Reducing the ‘meds’

Yolanda Fawcett
courtesy iVillage

I started in practice more than three decades ago but I’ve never stopped being amazed at how many times patients find chiropractic care to be “life changing.” Here’s another case: in March of this year, Yolande Fawcett, 46, was featured on the wildly popular website, iVillage (which is associated with Oprah Winfrey and the NBC television network). Years ago, Fawcett was diagnosed with bipolar disorder — as were all six of her brothers and sisters (along with some five million other Americans). The medical response was to put her on a pile of pills.

In addition to admitting that she “loves her mania” side of manic-depression, she stated: “I’ve finally found a cocktail of daily medications that seems to be working, after 20 years of feeling like a human guinea pig, going on and off medications and trying new things. I’ve learned that I can’t go off of the medications just because I start to feel better. When I’ve done that in the past, it’s made me much sicker. I know now that it’s the medication that is making me feel better, and to stay better, I need to stay on my meds.”

Fast forward to last week. The same woman is in a chiropractic office undergoing “life changing” care to allow her to reduce her “meds.” In an article in TCPalm online newspaper, Fawcett credits her chiropractor, Bruce Hansbrough, DC, with not only helping her feel better, but for allowing her to reduce her “meds.”

“Despite years of medical treatment for bi-polar disorder, Fawcett was looking for alternative treatments in order to lessen the amount of medication that she was taking for her condition,” the article by Jeannie Ferrara stated.

Fawcett is quoted in the article as saying, “Dr. Bruce has been able to ‘shock’ my system and align my spine so that I am more limber and have a better range of motion. His work has also decreased the amount of neck and shoulder pain I experience when I am under stress. Which unfortunately is all too often. With regular visits, my discomfort has lessened.”

I doubt if iVillage will announce that development, but if more people who have been burdened with medical diagnoses for stress- and diet-related conditions like “bipolar disorder” would learn of the potential for drug-free, non-invasive chiropractic care, our offices would overflow and the world would be a healthier, happier place!