Emails on Chronicneurotoxins, cholestyramine & Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker's findings I had received the first email on this treatment which you read on the previous page. I was very interested and coresponded with both the lady who emailed me and Dr. Shoemaker. I have included their emails here to share with you for your information in evaluating Dr. Shoemaker's treatment method. I can say I found it very interesting and apparently it has helped many. Unfortunately there isn't research to back this up except for Dr. Shoemaker's clinical practice and other testimonials. Read and make your own decision after exploring his site. Hi there. I am a 50 year old woman now. Back in 1989 I began to have symptoms that were diagnosed in 1992 as "fibromyalgia". I saw many many specialists while looking for answers. But before I started on this treck to find an answer, I went to the psychiatrist with the most "clout" in Tampa Bay. I believed if a woman tells a doctor she is "tired all of the time" his first thought will be "she's sick in the head". I began sessions with the psychiatrist to either get my illness diagnosed, or to prove to the medical doctors I wasn't making this up in my head. After three sessions the psychiatrist said "your illness is not in your head. It's in your body." I then had him put that in writing and carried it with me to every doctor. As you might guess, out of the first 5 specialists, 3 of them started to tell me it was an imaginary illness. Then I whipped out the well known psychiatrist's note and told these "specialists" they must refer me to someone who isn't going to stop looking for answers just because they cannot figure it out. However, even though I finally got a diagnosis, and finally got treatment that "helped" me cope, I wasn't satisfied. I got lectures about Job, from the Bible, who probably had fibromyalgia and was "assured" since Jesus's time no one could figure out the cause. Maybe that is so, but: Here in Florida, and throughout the North American Continent, DuPont distributed a pesticide which was intentionally contaminated with illegal ingredient(s). The pesticide was recalled in 1992. Because so many people got sick with the same or similar symptoms many of us formed a secret alliance. Some took the road for compensation and revenge against DuPont. Some took the road to find a treatment for our illness. In any event, one of those people heard Dr. Richie Shoemaker on a talk show (radio I think). He called Dr. Shoemaker and took the vision test. He was so excited with the encouragement Dr. Shoemaker gave him he purchased a vision test kit and learned how to conduct the test. At his invitation, I went to the man's house (in Florida) and took the vision test. He faxed the results to Dr. Shoemaker (in Maryland) and we waited about 5 minutes for Dr. Shoemaker to call back. At this point I was on (excuse my spelling), prednisone, hydrocordone, Paxil, Xanax, several muscle relaxers, a sleeping pill, and the three times a month pain shot, and the three times a week-three hours per session hospital in-house physical therapy treatment. I had constant headaches, couldn't sit more than 15 minutes, twitched all over (too much for the neurologist to do an EEG), diarrhea (IBS), vomiting, an ulcer, wearing diapers due to my inability to hold my urine, short-term memory loss, couldn't add 2+2 ( in the 70's and 80's I was a Research Assistant at Harvard and Johns Hopkins, and did my graduate work at George Washington University), sometimes couldn't even remember my birthdate, never could remember how old I was, and it took me 3 minutes to stand erect after I sat in a car more than 15 minutes, and skin problems that included rashes, and blistering. And my moods!! Oh such outbursts I had. Uncontrollable. When I spoke to Dr. Shoemaker that first time I was slurring my speech too. I also had many car accidents (little ones) whereby I'd hit curbs, run into fences, no depth perception to speak of. I went on Dr. Shoemaker's treatment as soon as I could get the prescription. Within two weeks I was no longer having diarrhea, incontinence (urine), twitching, mood swings, physical therapy, short-term memory loss, rashes. I could get out of a car after 1 hour of driving and hit the ground running. I could ride my horse without being an invalid in bed, and my husband dragging me to the bathroom for the next two weeks. I can take an IQ test and be e-mailed by Mensa to take their test (my mother, her brothers, and my father are/were Mensa). And get THIS, I no longer take any pain medicines regularly (just the occassionaly asprin), muscle relaxers, anti-depressants, sleeping pills, or have any physical therapy or shots. I can go to the gym and work-out too! As for the success rate. All of the people in our little alliance, ALL of them who take Dr. Shoemaker's medicine, ALL of them who were diagnosed with depression and fibromyalgia, are in the same condition as ME!!!! I think the success rate can be given a 90%. New people who are introduced to Dr. Shoemaker by us and are NOT diagnosed by the vision test as having a chronic neurotoxic syndrome do not get the treatment (to the best of my knowledge). But new people who take the vision test,and were not exposed (knowingly) to the DuPont pesticide, and who are diagnosed with the chronic neurotoxic syndrome are having success with the treatment. I think the success rate could be as high as 90%. If you call Dr. Shoemaker, he will not acknowledge the pesticide distributed by DuPont was the cause of our problems. However, he is getting cooperation from the Federal agencies in the form of grants ($,$$$,$$$) to research all of the possibilities. Dr. Shoemaker apparently believes my alliance group was exposed to toxins that either were created by the pesticide, or soils affected by pesticides in general. I am never sure of his thoughts because I only call him when I am in crisis. I hate taking the medicine because it is like taking Metamusal. So I go off it until one of my symptoms starts to get out of hand. The first symptom is ususally insomnia. But muscle aches, and other flu like symptoms sometimes come first. When that happens it takes at least 5 days of treatment before I get better. I hope you are excited enough to buy one of his books. Or even to call him. Your web site was very interesting to me. I sincerely hope you and other visitors to your site can benefit from Dr. Shoemaker's "discovery". I was the one who eventually told Dr. Shoemaker that his medicine, cholestyramine, had been used to detoxify people exposed and made sick by organochlorines many many years ago. It just isn't common knowledge because the most commonly treated poisoning was DDT exposures. And DDT hasn't been used in the USA for a very long time. Sincerely, Sally Good morning, Steve Merson forwarded part of your post to me, but it must have been late at night because a character was incorrect in my address. I would greatly appreciate the chance to work with you and your site. I have an essay (8000 words) on FM on chronicneurotoxins.com. Any feedback from you on the content would be welcome. I chose FM as the first (of many) incorrect diagnoses created by tthe medical profession to continue the mistreatment of so many patients. I do have a few FM patients that don't get better with my protocols, but if the patients fit the case definition, they usually get better only to relapse whenmedication is stopped. The relapse is gradual, as opposed to a rapid recrudescence that is seen in patients with re-exposure, most commonly seen in sick building syndrome patients. The occurrence of FM after high velocity auto accidents is common, suggesting an exogenous initiation of what becomes an endogenous production of neurotoxins. A pertinent chapter in my new book, Desperation Medicine, is chronic soft tissue injury, toxins and FM. Please let me know how we can begin a dialogue that will lead to improved health for a numberof your patients. Ritch Shoemaker MD Good afternoon, On 2/5, you asked about success rates in treatment of FM stratified by category. I don't have those data. Remember my case definition of a case is different than the Rheumatology definition of FM.I have often wondered what influence members of the Lyme community, such as Steere, Sigal, Shapiro Schoen and Dattwyler had in the Rheum. definition of FM. My cynical guess was that FM was a cooked up term to provide an out for those docs whose Lyme patients didn't get better with 3 weeks of antibiotics. For FM patients who acquire their symptoms following a high velocity auto accident and who have 4 of 8 of my neurotoxic symptoms, success rates are over 90%. The incorrectly diagnosed sick building patients and the Lyme patients are about the same, but relapse follows re-exposure. I think that the genetic aspects of FM aren't defined. Would you share same data with me? The entire concept of chronic, neurotoxin mediated illnesses is so new to the medical community that I don't expect much support initially. My Grand Rounds in Environmental Medicine on Pfiesteria will present both VCS and CSM therapy. The journal, Environmental Health Perspectives is a big player in the environmental medicine field. After that article comes out, nay-sayers will have a lot more trouble trying to ignore my work. Perhaps a small cohort of your refractory FM patients would be willing to take the VCS test, talk to me or both. That way I could begin to accumulate data according to your classification system. I hope to hear from you soon. Ritch Shoemaker MD