Dr. Rusty Gaffney,
You have truly changed my life, and I cannot begin to thank you and your AMAZING staff enough for that! For the first time EVER I am able to go out to eat without interrogating the waiter about every ingredient used in what I am ordering… which I still didn’t believe half the time. I don’t have to spend hours at the grocery store reading every ingredient on every package of food I buy. It is truly as though I have been set free! Most importantly, I have an overall sense of peace that I have never known before. It is amazing how things you didn’t even know were bothering you can have such a huge impact on your quality of life. I am so glad that my mother found you! Thank you Rusty, from the bottom of my heart! I know you say you are just God’s instrument, but I am sure thankful for you! And for the sake of those going through the process …testimonials were such a wonderful comfort for me. Because of this, I recorded my testimonial slowly, and below is what the process was like…
Why I came to see you
I would like to thank you for opening a door to a life I did not think possible! My entire life has been spent avoiding foods, drinks, and places because of allergies. At birth, my mother said that I was sensitive to everything and therefore not an “easy” child to raise. After an allergy test was analyzed at the age of five (5), they found I was allergic to numerous things, but severally allergic to ALL dairy and eggs. At this point, I was taken off all foods that had any remote trace of these things and life did not get much better. However, I continued to have anxiety and other symptoms of which my parents were never able to explain. At a very young age, I would suddenly panic and feel the need to leave a store and go outside for no reason that we understood, and this continued through adulthood. I would feel an overwhelming feeling of nervousness at the most unusual times and never knew why. I have to say I started to question my sanity! After I graduated from college was when things really started to get bad. Believe it or not, even with all these issues, I was a considerably laid-back person and not much bothered me. However, I was suddenly suffering from HORRIBLE panic attacks, heart palpitations (which I had suffered from in the past, but never to this extreme), a racing heart in the middle of the night would wake me out of a deep sleep, crying for no reason; you name it, it started. For a few years, my mother and I tried to figure out what was going on. We were both very knowledgeable about natural medicine and I was seeing a chiropractor, and even started natural hormone treatments with an integrative doctor in Tampa. This seemed to help a lot at first as some symptoms started to subside, but overall there was still something not right with me and we knew that! A couple of years after this all started for me, my mother found you and you were able to help her with the many problems she had suffered from all her life. Now, I have to tell you that my entire life I have been PHOBIC of needles, so the idea of acupuncture was beyond an option when she first told me how wonderful this would be for me. I put off considering these treatments for a while, as I just could not see how I would get through them! A couple of years went by and I was starting to feel like I needed to live in a bubble. It got to the point where everything was a problem. I never knew when eating a meal if I would have anxiety after, or if my heart would start to race, or if my eyes would swell up (as they had been doing SO often over the past few years). I had to take my own food with me everywhere! I was never able to eat out like a normal person and at company functions; I would smile and pretend like I was full so that I wouldn’t have to explain why I wasn’t eating anything. It was a nightmare! I finally realized I had to come see you even when I was afraid to go anywhere! I can remember many times when I had to be standing in the mall, and suddenly feel a crushing feeling all around me, and I had to get out right then. When I came to see you I was at my wit’s end! I was an emotional wreck from all that my body was putting me through; frustration seeming from the fact that I had no clue why all this was going on. When I came to see you the list of things I suffered from were the following: Unexplained Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Puffy Eyes, Sinus Congestion, Headaches (Constantly! I literally had a headache for a year straight before I saw you), Racing Heart, Coughing Mucous, Bloating, Tight Chest, Lower Back Pain, unexplained fears and emotions, and I am sure I am forgetting so much more! I cannot tell you how horrible it is to be afraid of EVERYTHING that goes in your mouth or to be afraid of going somewhere with friends for fear of an anxiety attack.
The Treatment and Recovery
The day my mother brought me in you tested me immediately for sensitivities (knowing much of my history from what she had told you). We found that my body reacted very strongly to 98 things, I recall you telling me that my body basically hated everything! No wonder I felt so horrible! I even had a horrible sensitivity to Amino Acids-which are (hello!) the building blocks of all protein! We began treatments immediately and planned on 6 treatments a week over a two week period seeing as though I lived out of town. I have to say that 6 visits a week was definitely a roller coaster ride! As you had warned me, I was very tired and felt drained over the days ahead. I cried all the time and went through bouts of anxiety as we eliminated sensitivities. Thank GOD for you (and my parents!) helping me through this and reminding me that my body was going through a lot and that all these symptoms were normal! There was even a night my mom sat up with me until 2.00 AM while I cried and was unable to relax. As Rusty said, “We have your body’s attention!” Now you have to know that at this point in my life I was terrified to take any pill for fear of a reaction – so when Rusty gave me bottles of a daily regimen, knowing it was important to do this treatment right, and what a difference those pills made! I was even able to stop my supplements for symptoms of Mitral Valve Prolapse which I had clung onto for dear life in the past few years! THAT was enough for me to realize that something was changing! After a few of the treatments, I started to realize that things that had never given me a reaction in the past were starting to give me problems-apparently this was normal since I had not been treated for those items yet and I had so many sensitivities that the overlapping prevented me from knowing what actually caused my symptoms. After a few days of treatment, I got up the courage to eat an egg for the first time in years! I sat at the table watching the clock, waiting for something to happen, waiting for my heart to start racing, or perhaps I would feel nauseous – but nothing happened! After two weeks of intensive treatments, I went home a little fearful of what the next few weeks would bring. My first day was our Super Bowl Party and along with that came FOOD! So for the first time in my life, I told myself I was going to eat what I wanted and that would be a true test! I ate meatballs, dip made with sour cream, cheese, Buffalo chicken dip, chocolate, it was UNBELIEVABLE! I called my mother a few times during the party just to tell her what I was eating! And now, six months after treatment I can very honestly say that I am living a completely different life! After 27 years of avoiding ALL dairy and eggs, I can now eat these items on a daily basis, and have NO problem with them! I know that over the years ahead my body will continue to heal (as I was told it took 27 years to get where I am now, it doesn’t go away overnight!), but I also know that you have changed my life!! Thank you Rusty, from the bottom of my heart!!
For those of you going through this process…BE PATIENT!! It took my body a few months to begin showing real healing …seeing as though I was sensitive to the entire world! Trust Rusty…she knows what she is doing!
Anna Roberson, Tampa, FL