Nature Cure Practitioner / Naturopath
New Testimonial: – Twice Wrong Diagnosis Of Rheumatoid (Juvenile) Arthritis
About 18 months ago, our daughter suffered two successive injuries to her wrist at the age of 9 years, the first through wear and tear (too many handstands and cartwheels apparently) and the second from a pull on her wrist during a fall down a slippery hill. Unfortunately the next morning her wrist was painful and swollen which led us to see our G.P. She was referrred for an x-ray which initially showed that nothing was broken – a relief to us both.
However, a few days later the G.P. ‘phoned to say that the full report had shown up the possibility of arthritis and she would refer us to the Consultant Rheumatologist. A couple of weeks later this consultant hastily diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis, without taking a full history or any interest at all in the accident which caused the initial swelling. He dismissed this as being irrelevant because in the meantime her knee had also swollen (again, we felt, after too much use – an extra long walk in the Lake District). He wanted to start immediately with very drastic treatment, namely a course of Cortisone injections and Methotrexate (a cancer drug)!
Up until this point our daughter was a lively, happy, energetic, active and extremely athletic child. In fact, on the day the diagnosis was made she ran an inter-schools cross-country race and won! However, we were ready to admit that something was wrong as this pain and swelling had never occurred on previous occasions, so we had to accept that we needed an alternative.
Actually we were desperate. We were referred to Leeds for a second opinion, which of course agreed fully with the first, and even worse they wanted to put a splint on her leg at night. This all horrified us as no-one was interested in the cause, only the symptoms and they wanted to administer drugs and treatment for pain relief, nothing to help her get better at all. This shocked us completely. They didn’t seem to see the child, just the condition. In the days following the initial diagnosis we spoke to many people, trying to get a non-medical point of view.
We had a friend in an osteopath who reassured us that this was not arthritis which helped us to cope considerably better with the situation. Our daughter had help from other practitioners too during those first few weeks, but the turning point came when Mr. Shah was recommended to us through a friend whose wife had been visiting him for some years.
Just speaking to Mr. Shah over the telephone was enough to convince us that he was going to help, and this has been proven absolutely during the course of the last 15 months.
We wanted to avoid the use of drugs at all costs and this is where Mr. Shah and naturopathy came to our aid. He made it clear that we would need to follow his advice in order to benefit, and I must admit that there was a lot to practice, but everything that he said made sense and we did exactly as he said!
What struck us most was that he was interested in the cause of the problem. He examined her thoroughly and reassured us constantly about that fact that she would get better. We made changes to her diet, which benefited the whole family, and together with all the other exercises and treatments she was beginning to show real improvement after only two months. Then the swelling in her knee seemed to miraculously go down, her energy came back and gradually more and more movement in her wrist. She is now back on full-form, taking part in all her favourite sports and pastimes, full of life. She still has to do the exercises and keep up the diet, etc. but this regime has suited our family very well and we feel it is a habit for life.
None of us have been ill with anything since our initial visit to Mr. Shah and we can’t thank him enough for all the help and support he has given us.
If we ever are ill again we will certainly be paying him a visit …!
Thank you.
Lynda M Scarborough