and scheduled a consultation. He tested me and discovered all of the allergies I was diagnosed for by the conventional allergist and many allergies that I wasn’t aware existed. From my relentless congestion to my itchy red eyes I knew I was allergic to nearly everything I came in contact with, but Dr. David confirmed my suspicions calling my condition “pan-allergic”.
I began the NAET protocol doing most of the “Basic 15″. Although I felt little increase of energy after completing the initial round of treatments, I noticed that I was gaining weight. My skin was beginning to improve and my lymph nodes, which were perpetually swollen for the past 10 years (at least), were no longer protruding from my neck. My eyes also began to clear and I found myself able to eat things that caused me discomfort in the past such as eggs, minerals, grains, and spices.
Since I started my treatment a year ago, I’ve gained 40 lbs. I now weigh 165 lbs, the most I’ve ever weighed in my life. I have enough energy to work a full-time job, attend 12 hours of college classes, and workout at the gym 5 hours a week. Although my energy levels are still not as high as they could be, I feel a marked improvement from the frail, sickly individual that started the program a year ago. Nowadays I look in the mirror and I don’t see that feeble and emaciated young man that used to stare back at me—with his look of despair and bewilderment… he no longer exists. I have NAET, my diet, and my exercise regimen to thank for my success.
Ben Chambers
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
… … … …
Henry David Thoreau
