Testimonials
Partners in Health - Sherrie Williamson - Testimonial
Six years ago, Sherrie Williamson was chronically ill and desperately searching for answers. After visiting conventional physicians, physical therapists, surgeons, dentists, and various other specialists, she was at the end of her proverbial rope. She wanted answers and no matter how hard she tried couldn’t seem to find them. Finally, her osteopath suggested visiting Dr. Dale Guyer at the Advanced Medical Center & Spa. She first began seeing Dr. Guyer in December 2000.
Slowly, her world began to change for the better—a change that continues today.
Q. What led you to see Dr. Guyer?
A. My osteopath referred me to Dr. Guyer, because conventional physicians I was seeing wanted to shuffle me off with a handful of estrogen and another handful of Prozac. I was in such a hormonal state that I was crying all the time. They advised me to take a couple of weeks off work—and I would be fine. My osteopath said that I could take that path but would be like a hamster on a wheel, because she knew that was not my problem.
Q. What symptoms were you experiencing?
A. I was suffering from chronic fatigue, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, depression, post-menopausal symptoms, bloating, chronic muscle and joint pains, and poor memory among many other symptoms. Like I said, conventional doctors wanted to put me through psychological counseling. They believed that I was depressed, which was the reason I felt bad, had no energy, and was chronically fatigued and caught every cold going around.
A. Yes, I had seen a dentist for TMJ. I crashed my car in the mid-1980s. When I hit, it tore three ribs away from my spine at the sternum. The whiplash affected my neck and my jaw, going both directions up and down. I ended up visiting a TMJ specialist for help, and he was very good.
I complained to my osteopath that I didn’t understand why a doctor could not simply do blood tests to find out what I was lacking and help me restore a balance, as well as discover what was in me that I needed to get rid of.
That is when she mentioned Dr. Guyer.
Q. How did your first visit with Dr. Guyer differ from your experiences with other doctors?
A. The most striking difference was that I had longer than 15 minutes to state my case and defend myself. Also, Dr. Guyer’s extensive range of blood work was most impressive. My other physicians had done thyroid testing, for example, but the results appeared normal. Dr. Guyer had took the additional step to test my T3 and T4 levels, while the other doctor test simply my overall thyroid level.
The most striking difference, however, was that I could simply sit down and talk with him. I didn’t have a 15-minute limit. I had as long as it took. If I started crying, he just handed me a tissue and simply waited. I thought, “Wait a minute. You’re not just going to rush me out the door, saying ‘You’re a hormonal female. Just leave.”
When I went to see Dr. Guyer, I had taken off work because I just couldn’t get my head off the pillow or my feet on the floor another day. Right off the bat, he advised me to relax and calm down, adding that we can figure this out. That was very reassuring. During a five-year period, my father had died from a terminal illness, I was going through a divorce, and my work was going downhill. Still I didn’t feel that I needed a mental health program; I knew it was rooted in physical causes, so I would feel bad when other doctors wanted me to go to a mental health facility. I knew I wasn’t crazy. I simply didn’t feel well.
Just to hear Dr. Guyer say, “I agree. I know you don’t feel well. I can’t believe you are still standing quite frankly” was such a relief. Finally, someone believes me.
Q. What therapies did you begin?
A. I started IV and supplement therapies. He started a little bit of everything altogether. We started slow, so it took a while to coordinate all the therapies. Because I do have allergies, I would start one for a week to ascertain if I was going to have a reaction then slowly begin to integrate other therapies.
Q. How soon before you began to notice a difference in a positive direction?
A. Honestly, I began to feel better the day that I left his office! I was there for quite some time. They did, I believe, hydrogen peroxide IV, which takes a while, in addition to a UVB test. Another doctor told me that I had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and asthma, placing me on an inhaler. At Advanced Medical Center & Spa, they found that I was not suffering from COPD. I had asked other physicians for a chest x-ray, but they said no. I thought it was because of an insurance re-imbursement issue, so I took cash to one of my physicians and said, “I will pay for the x-ray myself.” They still wouldn’t let me get one. When I mentioned this to Dr. Guyer, he ordered one. The x-ray revealed that my lungs are clear—a great relief.
It took a couple of months before I was less foggy-headed. Of course, you have to realize that I was used to jumping up out of bed, working a 14-hour day, and coming home to crash and burn, so it was odd to be around the house all day—on leave. I didn’t know what to do; I had never been off work.
It kept getting better and better from then on.
Q. Did you notice an improvement in pain, fatigue, and energy levels.
A. Yes. After a couple of months, I would get up like gangbusters, then run out of steam faster than before. Like I said, I am a go-go-go person, which is part of the problem. I had to learn to slow down. I also quit crying all the time. I would see an ATT commercial or someone would win the “Price Is Right” and I would start balling. That was one noticeable improvement.
In six or seven months after seeing Dr. Guyer, I was back on the track, staying up all day without feeling bad.
Q. Did you return to your job as a teacher?
A. Yes. When they first called me, I wasn’t quite ready—I was about 80 percent better—so they gave my job to another person. I took another leave or absence for a year. Then, I ended up with two jobs, working twice as hard as before. Dr. Guyer was concerned at that point whether I would end up as before, which is when his nurse taught me how to do self-injections of vitamin B12.
Q. How often to you see Dr. Guyer now?
A: I went back to Dr. Guyer a month ago. I wasn’t paying attention to what I was supposed to do and got pretty tired again. We did more blood work, and I am going back for follow up soon. Everything else seems okay. We investigated growth hormone. The test results showed that I was not even on the chart. When I return, we will figure out what to do. I say “we” because it is not he. We are partners in health. That is another impressive aspect—a huge difference.
Q. Do you have a favorite exercise?
A. Kung fu. I have been in martial arts since the late 1980s in one form or another. I progressed over time to a black belt.
Q. Did treatment help you sustain your interest in kung fu?
A. Yes. That was one of my worries. I am a gym teacher, an athlete, and always so strong, yet when so sick I couldn’t do the things I loved to do before. I couldn’t do low kung fu stances as before. I was experiencing muscle weakness and wondered if I was perhaps developing muscular dystrophy or something. I was pretty good at martial arts, but then got pretty bad at it. I came back, however, and took the next step, receiving my black belt in June 2004.
Q. There are many other people in similar circumstances. What would you recommend?
A. I would recommend go see Dr. Guyer and Advanced Medical Center & Spa. I tried a lot on my own. Other doctors would not help me. Unfortunately, some things that I tried actually made my symptoms worse.
But the holistic approach is synergistic—everything works together. Dr. Guyer knows how to bring holistic treatment to the table. I have called his office and asked questions, and they get back to me with answers after conferring with Dr. Guyer.
If people have not found a doctor like Dr. Guyer, keep looking!