Found the answer to one of my questions:
Dr. Rosa charges ~$4,000 for MRIs and $150 for each adjustment.*
I paid a charge of $450 for X-rays and pay $50 for each adjustment.
*Source: TiMS' grapevine; if these charges are incorrect, please let me know, thx.
I still wonder about my other questions: How much more accurate is Dr. Rosa's guided-imaging method compared to the traditional AO chiro method and does any increase in accuracy translate into better patient outcomes? Sadly, as Tamarack so eloquently explained, many years may go by before we have the answers, but it's heartening to know there are researchers like Dr. Rosa interested in pursuing the science. I was proud to be a participant in his study last year (I was one of only two MS patients in the trial).
This new trial seems to have two arms: 1) Examining MS and Parkinson's patients' CSF flow pre- and post-adjustment, and 2) Introducing an unproven, patent-pending method of obtaining AO vectors.
Tamarack, I'm glad you're posting, and thank you for sharing your story with us. For almost two years now, I've been seeing my AO chiro and have been benefiting from improvements in leg numbness and rib cage spasticity. I've been a longtime poster on Dr. Flanagan's thread (starting on pg 3) and have experienced all the highs and lows that went along with trying to spread the word about this new ray of hope which, believe me, was not always easy in this CCSVI forum back when petty arguments and turf wars filled each day with some factions of CCSVI supporters almost militant in their overzealousness about all things CCSVI and always seemingly in attack mode against those of us who dared advocate for AO chiro for patients in whom CCSVI had failed or had given disappointing results, so with owning a tumultuous two-year history in this minefield, with many scars to prove it, I'm one of the strongest advocates of AO chiro you will ever find here at TiMS.
Furthermore, several of us defended Dr. Flanagan countless times at great emotional expense to ourselves when the original gangsta naysayers and even other doctors attacked him and his ideas, but slowly, ever so slowly, over the past two years, we've helped AO chiro make inroads into the minds of the most ardent CCSVI believers. So, some of us have been inside this AO chiro minefield for two very long years, and we survivors try to continue to be a part of it to help ensure patients have all the information they need to make informed decisions. As many of us have learned the hard way, research and experiments on chronically ill patients with serious neurodegenerative symptoms and diseases can often feel like one is in a minefield--thank you for helping to lessen the negative effects of this one.
Tamarack, a few questions for you, plz:
*You spoke about the lack of follow up care and concern from your CCSVI IRs. In this new trial, is Dr. Rosa contacting all patients for follow-up of symptoms? (After my participation in Dr. Rosa's trial last year, I was never contacted.) In addition to examining CSF flow in MS and Parkinson's patients, is symptom improvement an endpoint in Dr. Rosa's new trial?
*Did Dr. Rosa and those who recruited patients for this new trial disclose to all patients that Dr. Rosa has a financial interest in the outcome of this trial? (I do know that Dr. Damadian uses a standard 'forward-looking statement' disclosure in Fonar upright MRI documents.)
*Are all patients being informed before their participation in this new trial that no other AO chiros would be able to provide the same treatment Dr. Rosa provided in the trial for at least the foreseeable future? In other words, were patients informed that their involvement in the study was for a one-time-only adjustment that only Dr. Rosa could perform?
*Especially for patients who travel far to participate in Dr. Rosa's study, what are patients advised to do, and/or not to do, regarding pursuit of traditional AO chiro adjustments back home? Does Dr. Rosa advise patients not to pursue AO chiro because their local AO chiros can't use the same treatment that Dr. Rosa provided in the trial? Or is Dr. Rosa advising patients that using their local AO chiros will still be beneficial?
*Is Dr. Rosa offering his guided-imaging adjustments outside of this new trial? If yes, this practice is similar to IRs having performed venoplasty outside of trials, yes?
*A head-to-head trial design would be helpful to show if Dr. Rosa's guided-imaging treatment helps patients' symptoms more than traditional AO chiro. Is Dr. Rosa interested in participating in such a trial in the future?
*For patients who can't afford the cost of MRIs, is Dr. Rosa still performing traditional AO chiro using only AO X-rays, or is he referring those patients to traditional AO chiros?
*Has recruitment ended for Dr. Rosa's new trial, and can participants ever receive a copy of their scans?
We're all very thankful and grateful that Dr. Rosa is researching the effects of AO chiro on CSF flow. I hope he's rightly rewarded for his dedication to patients like us, and I share in everyone's hopes for a brighter future. Tamarack, thanks for starting "HOPE AND CONCERN: Dr. Rosa's Guided Image Upright MRIs." I look forward to more of your input and help.
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Masterfully maneuvering MS's multifactorial morphology and minefields of myriad mixed messages, misunderstandings, missteps, miscues, misstatements, mistakes, misinterpretations, and misdiagnoses, manifested from mankind's mysterious motivations and methods, make manufacturing and marketing millions more milligrams of mightily monstrous molecules and mainstream microscopic mouse-model medications murderous mayhem; make the marshaling, modifying, manipulating, monitoring, mutating, mixing, and maintaining of marauding, masquerading, mutinous microbes most macabre; make the measuring of many markers of merciless misery and morbidity of mere mortals moribund; and make meeting the milestones that maintain muscle movement merrily momentous.
[NotJohnson, m = ~70 - 3]