What Our Patients Say

A week later, they were worse. My friends at work were beginning to notice them. My doctor saw them when I was there. It wasn’t just my pectorals, either. Now my biceps, latissimus dorsi, triceps and deltoids were sometimes twitching, sometimes jerking. If you’ve ever seen the Seinfeld episode where George acts like he has a muscle jerk in his arm, that’s what I truly looked like half the time. My doctor gave me a drug called Skelax, which is a muscle relaxer. After a week of that, I was still worse.

My doctor referred me to a neurologist. It was going to be 6 weeks before they could see me. After 2 weeks, I could no longer sit still for any amount of time. Some muscle in my arms, shoulders, back or chest was moving virtually every minute. At work, I’d put my mouse over what I wanted to click and my arm would jerk before I could click it. It would take me 5 minutes to click the thing I wanted.

I’ve always been curious about medical things. I’ve also cultivated a serious distrust for the medical profession as a whole. It started when as a young adult I noticed that doctors always acted and spoke as if they knew everything, and I knew from my own reading and study that there was more that they didn’t know than they knew about the human body. Being impatient and impetuous, I started researching some things myself. My wife’s sister is a nurse, and she mentioned a degenerative nervous disorder called Huntington’s disease. I started researching this disease and was distraught to find that my symptoms were similar to the descriptions I read. This is a disease that causes its victims to slowly lose control of their body and mind. Typically, victims die within 15 years of onset.

I searched and searched to see if there was anything else I may have had. Everything I found was bad. From chorea to ALS to MS to MD, they were all either debilitating or fatal. The only thing I found that wasn’t horrible was something called myoclonus, but I couldn’t find anything that described it. Often, it was listed as a symptom of one of the other disease. A few web sites said that it could sometimes be its own condition, but they didn’t say much else.

By the time I finally got to the neurologist (who got me in a week early), I was convinced I was going to die. Since my late teens, I’ve trusted God with my future. I wasn’t at all afraid to die. However, I have the best wife in the world and the four best kids in the world. (You can debate me on this, but I’ll fight ya!) I lost my dad to a car wreck when I was 21. My youngest son wasn’t even one yet, my daughter was 3, and my other 2 sons were 7 & 6. I didn’t want them to lose their dad so soon. I didn’t want my wife to be a widow.

The neurologist looked at me and sent me to get an MRI and an EEG. I also had blood work done. They all were negative. (I mean, I had organs and a brain and blood, but there was nothing apparently wrong with them!) I went back to see him 2 weeks after my first visit for the verdict. The good news was that I didn’t have any fatal disease. I was truly grateful to God for this. Here’s the tough part: When I went in, I had muscle jerks and I didn’t know why. 6 weeks and $3800 worth of tests later, I was diagnosed with myoclonus of an indeterminate cause, which literally means I had muscle jerks and they didn’t know why. The doctor told me there was no cure and I would likely live with them to some degree or another for the rest of my life, which was expected to be otherwise normal. He gave me a drug called Keppra, which was an anti-epileptic drug that had been used to help people in my condition. He told me that there were no side effects, which was remarkable for this kind of drug. (Many of these types of drugs have horrible side effects that are nearly as debilitating as the disease.)

I didn’t know what else to do, so I started taking the drug. It did reduce the jerks. I could sit still at work for the most part. The problem was, it made me stupid. I don’t know how else to describe it. I’ve always been a quick thinker. Now, I would sit at work and stare at my computer trying desperately to think of something. (I felt like Winnie-the-Pooh in The Blustery Day. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, rent it.) I got a little used to it, but I hated it. I decided to do a few experiments on myself, so I slowly reduced my medication to the point that I could think better. More of the jerks came back, but it was a happy medium. Well, not quite happy, but I thought it was the best I could do. (DISCLAIMER: Many psychotropic drugs can cause severe — even fatal — withdrawal. Never reduce your medication without consulting the doctor who gave it to you. Don’t worry, Dr. Doan will tell you the same thing.)

I started reading all the junk about the drugs that nobody ever reads. You know, the paper work with all the tiny print. (I would highly recommend reading these for any drugs you take. They’re surprisingly candid and incredibly eye-opening. If people actually read these things, they’d never take another drug. If you think all the “side effects include” disclaimers on TV commercials are bad, try reading the printed material. It’s a wonder this stuff ever gets approved for use.) I was alarmed when I read that Keppra works by activating the sleep center in your brain. The reason I had become stupid was that I was partially asleep all the time. I was further alarmed when I read that during the trials, 4 people had attempted suicide, 1 successfully. (This was the wording in the paperwork. I hate to think of someone who closes the deal on killing themselves as being “successful”.) But the biggest shock I got was when I read the list of side effects. One of the most common side effects of Keppra was — are you ready for this? — MYOCLONUS! The very condition for which I was given this drug was a side effect of the drug!!!!

I was absolutely furious. I resolved then and there that I was going to find a solution for my situation. I was thinking about calling a naturopath or some other kind of alternative therapist. I had settled on one or two people to call when a friend at work told me I needed to call her dad. Many people at work had been praying for me. When Carrie Doan heard what I was dealing with, she e-mailed me and told me to call her dad. She confidently stated he could help me. Not that he’d try or that
he might be able to make me feel a little better, she said he could definitely help me.

Well, I’m your typical prideful idiot American male, so I decided to ignore her. I knew what I wanted to do. Besides, I’d heard mixed reviews on Chiropractic. I didn’t trust doctors, so I didn’t care what they thought, but I was concerned that people I knew were going to Chiropractors several times a week and paying out the nose for the privilege. With four kids and one income, I couldn’t afford that. I thank God for Carrie, because she cared enough about me to keep bugging me about calling her dad until I finally decided to at least visit his web site. I read all the things you’ve either read or are about to read, and I was amazed at the differences in what Chiropractic claimed and how they practice. I was ready to give it a try.

I went to see Dr. Doan for the first time in the middle of July, 2 1/2 months after the jerks started. After he interviewed me and reviewed my medical history, he asked me if I wanted to think about his approach and come back. I was sick to death of feeling like I felt, so I asked if he could take a look at me right away.

I was surprised that the only instrument he had was a funky little thing that measured temperature along my spine. I thought it was strange that all he had to do was look at this thing, draw on me with a china marker and ask me a few questions. When he narrowed down the most severely subluxed vertebra, he lightly poked his finger in the joint. I can only describe it by saying it literally felt like he was touching my spinal cord. I couldn’t believe how sensitive that spot of my back was. He took me over to a little place where I could get in the best position for him to adjust my back. I had never had a chiropractic adjustment, so I was a little scared. As soon as he popped my back — which made a surprisingly loud pop — I was sure something was different. I told him I felt better already. He cautioned me that the release of gases in a joint normally causes a euphoric reaction in the brain, so it was way too early to get excited.

On the way home, however, I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was better. By the time I went to bed, I realized that the frequency of my muscle jerks had dropped drastically. I would say that about 75% of my muscle jerks went away and never came back! I would have been happy with this, but that wasn’t the end. Over the next year, I saw Dr. Doan on nearly a weekly basis. Sometimes, I actually got worse for a few days after a visit. I’d have weird tinglings in my arms or the frequency of the jerks would increase slightly. For about 6 weeks in March and April 2004, my right arm was numb more often than not, to the extent that I couldn’t even feel my hand sometimes. In times like this, I was tempted to doubt Dr. Doan, but I chose to trust him. After all, I was much better than when I went to him. He had already done more for me than every other doctor combined.

Since he released me to just come back on an as-needed basis, I have taken everything he’s taught me to heart. He told me to come see him even when I was sick with a cold or flu. That actually happened about a month ago. I had been feeling like I needed to go see him for a week and a half. (You get to where you just know.) I had put it off, and then I got sick. Sure enough, there was a subluxation that needed correction. It took me a week or so to totally kick the cold I had, but I didn’t have to take any antibiotics. In fact, I haven’t been to my doctor in Norman since he referred me to Dr. Doan. Why should I waste money on doctors who can’t help me when I have a doctor who can?

Over the last year and almost a half, my wife, my kids, my mother, and many friends have gone to see Dr. Doan. In fact, a quarter to half the people in my church have gone to see him. My wife and I have recently decided to cancel our employer-sponsored health insurance to go with a private policy that only covers major hospitalizations. The money we’ll save will more than pay for our visits to Dr. Doan.

The thing that makes Dr. Doan so wonderful is his unwavering commitment to the method. His trust in the method is so strong that it kept me from doubting when things weren’t perfect. I am now healthy to the point that I have gone days between muscle jerks that used to occur every second. One of my arms used to extend farther than the other, and Dr. Doan fixed that, too. I’ve had trouble swallowing for several years. Not anymore. I play guitar and I used to get painful hand cramps when playing bar chords. Now if I get them, I know I need to go see Dr. Doan! I sleep better, I don’t get headaches as frequently, I don’t get sick as frequently, and I don’t get depressed as I used to occasionally.

I have an amazing story and I am pleased to tell it, but honestly, don’t take my word for it. See for yourself. You will not regret it.

To the Glory of God,
Jim Miller
Sept. 23, 2004

A friend of ours suggested a different chiropractor, Dr. Dennis Doan. My first reaction was, “Not another chiropractor. We’ve already done that.” But we were encouraged to just go talk to him and see how different his method is and why it is better. So we made the appointment.

We talked with Dr. Doan and watched an informative video about Chiropractic. It was amazing to us how simple the solution really was. Dr. Doan discovered a subluxation of Melanie’s atlas. After just two adjustments, her problems were gone and have never returned. No headaches, no dizziness. She was back to full speed at school.

Later, we went back to the pediatric neurologist for the follow-up appointment. He tested Melanie and found everything to be normal. When we explained how Dr. Doan’s adjustment had brought an end to the problem, he gave it no credence. But he could offer no other reason for Melanie’s recovery.

The accidents.

Just 6 weeks later, my wife and daughter were in a car accident. They were hit from behind while stopped, waiting to turn into a business driveway. I immediately took them to Dr. Doan who treated them over the next several weeks to ensure proper spine alignment and minimize the damaging effects of the trauma.

Two days later, I slipped on wet grass and slammed my chin on a curb. It could have broken my jaw or even my neck, but fortunately, the impact just scraped my chin and slightly moved my jaw out of alignment. I immediately went to Dr. Doan who set it straight with one adjustment.

Even the minor stuff.

Anytime we have an ache or other discomfort, we visit Dr. Doan to get the spine back in line. We always get relief because the body is able to do the healing when it is not inhibited.

I gladly tell my story to anyone who wonders or doubts. I doubted, too. Especially after seeing dubious results from regular chiropractors. Let a chiropractor tell you why they are different, and you’ll have a new outlook. There’s nothing fancy or self-indulgent about Dr. Doan or his office. But the results are proof positive that the simple solution can be the best.

Kent Jones
Program Director, 92.5 KOMA