Testimonial

I am diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease that manifested as infrequent attacks until July 2010 when they started up with a vengeance. The attacks started coming as often as once a week and the longest stretch between them was three weeks.

I had been to several ear specialists but was told that there is absolutely no cure for menieres and really nothing that can be done to help.  

One day during an attack one of the parents at the school where I work saw me.  She came and spoke to me a few days later and asked if I had ever tried cranio-sacral therapy. I had never heard of it before but was so desperate that I would try anything.

I made my first appointment with Sandra Smit in August 2011 and how my life has changed !  Right from my first appointment I could feel the difference.  Since starting treatment I have had only one attack and that was in September 2011 – it has been a year now since I had one.  It has been a slow process and at first I had weekly appointments, after a while extending them to fortnightly and now monthly sessions.

My tinnitus has subsided and seldom bothers me now and I no longer fear the next attack will come.  I know that meniere’s is not curable but at least it is now under control.  I look forward to my monthly sessions with Dr Smit.  They are so relaxing and I always feel better for them. It has been a long time since I felt as good as I am feeling at the moment.

I have been in touch with the ear specialists and my GP to tell them about this therapy in the hope that they will pass the information on to anybody else who suffers from menieres.  It was like a life saver for me – everybody out there (doctors and all the websites) tells you that nothing will help, but it isn’t true, I would strongly urge anybody with this condition to give it a try.

I hope that other people suffering with menieres will see it and give craniosacral therapy a try. It is one year today since my last attack – 17 September – Yay !

Pam Patterson
Cape Town

17.09.2012

p.s. A bit more about my condition before the treatments:

An attack would manifest as follows : starting with loud ringing in my right ear, within a minute or two my balance would go and I could not stand up or walk unaided, any movement caused vomiting.  My husband would have to come and collect me if I was at work and I would vomit all the way home in the car.  Once there I had to lie perfectly still on my bed (still vomiting into a bucket) until the attack had passed – usually about 6 hours. I wasn’t able to even turn over.  After that I was completely wiped out and would not feel safe to drive the next day, so that would mean another day off work.

It is a very debilitating thing to suffer from and my life revolved around when the next attack would come. I was scared to make a booking for anything because I just didn’t know.  One of the side effects is tinnitus and this had also become unbearable with constant loud ringing in my right ear. I always felt slightly off balance and unwell.  I felt unhappy and insecure almost all the time.