April 9, 2012: I came to see Leslie Lyon at The STOP Clinic to stop smoking and never picked up another cigarette, after my 40 year habit !
April 5, 2013: I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.
May 7, 2013: I had lymph node surgery.
May 7, 2013: MD prescribed a Chemotherapy medication, required for the next 5 years, as a follow-up treatment!
June 17, 2013: Constant pain (of level 9) in my hands and feet.
June 17, 2013: Pain in my sides that woke me up at night, when I turned over.
November 5, 2015: Started weight-loss detox program at The STOP Clinic.
November 12, 2015: Pain free.
According to my medical doctor, “One of the side effects of the chemotherapy drugs is a condition called “chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy.” This pain will last as long as you are on the drug and there is nothing to prevent it. You can take Lyrica or Gabapentin to help with the pain.
November 1, 2015, after 2 years of being on the pain medications, I decided I might feel better if I lost some weight. The STOP Clinic’s smoking cessation program worked so well, I decided to go there for help with weight-loss. When I called Leslie for an appointment and told her about my chronic pain, she informed me, “Many people come to our program to get help with pain. Our detoxification treatment tries to bring the body back to a position of homeostasis… a place where the body was before pain. I cannot promise you that the pain will go away… but we can certainly try. Once we get rid of the inflammation, your pain should go away.”
By the time I reached out to Leslie for help, not only was I in pain, but my energy was very low from sleepless nights. I knew if I could work on my health, lose some weight and begin sleeping at night, I would have more energy. I signed up for their weight-loss program.
On my second visit with Leslie, I told her, “I don’t know what you did with your treatment the last time I was here, but whatever you did, please do it again!”
Prior to my first treatment, my hands would throb, making it difficult for me to go to sleep. The pressure points on my body hurt so badly, when I turned over, the pain would wake me up ! The night of my first treatment, I slept soundly through the night with no pain. When I woke up the next day, I could jump for JOY ! The pain had subsided greatly from the former level of 9.
I have been working with Leslie for 4 weeks now and am completely pain free! She helped me by teaching me the foods that are healing and the foods that often cause inflammation in the body. She suggested a new schedule of eating and now, I am pain free AND losing weight! I have more energy and I am sleeping soundly! My hot flashes have also disappeared.
I know several people who are in pain and are on total disability from the disorder “chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy”!
In 2013, I was told that the “chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy” would be with me for the next 5 years and I just needed to deal with the pain for this period. I had resigned myself to be in pain, take the pain medications and just grin and bare it. I came back to Leslie to lose weight and was so excited to learn that I could be pain free, too.
When she first informed me that “the pain might go away”, I remember telling her, “That would be nice and we will see.” I was not expecting to be pain free after a week… or truthfully, at all.
I am still “working her program” and am continuing to lose weight. Last week, Leslie suggested I become more aggressive with my detox and I lost 4 pounds! I am now very excited.
Thank you for giving me my life back.
Kaye Duncan
Roxboro, North Carolina