Update on headaches - Lana- Oops a bit LONG

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In a message dated 3/13/2004 17:00:01 PM Pacific Standard Time,

EDSLana@... writes:

as he

is really pissed with me right now for going to the Chiropractor.

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Lana~~

I have to say that I feel the same way about Chiropractors that Mike does.

Not from personal experiences but from professional ones. You know I used to

work for a Medical Malpractice Trust. I was a risk manager so I saw most of

the bad stuff going on out there. One of my responsibilities is to try to see

where the physician patient breakdown happened. What was the straw that broke

to make a patient snap and sue a physician that they are seeing and like.

Many, MANY times we would see patients suing the orthopedic surgeon just

because they were so angry at the prior care. Don't ask me why that syndrome

exists but it does ... you would think that patients would be so thankful to

have

a doctor that is really helping them ... but sometimes the ortho just could

not " fix " what the Chiropractor had done or not done.

Record after record that I read and reviewed was really the same thing ...

Plan for long term care - patient not getting better but doctor insists the

patient continue on the plan - too aggressive treatment on and on... That is

NOT

to say that there are not conscientious Chiropractors. Of course there are it

is just that... ESPECIALLY EDS patients need to be treated so differently -

not cookie cuter medicine that so often is seen in the Chiropractic practice.

On the other hand I have been treated by an Osteopath almost all my life...

My family doctor who retired 4 years ago was trained as an Osteopath and was

grandfathered into the MD program here in California. He was the best with my

neck and back from a VERY young age. No one knew about the EDS but he sure knew

I was abnormally loose and treated me accordingly.

The physician that is now treating me for EDS and Fibro and ... and ... is a

DO. Now granted he is also a Sports Medicine specialist and is a Trained Pain

Specialist... I got really lucky right off the bat with finding him ... so

astute and not an MD.

I have to tell you that as far as doctor snobs go I am right up there on the

top of the list... Seeing an Osteopath for a " real " problem.... No way!

Until I learned after all these years that my very own doctor was a DO. And now

the man I trust literally with my life is a DO.... The training is so

different and so very specialized, in my opinion, just perfect for EDS.

MD's are not too terribly fond of referring to a DO but will send you to a

Chiro in a heart beat... Not quite sure what is up with that except it is hard

for MD's to swallow the fact that DO's are REAL doctors!

My advice too is to do what your physician recommends UNLESS you are not

comfortable with the Chiro in which case tell your doc that and see what can be

done...

Just like Mike, sorry to offend anyone out there but this is just personal

opinion from personal and work experience.

Debbi

PS:

I am glad that you see a bit of progress. Oh yea ... just so you don't think

you are alone... I too have, one hip that is an inch higher than the other

and rotated forward. But ... that was not a surprise for me since I remember

my mom having to hem my skirts ALL THE WAY ROUND me instead of pinning one

side and using the same measurements for the whole skirt.

The good news is that in the final analysis... ONLY after extensive testing

and xrays/scans (which you should have instead of relying on the " calculations "

of the Chiro). It turned out that my hip was subluxing from the Scoliosis

lengthening ligaments. Once the hip was manipulated the discrepancy turned out

to only be 1/2 inch.

These particular scans are very rarely ordered so if you want me to look up i

n my records I sure will. So, now I have my hip corrected about 6 times a

year and wear a lifts in my shoes to correct the leg discrepancy, flat feet and

Scoliosis.

Once all the tests were done there was a plan to " fix " each of the issues one

at a time.

That would be my particular suggestion to you... Try to take one thing at a

time and try to correct it and move on to the next. It is fine to combine but

the feeling of progress is irreplaceable!

Sorry to go on and on but it is an issue that is near and dear to me.