Larrian Gillespie and her surgery, anyone had success with this?

[bjt]

Hi all,
Recently someone told me about a book by a Dr. Larrian Gillespie, which I'm reading now. But also see that she has since lost her license and was sued. I'm always looking for new things to understand this disease better, and am curious if anyone had luck with her surgery that she promoted--or more information about it. Also, how do people feel about her book and her ideas after this whole surgery business?
thanks,
Barbara
:hmm:

[Dixiefireball]

I haven't read the book so i don't know sorry i'm not a help.

[ICNDonna]

I have a copy of her first book --- it has some good information about diet, which I found to be very good. I give her credit for her help in validating the problems that we can have with IC.

That said, I would never consider back surgery for IC unless I had seen a neurologist and probably a second neurologist for a second opinion --- I would then insist that the surgery be performed by a neurosurgeon.

Donna

[Betsie]

That was the first book I read in suspecting something other than a UTI....as Donna said, she did have some very good advice and a lot of her knowedge helped me push forward. I know she has had problems but I know little else beyond the book about her.

I dont even remember the surgery part-I may have skipped over that, as I was clueless...

[diane57]

Doing the back surgery was what got her in trouble and caused her to lose her license - a patient was left in severe back pain and sued her. Since back surgery is no longer a treatment for IC, it's hard to say if she was completely off on the wrong track, or if people just stopped pursuing it after she got in such trouble for it. I know in the book there are many quotes from her patients saying that the back surgery did help them, so it's one of those he said/she said things, I guess. The theory behind the back surgery was that problems with T-whatever in the back, the joint that controls bladder function, can cause bladder symptoms, and that fixing that problem can help the symptoms. I think some people have had their IC helped by chiropractic, so maybe a similar theory.

She was a very important IC researcher 20 years ago, she really helped crack the case wide open back in the "dark ages" of IC. For years she had a pelvic pain clinic for women, where many women who had been told it was "all in their head" were actually taken seriously and treated. She helped invent the DMSO cocktail that is still used. I have the book and would cautiously recommend it. As Donna said, the diet section is helpful, and the book is good at explaining about the mechanics of the gag layer, the chemical chain reaction that irritates the bladder, etc. (although it's quite technical), and seems to be written compassionately. The book deals with all kinds of bladder problems, infections, IC, incontinence, cancer, bedwetting in children, so it's sort of a good reference tool.