Aftershock Web Design Blog

Today I sent an email to two of the lead researcher for fibromyalgia at OHSU; below is part of that email: "I have come across something I thought might be of interest to you. For the past several months (due to neck, shoulder and back pain) I have found my sleep to worsen significantly to the point where I was only getting from 2-4 hours of sleep at night. It seemed my medications just quit working or something else was going on. I was getting desperate for relief. I was wishing I could go back to Taiwan to a Chinese doctor who helped me several years ago while in Taiwan.

"Let me explain; about 1997 I went to Taiwan for 2-weeks on a business trip, and while there our Chinese vendor suggested I go to his doctor. I was very skeptical of going to the Chinese doctor, but to keep my vendor happy I agreed. Every morning for 2-weeks he would take me to this doctor first thing in the morning. This doctor applied three different treatments on me: he did cupping (glass cup with suction) on my neck and back, chiropractic adjustments, and Shiatsu massage. What was interesting was I found two dramatic changes as a result of these treatments: I had more energy, and I slept WITHOUT PAIN! "When I got home I tried to find a Chinese doctor here that could offer me the same relief, but could not find anyone who could help me. Specifically I was looking for someone who could do the Shiatsu massage as it seemed to me that was the ?magic bullet? that helped me in Taiwan. "About 4-6 weeks ago while I was struggling for better sleep, as previously mentioned I wished I could go to Taiwan to see this doctor. Kellie suggested I go to Brookstone and try one of their massage chairs to see if I could get any relief. That day we went to Brookstone and we tried several massage chairs but found the Panasonic Real Pro chair in ?Shiatsu? mode was able to nearly reproduce the massage I received in Taiwan. This chair would massage me from head down to my lower calves. I found after being in this chair for about 45 minutes I still felt tired from lack of sleep (I only had 3-hours of sleep the previous night), but I felt invigorated, and felt invigorated for the rest of the day. Though the very best part was I Slept ALL NIGHT LONG!!! I cannot tell you how excited I was to find this chair. "Now for the past 4-6 weeks I have been going to Brookstone about 2-3 times a week and my sleep is greatly improved! This also translated into being more productive during the day! I can hardly wait until I have a Panasonic Real Pro massage chair in my home! If I go more than 2-3 days between massages I slip back into painful nights with poor sleep. "Last week I ventured onto the Panasonic web site and read a press release from the ACA (?American Chiropractic Association?) and at the bottom I found Panasonic has a special discount program for members of the ACA. I wondered if they would make the same offer to doctors who treat fibromyalgia so I wrote them an email seeing if they would make this same offer to MDs in general. I received an email back from Mr. Dan Silver explaining they did not, so I wrote him again telling him about a little bit about me, and specifically about the Fibromyalgia Clinic as OHSU. I then received a phone call from Mr. Silver and I asked him if he would be willing to provide the OHSU Fibromyalgia Clinic with a couple of chairs for an informal study. He said he would be interested if you would provide him with a press release of the results he could use for marketing purposes. "The reason I am writing you is this email is because I thought you might be interested in this possible alternative therapy that seems to help me, and it is my hope other fibromyalgia patients receive the benefit from a Panasonic Real Pro massage chair that I have."