New to ADR - considering surgery in April

[NJ Gene]

Originally Posted by jss

If you want to still consider Dr Dare.... When I needed an MRI in 2009, it was going to be over $1000 out of pocket with my insurance. It turned out that the same facility charged only $360 to patients without insurance that were paying out of pocket. I told them I was paying out of pocket and saved $640. If you'll call around to imaging labs, you might find that you can get a CT for a few hundred dollars.



I don't know if you should have fusion, ADR or do nothing; but stuff like this makes me feel so fortunate that of the six surgeons I saw before ADR, five of them told me the exact same thing! You've had at least three different surgical prescriptions. Though Dr Diaz's opinion sounds ... less than plausible, before dismissing it, you might be wise to discuss that opinion with someone that is qualified to dismiss it.

Good luck, Jeff

Jeff, thank you for the information on Dr. Dare and the CT Scan. If I hear back from him, I will consider it. The fact that I haven't heard from him after having my MRI for 2 full days tells me something. In his first e-mail to me he said that he hoped to get me in as a patient before my European counterparts do. If he's that interested in my business, he should have given me at least a preliminary evaluation by now.

By the way, I followed your suggestion and showed Dr. Diaz's letter to Malte at Dr. Bierstedt's office. Granted, his response is biased, but I give him much more credence than Dr. Diaz:

Eugene,

We do not see in the statement of Dr Diaz a comment In regards to the indicated symptoms , findings (degenerative changes at C5/6 and C6/7) or history (status post anterior fusion C3-5). Since he states that you would not benefit from a surgical intervention, it should be mentioned in this context what could be the consequences or alternatives?

Our opinion: the nerval compression esp on the C6 nerve has already resulted in muscle atrophy ,right trapezius. A further delay could result in irreversible neurological deficits and even (partial) paralsis.

The findings shown correlate with your symptoms. A surgical intervention, e.g. Decompression of spinal cord, foramen by total anterior discectomy and disc replacement is indicated.

Dr. Bierstedt. Dr. Illerhaus

Malte Petersen



Thanks again Jeff for your suggestion(s).

Gene

[Lillyth]

Oh, so you have Hoffman's too, huh? Malte is right. You do not want to wait. If you follow Dr. Diaz's advice, you will end up in a wheelchair at some point.

I will be interested to see if my neurological deficits are permanent or not.

I am glad you are listening to Dr. Beirstedt and not Dr. Diaz. American doctors suck.

[NJ Gene]

Originally Posted by Lillyth

Oh, so you have Hoffman's too, huh? Malte is right. You do not want to wait. If you follow Dr. Diaz's advice, you will end up in a wheelchair at some point.

I will be interested to see if my neurological deficits are permanent or not.

I am glad you are listening to Dr. Beirstedt and not Dr. Diaz. American doctors suck.

Lillyth, I couldn't agree with you more, at least with respect to spine surgery and many forms of Cancer treatment. My sister knew someone at the church she attends who had some form of advanced cancer, stage 4. He was told to get his affairs in order and prepare for the inevitable. He decided to go to Germany to try something out, which wasn't even considered in the U.S. Long story short, this was about 3 years ago. He is home and in good health.

[Harrison]

Bebe, I know what you mean, but many American doctors don't suck -- that's something that can and will be taken out of context by many.

I have a problem with many different aspects of our system -- some of which you are lamenting. But there are hundreds of qualified, reliable spinal arthroplasty surgeons in the U.S. that helped thousands of patients here since 2001.

Please, let's not give up on the ones that can help those of us that choose to stay stateside.

Even more important, pls remember:

- more and more people are getting multiple levels of their spines affected/infected with DDD;

- anti-cancer therapies like the Gerson Therapy can help manage and resolve DDD;

- many other therapies are available to help you get better.

OK, nuff said. Have to unpack from my Florida trip that was amazing.

[Boxer78]

Harrison can you elaborate a little on the disease aspect of this. How does a disc become infected??

[Lillyth]

Originally Posted by NJ Gene

Lillyth, I couldn't agree with you more, at least with respect to spine surgery and many forms of Cancer treatment. My sister knew someone at the church she attends who had some form of advanced cancer, stage 4. He was told to get his affairs in order and prepare for the inevitable. He decided to go to Germany to try something out, which wasn't even considered in the U.S. Long story short, this was about 3 years ago. He is home and in good health.

Yeah. The FDA is in the business of profit. Gerson therapy case in point. (Totally hilarious Harrison mentioned it below!) The FDA refuses to approve it (you have to go to Mexico), despite the insane number of people cured by it. One woman was even cured of a type of ovarian cancer that is every single time 100% fatal.

I can tell you right now if I was diagnosed with cancer the LAST thing I would do would be to visit an oncology ward!

[Lillyth]

Originally Posted by Harrison

Bebe, I know what you mean, but many American doctors don't suck -- that's something that can and will be taken out of context by many.

I have a problem with many different aspects of our system -- some of which you are lamenting. But there are hundreds of qualified, reliable spinal arthroplasty surgeons in the U.S. that helped thousands of patients here since 2001.

Please, let's not give up on the ones that can help those of us that choose to stay stateside.

Even more important, pls remember:

- more and more people are getting multiple levels of their spines affected/infected with DDD;

- anti-cancer therapies like the Gerson Therapy can help manage and resolve DDD;

- many other therapies are available to help you get better.

OK, nuff said. Have to unpack from my Florida trip that was amazing.

You are right Rich. Sorry. California girl here, through and through. I say things like dude, totally, awesome, and suck. What I should have said was that though there are many doctors here who are skilled and are very caring and wonderful, they are still the product of a broken system that does nothing other than teach them what the drug companies want them to know. They are the product of a broken system, and no matter how much they could possibly know right now at this very moment, even the most skilled doctor in the US pales in comparison to a European doc when it comes to knowledge of multi-level ADR, simply by virtue of the fact the US docs are not paid by the insurance companies to do them, and therefore do not have the same level of knowledge or skill as their European counterparts.

But my freaking arms hurt like heck, so in the interest of saving myself some pain I just wrote American doctors suck. I hate carpel tunnel.

And yes, I agree about all the other stuff. You notice how many times I have told people here to try cutting out gluten. 40% of the population has the gene, and the first thing to go is your spine, so chances are I am not the only one on here who can't tolerate gluten. Going gluten free didn't heal my discs, but I have no doubt that played a factor in them being damaged in the first place. When I walked into my chiropractor's office at the age of 24 he informed me I had the spine of an 85 year old woman!

Like I said before, if I was diagnosed with cancer right now, I would NOT be treated by an oncology doctor. My first phone call would be to Gabriel Cousins or David Wolfe. Second option would be Charlotte Gerson. I wouldn't even consult a medical doctor who treats cancer, not would I let my husband or son do so. But that's just me, and I have little to no faith with Western Medicine. I'm all for surgeries if you need them, but little else.

Most people in this country do not realize that the food they are eating is making them sick. So they take pills to fix it. And more pills to fix that. And more pills so they can keep eating the food they are eating. I saw an ad for some antacid or something claiming if you just take their product you can "eat all the foods you love again", and they are showing hot dogs, and fast food, and crappy pizza, and cotton candy, and the like. I just screamed at the television "Why don't you just stop eating it if it hurts your stomach?!? How hard is that?!"

But I realize I am not the norm in our country.

[Harrison]

Nice topic, many good points by you all. Quick comments (sorry, still unpacking and doing admin stuff). Hot links herein:

1. Simply studying the Gerson Therapy will help you. Any parts of it that one adopts will help improve one’s health. Don’t need to go to Mexico to practice... you can get an in-home aid or just learn from it!

2. The Gerson Therapy has helped CURE many other degenerative diseases, especially ones involving arthritis. People in this community have gotten better just from juicing! If you REALLY want to avoid surgery, you will muster the discipline to do this program and obtain truly inside-out better health.

3. Agreed Bebe. The FDA is the largest for-profit, non-profit in America. The contamination from dirty money is well known and is the source of America’s biggest drug problem. Wellness problem!

4. Spinal DDD is multi-factorial, but microbial infection plays a big role. I explain some of this in my recent film (Why Am I Still Sick), but this is a long topic that explains in more detail that uses studies spanning 20 years; it's focus on infection as a component of spinal disease...dis-ease.

Oh, one more thing. I just presented at the Annie Appleseed conference, where I met the kindest, smartest people focused on cancer prevention & treatment. It was an honor to present there -- and learn from people who really understand how to treat patients from a truly whole perspective. Too much more to share, other than I will attend next year since I learned so much that was both new and validating.

OK, ga night. Peaceful rest to all of us.

[jss]

Gene,

I'm very impressed that Dr Bierstadt's office even replied. That probably tells us something. Slackwater posted this interesting study in the articles section. It is relevant to Malte's note on waiting to have surgery.

Good luck, Jeff

[NJ Gene]

Originally Posted by jss

Gene,

I'm very impressed that Dr Bierstadt's office even replied. That probably tells us something. Slackwater posted this interesting study in the articles section. It is relevant to Malte's note on waiting to have surgery.

Good luck, Jeff

Jeff, thank you for the good wishes. Why wouldn't Dr. Bierstedt's office have replied? Keep in mind that I am a getting cervical ADR vs. lumbar. The article you mentioned applied to lumbar patients.

Gene