FAQS

1. I’ve had fibromyalgia for several years. My rheumatologist has given me medication but it doesn’t work very well. At our last visit he told me I should learn to “live with it,” but I’m not ready to do that. I’ve heard you have a different approach---please explain.

Over the past twenty years, I have come to realize that fibromyalgia is the result of a wide variety of biochemical deficiencies in the body. The commonest ones are adrenal, thyroid, magnesium and estrogen deficiencies, followed by B-12, iron, and omega-3 fatty acid deficiencies. Major imbalances also include chronic candidiasis and food allergy. Other causative problems for some patients include mercury toxicity (usually from dental amalgams) and the aftermath of infection from Ebstein-Barr and Cytomegaloviruses. By methodically evaluating each patient for these conditions, a clear treatment plan is possible for the vast majority of patients with Fibromyalgia. The results of this treatment are that approximately 50% of patients can be cured, and the vast majority of the rest significantly improved. So I really don’t think you have to “learn to live with it.” Incidentally, this approach is very close to that of Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, whose excellent book “From Fatigued to Fantastic” provides a detailed discussion of these approaches.

2. I suffered a compression fracture of my spine over a year ago. My doctors told me I’d be better in a few months, but I am limited in motion and I’m tired of taking pain killers that don’t work very well. What can I do?

When a vertebrae is fractured, or compressed, the joints, (called facet joints), of the spine are essentially jammed into each other above and below the fracture. A safe and simple injection of novocaine (under x-ray guidance, to be sure you’re in the precisely correct spot) at the facet joints can often completely relieve your pain. If this occurs, we can be certain that the continuing pain is coming from the facet joints, and a permanent procedure to relieve your pain can then be done. It is very possible that you can be completely relieved of your pain.

3. Since the birth of my last child, I have been tired all the time. My doctor has run lots of tests and

She keeps telling me I should be fine. I even tried antidepressants, but they just made me tireder. What can I do?

You may have a condition called Wilson’s Syndrome, which is really quite common. After any stress, (which could include childbirth, surgery, severe infection, or emotional event) the body becomes less responsive to the thyroid hormone it makes. What this means is that usually the thyroid blood tests are completely normal, but on a cellular level, the body can’t use thyroid hormone properly and it behaves as if it is low in thyroid. Dennis Wilson described this process in his book in the early 1990’s, and making the diagnosis is easy. If you take your temperature four times a day (an old-fashioned glass thermometer is more accurate) and you average, over one week’s time, less than 98 degrees, you may need thyroid hormone to get your body back in balance. This does not mean thyroid hormone forever---usually a 3 month treatment program will get you back into balance and restore your body back to normal.

4. I was involved in a car accident two years ago. I think my head hit the windshield, and ever since

I have had headaches, almost daily, right over the area where I had a lump from the accident.

MRI scans are normal, and medication doesn’t help much. Is there anything I can do?

There is a marvelous osteopathic technique called “craniosacral manipulation” which involves

A very gentle process by which jammed cranial sutures (the lines you see on a skull, which

Actually represent a joint with which the cranial bones touch each other) can be released.

It is not unusual for trauma or injury to the head (or other joints) to jam the joint line together.

Unless the joint lines are freed up, or “unjammed”, it may be difficult for the body to heal.

Often a few treatments of this nature are sufficient to provide significant relief or cure.

5. I’ve been told for many years that I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Mostly this involves pretty

Bad diarrhea and cramping and sometimes it switches to constipation and back again. I take

Medication but it doesn’t always help. Is there anything else I can try?

In my experience, the vast majority of patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) are suffering

From a combination of food allergy and what is called “intestinal dysbiosis”. While many

Physicians don’t believe in food allergy or think it’s common, there are actually two types of food

Allergy: immediate-type (like getting hives from eating strawberries or shrimp) and delayed-type

Reactions which can show up 48-72 hours after eating certain foods. Since most of us don’t

Recall what we ate 2-3 days ago, many people don’t readily put two-and-two together to realize

What is going on in their bodies. Using a careful, but simple, food elimination diet, most patients

Can find out what they are allergic to. A fairly new, but excellent test, called the ELISA/ACT is

Now available which will test for over 240 different foods and 100 common household chemicals.

A superb test called the Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (recognized by most insurance

Companies) but rarely used by gastoenterologists, can clarify, with a single stool specimen,

Whether you make enough enzymes to digest your food, whether it is being absorbed properly,

Your acidity or alkalinity, and most important, whether you have enough of the good intestinal

Bacteria (lactobacillus and bifidus) or an overgrowth of pathogenic (bad) bacteria and yeast,

Such as candida albicans. With this information, a treatment plan can cure or improve, the vast

Majority of patients with IBS using natural materials and supplements.