|
Please do not have surgery before investigating
our methods and discussing your case
with us!
X-Ray Showing broken Harrington Rod
Scoliosis
Surgery: the Untold Truth
Scoliosis
Correction questions?
Email:
ScoliosisCorrection@gmail.comor
Call
Dr. Hersh: 860-727-8820
or 860-524-8955
|
 |
|
Outcomes of Surgical
Treatment
Here are a
few sample letters from actual persons who underwent
surgical intervention for scoliosis correction: the
exact wording has been altered to protect the privacy of
the individual.
Here is a little background regarding my current
adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. I was recently in a
car crash which has caused some neck and lower back
issues for me. I am currently undergoing physical
therapy and some exercises to help strengthen the
muscles. It appears from these findings that I have
degenerative spinal issues. I am only 39 years old and I
would like to slow the progress of the disease and treat
the lumbar and thoracic spine scoliosis and ward off any
surgeries (since I have already had 3). I am hoping
that there is a way that I can get some
improvement on the scoliosis that seems to be
progressing in the thoracic, lumbar spine and cervical
spine. I have been advised that surgery
would be the only option for me or live with this
condition.
I had the
initial Harrington procedure and fifteen months later
had to have a Harrington re-instrumentation
(the rods were
too long so they installed shorter rod on the left side).
The third
surgery was a replacement of the rods and a fusion
repair. I know that there is no more
correction for the places where the rods are but I have
curvature below the rods that I am hoping to have
treated and perhaps corrected.
Here is a letter from a middle aged male with scoliosis:
"I had scoliosis surgery 34 years ago and had a
Harrington Rod inserted. During the surgery they
took a bone graft from my left hip which they told me
would be used to insert the rod. I healed quite well
from the surgery.
In recent years I have been plagued by a variety of
health problems --
severe chronic
fatigue and urinary tract irritability (potentially
interstitial cystitis), along with chronic pain in my
lower back and, more recently, much pain in my left hip
where the bone graft was done. We have traced
the chronic fatigue to high heavy metal levels (lead,
mercury and copper). The heavy metal levels were
determined via a 24 hour urine provocation test which
measured the levels in my tissues."
Here is a question from a woman
who had the scoliosis surgery:
Dear doctor,
I have had 5 fusions-hooks and screws I believe.
I am fused from C1 to L4. Now the
curve is
progressing and left ribs are almost meeting left
hip.
If you have any
advice, I would be grateful
Thank you, Claire
Scoliosis Surgery, A Last Resort
Surgery
should only be done as a last resort when ALL other
options have failed. I recently had a scheduled
appointment with a middle aged woman to evaluate and
treat her scoliosis. Before her appointment date, she
inquired as to whether her insurance would cover her
treatment. Upon learning that it might only
reimburse her some percent of her care, she cancelled
her visit. Interestingly enough, it is not uncommon
for insurance companies to pay all or a large part of a
very expensive surgical procedure such as the ones
mentioned in the above letters. Of course
the end result
is not always the best result. In fact to
assume that insurance reimbursement of a particular
procedure or medical service is tantamount to it being
the best treatment can be a very costly assumption in
terms of your health. Insurance companies are not
medical or diagnostic entities. In fact their
ultimate goal is to their shareholders not to their
policy holders. Just read a daily paper to find
stories of insurance companies’ unwillingness to
cooperate in the payment of a medical claim, and
especially for a non-traditional one at that.
A
Letter from a Scoliosis Surgery Patient
Dr Hersh
My name is Bonnie, I'm almost nineteen years old and was
operated on
in June 2003 for severe curvature of the spine.
It came on very quickly and by the time I managed to see
a specialist I was
told Harrington rod implantation surgery was my only
option. It went ahead a
couple of months later. The Cobb angle was 72°, reduced
to 30° with surgery.
Having visited your site today, I realize that I was
kept in the blue about
many things. No such loss of life expectancy or snapping
of the rods were
ever mentioned to me. Nor was the fact that after 22
years my scoliosis
could be back to square one.
What worries me today is that my lower back, an un-fused
area, is becoming
more and more painful, and that since 2003 my
posture has regressed and my
ribs are becoming more and more deformed. The rib
deformity is what worries
me the most; I'm scared it will start to affect my
breathing if something
isn't done. What are the pros and cons of rib resection
after back surgery?
What do you recommend I do?
I would have liked to be able to ask these questions in
person but I live in
Europe, so this is impossible.
Thank you,
Miss Brown
(Name
changed to protect identity)
Our doctor is happy to
assist you with any questions you may have. He is available
to discuss your case by telephone or you may email us at
ScoliosisCorrection@gmail.com
with any questions you may have.
Surgery or Alternative Treatment: Dr. Hersh explains
your choices.
|
