How Prolotherapy Saved my Future
By: Alp Goldsmith
About 20 years ago I was told by hand surgeons that my thumb joints were degenerating from progressive arthritis and that I would soon not be able to use them and there was little they could do about it. I saw the hand surgeon because I could not clap my hands without pain, I couldn’t pull weeds the normal way, i.e., with my thumbs and fingers, I could not pick up our stoneware plates out of the dishwasher…the pain was prohibitive. Using scissors on thick paper, or standard tools…too painful. Even writing for extended periods of time would be painful.
2008: Enter Dr. Peterson with PRP prolotherapy. After 5 or 6 treatments I could use my thumbs again to pull weeds and clap my hands, pick up dishes. Over the two years my thumbs kept slowly improving.
2010: I was severely injured in my left foot making it difficult to walk on it. Some of the bones would move out of joint and I would have to manipulate them back in place by massage. A foot surgeon wanted to fuse the bones, which she readily admited would result in significantly reducing my activity. No more backpacking, that was for sure.
2012: I started stem cell/PRP prolotherapy on my foot and also I had Dr. Peterson inject my thumbs to see if they would improve beyond the already significant success. After the first treatment my foot has not gone out of joint. The bones stay put. My thumbs continued to improve.
2014: I started nursing school at 71. There is no way I could be a nurse had I not had prolotherapy. For one thing, I would be limping everywhere I would go. No way could I have used my hands to give shots, hook up IVs, move patients, shake hands, draw blood, etc. My hands by 2014 would have been pretty much useless. Some of my nursing instructors who are older, in their 60s, have arthritis in their thumbs so bad that they could not manipulate the safety on syringes. For me, I do it with zero pain.
My foot continues to stabilize and my thumbs continue to improve. I estimate that my left thumb is 85% of perfect normal and my right is 95%. I am now 72 in my second year of nursing school and have had no problems or pain performing any nursing task. I can also pick up heavy large pieces of wood vertically using my thumb and fingers with either hand, something I have not been able to do for about 15-20 years.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dr. Peterson for giving me back a normal life and my future.
Alp Goldsmith
Lake Oswego
