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This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice.
Imagine a life where every sound, no matter how faint, hurts your body; even a bird chirping in the garden causes you to scream out in agony.
For 14-year-old Port Elizabeth teenager, Heather Botha, a simple task such as her mother chopping an onion in the kitchen would send her into a spiral of pain so severe that doctors have likened it to childbirth. Her family knows – when they hear a bird singing in the yard, they will rush to shut Heather’s bedroom windows.
From chemotherapy to herbal remedies and physiotherapy, nothing seemed to work. For months, doctors were convinced Heather was imagining it. “I was told that it is all in her head; one specialist even said she was crying out for attention,” her mother Hayleigh recounts. “But I know my daughter. I knew something was wrong.”
Finally, a nuclear bone scan confirmed that Heather was suffering from a rare neurological condition, called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a chronic disease that often worsens over time. Alarmingly, 35 percent of sufferers eventually report symptoms throughout the body. CRPS may remain localized, spread slowly over the years, or progress rapidly like a wildfire out of control.
Except for the Arkansas-based Spero Clinic, the only clinic of its kind, traditional medicine has no answers for CRPS. In Heather’s case, she became wheelchair-bound and the bottom of her feet became blackened, as if she had walked through coals.
The Curse of CRPS
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic pain disorder that usually affects the limbs. CRPS typically develops after an injury, surgery, a stroke, or a heart attack. The pain is out of proportion to the severity of the initial injury. The main symptoms, apart from intense pain, are swelling, loss of range of motion, temperature changes, and changes in the skin.
It is estimated that CRPS affects nearly 200,000 patients annually in the United States. With a prevailing medical opinion that there is no cure for this condition, the road for these patients seems one of endless suffering.
CRPS is associated with imbalance and malfunction of the autonomic nervous system resulting in disability, impairment, chronic pain, and functional loss. Developing in different stages, untreated (or mistreated) CRPS can lead to permanent changes in the skin and bones, flexor tendon contractions and damage to the optic nerves and digestive system.
The Road to Recovery
Where the medical profession had given up hope for Heather, The Spero Clinic welcomed her with open arms. She began with a careful sequence of tests and examinations to determine her exact condition. These tests and exams centered around detecting nerve interference affecting the body on a global scale, causing it to malfunction and leading to excruciating, unrelenting daily pain.
Following the tests, Heather’s treatment began with repairing and reactivating specific nerves, in particular the Vagus nerve, which is the single most important nerve inside the human body outside of the spinal cord. Soon, recovery set in and resulted in less pain, more flexibility and a new hope for a normal life.
Targeting the Cause of CRPS
A neurological disorder at its core, CRPS patients suffer from an underactive Vagus nerve. This will cause inflammation in one part (or all the parts) of the body, which causes the nerves to be “on fire.”
A crucial part of the central nervous system, the Vagus nerve is responsible for many different tasks, including heart rate, digestion, sweating, speech, coughing, fainting, vomiting, and sleep.
In a healthy body, this nerve passes electrochemical signals between the organs and the brain, creating a balance in functions and processes. However, in the body of CRPS patients, the Vagus nerve can be compared with a clogged-up freeway where only a few signals make it through in either direction.
Healing From Within
Spero’s treatment program, designed by its Founder and CEO, Dr. Katinka van der Merwe, focuses on restoring immediate normal flow, tone, and function to the Vagus nerve. This is done by systematically repairing and reactivating this nerve and thus, the central nervous system.
This treatment has been proven 100% safe, effective, and with no side effects. In fact, more than 84% of patients at The Spero Clinic have walked out of their doors, in remission and ready to take on their lives.
Unlike most treatments today, Spero’s treatment does not aim to disrupt or numb the pain signals but aims to uncover abnormalities in the central nervous system and restore balance to the nervous system. In other words, this is healing from the inside out.
While her journey was long and not always easy, Heather now can face a life where she can fully function without pain, together with the hundreds of other Spero patients who have regained their future.
In the words of Dr. Katinka, “I’ve created the clinic that I’ve always dreamt about and we have been changing lives, one at a time. To us, every patient counts, every person matters.”
If you or your loved one suffers from symptoms of CRPS, visit The Spero Clinic’s website or call (479) 304-8202.
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