Interesting Offer

I had a very interesting conversation yesterday.  As we rode the elevator together a chiropractor who lives in my building asked me how I was.  I said OK, but he persisted & asked again.  He said, 'Yes, but how do you feeel?'  I was a bit emabrassed & realized I must have looked as bad as I felt.  So I said, 'Well, I've got a rip roaring case of fibromyalgia & it's whipping my butt today!'  To my surprise he seemed to enjoy my response.  He even got off on my floor to walk & talk with me.  He asked a few basic questions, reassured me that fibro is real & not in my head (gee, thanks) and then said that he does a fibromyalgia protocol.  It's some oxygen therapy.  Hmm.  Then he said that he'd like to do a case study on me.  That's funny b/c I've always said to my husband, mostly jokingly, that I'm not normal & that science should 'study' me.   Maybe all my hurting could help someone one day.  Well, my days come, apparently.  However I found myself shrinking away from his proposal.  He's very passionate about his work & sounds quite knowlegable.  I don't question his medical prowess.  But I couldn't ever be comfortable with someone I know in a neighbor setting suddenly becoming my doctor.  I hadn't thought about it before, but I guess there are lines we don't like to cross.  I mean I tried to picture myself riding the elevator with a man who knows exactly how much I weigh.  Yikes!  He wants to do this all free of charge too.  It sounds like a wonderful gift.  But I know that I'd wind up agreeing to things I normally would object to b/c of feeling obligated.  I prefer the professional relationship sometimes, you know what I mean?  If I pay for a service I am then free to complain if the service is lousy.  But if it's given freely, then voicing a concern would be rude, bad manners.  So here I am with an offer that, who knows, might be the cure for fibro, but I'm going to decline.  What would you do? 

Oh, Sherrine, thank you for that reply.  btw, I love your name.  I guess subconciously I was picking up lots of things.  My body language was pretty clear.  But I was caught off guard & couldn't think deeply about his offer until later.  I was not comfortable at all.  You're right.  I'd be his guinea pig.  And I'd have very little recourse if I wasn't paying.  He mentioned too much too soon as if he were trying to wow me with his know how.  He kept saying, 'This is real cutting edge stuff.'  I dont' doubt that some of it may be worth while....someday.  But I don't want to be part of anyone's experiments.  I kept saying to hubby, 'What's he get out this?'   He also mentioned vibrational therapy.  That just sounds scary, doesn't it?  One thing he urged me to look into was mangosteen.  I have a friend who swears by it.  I may read up on that, but it will go no further than that.  Thanks, Sherrine, for putting more of this odd convo into perspective. 

I'd seek more information before making a decision. For example he stated oxygen therapy. Not all chiropractors just do adjustments. Some are licensed in other things like medical massage, accupuncture, and even primary care. I've particapated in a double blind study for topamax, and I had the real pill. I went from having 16 to 20 migraines a month to 3 to 4 migraines every month. I decided to do that study because I wasn't responding to anything else. I wanted my migraines over with. I responded very well, with very little side effects. I figured that I could make a difference by trying this new medication study. If it didn't work, it didn't work. But if it did work, I get to improve my life as well as lives around me for the better. I get to make a difference, and actually do something worthwhile that just might save somebody's life. But that is just my thinking. But whatever the decision, make sure you know what all would happen before you make the decision.

You should ask him about vibrational therapy. If it is what I think it is, it's the therapy that Olympic athletes get. In fact, when I went to get it, the doctor told me that it was the same kind of therapy Michael Phelps had when he went behind the curtains between meets at the Olympics. They are now using it for people who cannot exercise. I tried it for a while, but I had to quit going because it was a two-hour drive for me to have an hour of therapy and the drive exhausted me. I also couldn't keep up with the co-pay going 2-3 times a week. Also, it exacerbated my hip pain. Don't know if that was related to fibromyalgia because I have a fatty tumor on my sacral ala (wing) of the sacrum, and I think that is what it exacerbated. If this is what it is and he's giving it to you free, I'd take him up on it. One of the ladies who also went had MS and had been going to therapy for 2 years and was doing a LOT better than when she first started - she was in a wheelchair when she first started and now can walk with a cane.

IMHO it wouldn't hurt to check it out.