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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.com
or
call
Dr. Hersh: 860-499-0433 or 860-727-8820
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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)
Story
of Broken Rods
Greetings:
I and my 22 year old daughter were reading your web
site. She was diagnosed with severe advanced scoliosis
at the age of 12 (her spine was like a question mark).
She was born with a club foot and at the age of 11
months, she came down with Rotovirus, almost killed her.
The doctor at the time preformed a spinal tap because
when they attempted to take blood from her lifeless
little body, the blood was clotting. I am wondering if
the club foot and the spinal tap had anything to do with
her scoliosis?
Also, on
your web site, it states that scoliosis is not
genetic. You are the first physician I've heard
to claim that. My Grandmother, Aunt, Mother and myself
have scoliosis, but not bad at all. I hardly have a
curve to my spine. My son was also diagnosed with it
too, but the doctor sent him to physical therapy (which
he continued at home) and then a podiatrists fitted him
with orthotics in both of his shoes (one foot was flat
as a board and the other had a small arch). He is fine
now.
But my
daughter! What happened to her!?
She had those damn Harrignton Rods placed in her back in
2000 (at the age of 12). She is now 22 and
complaining about back and neck pain.
Her surgeon said she had in inverted neck, blah, blah
blah, sounded like he didn't care. This was two years
ago. I finally took her to another spine specialists,
took xrays (yesterday) and the
damn rods are broke and her spine is back to the
original curve!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr! I and
my daughter are pissed! I want to kill someone (but I
won't, I'm just an angry, hurt and frustrated mother).
She will be
having an MRI and CT Scan this week and we'll take it
from there, we're thinking about removing the rods, not
sure. Her scoliosis was so bad it was cork-screwing and
gathering up her lung and just totally messed up her
teenage years and her life.
But I just
wanted to tell you my personal feelings regarding
scoliosis and it being genetic.
Thank you
for taking the time to read this.
Kathy S.
WARNING: Scoliosis surgery
may kill or paralyze you!
Sadly, there
is a real possibility that you could die or end up in a
wheel chair the rest of your life from your
scoliosis surgery. Neither did hers! See news
clipping
HERE
It is a COSMETIC procedure.
Here
is what happens in the surgical procedure: If
you are Considering Scoliosis Surgery? Read these facts:
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There is
NO MEDICAL REASONS for the Surgery. It is a PURELY
COSMETIC PROCEDURE
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There ARE side effects
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People
do DIE. In fact for kids, 2 of every 1000 surgeries
are fatal.
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People
do get PARARLYSED. 4 of 100 suffer from paralysis.
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19%
required re-operation within 2 to 8 years after
surgery due to PAIN.
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To date,
there is no conclusive medical evidence that
correction through surgery improves function,
self-image or health.
Patients
report more pain after five years than
at two years after surgery. In teens, scoliosis surgery
is a COSMETIC procedure; most of the time, there is no
medical justification for doing the surgery.
Dr Hersh 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.
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