Alex Chiu's Rings of Health: Testimonials and DIY Instructions

Antbody heard of that guy Alex Chiu?
He's the guy with the rings of life, or whatever it was he calls them- I'm not exactly sure, but those were neat.
Well, I was so into those rings, but I couldn't really remember where to get them most of the time, but I just found this link to his homepage.
I thought it was something else.

For anybody who remembers him and thought he had a good idea, here's the link to his Rings of Health
<a href="http://www.alexchiu.com/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=PhrensiedRabbit">
Immortality</a>



Good thing I found this, I probably would've completely forgotten.

Apparently, they are some sort of magnet thing that promotes health.
I'm don't really remember the technicals of it.

Well, on the site he tells people how to make their own, for those of us that can't afford the real thing.
I checked the site out, there's even testimonials on his message board there.
It seems pretty for real.
You should read the stories people put up.

Before you get too critical of it, check it out.
It really makes some sense.

New-age fad. There is no evidence that magnetic fields have any therapeutic effect on any condition. Anecdotal evidence is not medical evidence.

- Warren

The guy offers "immortality" based on a device that made him feel "rejuvenated" 10 years ago. Talk about unjustified extrapolations!

Also, the human body is *far* more complex than a circuit with two terminals (which Mr. Chiu states to be the two pinkies). Metabolism, health and aging are the result of billions of cells interacting in many different ways, forming many subsystems that have, each, its own "rythm", so to speak.

Well, in any case, I think I, personally, would be happy enough if they just make me feel better.
I mean, to believe that a person can live forever (or that one would want to) is just for dreamers and Hollywood. But, even if they promote health and make people feel good (I don't have any yet), I would think that they would be worth investigation, eh?

No, I definitely don't think think they deserve any "investigation". What I meant to say was:

1. He makes an outrageous extrapolation that cannot count as a "proof" of any sort,

and

2. In my opinion, there isn't the slightest chance for this to work. It is analogous to trying to fix a national economy by brushing your teeth with your left hand on Tuesdays.

I didn't say that they definitely work, I'm just saying that they do have some proven positive effects and that may be enough to warrant a little consideration.

You don't have to get all defensive.
I'm so damn sorry that I offended you with the possibility that something that you don't like may have the ability to help people!

Funny how out of the billions of new age BS out there on the net, this one appears again and again.

Greybeaver:
Next time, get your url tags right and hide the affiliate id - don't make it so obvious.

Beer makes people feel better. No new age therapy mumbo jumbo has yet transcended alcohol in this respect. And to say we are being defensive is to imply, falsely, that he has some evidence which would provide an offensive.

Shuffle this off to Sk & D, please.

Non-spammy link is www.alexchiu.com

I have seen one paper from Oregon Health Sciences University that discusses certain therapeutic effects of intense and time varying magnetic fields - about 100 - 1000 Hz I think... The magnet crowd was touting this as proof of their claim. OF course they fail to realize that by several orders of magnitude we are talking about a completely different animal. I also remember that the varying field was considered critical. Permanent magnets produce a static field.

Humans are not magnetic
They are not affected by magnetic fields (Atleast perminent magnetic fields)
If they were then doesn't an MRI magnet have incredible magnetic strengths (capible of bending metal, having people fly because of steel implants, ect) yet nothing has been noted about it.

You are not magnetic
You can check that by bleeding next to a magnet; no effect.
I would have thought you people would have learned by now...

Boston.com / News / Nation /
This is supposed to be a link to a story about something along the lines of what Ivan mentioned. (I can't seem to get the link to work but the info is there for anyone who wants to put the address in by hand)

Early McLean tests show brain scan eases depression
Address:http://www.boston.com/news/nation/a...r some people, Fz+, that's better than beer!)

Originally posted by Nice coder
Humans are not magnetic
They are not affected by magnetic fields (Atleast perminent magnetic fields)

Oh, no?! I have worked around (and performed) MRI scans on patients for close to 20 years, and I know whenever I get near that dang magnet, I have this odd, intense desire to walk NORTH! (Just kidding! It's an old professional joke...)

If they were then doesn't an MRI magnet have incredible magnetic strengths (capible of bending metal, having people fly because of steel implants, ect) yet nothing has been noted about it.

Here are the facts:
If you have a surgical stainless steel and/or titanium implant (hip prostheses, back rods etc.) you can still have an MRI. It won't bend the implants or cause you to fly. It has been known to warm the metal to a slight degree but this is not usually noticed by the patient.
Numerous other small transplants are NOT allowed in the magnet (including brain aneurysm clips, pacemakers and cochlear implants). These CAN experience torque, relocation and/or malfunction.
Patients are routinely xrayed for possible metallic foreign body in the eye (if the patient's life and/or work history indicates this may be a possibility), because the sudden extraction of that foreign body when being placed in the scanner could have serious detrimental effects!
Unfortunately, there HAVE been deaths associated with MRI scans. An oxygen tank inadvertantly brought into the room can become a virtual missle that has killed more than one patient.
I've seen chairs and floor buffers stuck in scanners. And there is the occasional (idiot) patient who 'just wants to see what would happen' if they put their pocket knife (or other small metallic object) in the pocket of their scrubs before going in for their scan. The result? A hole ripped in the pocket of the scrubs and the patient doesn't get his scan because the scanner is now down for a day or two.

That story about the oxygen tank is incredible. I never realized the magneic field was that strong.

Has anyone having an MRI ever reported seeing colored lights during the scan? I read somewhere that strong magnetic fields can have this effect.

Is the field pulsed, or is it on constantly during the scan?

-Zoob

Originally posted by zoobyshoe
That story about the oxygen tank is incredible. I never realized the magneic field was that strong.

It is of some concern to some in the medical profession. A link:
http://www.physweekly.com/archive/01/09_03_01/itn2.html

Has anyone having an MRI ever reported seeing colored lights during the scan? I read somewhere that strong magnetic fields can have this effect.

I've never heard of anything like this, but a friend of mine (an MR Technologist) volunteered to be a 'patient' during applications training and had a possible hallucinatory event. She swore she was laying in the scanner screaming to be let out! She said she was just freaking out and screaming at the top of her lungs. There were numerous people in the control booth and they would most assuredly have heard this (there is a continuous speaker system in use at all times) had it occured. Very strange. She was not claustrophobic at all or she wouldn't have volunteered to be the 'patient'.

Is the field pulsed, or is it on constantly during the scan?

I attempted to cross over from CT to MRI and studied basic physics for it (only somewhat, as I found the physics of MRI and the actual performing of the exams to be BORING AS HELL! CT is way more interesting and interactive). The way I best understand the physics is this (Ivan can get way more technical and describe way it better, but that's his thing ): The magnetic field is constantly applied, lining up the cells in the body (+/-). RF is pulsed (the constant 'knocking' sounds you hear during a scan) scrambling the cells, and their rate of return is digitally turned into a picture by some mad process of computer technology and divine intervention (in other words, in my mind , a miracle occurs! ) You can't just turn the magnet on and off - like rebooting your computer. Gases (liquid nitrogen and helium) have to be purged/replaced, etc. This can be a very lengthy service call (and costly if something is stuck in the magnet and it HAS to be taken down to retreive the object). Now, I'm fairly sure that my simplified description has evolved over the years to contain some misconceptions , so if you want, I can try to get Ivan back in here to describe it in greater 'physics' detail. Let me know.

Originally posted by Tsunami
It is of some concern to some in the medical profession. A link:
http://www.physweekly.com/archive/01/09_03_01/itn2.html

Thanks for the link. I just ran it over and posted it on an epilepsy forum where just about everyone has had an MRI.

She swore she was laying in the scanner screaming to be let out! She said she was just freaking out and screaming at the top of her lungs.

That's one of the strangest things I've ever heard. Never heard of a hallucination like that. Sounds vaguely related to sleep paralysis.

The magnetic field is constantly applied, lining up the cells in the body (+/-).

This is what I was curious about. I didn't know if the field was pulsed or steady. I was wondering about that color thing I'd heard, most of all. If true it may have to be a pulsed or alternating field. Thanks.

Originally posted by zoobyshoe
I didn't know if the field was pulsed or steady. I was wondering about that color thing I'd heard, most of all. If true it may have to be a pulsed or alternating field. Thanks.

IIRC, the magnetic field is constant, the RF is pulsed.

Tsunami,

After I posted your link on the other site, one woman responded with this:

yikes! What a frightening story!

I had my most recent MRI about a month ago...I wear 9 metal bangles on one arm that were nearly impossible to get on -- it took several days, had to ice hand, lots of others tricks, and swelling bruising and cuts afterwards... that is why I NEVER take them off, get yelled at every time I fly (which is frequently), but they just don't come off. I didn't know whether or not they were magnetic, so when I demonstrated to the MRI tech that no, we were not in for an easy time of it if she insisted they come off, she good-naturedly agreed to try it with them on.

OWWWWWWWWWWW!

I (literally) nearly broke my arm, they were so magnetic. We came close to getting them cut off or canceling the MRI for the day, but after working with a big bottle of stinky lotion for about half an hour, we got them. I haven't tried to get them back on yet, just in case the docs ask me to go back in soon.

I told her they should have just checked the bangles with a refridgerator magnet before the MRI to see if it wanted to stick to them.

Who the hell would want to put nine metal bracelets on herself that cannot be taken off without a blowtorch?

- Warren

Originally posted by chroot
Who the hell would want to put nine metal bracelets on herself that cannot be taken off without a blowtorch?

Entirely different issue. I have the same reaction to the issue of tattoos, but no one listens to me. Body piercing? Don't get me started.

zoobyshoe said:

That story about the oxygen tank is incredible. I never realized the magneic field was that strong.

Has anyone having an MRI ever reported seeing colored lights during the scan? I read somewhere that strong magnetic fields can have this effect.

Is the field pulsed, or is it on constantly during the scan?

-Zoob

An old thread dated- Feb 20, 04 Between Zoob and TSU-

I recently had an MRI and commented to the radiologist that "I had just enjoyed the light show" during the scan- She then told me this was an odd side effect.
I have had many MRI's- my first well over fifteen years ago - and I have seen "a coloured light show" every time. (therefore I didn't know -IT WAS UNCOMMON).
The "coloured light show" changes in shape and pattern (almost exactly like watching MEDIA PLAYER -to Music) as the MRI changes in pulse and intensity. The colours include bright green, pink, blue, and purple, with flashes of white.

This was one of the only Google links I found regarding , and I wondered IF YOU and TSU had come to any conclusions or could recommend other websites regarding this "phenomonem".
-Visualgirl

Ivan Seeking said:

I have seen one paper from Oregon Health Sciences University that discusses certain therapeutic effects of intense and time varying magnetic fields - about 100 - 1000 Hz I think... The magnet crowd was touting this as proof of their claim. OF course they fail to realize that by several orders of magnitude we are talking about a completely different animal. I also remember that the varying field was considered critical. Permanent magnets produce a static field.

I once knew a girl who was in the medical sales biz. She told me about two products:

One was a device that used a technique to cease pain in a damaged/pinched nerve by, as far as I recall, using two (electrically generated) magnetic fields that intersected at the nerve, 'deactivating' it without using chemicals.

The other was something called a bone growth stimulator.

She had no idea how these devices worked. I didn't bother doing any research to determine whether they were bunk or not, but I took joy in constantly teasing her about selling witch-doctor stuff. 'Bone growth stimulator? Whateeeever, Brandi!' I stopped when, one day, I realized she was actually upset by my teasing. She apparently had more faith in my opinion than I realized (or deserved) and was starting to believe that she was participating in some sort of scam.

The teasing had to end. I did a little research, printed out what I found, and apologized to her.

But, yeah. Rings of health? Bunk.

Those are genuine technololgies. My mother had a bone growth stimulator implanted by one of the country's best surgeons, at UC San Francisco. This was done in conjuction with a major back surgery.

She also had a pain control stimulator implanted previously by a regular surgeon at a major hospital. It is a standard method of pain control. I believe that a small current flowing between two electrodes disrupts the signal for pain. The placement of the electrodes, the current flow, and the pulse profile, are critical.