When Norah broke out in hives a few weeks ago, what scared me most was the lack of options that we seemed to have if she couldn’t tolerate the medicine.  There are no other hyperthyroid medicines that are safe for kids, so I assumed that the next step would be either surgery to remove her thyroid or radioactive iodine to ablate it.  I’m not ready to do something so irreversible at this point, particularly because she has a lot of growing and developing left to do.  The thyroid is a small gland (well, most peoples’ thyroid is small – not Norah’s), but it’s very important.

The fear of these two medical options led me to look for complementary treatments.  Norah is going to acupuncture twice per week, and it seems to calm her.  Her blood pressure and pulse have remained in the normal range, even though she is no longer taking the heart medicine.  The acupuncture clinic recommended a woman in Bow, New Hampshire who does electrodermal screening and has had some success with people with Graves Disease.  It sounded very mysterious but that kind of stuff really interests me, so as long as it doesn’t hurt, doesn’t interfere with her medical treatment, and doesn’t break the bank, what the heck?

Last week I called for an appointment with Linda Jordan and her magical mystical machine, and for new patients she was booking into November.  When I told the receptionist that the appointment was for my daughter and that she had Graves, she said, “Oh wait a minute – I’ve heard about you.  Linda told me that if a woman calls about a little girl with Graves Disease – get her in!”  She worked us in for this afternoon.

I did some reading online, and as with any so-called “alternative” treatment, there are a lot of non-believers.  But digging into some of the holistic provider information that’s out there, I found quite a bit of positive feedback about it.  Linda’s office is attached to her home, in a beautiful room full of light, artwork, and dozens of books about health and medicine.  Her dogs Star and Woody tolerated Norah’s attention and were a great ice-breaker.  Linda resembles my mother quite a bit which Norah noticed right away, so that probably made her feel more comfortable too.

After a brief chat we had to get down to business because we knew Norah’s good (pretty good) behavior wouldn’t last forever.  Norah sat in a chair, held onto a brass bar, and Linda used a probe to touch various acupuncture points on Norah’s hand while recording values in the computer.  After she analyzed various points, she balanced some of Norah’s energies using the brass bars.  I don’t really understand how this part works but I’m sure I’ll learn more as time goes on.

Linda sent us home with various vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and probiotics, which Norah will take for 30 days.  Linda also said that Norah has way too much chlorine in her system and needs to drink and bathe in non-chlorinated water.  After 30 days we will go back to find out if anything has changed.  Linda was a critical care nurse and then a medical investigator, and she made it clear that she doesn’t diagnose, treat, or cure anything.  The supplements are basically food/nutrients in pill or liquid form, so I feel very comfortable with her recommendations.

To round out the day, I stopped to see my chiropractor on the way home because I threw my back out last week.  When I told him about Norah’s situation, he was very adamant that there are alternatives that should be considered before we do anything permanent.  I will talk with him about his ideas when we have more time, but Norah and I each had an adjustment and headed home.

Here are some links to information about electrodermal screening:

http://www.alternative-doctor.com/body_stuff/electrodermal.html
http://www.alive.com/5931a15a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=8
http://barbfeick.com/ceds/

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5EozmUiMyg&fs=1&hl=en_US]

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