If you know someone who has fibromyalgia, please email this page to them. Ask them to spread the word so that more people aren't scammed by this so called fibromyalgia expert.
A few months ago I was considering going to Dr. Whitcomb's Fibromyalgia Treatment centre in South Lake Tahoe. I had been in touch with his office after finding his web site. He and his assistant told me that they have an incredibly high success rate with people who have been suffering from fibromyalgia and that 95% of his patients get well.
I was so excited about the prospect that I would get well under his care (I've been ill and unable to work for 9 years) that I was considering going further in debt to see him for treatment. But first I decided to do a google search under the tag "dr. whitcomb fibromyalgia" to find out more information about him from people other than himself. I came upon the amazon web site where his book is sold and discovered a very different story entirely. All of the comments that were posted there at that time were from his former patients who said that neither they, nor any other patient that they kept in contact with, had improved as a result of his treatments and many were in fact worse. These people had all received false promises about Dr. Whitcomb's ability to help them and they invested $10,000 to $15,000 or more on his treatment program.
I emailed Dr. Whitcomb's office telling him of my findings and where I found them and I told him I was no longer considering coming his clinic for treatment as a result of these comments. Then I realized my mistake in telling him. I thought that he would find a way to have those damning comments removed from the amazon web site, so I immediately copied them and saved them on my hard drive. Not a moment too soon, as within hours Dr. Whitcomb and his staff had flagged/reported them all as "inappropriate" and they were removed from the amazon web site through an automated voting system. (Dr. Whitcomb's son later confirmed they had done this in a posting on the amazon site that has since been removed - he claimed that they were "hateful" and "libelous" and therefore they were justified in voting to have them removed. They didn't know that anyone had saved the evidence to prove otherwise.)
If you contact Dr. Whitcomb he may tell you that they were all written by a former disgruntled employee or crazy people who are liars (this is what one of the people who is in cahoots with Whitcomb (her amazon screen name is FibroRecovered), her husband Scott and Whitcomb's son Eric initially claimed). I know for a fact that is not true as my continued search has lead me to more negative information about him from his former patients.
Most people who have Fibromyalgia are DESPERATE to get well. Dr. Whitcomb knows this and plays on people's desperation by giving false stats about his rates of recovery. I have attached a copy of all of these postings for all to read. I feel it is a story that should come to the public's attention, as there are so many charlatans like him out there preying and profiting on the sufferings of others.
Here is what I copied from the amazon web site. Go to that site for yourself and you will see that people continue to write that they are frustrated that their postings are removed. Since bringing my findings to Dr. Whitcomb's attention he has rallied his troops (family and paid patient advocates) to write positive testimonials/reviews so that the negative ones will be pushed futher and further down, and are now more difficult to find unless you read all 15 of the reviews. He also pays the people who wrote the testimonials to recruit new patients and they verbally attack anyone who states that they did not get well under his care (in an attempt to undermine their credibility).
As the saying goes, "People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing." Dr. Whitcomb obviously has something to hide or else he wouldn't have had these comments flagged as "inappropriate" and removed in the first place. Here they are, copied verbatim from the amazon site before they were censored by Dr. Whitcomb's posse:
Customer Reviews
DON'tT BUY!! False Promises- Ex-Patient I know the truth!!!!, March 23, 2007 Reviewer: Hopes & Dreams "ilakesh" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews I wouldn't spend a penny on this book. I was a patient and he promised a lot of things that he never followed through on. He comes across very sincere and empathetic to what you are going through but that's as far as it goes. He's manipulated testimonies and has kept things posted when as patients we have asked for them to be removed and he refuses. I spent several months with him going through his treatments in Tahoe and have had NO success what so ever. I've lost thousands of dollars and precious time with my family for the hope and dream of being relieved of all this pain, to come home and be the same. Take great caution in what you read and what you hear from him. He promises something he can not give.
another patient, March 23, 2007 Reviewer: Rabbit - See all my reviews Just stating what others have; please do not be confused about this book's contents and facts or promises. I was also a patient and am still paying the price of enduring his treatments not to mention the heartache of the entire ordeal. And to those with fibromyalgia and other chronic pain issues; my sincere warmth and real compassion goes out to you. Anyone can write books now and that is why without getting in trouble ourselves we must try to at least help others by speaking truth. Don't give up looking; just be very cautious of what we read is my theory. And I, too wish Amazon would give a 0 rating star......as this would have been mine too.
not solving the mystery, March 14, 2007 Reviewer: mimi - See all my reviews I went to the clinic and wasn't helped by the treatment and it was very expensive. Other patients who were there at the same time and that I later contacted have steadily been getting worse so I don't think that Dr. Whitcomb knows what fibromyalgia is or how to treat it. If there were an option for not giving a star, that is what I would choose for this book. FIBROMYALGIA SUFFERS BEAWARE, March 3, 2007 Reviewer: Shane - See all my reviews I have endured a life of Fibromyalgia and have researched and experienced numerous types and methods of treatment. I am a former patient of Dr. Whitcomb and his suggested method of treatment. Therefore, I can attest that I was not cured of my symptoms nor was my condition at all improved from his treatment. I have kept in contact with several other patients of Dr. Whitcomb's and they also state that they either didn't benefit from his treatment or didn't have lasting results or relief from their symptoms. Please be cautious of books that promise miracle cures.
Dubious, February 27, 2007 Reviewer: PRCalDude (Los Angeles, People's Republic of Kalifornia) - See all my reviews Finally, an appropriate forum to discuss Dr. Whitcomb and his methods made available by Dr. Whitcomb himself. Having experienced Dr. Whitcomb's treatment myself, I can tell you high neck manipulations can cause a stroke. Luckily, that didn't happen to me. I spent several thousand dollars at his 'clinic' and received no relief whatsoever. Actually, I got worse. I saw several people get worse, but they can vouch for themselves, and will as soon as I contact them. Why the chiropractic board hasn't revoked his liscence I'll never know. I have no idea what he's doing now, but I wouldn't try it under any circumstances. Upper cervical injuries can cause fibromyalgia, but there's actual upper cervical chiropractors that can correct it safely and quickly. Dr. Whitcomb isn't one of them. Check out [...] for more information. What do you notice in common with the name of the author and the name of one of the reviewers above?
What a crock, March 27, 2007 Reviewer: Chloe - See all my reviews Ok-what good are these reviews if Dr. Whitcomb can remove the ones he doesn't like? I was in Tahoe for 2 1/2 months receiving Dr. Whitcomb's "treatment". In that time I never saw him turn anyone away. In fact, he kept telling people they needed to stay longer and longer. I didn't get better and neither did anyone I met while is was there. Sure he can write the fibro symptoms and you can relate to what he says but that does not mean he knows how to cure fibro. Fibro patients are all in such pain we want to believe there is a cure-I spent thousands of dollars believing in Dr. Whitcomb and now am about to lose my house which would be ok with me if I were cured but I am not. In fact, I'm more depressed than ever because he got my hopes up and my families hopes up to be cured and the realaity is that I'm not cured. I'm just a sucker who got took. How Dr. Whitcomb can take peoples hard earned money and not help them over and over again is beyond me. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. I pray that all of us fibro patients find a cure someday but in my opionin Dr. Whitcomb has not solved the mystery and is not solving the mystery (which ever way you want to say it.)
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
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