Thanks for writing.

Your post isn’t worth a response as long as yours, but I will note a few things:

1. You don’t know me.  You don’t know a thing about me, or even about this site.  I have a “quote rotator’ on the front page.  That quote you reference is one of about fifty that rotate, that stood out from books, movies, or music lyrics and seemed to resonate with me.  If you hover your mouse over the quote, you will see its source.  I’ll save you the trouble on this one: it’s from lyricist Layne Staley, from a song called God Am.  The reference, to people who know the lyrics or bother to check Google, is primarily to the stinging autobiographical critique of the existence of an imaginary God.  You didn’t Google, and you are a computer professional?  “Telling”, indeed.

2. “Predisposed to medical issues”: would that be like someone who has scoliosis, repetitive strain injury, and has been seeing a chiropractor regularly for thirty years?

3. Thanks for the insinuation of elitism.  I guess you were impressed by Jean’s “woman of the people” act?  Great.  Good for you.  If the thing keeping you from pursuing actual medicine (as opposed to “alternative” or “pretend” medicine) is the lofty attitude of doctors, thanks for freeing up the waiting room space at my doctor’s office.  However, even though I probably wouldn’t like you any more if I met you in person than I do having read your diatribe, I really do hope that your current chiropractor doesn’t treat your “subluxations” for the decade it takes for, say, breast cancer to metastacize.  That would be unfortunate, especially if you’ve bred already.

4. Just a general response to your veiled and unveiled threats, that I guess you imagine were rational debate to get me to delete a post: welcome to the Web.  Try the honey-not-vinegar approach some time, and see if it gets you any better results.  Go ahead and send this to Jean.  You think I’ve never gotten a cease-and-desist letter before?  I’ve had websites online for 13 years.  They’re awfully fun to post scans of and ridicule.  You’re not in California any longer, but presumably you are somewhere with the First Amendment?

5.  Why didn’t I go to physical therapy immediately?  Because I was in intense and immediate pain, and the chiropractic community pretends they are a silver-bullet panacea.  Yes, I was foolish.  I’m trying to keep other people from making the same foolish choice I did, especially with a hack like Jean Duffy. 

6. Sorry your arm hurts.  Poor thing.  Sorry if it cramps your typing style.  I was injured in a rear-end motor vehicle accident on-the-job (can’t comment more due to current litigation.)  So, refresh yourself with bullet #1, and then take a hike.

Bye!

First, let me say that although I’ve seen chiropractors since I was a teen (scoliosis), Jean Duffy is the first chiropractor that I stayed with, and there are very good reasons for that.  (BTW, I saw her regularly for about 10 years until the time I moved out-of-state, and now I see her when I am in town visiting — having a long-term practice with long-time patients, she is obviously doing something right!).  For one thing, although you insinuate that she is a “crook” and basically accuse her of having a bad attitude in general, I found her to be more one-on-one rather than lofty like some doctors can be (was it maybe the Yonkers accent that got you?).  As far as working with my insurance company, she was the best — it was very seamless, and I paid my co-pays when the bills came.  Otherwise, I didn’t even have to be involved.  Her staff has always been friendly (and she has the best massage therapist I’ve ever gone to — Mary — whom I miss terribly!) 

I could go on and on about my great experience(s) with Jean Duffy as my chiropractor, but I’d rather address a few things you threw out there.  The main thing that got my attention is that you said your neck popped on it’s own, something that Jean could not do.  Was that later that day?  You said earlier that you couldn’t do it yourself either, so did you think that the relief by just ‘turning your head’ was a miracle?  I’m surprised you didn’t connect her words with the results: “…about chiropractic not being a “pill” that ‘fixes something immediately’.”

You also said that you had great success through physical therapy after an accident a year prior.  Well, why didn’t you go there first, especially since you were already so skeptical of chiropractors?  I also wondered if the neck pain was possibly a result of that injury (I am still suffering the afteraffects of a pinched disk 30 years ago).

You really just sound like you are ranting about an experience that didn’t go the way you expected it.  I know the internet is completely unmonitored and uncensored, and anyone can post anything, but it’s really unfair the way you slander Dr. Duffy’s name (and your intent is obvious by the fact that you state the reason you are posting her name without her middle initial as well is to make it easier for people to find this using a search engine).

I poked around your website a little to see what you were all about.  The very first thing I see is “I’m not fine, f*%# pretending” is displayed as part of your website banner.  Hmmmm, very telling.  On your “about this site” page, you begin by stating that you are “on medical leave from developing software for a living”.  Well, I developed software for 10 years, then switched to graphic design which I continue to do from my computer, and although my right wrist, elbow and shoulder bother me frequenly, I am not on medical leave.  It sounds like you are predisposed to medical issues — with your experience(s) maybe alternative medicine is just not for you.

When I spoke with Dr. Duffy earlier today, she was totally unaware of this incident.  I’m sure she’ll be looking through her 2003 medical records to see who you are and what really happened (there are always at least two sides to every story).  I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will consider the source, and if they are interested in being treated by Dr. Duffy, they should talk to her about this and any other concerns first and make up their own mind.  I also vehemently hope that after 5 years you have reconsidered the situation and understand the repurcussions your blog can have one someones reputation — you should rescind!

Traditional medicine, drug manufacturers, and politics are so deeply intertwined, I’m surprised people fall in line so easily. As for the quadriplegic comment - that doesn’t even make sense without proper context. Was the doctor assuming the chiropractor would come in jerking things around? (Good) Chiropractors take great care with xrays and all proper scans to ensure there will be no collateral damage - that’s why we are doctors as well.