Dr. Clark's Brain Based Blog

MIssed Overlooked Cause of Fibromyalgia

http://www.doctordavidclark.com

I just have to share with you something that happened to me yesterday... 

I was speaking with an applicant for my fibromyalgia program. One of the things that I do is  ask people to give me quite a bit of background information, copies of all their old lab tests.  Because that’s a huge portion of getting a correct diagnosis, a correct functional diagnosis...is figuring out what the heck has happened to this lady. What is her story?

This is thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of lab tests and records 

She’s been to some places you’d probably know if I told you, some "treatment centers."  Those places...I’m wondering if they really know what they’re doing. 

I’m just going to be honest with you because every person that I’ve seen that has been to one of those places (believe me, they all end up here)... I just wonder if they know what they’re doing. 

I guess that’s the most polite way to put it. Tthey’re trying to take every person that gets labeled with fibromyalgia and act like they’re all the same. 

"They’ve all got low thyroid" according to these Centers.

In fact, there’s a handout in that stack that I should probably show you that says,

“Are all fibromyalgia, chronic pain sufferers low thyroid?” 

And  they say yes, they’re low thyroid.  So guess what they do?  They prescribed her thyroid hormones.  For what purpose?  They just assume she’s low thyroid. 

Now this is an interesting case for me and I think we’re definitely going to be able to help her, but you know, looking through her history and reading things, here’s what I found out...

First point is, she had some blood test to see if she had celiac disease or reaction to gluten. 

Big deal. 

The serum tests have incredibly high rates false negatives. So if you’ve had those tests... I’ve got news for you.  Don’t rely on them.There is a much better test.

Second....Her vitamin D was low. 

Third....She’s had high levels of antibodies to Epstein - Barr virus. 

Now, if you’re watching this and you’ve been labeled with fibromyalgia and you’ve had this test, then you think, “Oh my gosh, I have an Epstein - Barr virus infection.”  No, don’t go there. 

About half of the people you know have elevated Epstein - Barr virus antibodies. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything by itself.  It could just mean that at some point, she’s had elevated antibodies because she got exposed to it when her gut lining or her lung lining was permeable and she got exposed to it...her immune system recognized it ...and now she’s got antibodies to it. 

Fourth...She’s had high antibodies to mycoplasm pneumonia. 

Fifth...She’s iron anemic, but no one’s treating that.  (Remember the 4 metabolic priorities?)

Sixth....She’s got a history of miscarriages. 

Seventh...She’s got pain and fatigue (hence the garbage diagnosis of Fibromyalgia). 

Take a look at that list again.....

Guess what she probably has. been suffering with for the last 15 years.... 

an autoimmune condition

and no one’s tested for that, and certainly not tested for it the way that I’m going to test it. I'm looking for a functional immune system shift. 

And there's more....

So here’s a lady that’s been suffering for, you know, almost 15 years.  She tells me that she’s got a pantry full of supplements...chock-full of supplements that help for a day or two... and then stop. Or made her feel worse.

There’s your classic sign that you’ve got an autoimmune condition.

You’re reading this, right?  You’ve been labeled with "fibromyalgia"... or you know someone who's been labeled with it.

If this sounds like them...they’ve probably got an autoimmune condition.But guess what? It’s never gonna get diagnosed.  Not going to get diagnosed.  You can go to whatever rheumatologist you want to.  You can go to the Mayo, Rochester, wherever you want to go...

It’s not gonna get diagnosed because they’re not gonna do the necessary tests.  They’re not gonna do them. 

The tests that we do in my office to  find out if someone has a functional autoimmune condition...no one else is going to do them.  They’re not bizarre tests.  (You can get them from LabCorp). 

No doctors ou there in fibro-land knows how to use them because --- there’s no drug for this. 

You know, as I was interviewing this lady and doing her exam and her history,  I just got more and more angry. It was interesting because she got more and more relaxed because things started to click for her.

See, when you’re autoimmune, there’s about four things that you can take supplement-wise that are safe for you. 

Everything else is gonna skew your immune system one way or the other and make you feel worse. 

So if you’ve got a bag full of supplements at home that you are "allergic" to or you had a "bad reaction to", ...you’re probably autoimmune and you need to get checked out.  You need to get checked out by someone who knows what to look for.

It just goes back to my attitude...  I treat the person, not the diagnosis.  Treat the person, not the diagnosis.

Fibromyalgia is a garbage can.  It doesn’t mean anything.  So what?  You’ve got painful muscles.  You’ve got fatigue.  100 people off the street outside my office right now could fit that description.  It doesn’t tell me what to do. 

That’s why a functional neurological approach (we found out this lady has a left cerebellum weakness) and a metabolic approach make the most sense.  

Someone’s got to step back and take a look at the whole picture.

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© 2009 Dr. David Clark

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS™
Dr. David Clark
Functional Neurologist
Functional Endocrinologist
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist
214-341-3737

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Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms Improving Everyday

I wanted to give a little preamble to the most recent update from Debra, the multiple sclerosis patient that I’ve been following with you.

I have to say she’s been a real trooper and the payoff for her has been fantastic. ( I’m not gonna steal her thunder, but you really should pay attention to this.)

**If you know someone that’s suffering with multiple sclerosis or another autoimmune disease, please have them call me or send me an email.  I’ll be happy to talk with them on the phone and explain my approach and what I'm doing.

But I just can’t sit back anymore and see more people suffering like this.  I mean you would be amazed at how many people I talk to every week that for some reason are still letting themselves go down the path of feeling wors...and worse.... and worse.

They take medication after medication after medication that doesn’t work.  I would not be as upset as if someone took these medications and  it really turned their life around, it really made a big difference.

But the fact is, for the vast majority the medications are not doing helping.
 

And  I get angry-- frankly. 

I  get very angry that these  people are acting irrationally.  I guess that’s something I should be talking about another time.  But people act irrationally all the time, and this is one of those situations.

If you know someone that’s been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and they’ve been taking medications and it’s not helping, let’s do something different. 

Do what Debra did, take the step, talk to me, let’s find out what we need to do to investigate what’s really going on, and let’s help you feel like she does.

So enough of my anger.

Let’s go to some smiles and let’s have Debra tell you how well she’s doing.  I think you  will be surprised, pleasantly surprised.

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©2009 Dr. David Clark

Vicodin® Helps the Common Cold

Dallas Chiropractic Neurologist Comments

Crazy, I know. But apparently that's what some doctors in my area think.

Yesterday morning I got a call from a patient I hadn't seen in quite a while. She had just left her medical doctor's office.

 I've treated her whole family on and off for several years for the 'regular' chiropractic stuff like knee pain, stress, neck pain, back pain and shoulder pain.  Sporadically, they've followed our nutritional recommendations

She's referred many people over the years and she and her daughter used to come in for semi-regular check ups and adjustments....whether they were hurting or not! (gasp)

In short, she seemed to get the big picture of both acute help and prevention--"seemed" I say.

So I hadn't seen them in like a year (and I'm normally not even in the office on Tuesday mornings, mind you) but I could hear the stress in her voice so I said "Sure, come in."

She tells me a story that I'm pretty sure most of you can relate to...

• She's not sleeping well (usually a cortisol and blood sugar problem and easily diagnosed and helped)
• She's emotionally stressed--who isn't?
• Her upper back is really tight.
• She's had some dizziness in the last couple of weeks.
• She's had (probably) a urinary tract infection
• She'd been starting to feel run down and got to feeling like she was coming down with a cold....stuffy head, post-nasal drip, throat hurts, ears feeling little weird.

She goes in to see her medical doctor (whom she says she doesn't even like, and I think "find another doctor"). Here's that doctor's examination results...

• Your ears look fine
• Your throat looks fine

So he writes her a prescription for Amoxicillin and..............wait for it...................Vicodin (!@$%:(?#)

Hilariously and appropriately,  the patient looks at me with the scrip in her hand and says "What the H*** is this?"

No positive exam findings but here's a scrip for an antibiotic and a narcotic painkiller?

I don't know what's more sad....the possibility that they made a huge mistake.....or that they really meant to give the antibiotic and the Vicodin.

So the patient says to me "I don't know why I go there. I should've just come to see you to begin with."

So I adjusted her. She felt better immediately. And I recommended two natural supplements to help boost her immune system.

I treat so many people and kids with really complex metabolic and neurological disorders that I may have made many of you forget that I do the 'basics", too.

And because I still use the power of Chiropractic Neurology with neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain, stress....you get quick relief that lasts.

At my office, 95% of people with these kinds of problems simple don't need to be intensively treated for weeks and weeks (unlike at some other doctor's offices).

And just to make this really clear in case I got off on a tangent and lost you....Vicodin will not help the common cold.

P.S. Call us at 214-341-3737 or email me if you want to find out I can help you.

P.P.S There are a few spaces left for the Dinner Workshop on March 30th. If you're on the fence--get off of it right away and RSVP.