Posted 5/11/2018 12:33 PM (GMT -5)
Hello,
I'm writing this to those of you who are in my shoes a few years ago--those that might be considering a more "inpatient, put-your-body-in-the-shop" kind of treatment. You may have seen advertisements and read hopeful things online about Sponaugle Wellness Institute. It took me months (ok, years) to feel comfortable writing this because I swore when I left there I would not give that clinic one more second of my time, however, as of late, I have felt called to post something--anything!--to make sure y'all don't make the same mistake I did. I believed the youtube videos, I believed some of the posts, and I shut out the posts that mentioned the "bad things" because I needed hope. Looking back, I really, really, really, should have given more consideration to the "bad" posts. There's no way I can encapsulate my entire miserable experience with the Sponaugle Wellness Institute, but allow me to offer some examples in order for you to get the idea that this is NOT your place to heal; please don't waste your time and money. You have the power to heal, and this doctor is not going to help that journey.
Dr. Sponaugle runs his clinic off of fear. He runs these "seminars" weekly that are basically him standing up for hours (I mean literally 6 or 7 hours) just rambling on and on about how he is the best doctor in the world, and everyone is against him. His messages include: if you are indoors you'll die from mold, if you go outdoors, you'll die from mosquitos and ticks. If you don't use his specific guy for mold checking, you will die. If you don't stay for all his seminars it must mean you don't want to get well. If you are having a crises, you are not special and others need treatment too. On several days, Dr. Sponaugle would come in to the clinic room (where all the patients are hooked up to IVs) and would say, "God you people stress me out. I'm not getting any sleep because of all of you!" When you have your individual appointment with him, he will use the first 2 hours to talk about how he has healed everyone, and how he has "proven" these unbelievable theories using his patients as guinea pigs. Then he blames all other practitioners for not keeping up with his work. The nurses are scared to work for him, they will tell you this. The techs cannot do or say anything that's not in keeping with the Sponaugle Doctrine or will be fired. The environment is so bad, that I even had to hide that I was reading a book about mindfulness and how to rewire your brain given to me by a staff member there. The staff member made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone he had given it to me for fear that if Sponaugle knew that he was pushing another agenda other than Sponaugle's crazy doctrine, he would be fired. I was there for 5 months, and I saw him explode on his staff at least 15 times. I also saw him yell at patients, and behind closed doors he would tell me how disgusted he was with some of the patients, and which ones he liked better. The scariest thing is the random, completely random way he treats ailments. Based off his mood that day, he would basically make blanket statements for ALL of his patients. He would one day be using a powerful mold treatment, then after telling several patients how dangerous this substance thats currently dripping into their bodies (remember, instilling fear is his power) he would come in the next day and say "no more of this drug." Somedays he would feel in the mood for vitamin C pushes, some days not. And these are not patient specific, just whatever he thinks, backed by nothing but a crazy, cortisol and stress driven decisions in the heat of the moment. If someone was not getting well, he would publicly (literally, in front of all the other patients) tell them it's because they were doing something wrong. I saw NO ONE, literally NO ONE in the 5 months I was there get better. I saw several people get worse.
Everyone holds on to hope so strong. Dr. Sponaugle's ego, his narcissism, his need for power via fear, and the patients desire to get well is a terrible combination. It creates a cult-like atmosphere where no one dare question the leader; all the while you--he patient--are sitting with such fear in your heart that there is no way your body can heal.
Since finding peace and healing from illness, I have looked back on my time there as a no-doubt traumatic episode. I now know, that your body is physically incapable of healing when there is fear. That's the biggest abuse of his power. His fear instilling tactics make it a losing battle from the beginning. You are going to pay hard earned money to get a rather large gash in your psyche--and you will end up needing to heal that on top of all the other things you are already trying to heal.
Oh and when you ask ANY health question, the standard and only answer given is "it's the toxins." Why can't I sleep, why don't I have an appetite, why am I eating more, why am I so tired all the time, why am I getting my period every week, why is my heart palpitating, why am I so anxious. EVERY SINGLE TIME: "It's the toxins." There, you don't need to go there to figure out what they are going to say.
I know there may be a post or two floating around, and I see those you tube videos where he is interviewing people to tell the camera all the wonderful things about the clinic. Watch those closely. These people are still operating from fear, as everyone learns really quickly to not piss of "Doc," as they call him. I have seen first hand the type of people they pick for these interviews. It is only the ones that are still disillusioned by his power.
This doctor is not well, and I believe is suffering from serious stress related disorders. His own brain is not working correctly so you cannot expect him to treat you with efficacious treatments. I am not technologically savvy, so I hope this gets posted in the appropriate place. But please, copy and paste, please get this message out there. I am a well-educated, stable, loving human being and I am not trying to add to the mess of crap you can find on the internet. I am posting this from a place of love for all of you. Please go somewhere else--the inpatient-type treatment can be helpful, but Sponaugle Wellness Institute is not a place where a body, mind, or spirit can heal. It will get more damaged in the process.
Thank you for your time!