I’m doing the happy dance as I write. This (post) has been in the making for a year. This (wish) has been in the making for two years. Two years ago, my son and I spent a hot 4th of July weekend in a French hospital with no climatisation. He had an asthma attack, which required three days of hospitalization.
I don’t know how other parents discover their child’s asthma, but our discovery was not pleasant. Little C had been crying all night, barely slept and was breathing noisily at dawn. After a misdiagnosis of otite by SOS Medecin, I rushed little C to the Urgences at Hopital Franco-Britannique to get a lung x-ray. The emergency doctor told me that little C was having an asthma attack and his blood oxygen level was really low. The doctor said he should have come to the Urgences during the night. I felt like the worst parent in the world.
Little C was now diagnosed with allergic asthma and required a twice daily maintenance inhaler.
One year ago, I started this post when I took a leap of faith and decided to try something similar to osteopathy for my son’s asthma.
As a parent of a child who suffers from the big trilogy – asthma, food allergies and eczema – I spend hours, days on end and nights trying to find non-medicinal solutions. I started researching osteopathy, but discovered the Gesret Method® instead, which claims to cure asthma, allergies, eczema and psoriasis. Different from osteopathy, I was fascinated by the origins of the method, the mechanics behind it and successful outcomes as detailed on the Asthma Reality website. After exhausting my research, I decided to bring my son for a session with a wish to cure his asthma.
There are only four practitioners who are trained under the Gesret Method in Paris. They are also trained to treat babies and children. The practitioner I chose is also an osteopath who speaks English as well. (Note, however, that not all practitioners are osteopaths as Gesret Method® and osteopathy are not the same.)
Karl Richard started the session by lecturing me on the three Big No No’s:
1) never pick up a baby/child under the arms/thorax.
2) don’t let baby/child sleep on stomach.
3) don’t let baby/child’s head roll or fall down when sleeping in a car seat.
Our biggest challenge was #1- everyone was used to picking up my son under his arms. This is the instinctual way we pick up babies and kids. It’s like a reflex, so correcting it took substantial mental remainders. I was ok with it. Other family members, caretakers or friends had a harder time remembering. So, my home became littered with sticky notes reminding people how to pick up my son correctly, or to not pick him up at all.
How you pick up your baby/child is a key part of the Gesret Method, since it can reverse the entire treatment of properly aligning the thorax, which is fundamental to curing the ailments.
Following this lecture, Mr. Richard made two observations: (1) when breathing, little C’s tummy was moving, and not his chest, which is indicative of asthma; (2) little C’s left leg was a bit longer than his right, which is indicative of eczema (longer right leg is for psoriasis).
Then, Mr. Richard started his manipulations doucement, and I felt totally relaxed watching. Prior to the session, I had been a stress case debating whether to bring my son or not. Little C was not bothered at all by the manipulations. He laid quietly, sage comme une image, and let Mr. Richard do his thing.
Enfin, le moment magique… Mr. Richard told me to look at C’s symmetrical legs, and how C was breathing from his chest, and not from his stomach.
I felt giddy. I thought I had found the miraculous cure to C’s ailments. That night, little C slept like a baby. He was so calm and peaceful.
Fast forward to the present. C saw Mr. Richard a handful of times; and then, with the permission of his pneumologist, he stopped taking his maintenance inhaler. He recently did a spirometry test* at Hopital Necker and passed with flying colors.
When his pneumologist declared to me, “pas de l’asthme”, my whole world stopped. I kept my composure, but was screaming with joy inside. I was so ecstatic and excited for my son.
Was he cured by the Gesret Method? Did he simply outgrow his asthma? Or, was it his maintenance inhaler? Perhaps it was all three. He is officially medicine-free, as the inhaler was his only daily medicine. I just feel happy that my son has one less ailment to fight, for now.
Disclaimer : I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no connection to Gesret Method®. The views expressed in this post are personal. I do not state that Gesret Method® cured my son’s asthma, but may have helped in conjunction with his maintenance inhaler.
Resources:
*For more info on Gesret Method: http://www.asthma-reality.com/anglais.htm
*Mr. Karl Richard, Osteopath: 10, rue Buffault, 75009 Paris. Tel: +33 (0)1 47 70 80 39
*For more info on Spirometry Test : https://www.thoracic.org/patients/patient-resources/resources/pulmonary-function-testing-children.pdf)
How are you supposed to pick up the child using the Methode GESRET ?