Patient Email Re. Fibromyalgia

Hello Dr. Stone ~ I hope this email finds you and family doing well!   

You have seen me once as a patient (approx 3 months ago in November).  I am suffering with a terrible case of fibromyalgia.  I have all of the symptoms and they just keep getting worse.  No matter what,  I will never forget one of the things that you said when i saw you. You looked me in the eyes and said “you have the highest symptom score I’ve ever seen”.  It was a testament of the fact that the pain i am living with on an almost constant basis every day is real. But somehow I try to take comfort in the fact that i’m still battling through this.  I’m still standing, so to speak, but it’s getting harder and harder every day. 

You see, just last night before i was laying awake all evening in so much pain, unable to sleep or get comfortable, with tears in my eyes battling lots of negative thoughts, feeling helpless because although i’ve taken great measures to alter my diet i know that at this point diet alone is not enough and i need the help of some treatment… 

 I have had fibromyalgia for many years and have always ‘managed’ it with my diet and suffered minimal symptoms. Even after a major car accident 4 years ago screwed up my spine in many place. But for some reason about 10 months ago (in March of last year, when my son was 18 months) all of a sudden i started to get more and more sick. 

I developed new symptoms almost every day, most of which i couldn’t believe were even fibromyalgia symptoms, for many months and started seeing all types of doctors and specialists and having tons of tests done.

Unfortunately, the (medical) professionals are unable to determine anything other than that I have bad fibromyalgia and what drugs they can put me on. 

You were the only professional i’ve ever seen that could even begin to wrap their head around what’s really going on inside of my body.  You were the only person that ever gave me hope that just maybe somebody could help me to figure this all out and start to get better. 

I left your office and cried and cried that day. Because I had to rush out early before you were finished with me. My son needed me and I felt cheated out of some of that precious appointment. 

I refuse to just succumb to whatever is attacking my body and it keeps getting worse (I started to have this constant aching pain that seems to be in my organs, Especially my liver and it’s scaring me.)  So I began actively researching to try to determine what exactly is causing all of these symptoms. And what I can put into my body (or remove) to help myself. But I know that i don’t possess all of the pieces to the puzzle that is my health problem and that diet alone is not going make me well, I need some help!  I am still doing research to try to figure things out,. But it seems the more I find out the more confusing it all is!  I am a person who is actively trying to get well though, and i will not give up! 

The morning that we met w/ Sonya to have our pictures taken at the Botanical Gardens was the best I’ve felt in a very, very long time.  I don’t know if it was  because of the beautiful weather (the cold makes my symptoms worse and the previous week had been very painful) or just because of some magic of the universe b/c it was a special time, maybe i was just so thankful to be there and distracted that i was on an adrenaline high… 

…but it was wondrous to feel like nothing was wrong with me for an hour or so. 

I almost convinced myself that there was nothing wrong but as i was driving home i noticed the pain creeping back up and there hasn’t been a break again since.  Nevertheless, the time that we spent w/ your amazing wife reminded me of what i am fighting for and that i can picture and look forward to a time when I am pain free and can live like a normal person again.  It gave me a sense of renewed purpose.

I apologize for the length of this letter but i felt you needed some background information and an understanding of the place I’m in right now with my health and my mind (which is far from it’s normal self so please forgive any ramblings or seemingly random words or inappropriate actions). 

Dr. Stone, I have a dream to not only live a normal life with my family – be a healthy mom to my son of course – but also to be able to help others suffering from this terrible debilitating disease to feel better as well.  Sonya said that you have started to make fibromyalgia a focus of your practice and for that i cannot commend or thank you enough!!… Thank You!
Peace & Blessings
Sincerely,
Jaime Grob

Post from Jamie a month later.  

> I have suffered from fibromyalgia, candida, leaky gut terribly (and quietly for the most part b/c others can’t see that anything is wrong so only those closest to me knew) for the past year.

I began seeing Dr Stone almost a month ago and I already feel so much better that I’m still kinda in disbelief! And I felt so bad for so long that i’d forgotten what it’s like to just feel pretty good.

He is so amazing that i cannot say enough about him.  I have seen more specialists and had more tests than i can even begin to list here.  Dr Stone is the 1st Dr that can wrap his head around what’s going on inside of my body and help me to heal. Every other Dr just wanted to give me drugs or send me to another ‘specialist’.

In one month i have made such an improvement and i am so excited!  I already have more energy and can think more clearly. I still have a ways to go to heal completely. But I never imagined I would feel this much better in less than a month.

My symptoms run the gamut from physical pain to emotional problems to embarrassing mental fog to numbness to you name it. Not to mention i was in a horrible car accident 4 yrs ago. My spine is injured in 3 places and i have scoliosis between my shoulder blades. So I’ve have constant terrible back and shoulder pain for years. Dr Stone has already put a huge dent on all of these problems!  Most recently (wed actually) he aligned my shoulder blades and i am so elated b/c I’ve had no shoulder pain since then. I can’t tell you how much this alone means to me.

I’ve seen all kinds of chiropractors for years and there’s been no hope. I was supposedly doomed to life-long pain from the scoliosis.

He is able to look at the whole body and really has a fascinating understanding of how everything works together. I’ve gushed longer than intended. But I really can’t say enough about how much he’s helped me already and
you have some of the same illnesses as I.

Guess i’m out of the closet, so to speak. 🙂  Please check out his website and give him a call. I promise you’ll be as pleased as I am w/ him.

> I wish you complete wellness! Good Luck on your journey! ((BIG HUG))
> peace & blessings

> jaime grob

Fibromyalgia is a real disease.

If you read through the Medically defined diseases or conditions, almost all of them say, “we don’t know what causes this, but we try to control the symptoms with these drugs.”  Add Fibromyalgia to that list.

Functional Medicine doesn’t treat diseases, we treat people.  It doesn’t matter what you call your pain. This Fibromyalgia case study explains how we discovered Jaime’s root cause.

If you have Fibromyalgia, you don’t need me to tell you how real this condition is.  Jaime knew.  She was disabled with pain and exhaustion, extreme sensitivity to stress and exertion, muscle weakness, and depression.  

She still holds the record for “high score” on our symptoms questionnaire, ten years later.  This questionnaire asks you to rate thyroid symptoms, and hormones, digestion, circulation.  Everything.  And Nothing seemed to be working.  Is it possible that she had multiple organ failure?

The reality, in fibromyalgia, is that they have governing organ failure.  The brain regulates every other function, including digestion, circulation, coordination, and the perception of pain.  When the brain becomes inflamed, nothing works quite right, but everything appears normal.

If you scan the brain, however, you see nearly identical changes in fibromyalgia patients.

The frontal cortex is depressed, which controls attention, focus, and motivation.  The cerebellum is depressed, which controls movement and coordination.  With poor muscle and joint coordination, bending over or combing your hair can cause muscle injuries.

The Parietal cortex is over-active.  This is the part of the brain that perceives pain, and the root of why the pain feels so intense.

The low functioning frontal cortex affects regulation of internal organs, resulting in heart palpitations, poor digestion, and almost NO control over the stress response.

When I met Jaime, we reviewed her Medical Records.  When I read through them, I read the story of disappointment.

She went to her doctor and reported that her muscles and organs ached, her eyes, ears, and head ached, she was incontinent, had numbness and weakness in her arms and legs, frequent panic attacks, and her eyes twitched.  The doctor prescribed pain medication.

She returned 2 more times, complaining of “no help” and both times her doctor added another pain medicine.

Then the cycle of specialists.  Rheumatologist, Neurologist, Gynecologist, Chiropractor, Physical Therapy, and finally, a head-case Therapist.  (No offense, I love my therapist.  And I’m definitely a head-case, but also the first doctor to help this poor woman!)

A fairly deep pile of medical records and the result was worst ever.  She had never felt so horrible in her life!  She was almost completely disabled.

She told me that she had been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia 7 years earlier, but was able to manage the pain with yoga and a healthy diet.  Two years ago she felt well enough to have a baby boy.  After she Mothered her baby through a rough illness, she started to lose control. Since then she had been worsening, and couldn’t find anything or anyone to help.

When I examined her, I knew about the brain research, so I started with a neurological exam.

When she attempted to touch her finger to her nose, with her eyes closed, her hands and arms shook uncontrollably, and by the 3rd attempt, she couldn’t even find her nose with her left hand!

I took her pulse on both arms, and the left was 68 while the right was 82.  I placed a tuning fork on the top of her head, and she could only hear the vibration in her left ear.

Her brain was definitely broken!

I stimulated her left cerebellum with movement of her left arm and leg.  Then the right cortex with sensory stimulation, such as smell, visual, and touch stimulation.  When we had her put on red glasses, smell cinnamon through her right nostril, and stretched the muscles on the front of the left arm…she could touch her nose without shaking.  She could hear vibration in both ears, and her pulse on the right and left evened out.

That was her homework.  Stimulate her brain in precise ways multiple times per day.

Then we checked the systems that most affect the brain.  You could guess if you tried.  Immune and hormonal systems.  Almost everyone has had the experience of a bad flu that caused their brain and even their hair to hurt!

She didn’t have the money or insurance to do our lab testing, so we did our best using muscle testing.  Her body weakened to parasites, autoimmunity, and adrenal exhaustion.  We responded with True GI Cleanse and True Lymphatic Cleanse for possible parasites.  It wouldn’t hurt if we were wrong, so the only downside would be her ongoing disappointment.

I’m pretty sensitive, so I did everything in my power to avoid more disappointment.

Next we added True Immune Balance #1 to shift her immune system away from autoimmunity, and True Stress Resilience to rebuild her adrenal glands and balance hormones.  This was 10 years ago, though, so she probably got just one or two of the plants we use now, in my best ever versions of the medicines that co-wrote the healing stories I share.  You can get them in our online store.

Try some on your own, or come in as a patient.  We’re virtual now, so we can help anyone in the country, with A Metabolic Tune-Up.

I hate disappointing, and thankfully I didn’t.  Jaime: “In one month, I feel so much better that I’m in disbelief, having seen more specialists and had more tests than I can even begin to list, and Dr. Stone is the first Dr that (I feel) can wrap his head around what’s going on inside me enough to help me heal.”

We kept stimulating her brain and nourishing her adrenals and immune system.  At six weeks, she said she was 50% improved overall, and at three months, 70%.  We kept going until she found true health, almost a full year.

Jaime moved away around that time, but when I log in to facebook, I get to see her happy, glowing face.  I doubt she even considers herself a fibromyalgia patient anymore.  Just a regular person, living and loving life.

Yours in Health and Happiness,

 

Dr. Todd Stone