I found Dr. Schechter in a search for the best Dr. in L.A. who was knowledgable in and willing to diagnose TMS (Tension myositis syndrome), a benign, yet acute, pain syndrome with origins in repressed psychological anxiety. (Not all are knowledgable in this diagnosis.) The first Dr. to characterize "TMS" and name it, was Dr. Sarno in NY, and my research led me to the conclusion that Dr. Schechter was the closest I'd come in L.A. to seeing New York's famous, Dr. "To the Stars" Sarno.
At the time, I was experiencing severe pain in my upper-back and neck, as well as tricep weakness, and was hoping for a TMS diagnosis, as opposed to something more physically serious. Despite his expertise in TMS, Dr. Schechter immediately ruled TMS out as a diagnosis, due to the objective weakness in my tricep. While this was not what I was hoping to hear, it's demonstrative of the fact that Dr. Schechter isn't so prejudiced by his own expertise in the area of TMS, as to show bias against ruling it out. I've come to learn and appreciate, that even the best Dr's aren't immune to confirmation bias, so this was the first thing that clued me into Dr. Schechter's exceptionalness.
However what made Dr. Schechter, quite literally, exceptional, is the fact that although I had previously seen a half-dozen orthopedists and surgeons, and ALL of them were looking at the same MRI films and reports, Dr. Schechter was the first and only Dr. to notice that the scans had revealed a nodule on my thyroid. While I don't consider most of the other Dr's I saw to be slouches by any means, it seems that even the best have a tendency to be myopic towards their own area of expertise. Once again, Dr. Schechter showed himself to be an exception to this understandable, yet unfortunate, rule.
The nodule Dr. Schechter identified did turn out to show a small amount of malignancy, so he essentially found (and I ultimately had removed) a Cancer in it's very early stages. Although, the nodule was sizable, it was located in such a place as to be invisible to the sight and touch, so I have no doubt that if it weren't for the Good Dr. Schechter, I would still have this asymptomatic Cancer festering in my neck... for who knows how long.
Today, I went back to Dr. Schechter for a sciatica, which to my relief and suspicion, is TMS, and I have no doubt that I'm in the best hands on the West Coast in terms of a TMS diagnosis. (If you are dealing with pain syndromes like sciatica, back-pain, etc. and contemplating surgery, I urge you to first get Dr. Sarno's "Healing Back Pain" from Amazon, and then make an appointment to see Dr. Schechter.)
All of this said, it goes without saying, that I can't recommend Dr. Schechter highly enough. I feel very fortunate to have such an exceptional Dr. in my proverbial Rolodex. read more