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Complementary Medicine: Treatment & Therapies |
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Controversy surrounding the Vegatest and Electrodermal Screening
by John Morley, MBAcC, MMAA, MSocBiol Med |
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The Vega machine was introduced in 1978 by the German doctor of medicine and dentistry Dr Helmut Schimmel. It was the first Bioenergetic or Electrodermal testing device, and has proved since then to be an extremely valuable tool in the analysis of both acute and chronic conditions of ill-health. This is particularly so in many cases of feeling not right but not having obvious symptoms, of vague symptoms that do not correspond with a clear medical diagnosis, of treatment-resistant conditions and complicated, long-standing or changing conditions of allergy, environmental poisoning and hidden infection.
As with many new techniques, the Vegatest system has been misunderstood and been the subject of some genuine criticism based on real concerns. The misunderstandings have arisen because very few individuals have a working knowledge of modern medicine, acupuncture theory, homeopathy and electronics. Dr Reinholdt Voll, whose original work in the 50s, 60s and 70s led to the development of the Vega machine, was adept in all these 4 areas. His original research was to investigate whether measurements taken from acupuncture points could be linked to the pathology in the organ after which the acupuncture meridian was named. He did indeed show this link and also went on to demonstrate that his electro-acupuncture system could be used to test the effectiveness of medicines being considered to remedy the pathology.
 This was revolutionary at the time, and in orthodox medical terms it is still revolutionary. For those health professionals who have trained and become proficient in the use of the Vega system this effectiveness test is very basic. It is a fundamental part of the approach to health in terms of restoring biological energy and vitality that is at the heart of this system.
The two areas of genuine concern revolve around the reliability of the test results, including their overlap with orthodox medical testing, and the practitionership and clinical excellence of the tester.
1.Reliability: many of the areas of testing that are possible with the Vega system are either not acknowledged as relevant by more orthodox approaches or else there is no comparable orthodox test for them. These can not therefore be compared. This includes geopathic stress, electromagnetic stress, foci of infection, functional organ stress before damage or disease is observable, some chemical and heavy metal toxicity factors, nutritional overloads,and several other environmental stress factors.
When considering disease and pathological factors the Vega system gives a positive indication before there is demonstrable pathology i.e. when there is functional disturbance but the body is still regulating itself well enough for there to be no symptoms yet. This does not make for fair comparisons either, since medical tests usually require there to be a symptom to measure whereas the Vega system can give an earlier warning that things are not working as well as they could even though there is no damage or disease. Hence its usefulness in Health Maintenance and Prevention of illness.
Negative Tester Effects: In fact the reliability factor that has generated controversy is not about the indications per se but about the reproducibility of the indications by the same tester or by different testers. It has been illustrated repeatedly in clinical trials in Germany that the most important factor in reliability is the expertise of the tester and not the system itself. What is most interesting in this regard is the lengths to which a good tester will go to to ensure that all extraneous factors and negative tester effects are filtered out of the testing environment so that (s)he is not likely to be confused by stray resonances. Dr Schimmel has devised filters that take out influences due to
i) the tester's own constitutional energetics and acquired toxic and infectious influences,
ii) the effects of 240 volts and 50 cycles from the electric mains,
iii) the effects of premalignant and malignant cells in both the patient and the tester. These cells are very "noisy" and their presence, if not filtered out, tends to make it very difficult to detect the presence of viral and fungal infections in the patient.
The introduction of these filters in recent years has dramatically reduced the negative tester effects that come from unprotected testing. In the latest incarnation of the testing device, the Vegatest Expert, they are built into the machine.
Overlap with conventional medical tests: Bioenergetic testing overlaps with orthodox testing and is not an alternative but an adjunct. Its usefulness is in indicating environmental stress factors and intolerances, in assessing progress towards improved biological vitality, in the early detection of functional stresses that are precursors to disease, and in the testing of remedies and medicaments for effectiveness before they are taken by the patient. It is also useful for people who are concerned about health maintenance, prevention and a wellness lifestyle. In areas of developed pathology, such as cancer, heart disease, and slow-growing tumours, it is not as useful or reliable as conventional blood tests, X-rays and scans.
2. Practitionership: The main difficulty with the Vega machine is that, although in the hands of a competent tester it looks easy, the machine can prove difficult to use. The biggest mistake is often in not asking the right question when testing, and not being able to discover all of the relevant information.
Some testers have been trained to only test for food allergies and to promote products that do not contain certain allergens. This is a substituion approach to health care, not a wholistic one. They are able to help people who have gluten or dairy or other primary allergies by advising them to avoid the foods to which they are allergic. These testers are not able to do the detective work to investigate the underlying reasons behind these primary allergies (the medical detective work being the reason why the Vegatest was invented in the first place!) which may be due to an underlying digestive or immune imbalance or to a chemical poisoning or to other environmental stress factors.
At present in the UK there is a growing group of health professionals who are well-trained in the medical detective work that can often unmask difficult situations in which the medical tests show nothing useful or the patient's condition is chronic, entrenched and needs to be fully analysed before a recovery strategy can be formulated.
© Copyright Wholistic Research Company 2001
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