Treatments can last from just a few minutes to overnight and, depending upon the situation and severity, may be applied several times a day, or for days or weeks at a time. Sometimes, though, the results of magnetic therapy can be quite dramatic. Dr. Ludwig recalls a case of a forty-six-year-old man who had suffered for years from severe heart flutter, diarrhea, and nausea. No treatment seemed to help, but when a magnetic applicator with less than one gauss of energy was placed upon his solar plexus for only three minutes, his symptoms immediately stopped. Two years later, he had experienced no relapse.

  Dr. Philpott describes another case of a seventy-year-old man who had undergone coronary bypass surgery continued to suffer from heart pain. He had a shuffling walk , his speech was slurred, and he had a chronic depression. He decided to try magnetic therapy and a plastiform magnet was placed over his heart. Within ten minutes, the pain disappeared. Magnets were applied to the crown of his head while he slept, and within a month, his depression was gone, his speech was clear, and his walking returned to normal.

   Dr. Philpott states, magnets help to eliminate toothaches, eliminate periodontal disease, and eradicate fungal infections like candidiasis, and also, to dissolve kidney stones and calcium deposits in inflamed tissues. Magnetic therapy is particularly effective in reducing swelling and edema. According to Dr. Philpott, symptoms of cardiac atherosclerosis and brain atherosclerosis have been observed to disappear after six to eight weeks of nightly exposure to a negative static magnetic field.

  A negative magnetic field applied to the top of the head has a calming and sleep-inducing effect on brain and body functions, due to the stimulation of the production of the hormone melatonin, according to Dr. Philpott. Melatonin has been shown to be antistressful, antiaging, anti-infectious, anticancerous, and to have control over respiration and the production of free radicals.

  A free radical is a highly destructive molecule that is missing an electron, and readily reacts with other molecules. This can lead to the aging of cells, the hardening of muscle tissue, the wrinkling of skin, and, in general, a decreased effectiveness of protein synthesis. As there are literally hundreds of diseases that are related to stress, infections, and aging, magnetic field therapy could be considered an essential addition in their treatment and researchers are currently studying its contributions.

 

  Dr. Philpott says, that a negative magnetic field can help destroy bacterial, fungal, and viral infections, like an antibiotic, by promoting oxygenation and lowering the body's acidity. Both these factors are beneficial to normal bodily functions but harmful to pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganisms, which do not survive in a well-oxygenated, alkaline environment. Dr. Philpott theorizes that the biological value of oxygen is increased by the influence of a negative electromagnetic field, and that the field causes negatively charged DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) to "pull" oxygen out of the bloodstream and into the cell. The negative electromagnetic field keeps the cellular buffer system (pH or acid-base balance) intact so that the cells remain alkaline. The low acid balance also helps to keep up the presence of oxygen in the body.

  A negative magnetic field normalizes the disturbed metabolic functions that cause painful conditions such as cellular edema (swelling of the cells), cellular acidosis (excessive acidity of the cells), lack of oxygen to the cells, and infection.

  Dr. Philpott recalls a woman in her seventies who had experienced pain and weakness in her left leg for thirty-three years stemming from a blood clot in the groin area, and could not climb stairs without stopping several times due to pain. After twelve months of sleeping on a negative magneto-electric pad, the woman found that she could walk a long flight of stairs without any pain or weakness in her leg.

  A negative magnetic field cannot take the place of local anesthetics and analgesics, however. A positive magnetic field, on the other hand, can increase pain due to its interference with normal metabolic function.

 

  Many researchers state, the negative magnetic fields seem to affect all the metabolic processes involved in growth, healing, immune defense, nonimmune microorganism defense, and detoxification. 

  The following chart of Dr. Philpott is based on his clinical observations of the effects that positive and negative magnetic fields have upon living organisms.

Biological Response to	Biological Response to
Antistressful Negative	Stressful Positive
Static Magnetic Fields	Static Magnetic Fields
	(Stress starts at 100 gauss and is strongly
	developed by 200 gauss)
pH normalizing	Acid producing
Oxygenating	Oxygen deficit producing
Resolves cellular edema	Evokes cellular edema
Usually reduces symptoms	Often evokes or exacerbates the
	existing symptoms
Can relieve addictive withdrawal	Stress evokes endorphin production
symptoms	and can therefore be addicting
Inhibits microorganism replication	Accelerates microorganism replication
Biologically normalizing	Biologically disorganizing
Governs rest, relaxation, and sleep	Governs wakefulness and action
Evokes anabolic hormone production-	Evokes catabolic hormone production
melatonin and growth hormone	and inhibits anabolic hormone
	production
Counters and processes metabolically-	Produces toxic end products of
produced toxins out of the body	metabolism and does not counter or
	process these toxins out of the body
Cancels out free radicals	Produces free radicals

 

  Dr. Philpott says that when a negative magnetic field is placed directly over an area of electrical activity in the brain, the electrical excitement can be reduced. It can stop such symptoms as hallucinations, delusions, seizures, or panic without disrupting the patient's mental alertness and orientation. Small disc magnets (made from ceramic neodymium or iron oxide) can be placed around the head to alleviate these kinds of symptoms. Dr. Philpott has pioneered the use of magnetic therapy for numerous psychiatric disorders, and he believes that in the future subtle uses of magnets will be used to control a variety of symptoms and central nervous system disturbances.

  Dr. Philpott was visited by a woman who could not walk without dragging her feet, because of a benign tumor removed from her spine. He placed a positive magnetic pole over the area where the tumor had been removed, and she could walk perfectly. With practice, and with the help of both a positive and negative magnetic field, the neuronal function returned. The positive field stimulated the nonfunctioning neurons and produced (as a reaction to stress) endorphins (natural opiates produced in the brain), while the negative field prevented the neurons from becoming very excited. The period of exposure was quite brief, because of the potential dangers relating to positive magnetic fields.

There is some warning information concerning utilization of magnets:

• Do not apply the positive magnetic pole unless under medical supervision. It can produce seizures, hallucinations, insomnia, hyperactivity, stimulate the growth of tumors and microorganisms, and promote addictive behavior.

• Don't use magnets on the abdomen during pregnancy.

• Don't use a magnetic bed for more than eight to ten hours.

• Wait sixty to ninety minutes after meals before applying magnetic therapy to the abdomen, to prevent interference with peristalsis (wavelike contractions of the smooth muscles of the digestive tract).