RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

 

About twenty five years ago I went to the family doctor with severe pain in my knees. He gave me a shot of cortisone, which helped for about a year. I went back for the miracle shot for three more years. The next time I went in he said he wouldn't give me another shot as it did deteriorate the bones. I was sent to physical therapy for the next several years and given an arthritis medication, indomethacin. Nothing seemed to help I went from a cane, to a walker. He said I had to live with the pain.

 

I had already cut my work day in half. By the time I would get home after four hours I was in tears. I just couldn't stand the pain any longer. It didn't matter if I was standing, sitting, lying down, or walking. I was in constant pain.  I finally told my family doctor I wanted to see a specialist and He made an appointment with one in Madison. When I went to see him he told me to go to therapy again and try some other medication for one more year. They had taken x-rays but he had never looked at them. When I went back the next year, ready for war as the pain was getting worse, He said when he looked at the x-rays he could see I was walking bone on bone. So surgery was set up and in 1997 1 had both knees replaced, one in May and one that October.

As I was still in pain in my thumbs, neck, and feet I was kept on the indomethacin. After surgery my feet became numb, which at the time I thought was a blessing, but it was just covering the pain.   In 2005 1 was sent to the hospital for low blood pressure, anemia, and low blood count. They first took me off the indomethacin and aspirin I was taking for the pain, as it was causing me to bleed inside. After they tried two different pain medications, which I could not take, my new family doctor said I should try acupuncture before he tried any more pain medication. He then gave me David Milbradt's phone number. I was very leery as I had never known anyone that had gone to an acupuncturist, but I was willing to try anything. I also had this thing about needles that made me nervous.

 

When I had my first treatments and the pain was leaving I was very surprised and happy. It has been about 4 months and I have very little pain left. I still have two stubborn thumbs that are almost pain free and the numbness in my feet are gone, but then the pain kicked in, so David has been taking care of them. I also was getting depressed but a few needles in the right place and I felt better. He has also helped me sleep. I do take some herbs that David suggested and am feeling better.  I am no longer on pain medication of any kind and have cut my stomach medicine in half. I am hoping to stop them all together.

 

David, Shari, and Margo are always there for you. They take the time to talk to you, so you feel at ease. The first time you walk in you feel welcome, as they are always so cheerful and friendly. If you have a question they are always willing to help.  Oh yah! The needles don't hurt!!

 

Sharon M.

 

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ARTHRITIS

 

Having arthritis for many years and using the drugs feldene, vioxx and celebrex, and the later causing stomach problems, I was left without any medications.  Now what do I do?  A friend sent some literature on acupuncture and that is when David Milbradt came into my life.

 

Having such pain on my upper left shoulder blade, he started out with cupping to see where the pain was the greatest and then the acupuncture started.  After a few visits, I went to the hospital to have a catscan and x-rays which showed that my spine is full of arthritis, but not in my discs.  After eleven acupuncture treatments I had relief for six hours which was heaven.  After about two months, I was pain free in my back which was the most severe.  I really have felt like a new person.

 

I had problems with my feet and after several surgeries I was left with chronic pain on my one foot.  David has focused a lot of attention to my foot and I have come a long way to be comfortable with walking. 

 

My only regret is that I wish I would have found David sooner in my life.  I believe in acupuncture and when he tells you he can help you, trust him.  He can.  David is a very caring person – he listens intensely to your complaints, which are many.

 

Sylvia S.   

 

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RHEUMATOID AND OSTEOARTHRITIS

 

 

My name is Darlene C.  I came to Abundance Acupuncture in March 2007 because I was suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis.  I had this problem for 24 years.  This problem encompassed my whole body starting with my upper and lower extremities, wrists, and knees.  Because made it difficult for me to walk, go up and down stairs, and do normal household activities such as wringing out a mop, sweeping, etc. it left me feeling fatigued, irritable, and hopeless.

 

I tried medications such as Plaquenil and Trental and even arthroscopic surgery but, no loose or crumbled ligaments were found.  I began to feel some improvements in my condition after one treatment at Abundance Acupuncture.  At this point in time my condition feels 75 to 100% better and I am able to do all of my housework with very little discomfort if any at all. I am able to take part in all family activities except strenuous exercise or sports.  I have also had significant improvement in other symptoms like decreased emotional problems with depression, anxiety, and irritability.  I have even lost 7 pounds!

 

The clinic is very pleasant and warm and the staff is warm and caring.  They make you feel like they’re family and they helped me learn a great deal about how good posture affects the way you feel and how important proper nutrition is. This will be the first place I turn to if I have more discomfort from my arthritis.  I would recommend acupuncture to anyone because I truly believe it did me a world of good!!

 

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Osteoarthritis and Back Pain

 

My name is Bill D. and I have been suffering with chronic pain since June of 1992. 1 have had two back surgeries and numerous knee surgeries including having my right knee replaced. I currently have herniated discs in my bark and neck and suffer from degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis, and migraine headaches.

 

I have tried every conventional method of pain relief ( i.e., pain meds, numerous specialists, pain clinics, massage, chiropractor, physical therapy, etc..). I just could not get any pain relief. The pain recently was unbearable. I was referred again to specialists who basically said... there is nothing they could do (that would produce a successful outcome) ... go home and live with the pain and by the way ‑‑‑ take less pain pills.

 

The pain was greatly affecting my quality of life. Almost every night I came home from work and laid on the couch and then would be in bed by 7:00 PM because I had so much pain I didn't know what to do with myself. I withdrew further and further from my family.  I even started leaving work early because of the pain (my work record is impeccable). Occasionally I have to use a cane to walk, which is really a humbling experience for me being a former all‑state football player. Many times I lay on the kitchen floor because of back spasms. My social activities are determined by: How far will I have to travel by car? How far will I have to walk? What kind of chair will I have to sit on!

 

I am a 45 year old man stuck in a 90 year old body.  I have two sons who want to play catch with a football or baseball and I can't, or a wife who wants to go to concerts or sporting events and I can't (bleachers are horrible!) and a family that just wants to hear me laugh again.

 

Upon urging from my wife, an RN, and a family doctor, I decided to try acupuncture. My thoughts though were: this is just one more treatment that is not going to help me.  I went to see David for my evaluation and initial three assessments and discovered that my pain was going away even though my doctor was reducing my pain medications. I currently look forward to my treatments.

 

The most important thing I've discovered is that David will listen to my problems and have me rate my pain. He is concerned how the pain is affecting my quality of life. No other physician or specialist (which is more than 20) has ever done that. Every time I go to a session, David assesses my pain for that day; asking how much pain and where it is located. He then gears my treatment specifically to those areas.

 

I have more energy, less pain, and once again am able to laugh and simply enjoy life more than I have in a long time. My advice: Don't be "put off" because acupuncture is a non‑traditional method of treatment. Have an open mind and try it. What have you got to lose besides the "just put up with it" mentality of Western medicine ?

 

Sincerely,

Bill D.     March 2005

 

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ARTHRITIS ALL OVER

 

I wish to write this letter to thank you once again for the relief your treatment gave me on my worst day and continues to give me with each treatment. My problems when I came to you were Arthritis in both knees, both hands, stenosis in lower spine, and hip pain. I was really hurting all over. This all started in 1994. 1 had become very limited in what I was able to do. This was very discouraging for me.

 

Prior to coming to you I had doctored with many specialists and a chiropractor. I tried many treatments and medications with no relief When I first came to you I was really in pain. After 3 treatments I received relief from my pain. Prior to my 5th visit I had severe pain in my good knee for two days. I didn't really think that I would get complete relief from this pain, but I did! On my 5th visit I was completely pain free. My first pain free day since 1994. HOORAY!! I could hardly believe it!!  I was convinced I would never have a pain free day the rest of my life. I was wrong. I have had several pain free days thanks to David.

 

I now know and believe that I can be pain free for the rest of my life, regardless of my age. To be pain free changes your life. You are more positive about all the things you are able to do once again. It feels GREAT!  You and your staff are very kind and committed people. You care about your patients. That is so‑o important.  I wish I would have committed myself to Acupuncture much sooner. I will never be without it again. You are a GREAT TEAM!

 

Thank you to All of You from a Very Grateful Me.

 

Sincerely,

Jane F.

June 28, 2005

 

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RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

I was diagnosed with RA about 4 years after I started having pain.  I had run through my Primary Physician, three podiatrists and an orthopedic surgeon before I connected with a rheumatologist who diagnosed me.  I was pretty disgusted with the medical community.  Throughout this time of uncertainty, several of my joints were deteriorating.  It was this pain that made me seek out medical intervention in the first place.  It was the medical professions response- ill guided, incomplete, treat the pain but not fix the problem solution – that had me feeling worse.

After the pain started everything in my life changed.  I deteriorated. I became depressed. I was sleeping all the time; it was hard to get up in the morning. I’d nap over my 2 hour lunch break. When I got home I would go right back to bed. I’d get up for a dinner that my husband would make then go back to bed again.   I stopped doing housework. If I needed something from the laundry or the freezer I would ask for a runner to fetch it for me because I couldn’t walk down the stairs. Shopping was a major task. Many times I had considered getting a handicap license so I could park closer. Instead I was always dropped off at the door, I didn’t go alone anymore.

My social life was determined by if I felt up to it. Who wants to talk to someone who is miserable, anyway?  My work also suffered. I was a city letter carrier. I loved my job, walking 30-35 hours a week. I was in the best shape of my life. My weight was down, my blood pressure and cholesterol were low, and my muscles were firm. But I was in constant pain, every step of every hour of every day.

My doctor ordered that I stop walking. I told him he was taking away my livelihood. He didn’t care. In a compromise my hours were reduced to 2 a day. At the time I carried my health insurance, something I needed to maintain until my husband could pick it up.  My boss wanted to give me a fitness for duty physical so she could fire me. My supervisor intervened. I had to transfer to desk job at 1/3 less pay.

RA was not the only diagnosis I had. My Rheumy also tagged me with Fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, carpal tunnel in both wrists. I had bursitis in my hip and tennis elbow. I had also stopped sleeping through the night. I would wake up in pain or my feet would be hot or I would kick my husband and we would both be awake. It was not a good existence.  I was angry, irritable, depressed, my family tiptoed around me and catered to me at the same time. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I knew the drugs my doctor prescribed were not doing the trick. I felt that I had run the gamut of medications. I started with self prescribed Ibuprofin. My doctor prescribed Naproxin, and then switched to Ketoprofin, then to Indocin –which I found I was allergic to by way of migraines.   My doctor then upped the ante to narcotics. Again we started low with Oxycodone. I was in pain in less than 2 hours. He changed me to Oxycontin. I had a similar response, break thru pain in 2 hour. The next one up was Morphine. He prescribed 15 mg extended release every 12 hours. I eventually increased to two 15 mg tabs 3-4 times a day. It never went to my head only to the pain. I was also taking a sleeping pill and had tried 2 different antidepressants.

My disease was progressing. My joints were deteriorating, eroding. It needed to stop. My doctor put me on a biologic agent; Remicade. It is much like chemotherapy, administered intravenously over 2 ½ hours every 8 weeks. But in order to have this therapy I was prescribed Methotrexate, a cancer drug that suppresses my immune system and a high dose of folic acid because methotrexate uses up the folate in my body to work.

I had met David Milbradt at the Rio Health Fair in 2003. I spoke with him then but I must not have been ready to give up my pain. The next year’s health fair proved to be different. A good friend of mine walked me firmly over to his booth and stayed there until I had agreed to see him for a consultation.  I was not apprehensive in any way. I had already been using acupressure with favorable results. Besides I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. The hardest thing to do was fill in my health history questionnaire; I had so much going on in my body.

David didn’t laugh at my idiosyncrasies. Quite the contrary, he was compassionate and dedicated to making the changes necessary to give me back my health.   For my first treatment David went after the bursitis in my hip. With the insertion of just 1 needle I was able to bring my knee to my chest without pain! With the insertion of the 2nd needle I could rotate my hip left and right without pain!   I was elated, ecstatic and in total awe. I thought: What was this? How does it work?  If 2 needles got rid of my hip pain, I could only imagine what lay in store for the rest of my woes.

Within 2 months I was off my sleeping pills. At 4 months I no longer needed pain pills on a daily basis. Between 4 and 7 months after I started treatments I had taken pain medication twice because I had overdone my physical activities. I no longer take drugs for pain! A year after I began treatments I tested for my Black Belt in Tae Kwon-do.

There have been other issues that have popped up over the course of time, some disease related some not, which David has treated me for: a dry sticky eye, low back pain, migraines, a uterine fibroid, a hernia, urinary incontinence, PMS, TMJ and muscle sprains and strains.   I can’t say that I am 100% healthy (maybe 96%). I still have my disease, it isn’t going away but I’ve found that I don’t have to live with the pain.

I’ve got my life back and I owe that to David Milbradt. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are in my life to stay.

 Shari F.  July 2005

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Knee Pain and Swelling in the Legs

 

I first heard about David through a woman from the University of Wisconsin Medical center who knew and had seen David and she told me, "This man saved my life!" He happened to be in Beaver Dam, which was really weird. I thought for sure he would be way on the outskirts of Madison. I came to his office for an Oriental Exam, but I work till 5:00 PM in Middleton, so he had me talk to Margo, his receptionist, to see what we could set up for an appointment. She got me in at 6:00 PM.

 

I stopped at a gas station on the way and tripped on a rise in the pavement and fell. My knees hurt so bad I thought I was going to die. I was coming in the first place because of pain in the knees. I could hardly walk up steps anymore. I told David about my fall and he pressed on two pressure points and had me stand up and I said, "Wow! He said, "I like that word." I have been saying a lot of wows since I have been coming to his office. I used to have some terrible problems with swelling in my legs. I did one of the cleanses that David recommended and the swelling is completely gone. The swelling had been so bad that I had gone to see a medical doctor who stripped the veins in my legs but I still had swelling in my legs even a year afterwards. It didn't take care of it.

 

I've seen David for less than a year and the swelling is gone. The pain in my knees is not completely gone, but I can walk up and down my steps. As a matter of fact I run up my steps now at work because I think that's what I should do to keep them more active. And that's only a small piece. I have a whole list of issues that he has helped me with. I started getting acid reflux when I was pregnant with my two girls and I had it for a long time. I found that it was better when I took coral calcium, but if I didn't take it the acid reflux was back, just like that. David did a couple needle points and I haven't had it since.

 

I used to be a smoker and I don't have the lung problems that I used to have. My nose used to run whenever I ate and I don't have that anymore either. I used to bite my tongue daily. I didn't know why. When David did the Oriental Exam he said, "Your tongue is really swollen and with treatment even that has gone away.

 

The first time his name was brought up I remember telling my neighbor, "No way! Needles aren't for me." Now that I can see the other side of the story and what it can do, it's really amazing. If you go for treatment you will end up saying "Wow! That's really weird!" Because you have dealt with pain or a health issue for so long and he will do a few needle points and you will go home and all of a sudden you notice it is not happening anymore.

 

It's not painful. That was my biggest fear ... needles. On one of my first treatments David put in a needle and it sent a trigger down to my ankle. It felt like it was stuck and kind of hurt. I said something to David and he did something to my wrist and the pain moved out of the wrist. It didn't go completely away and when he asked if I was O.K. I told him no.  It was now stuck in my foot so he pressed on a finger and the pain went away. It doesn't make sense but it works.

 

The needles don't hurt, but sometimes it feels like electricity, good electricity. It's always been good because I feel so much better when I wake up. I actually take a nap during the treatment and it's wonderful! It's definitely a positive experience.

 

Charlotte Holtan

 

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