Imagine a doctor holding a metal wand behind your back to check what you could be allergic to, and hooking you up to a machine to run unseen waves through your body as a 20-minute treatment.

What you might imagine to be a 'new age' treatment has come a step closer to being mainstream, with the first bioresonance machine brought in to be used in a general practitioner's office here.

Dr Erwin Kay of KCS Medical Centre brought in the German technology a few months ago. He is now using bioresonance to treat patients with problems as varied as nicotine addiction, allergies and autism.

Dr Kay treats a patient with the bioresonance machine.

The next wave of healthcare could well be based on biophysics instead of biochemistry, says Dr Kay. He was himself once a sceptic, but was converted when he saw how bioresonance worked in Germany.

'The bioresonance method is still not accepted by conventional Western medical science, but it's part of the area known as 'empirical healing', which includes homeopathy, acupuncture and other naturopathic methods, as well as traditional Chinese medicine,' Dr Kay says.

The treatment is delivered through a machine called Bicom 2000, which diagnoses conditions and is then used to treat them. Essentially, the patient is treated with modulated frequency patterns.

For an anti-smoking programme for example, a patient puts his last-smoked cigarette into an 'input beaker' for the machine to read what is said to be the cigarette's 'frequency'. Then the waves are inverted, and run through the patient's body.

The patient doesn't feel anything, but the inverted frequency basically acts to rid the body of the toxins, or so it is claimed. It is said that, a course of treatments later, patients will no longer feel the urge to smoke, and their bodies will no longer be addicted to nicotine.

The anti-smoking programme has an 80 to 90 per cent success rate with the bioresonance machine, says Dr Kay. He says he has successfully treated more than 30 patients now - with the oldest being 46 years old and the most difficult case. By contrast, 'the conventional way of quitting smoking (such as 'cold turkey' or nicotine gum) usually has a 30 per cent success rate', Dr Kay says.

'The bioresonance machine works well for those who've tried to quit with other means,' he adds. 'With each treatment, the nicotine levels in the body are lowered, and patients will usually quit smoking by the end of two to three weeks, if they come for treatment twice a week.'

So how does bioresonance work? First, it's not a new technology as doctors in Germany have been using it for 20 years.

It is said to work on the premise of quantum physics, which shows that all particles of matter have both wave and particle characteristics.

This means that every substance and, therefore, every cell - including viruses, bacteria, pollen and toxins - have an electromagnetic radiation. Each substance has its own frequency pattern.

Our cells in the body communicate with each other by means of flashes of light (photon radiation). They exchange information via certain frequencies. In a healthy body, cells' exchange of information is not hindered. 'Alien' substances (toxins, viruses, bacteria and so on) can then 'interrupt' the cells' communication with each other, thus leading to general disturbed well-being.

The Bicom bioresonance method reads and uses frequency patterns from the body's electromagnetic field and from substances to test for stress and for therapy.

Allergies and Autism

What all this means is that when Dr Kay is testing for an allergy, for instance, he has samples of various allergens in small vials which he puts in a beaker to be read by the Bicom 2000 machine, and he 'reads' how the metal tensor (like a long metal stick) vibrates against the patient's body.

It's a fast and painless way to detect allergies or intolerant substances, as there's no skin-prick test or blood to be taken. Once the allergy is detected, the wave pattern of the substance is then inverted and then inverted wave detoxes the body of that allergen.

'Common allergen substances include the casein protein in milk, and gluten in wheat, as well as certain food colourings,' he notes.

He says that he had a young patient who was autistic, and after a few treatments the patient's condition improved considerably. 'While you can't cure autism, factors like food do affect the patient,' adds Dr Kay.

He usually prescribes methylcobalmin injections, magnesium, vitamin B6, zinc, essential fatty acids, then the bioresonance machine does its bit to detoxify the patient from harmful chemicals.

He's also treated a hyperactive boy with attention deficit disorder, detoxifying him of mercury, copper and lead and he says the patient became a lot calmer after a series of treatments.

'Chelation therapy is the best for these, but the bioresonance method is the closest to that now, in Singapore,' says Dr Kay.

There are a lot more conditions that the Bicom 2000 can treat, but since Dr Kay has been using the machine for only a few months, he is concentrating on anti-smoking measures, autism and allergy treatments.

So confident is he that bioresonance treatment will gain popularity - as treatments are painless, non-invasive and apparently show results - that he's also set up a bioresonance centre specifically for the treatment of these conditions at Suntec City, which is more accessible to the public than his own clinic is at Bedok.

'This is the medicine of the future,' he claims.

------

Bioresonance therapy is available at Phi Therapy Centre, #12-03, Suntec Tower 1, Tel: 6835 9665 and KCS Medical Centre, Blk 515 #01-205, Tel:64438322, kcsmed@singnet.com.sg

Standard consultation charges for Bicom Resonance Therapy starts at $65 (in-depth $80, follow-up $30); allergy testing $300, treatment course of minimum five sessions $500; anti-smoking treatment $500 for min five treatments; autism treatment (min eight sessions) for $800; ADHD $800; asthma/rhinitis treatment $500 (min five sessions); chronic disorder (multiple sclerosis, thyroid and others) treatment per session $80.