<<<WARNING LONG STORY--- SORRY>>>

I wanted to share an experience with all of you that actually happened to me today. I'm not sure if you recall a post some time ago for a Fibromyalgia web site that stated that they had a remedy. It was www.stopfibro.com and if you remember I was kinda rank about it cause of all the spam we had been getting.

Well I checked these people out, and it turned out they actually practice close to me at Lake Tahoe which is about an hour away from where I live in Reno, NV. I've been in contact with one of their receptionists and very hesitant about making any serious commitments to go up there and they were very aggressive calling me about twice to three times a week to see how I was doing and to try to get me to make an appointment to see Dr. Whitcomb, the Chiropractor who states that he has a method for getting rid of most if not all of a person's Fibromyalgia and that he has a test to find out if someone has Fibromyalgia which he confidently states is rather foolproof.

Of course, after being around the medical field as long as I have, I'm immediately skeptic and question the aggressive nature of their attempts to get me into their clinic. Well this week was the rub.

This person named Amy that I have been speaking with was rather insistent that Dr. Whitcomb really wanted to speak with me and wanted to see me on Wednesday, November 14. This was last Friday when I decided to succumb and commit to this to finally see what this is all about and arrange to have my mom drive me to Tahoe. After a couple days of imagining the trip up to Tahoe with my mom constantly wanting to talk about my illness and how I'm not doing enough to get myself cured and thinking that it's going to be a total of 5 hours of my life I won't get back I finally call back on Tuesday morning and say there's no way I can make it and that I don't have a ride.

Tuesday Afternoon I of course get a call from Amy who states that Dr. Whitcomb would like her to come down and pick me up and afterwards take me back home. I'm humbled by this and somewhat angered since I thought I had an out. I then state that I don't really have the money right now to be able to do the procedure. She states, "CJ, we really just want to prove to you that we can help you, don't worry about that right now, just let us come and get you and help you." What can I say? Checkmate... So I go.

My friends, I don't know how to describe my experience. It's like going to a place where everyone understands what you're going through and doesn't question why you're there, what level of pain you have, or that you're disabled in any way. When I get there everyone from the staff to all of the patients ask to meet me and give me a hug and offer to help me fill out the paperwork asking me if I can write okay. Another comes to introduce herself stating that she has come all the way from Hawaii and that she has been there for 4 weeks and has felt great improvement. Other patients tell me about their years of suffering and how they have gone through not even being able to talk to being able to walk. One staff person still apparently is suffering with it, he's a man and the tremors in his hands are a dead giveaway that he's definitely in pain, but when I ask him if he's seen any improvement in his own treatment he explains that it was much worse and that he was bedridden.

Well finally I meet Dr. Whitcomb who is a completely kind and gentle being. His first comments are "I looked over your MRI's and your paperwork and you're really sick, I'm so sorry. I really think I can help you, but I'd like to try something first." He brings me into an exam room where I lay on my back. To my surprise he takes his fingers and finds some bones (I still don't fully understand it) and presses into them. Immediately I'm in the worse pain I've ever felt in my life. I can barely breath. He apologizes an says he wishes it didn't have to hurt but to concentrate on everything from my chest down and to try not to think about the pain.

Well that was impossible. I'm not kidding, it was like he was sticking knives into the back of my ears. But at the same time, the most amazing thing happened. I felt this warm wave flood down from the top of my spine to the bottom of my spine and all of the pain in my body was complete gone. I'm not kidding you, it was like it didn't even exist. Except for the pain behind my ears which was even starting to fade away, all that pain in my back, arms, legs, feet, chest, ... just gone. Then he finally stopped and a wave of dizziness came over me and the room began to spin.

After about a minute he helps me sit up, still dizzy, but for about three minutes I'm still feeling no pain and an amazing energy is in my chest. I've never felt anything like it before. Earlier I was sleepy and fatigued and now I felt alert and energetic. Unfortunately it did go away after a few minutes and after about ten minutes I was in the worse pain. I think the whole day was catching up to me.

I asked him what he had done and why it had that effect. Apparently according to my MRI, My C1 disc in my neck is protruding causing the signals to be cut off from my brain to my spine, not completely, but enough to have the neurons in my spine to continuously fire off pain receptors which is why I feel intense pain in areas where doctors say I shouldn't be experiencing pain. He said he had briefly moved that area to for the first time in a long time allow my brain and spine to communicate fully turning off the pain receptors and allowing my body to no longer be fooled by false pain. According to him, his treatment to move that area of my neck could improve my Fibromyalgia significantly and he states that due to my reaction to that test that I definitely have Fibromyalgia and no M.S. whatsoever. I didn't know this, but people with Fibromyalgia can experience tremors, shaking, eye tremors, and some of the same symptoms that M.S. sufferers have. Previous to my visit I also found that Dr. Whitcomb himself has Fibromyalgia and was bedridden for 2 years and 1 year of recovery before he discovered a way to help people who suffered from Fibromyalgia and decided to make it his life mission to specifically help these sufferers. He lost his wife and children as a result of his illness. Many of his staff members also had similar stories to tell, where they had divorces and significant losses. I began to feel like the lucky one with my wife and two kids.

Anyways I just wanted to share that with you. I'm really sorry for the terribly long post, but I just had to share my experience. I'm not sure if I will be able to afford the treatments, but if I can get the money together I sure would like to give him a chance. So far he's shown me more in a day that any Rheumatologist, Neurologist, and any ologist for that matter. I'm just damn sick of doctors right now and drugs which do nothing for me than make me feel like an addict.

Again, sorry for the long post and I'm really glad to be back with you guys. I want to thank you again for your kind wishes and you've also been in my prayers and wishes too.

I'll continue to keep in touch now and hopefully this won't be the end of my story.

Peace out.

CJ

I do believe that hands on therapy is an important adjunct to meds and can replace/reduce the need for them in certain circumstances. More I more I believe that it's important to treat the symptom and try to correct they underlying cause if possible rather than just cover them with meds.

Like anything else in treatment I think that the Practitioner is the most important part of the treatment. Regardless of the type of treatment Meds/Bodywork/Chiro/SI etc. you can't go to just any mook - even one who "Specializes" so your recommendation is very important to me. I've seen his ads & based on your information will probably check him out in the near future as I'm pretty close myself (SF Bay Area. What does he charge for an initial consultation?

I treated my initial injury with Chiro & have seen them in the interim for other thing before my back blew this last time but not since I had back surgery & developed Fibro. Just lost faith in Chiro as a solution after seeing a few soso practitioners. If you do go back pleae let me know the result, if he's good & give you relief I'll suffer the 4-5 hours to Tahoe.

Money is always the issue but sometime they can be very flexible, he sound like the compassionate type - have you ask for a discount? My own experience in that after paying a lot (to me) for 3 months of treatment 2x week my MFR guy & I bonded and when I finally told him I had $$ concerns he cut he fee in half and offered to treat me for free if that was too much. There are nice people in the world trying to do good while the make a living & either this guy REALLY is big on marketing, or her actually cares about people & thinks he can help them. His offer to come get you leads me to believe hes in the latter category but hey, let me know.

Post edited by: bshapiro, at: 11/15/2007 11:54

Post edited by: bshapiro, at: 11/15/2007 11:59

Thanks for your input, and I totally agree with you about Chiropractors. I've had some good experiences and alot of bad experiences and many friends have tons of horror stories about their experiences to make me very careful when approaching anything having to do with a chiropractic resolution.

This person seems a little different from the run of the mill Chiropractor. I can't fully explain it, but it's sorta like, you can tell he's definitely on some kind of mission and that he driven to treat only people who have Fibromyalgia. In fact, the environment was far from a normal one. It was filled with people from England, Hawaii, Texas, and other points on the continent, all with Fibromyalgia. No one was there on a regular chiropractic appointment, in fact there isn't even a sign in sheet. People just walk into a pretty big reception area where they all just chat with each other like they all know each other which really threw me off, and I was really thrown off by the number of people who came up to introduce themselves to me, very unlike any medical office I've been in. Very different.

Sorry, to get back to the point. I think the first exam is $200. Then the 8 week program is $7,000 OUCH!! Which is why I may not be able to take advantage, however, I think this just may be worth it to take out a loan, I'm seriously thinking about it.

Dr Whitcomb seems to also be working on a grant and is documenting everything to get it I'm told so that he can help people who really need it for free.

By the way, the $7,000 I don't think counts the hotel room but I'll get clarification. Actually it might because everyone actually stays in the same place.

Thanks again Bruce and I'll keep the info flowing as I get it.

Post edited by: CJ , at: 11/16/2007 13:28

This sounds like something I would consider trying if someone can tell me it works! Like said before, it would be worth taking out a loan for this if it does work...so I'm waiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{{{{Fibro Hugs}}}}

Wow....some good news for a change. I'm like you all, I'm tired of looking for the miracle drug(with the thousand side effects). I live in a small town in Ky. Does this therapy have a name?Is there a web site that gives more info? I can't go to Tahoe,and I don't have 7grand but there might be a chance that there are others doing this therapy,what do you think?Keep me posted please. I'm glad you found something new that may work. At least it gives hope,and that's something we all need.

You know I think Dr. Whitcomb is working with attempts to network with others. The biggest hurdle according to him when he was conducting the test and I was discussing what I felt and how wonderful it felt not to have all that pain and to have my energy back was that it's very difficult to get other doctors/chiropractors to take his testing and treatments seriously. Let alone get people to acknowledge still that Fibromyalgia exists and is a real condition that can be tested and treated.

He stated "You know, you just told me that you just lost all your pain and got back some energy but I won't be able to get anyone to believe it."

So, I really hope to be able to afford the treatments so I can definitively say whether or not it does work. At least if I report I can say I started out as a real critic and even berated the original poster of the website and even now I've been turned around.