Unorthodox treatment 1 - the Zen Chi Machine

During the early parts of my life - my consultants and pretty much all the doctors I came across had told me that I suffer from Lipodystrophy, which is essentially abnormal formations of fat.

In 1999, after numerous liposuctions and a major debulking procedure (Thompson's) - I was left with legs with hardly any change in size but with lots of scars, skin graft marks, some nerve damage and a cavity.  I am then told that I suffer from Lymphatic filiarisis, which is caused by mosquito bites (more on this on a later post).  One of the consequences of having this is Lymphoedema and in its worse case Elephantiasis.

In 2003, I decided to do something about my weight.  I thought perhaps my ailment could be diet related despite being informed that diets will have no effect whatsoever.  I was explaining my condition to a colleague, who was keen on alternative therapy, he then invited me to his house to try out his Zen Chi machine.  At this time I was wearing tracksuit bottoms almost exclusively for five years and my legs did exhibit the onset of elephantiasis.

After, what I remember, a nine minute session I felt strangely dizzy and energetic at the same time. After a night's sleep I realised that my leg had shrunken in size.  I now knew that either shaking or movement is key to my leg's health so I set out to get myself a Zen Chi machine and also to start walking (running was too much for me then).

Unfortunately, having paid for a 'real' Zen Chi machine I received an 'advanced' but flawed version of one.  The company refunded my money and said I could keep the machine but it wasn't any use to me - it was just too fast.  The 'real' Zen Chi machine is white in colour and has a mechanical timer based controller rather than the digital one.  Plus the 'real' one has only a single speed whereas my one came with 10 speed settings with the slowest one being about three times as fast as the speed of the 'real' one.

I could safely say that without that experience I wouldn't have been motivated to move about and as a consequence get slimmer and healthier looking legs.  Although they are not as small as most people's but I'm eternally thankful of having them.

If you do decide to get a Zen Chi machine - remember to get one with the mechanical timer and a single speed. But I'd only recommended it only if moving around is difficult..  Otherwise you should start walking straightaway...

Oh, before I finish I did not suffer from lymphatic filiarisis, apparently it was a popular prognosis which doctors used to describe how people get lymphoedema...

(I'm no expert in lymphatics or anything - I'm only disclosing what I found useful to me)