Originally Posted by MelodyL

Hi All: I'm posting this on both PN boards because I'm not sure who goes to which board.

Hopefully some knowledgeable person out there will be able to answer my question.

Today Alan and I went to a free consultation to a chiropractor that uses the DRX 9000 , the spinal decompression machine table……

Thank God the consult was free
He brought all his previous mri reports. His last was done last year.

After looking at the MRI report she turned to Alan and said “you have severe spinal problems. I really don’t know right now!! You may or may not be a candidate for DRX 9000. We have 11 slots. How important is it to you!!! Alan just sat there and said “well, I want to get rid of my neuropathy”. He had filled out a questionnaire and one of the questions was “how has this affected your life”. And Alan had written “I wanted to commit suicide, the pain was so great”. He then explained that he wrote this 4 years ago before he went to Dr. Theirl and had adjustments.

She said “When you write down I want to commit suicide, that is a powerful statement. How bad do you want to get rid of your neuropathy? Alan honestly did not know how to answer her. He thought he did answer her.

So I interrupted and said “how much are we talking here, how many treatments?” She said “about three months, and it will run between 3 and five thousand, but honestly most of my patients pay $100 a month because their insurance only covers 10% of the treatment.
I said “if the treatment works, why don’t insurance companies pay for the whole thing?” she said “well, this has been around for 6 years, and most insurance companies need a thing to be around for over 11 years. I just stared at her. I then asked her “what’s the worst thing about Alan’s back and she said “well for starters, he has stenosis, he has a lot of disc problems, not just one or two.”

Then she said “you have three options”. 1. You have surgery (you can probably find some surgeon to operate), 2. You do nothing and take pain pills the rest of your life, and 3. You do non surgical decompression (DRX-9000).”

Then she said “the next part of this consultation is the exam and the emg non-invasive scanner.”

So Alan went in for the scan. . The doctor did a Rolling Thermal Scan of his spine. He sat at a computer and she ran this hand-held scanner thing up and down his back. She called it a non-invasive emg.


Then she sits us down and says “tonight I will review all the reports and I will determine if you are a candidate for the DRX-9000. “You are young to have such a bad bad back”. I asked her “when people do the DRX, do they have to stop going to the gym and exercising and she said “absolutely”.

Alan goes to the gym every other day, lifts weights and feels better for doing it. Also, his chiropractor/neurologist Dr. Theirl knows Alan goes and says “go for it”.

Dr. Theirl and Alan’s primary care doctor, Dr. Fred (who he adores), said “alan is not a candidate for surgery”. Dr. Fred also goes to the gym and meets Alan there sometimes.

So I just wanted you guys to see the report and read what this DRX doctor said to Alan and tell me what you think. Do you think his back is as terrible as she told him. I mean the guy goes to the gym 3 times a week, has muscles and the only time his neuropathy drives him crazy is when he lays down at night and after I massage him like crazy, he goes to sleep.
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Here’s what it says on the report:

TECHNIQUE: Neurtal/Sitting: Sagittal T1 Sagittal T2, Axial T1

Interpretation: Desiccation of all the lumbar intervertebral discs is present. Minimal narrowing of the L1/2 disc is present. Ventral marginal osteophytes and diffuse disc bulging are noted at the L1/2 and L2/3 levels. Both bulging discs impinge upon the thecal sac. Moderate narrowing of the L3/4 and L4/5 discs is present. Ventral and dorsal marginal osteophytes and diffuse disc bulging are noted at the L3/4 and L4/5 levels. Both bulging discs cause small ventral impressions upon the thecal sac and extend into the inferior aspects of the adjacent neural foramina bilaterally. Minimal narrowing of the L5/S1 is present. A diffuse disc bulge is noted at the L5/S1 which impinges upon the thecal sac and extendes into the inferior aspects of the L5/S1 neural foramina.

A moderate fat island hemangioma is noted within the L4 vertebral body. Minimal bilateral facet hypertrophy is identified at the L4/5 and L5/S1 levels.

The lumbar lordotic curve is well maintained. There is no evidence of loss of height involving the lumbar vertebral bodies. The bone marrow demonstrates normal signal intensity.

The paravertebral soft tissues demonstrate normal signal characteristics and morphologi appearance.

There is no evidence of spinal stenosis. The cous medullaris and cauda equine demonstrate normal signal intensity. The conus is within normal limits in size. There is no evidence of an intra-dural lesion.

IMPRESSION: L1/2 DISC BULGE, WHICH IMPINGES UPON THE THECAL SAC.
L2/3 DISC BULGE WHICH IMPINGES UPON THE THECAL SAC.
L3/4 AND L4/5 DISC BULGES CAUSING SMALL VENTRAL IMPRESSIONS
UPON THE THECAL SAC AND PARTIALLY COMPROMISING THE ADJACENT NEURAL FORMAINA BILATERALLY.
L5/S1 DISC BULGE WHICH IMPINGES UPON THE THECAL SAC AND PARTIALLY COMPROMISES THE L5/S1 NEURAL FORAMINA BILATERALLY.
DEGENERATIVE DISEASE.


I really didn’t want this to be a long drawn out posting but if anybody heard anything good about the DRX, I’d love to hear about it. I know we discussed this once on the old boards, but now that he had the free consult (Oh, I forgot to say, I asked the people in the waiting room about it and they were raving about it).

So any input would be most welcome.

We don’t have a lot of money (we don’t have any money to be truthful) but if he gets a part time job we could come up with $100 a month but we are talking about $100 a month for many years here.

We just want to make sure.

Thanks to anybody who can offer any information.

We would really like to know if she interpreted his mri report truthfully.

Thanks,
melody