Seeing an alternative to traditional health care

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 16, 2000

Yup.

Wednesday, August 16, 2000

Yup. That’s me above with Christine Currie peering into my big ol’ green eyes. However, she told me my real eye color – there are only two, brown and blue – is blue.

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I didn’t go into my appointment with Currie with much skepticism as I am a fairly open-mined person who respects the realm of holistic and alternative healing. But then again, there was a twinch of doubt. Could this woman really stare into my eyes and tell me all of my ailments? After a hug and a Tic Tac, I was ready to find out.

She wasn’t very specific – I should keep an eye on this system and look out for problems in that – but the things she did tell me got me thinking.

I’m not going to get into the specifics here. I don’t think the good people of Austin really need to know the finer details of my body workings and all the other personal things Currie discovered by looking at my eyes and tickling my feet. (Currie is also a reflexologist, which means she massages the foot to locate tension in throughout the body’s systems. It’s torture to the hyper-ticklish folks like myself.)

There were some surprises in the session though. She knew I consumed a large quantity of caffeine everyday because of the brownish tint nearest my pupils. A little spike of color revealed that I had been hit in the head sometime during my life, and Currie figured I had been knocked out.

I couldn’t remember being hit in the head, and the only time I’ve ever blacked out was when tae kwon do class choke hold got a little too tight. But after the fifth inquiry into the subject, I finally remembered being knocked in the melon with a piece of wood thrown by my brother. I was 5. I don’t remember being knocked out, but I do remember a late night visit to the emergency room and an older brother who got into a heap of trouble for hurting his sister and buying her silence. (Buying my silence back then was pretty cheap – the promise to play with his Princess Leia action figure.) I was surprised that a slight variation in my eye could reveal so much.

She could determine some of the health problems in my family tree. And Currie recommended some the diet and lifestyle changes, but as a caffeine addict, I’m not doing so well. I am trying.

So all in all, I would say there is some credence to Currie’s craft.

But there’s still some doubt. Currie also claims that I seriously injured my left knee. I know I have problems with it, but I recall no injury. Maybe I should ask my brother.

Shawnda Schelinder is the associate editor of the Austin Daily Herald. E-mail her at shawnda.schelinder@austindailyherald.com