Survey Response: Roger Gietzen, MD

Degrees/Licenses Held: Board Certified Neurologist/ M.D.

License number: MI State: 4301078507

Contact Information:

(231) 838-5700

Fax: 248-650-1856

Email: rgietz@hotmail.com

Location where you practice:

1460 Walton Blvd., Suite 200

Rochester Hills, MI 48309

North of Detroit, MI

Website:

To be constructed soon!

TMS Wiki username (if applicable):

???

Number of years in practice:

4 years as an attending Neurologist and Pain Specialist

Number of years in practice with patients who have TMS:

4 years, but only in the last 1 year have I treated them with a Mindbody approach

Number of patients you have seen who have had TMS:

Hundreds, but I've only been using Mindbody Medicine on a couple dozen

Do you work with other professionals when helping TMS patients? If so, please describe.

Not officially. If helpful I might recommend a psychologist or EFT practitioner. Mostly I teach people to be their own psychologist.

In a setting of severe sudden pain I might use “short term fixes” such as: medications, chiropractor, acupuncturist, physical therapist, massage therapist or other alternative and conventional treatments. However after six weeks virtually all primarily physical causes for pain have subsided and these “band-aid” fixes would be abandoned by me.

How did you first become interested in TMS?

After 4 years of performing X-ray guided steroid injections as well as many conventional and alternative treatments for pain, I became frustrated. I started to rethink the reason for pain and using “phantom limb pain” as a model, independently decided there was a nonphysical cause. Also after reviewing hundreds of MRI scans of people with pain and/or neurological problems I realized that spinal abnormalities were a normal finding.

After counseling a patient about these concepts she said... you sound just like Dr. Sarno and she recommended Dr. John Sarno's books.

Have you ever suffered from TMS?

I have had many intermittent forms of TMS such as: migraines, severe low back pain, bursitis of the hip and buttocks and “sciatic” type pain of the left arm (radiculopathy). None of these last more than six weeks

What insurance plans do you currently accept?

BCBS, Medicare, PPOM Atena, Priority Health, Tricare

Do you have a sliding scale of payment for people who are not covered by insurance?

Yes, I will work with all people, regardless of financial status.

What steps should TMS clients take before contacting you?

None in particular. My program provides lots of homework, I am prepared to start from scratch.

Have you published any materials related to TMS?

Not yet.

Which mind-body medicine books do you find yourself recommending most frequently to patients? In particular, do you feel comfortable referring people to Dr. Sarno's books?

My clinic is a Mindbody Medicine clinic oriented to treat all health concerns. TMS is an arbitrary name given to those pain disorders that conventional medicine cannot adequately treat. But in my mind the mindbody connection is the foundation for all physical manifestations of health and dis-ease. So I recommend many books that discuss the mindbody connection in general health. For people with primarily pain disorders I recommend any of Dr. Sarno's books (usually Mindbody Prescription). I might start recommending “Unlearn Your Pain”... a book about to be published by Dr. Howard Schubiner. “Healing Traumas” by Peter Levine is also good for many people. Many other books are recommended depending on the individual situation.

Special questions for Physicians:

Have you ever trained under Dr. John E. Sarno, or another TMS doctor? If so, please explain.

Yes I have trained with Dr. Howard Schubiner. I shadowed him in clinic and took his online Mindbody Program.

Other than training with a TMS doctor, what have you done to educate yourself about TMS, and what plans do you have for further education about TMS?

Starting in June of 2009 I decided to make Mindbody Medicine the focus of my career. I still on a monthly basis do some Neurology work as a travel doctor to pay the bills, but otherwise I'm gearing my clinic to be completely focused on Mindbody Medicine. I was initially inspired by Dr. Sarno who resonated with my concepts of pain disorders, but as I studied more I realized the concepts applied to all physical conditions.

My research as been exhaustive and will likely never end. Too many sources have been studied to list here, but a short list:

Authors Studied: John Sarno, Deepak Chopra, Henry Lindhar, Peter Levine, Ray Strand, Dawson Church, Gary Craig, Jose Silva, Andrew Weil, Robert Dilts

In Medical School I was interested in Alternative Medicine and did a rotation at the Program for Integrative Medicine in Arizona run by Dr. Andrew Weil. Dr. Weil is a proponent of TMS, but this rotation did not focus on that one aspect of alternative medicine.

How would you characterize your position on referring for spinal surgery?

I would not personally refer for pain, numbness, weakness or tingling ever. If someone wants to pursue a treatment of any kind that is up to them.

As we are going to post your answers on the TMS Wiki, feel free to write some text to introduce yourself:

I am passionate about Mindbody Medicine and apply it to health with broad brush strokes. I have been and will always be open minded to new tools for improving human health and awareness. Doctors like Dr. Sarno who have gone before me have offered our culture a priceless gift at a time when many were confrontational. However just as Dr. Sarno has recommended to future doctors... I plan to use my experiences to further develop the field, instead of being content just copying whats been done before.

My clinic uses seminars (or workshops) to introduce important concepts for TMS and broader descriptions of how the mindbody connection affects our health. This is followed by weekly small group sessions where concepts are individualized. One on one visits are also available. Eventually all these tools will be offered on my website.

People are given therapeutic writing assignments, daily mind reprogramming assignments, and reading lists. They are also taught tools to help unlock the unconscious mind's wisdom to help understand and reconcile with past emotional turmoil. People are given tools to cope with present day emotions consciously so as to avoid building the pool of unconscious rage. And lastly guidance for the future is given so as to learn to listen better to the inner voice, follow passions and hence avoid the production of unnecessary emotional turmoil in the future.

DISCLAIMER: The TMS Wiki is for informational and support purposes only and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. See Full Disclaimer.