Upper Cervical Care & Abdominal Migraines

Hey Tom, 

I thought I would shoot you a quick e-mail about two very interesting cases. 

First one is a 29 year old woman who has been suffering with abdominal migraines since she hit puberty.  I have never heard of this problem before, but the way that she describes it is quite devastating.  Since 13 she vomits uncontrollably and has intense abdominal pain throughout her menstrual cycle.  Literally vomiting 10-15 times an hour.  This has been going on every month for 16 years.  Every medical option has been tried.  They removed her gall bladder and part of her small intestine (why not?).  Since no solution has been found, medical management has consisted of admitting her to the hospital every month and keeping her on IVs and meds for the duration of her period.  Her health insurance company has literally spent near  $2,000,000 on her care.  Her back story is that she had a birth trauma to the upper neck when the nurse tried to hold the babies head IN while waiting for the doctor to show up.

Ok, now for the good part.  Another chiropractor referred her to me for specific upper cervical care.  Miraculously, Innate took over after a C1 ASR/ASL, followed a few weeks later by a C2 ARS adjustment.  She has now had 3 MONTHS of no vomiting and no abdominal pain for the first time in 16 years!  What a blessing to be a Blair doctor and have the tools to change people’s lives by turning their power back on!  Think about the savings on our health care system if she had seen an upper cervical doctor after birth! 

Second story:  A C3 major??? We had a dinner with doc one month after which we signed up 33 new patients.  A husband of one of my patients came in from this dinner with a writing problem.  He is a retired autoworker, and was once know for his excellent printing skills.  Anyone in the company needed something written clearly, he was the guy.  Over the last 7 years that ability has faded.  He told me that his hand “just feels wrong” and his writing is cramped and squished.  For several years his wife has been doing all the writing for the family. 

On exam, his prill tests were non-reactive.  Both is protractos looked even, which had me jumping at shadows to come up with a listing.  Eventually I decided to stop trying to imagine a C1 listing and adjust the really obvious C3 ALS that I saw.  The next day he came in to office ecstatic and waving a form that he had filled out a few hours after his adjustment.  He said that his handwriting was 90% back to normal within a few hours of the adjustment!  How cool is that? 

 

 Oh, where to begin…….  Thirteen years ago I was hit head-on by a driver who chose to cross over into my lane on a two-lane highway .  The impact was at 70 mph.  It was a miracle I survived.  The injuries I sustained were from my seat belt and from the sudden jolt of the impact. The majority of my muscles in my back, neck, and chest were torn and several of my ribs were fractured.  I underwent physical therapy for a year and a half.  Then I was released because there was nothing else that could be “medically” done for me.  I was told by two doctors, upon my release from their care, that they were sorry because I was so young and they went on to give me a list of “things” I could not and would not, ever, be able to do for the remainder of my life and that within 10 years I would have to have back surgery that would fuse several of my bones together. I asked, “What about having children? ”  They proceeded to tell me not to, even, try it and that I should just be thankful I survived.   At 23 years of age, I was unwilling to except such a bleak future.