Dear Readers,
Today I have decided to start blogging about something that all my friends and family are aware of, but no one besides a select few know the extent of. It's not something I talk to a lot of people about often because honestly, I don't really like to talk about it that much. Any time someone wants to talk about it, I have to go through the whole story from the beginning to the end and I'm not the type of person who wants the attention on their self for that long. And most people regret asking once they start hearing about everything. I don't why, maybe it's cause they didn't really want to know in the first place, maybe it's pity, maybe they think I'm just being dramatic. Whichever way, I've learned to keep it short and sweet when someone how I've been doing with it, never telling how bad it really is. My story is a bit lengthy, so brace yourselves.
Here goes...
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I have severe chronic debilitating headaches and neck pain. You may be thinking "Okay you've had a few headaches. What's the big deal that you have to blog about it?" Well, because my headaches aren't normal headaches. My headaches and neck pain are constant, 24/7, day and night. My neck pain keep me awake at night. My headaches prevent me from getting out of bed any more than a few hours a day. My neck pain and headaches keep me from sitting at the kitchen table to have dinner with my family. But lets press pause right here and rewind to a few years ago to when it all began.
7 years ago:
When I was 12 years old I was like any other kid. Happy, carefree, joyful. I liked to roller skate, I liked to swim, I played softball, I played with friends, I was a cheerleader, I liked babies and playing house, I was homeschooled so I didn't have to go to school but we always hung out with our co-op friends. Then one day I got a headache. Little did I know that that one itty-bitty little headache would determine what my life would be like for the next 7.
1 year later:
We met some new friends in 2009 and our families began fellowshipping quite a bit. We were always over at each other's houses and us kids were pretty much inseparable. My headaches grew little bit in severity and increased in occurrence through this year. I began to have them a couple days a week, though they still weren't that bad at this point. We thought maybe it was my eyes, so I went to the eye doctor. Turns out I did need the glasses but in our experience, if you go to an eye doctor, they will always say you need glasses. So by the end of the year I was a four-eyed cutie.
(I will probably speak often about these new friends of ours since they have been a big part of our life for a while, so I will refer to them as "The Modern Brady Bunch")
2010:
My headaches grew in strength as I grew older and I was now having them everyday. At this point they weren't yet
all day everyday. I would have a headache for a couple hours then it would go away. Our friends, The Modern Brady Bunch, suggested I go to their chiropractor. My friend's mom had headaches often too and her chiropractor really helped her. So, this began my journey through chiropractic care. I remember my first chiropractor so well because it was a woman and she was just so short and petite. I remember thinking in my young age about one of her and one of her patients "How can this skinny woman adjust a big ol' man like that??" Hehe Kids, right?
We had to drive over an hour 2x/week for "active visit". It was hard and it was expensive, but my parents haven't thought twice about the time and money they had to spend if it could help get their little girl out of pain. Dr. G helped me a little bit. After 5 months of treatment I was down to having a headache only 5 days a week instead of 7. But, alas, it only lasted for a short 2-3 weeks.
Earlier that year, probably around March or April, I began having other symptoms. At the time we didn't know the problems I was having were in some way connected, but we were to learn that a few years down the road. Anyway, just out of the blue one day I began having severe pain in my right side. I was just putting away dishes and talking with my grandmother and a friend one minute when the next minute
BAM!, my side was killing me. I doubled over in pain and they helped me onto the couch. I couldn't breath, I couldn't move, I was really scared. Now, I had played softball from tee-ball up to prep-league so I knew what it was like to have a muscle cramp or a stitch in my side, but this was different. The pain was deep and it hurt to just touch my skin. After about an hour it eased up and my family was able to play around and cheer me up. We went to a medical doctor about the next week and he couldn't find a single problem. So he sent me for a chest, back and side x-ray, an ultrasound, and blood work at the local hospital. And from all those tests, he couldn't find a single abnormal issue. Despite that, I had that same exact side pain often throughout that year (and even still to this day have it, occasionally).
3 years later:
This year I started going to a different chiropractor in my town. Dr. D was a
VERY, VERY old and old-fashioned chiropractor. I only went to him once a week for a couple adjustments before moving on to another chiropractor. Just so you get the true feel of how old he was, Dr. D passed away a year after I stopped going to him due to heart problems of old age.
After Dr. D I went to another chiropractor just down the road from him. Dr. T. Now Dr T. was a great guy and I loved going to see him once a week. He didn't have an x-ray machine, he went by the feel of things. He helped relieve some of pain every once in a while. Even though I wasn't getting any big results from him, we continued going to Dr. T because we didn't have any other options at the time and we couldn't just do nothing. I mean a little relief is better than nothing, right?
2012:
I continued going to Dr T through the first few months of 2012 just because we didn't know of any other chiropractor at this time but again, we stopped going to him because he eventually wasn't able to make a single big of difference. Another great chiropractor that just couldn't figure out why I was having these headaches and hurting the way I was.
In the last few months of 2012 we took a bit of a break in treatment, just to see how I was doing on my own. By this time I still wasn't having the headaches all day everyday, it was still just a headache for a few hours a day, every day. This year I also had another symptom pop up it's ugly little head. Once again, it was just out of the blue. I was playing cards with some friends visiting from Texas when, all of a sudden, I had this really deep, sharp pain in my neck. It was at the base of my skull and just went down my neck and across my shoulders. This time it only lasted for about 20 minutes before it went away, but it instantly gave me the worst headache. It began happening more and more often throughout the year and eventually became a regular occurrence.
2013:
This was a big year for us. We moved to another town, started a big garden, helped some friends with their farm and cows and gardens as well. I started doing a lot more outside this year with the more responsibilities we had at our new place. Being outside more, in the heat more through summer, doing a lot of bending and lifting in the garden. My headaches at this point became an all day everyday thing. The neck pain was now accompanied right along with my headaches. It was either at the base of my skull going down my neck or it was at two points on the back of my head. They both hurt and I was starting to get annoyed. If I didn't have a headache, I could just turn my head a certain way which would cause neck pain, which would bring on a headache. There was hardly a time when I didn't have a headache or neck pain.
A neighbor of ours referred me to their chiropractor, so I began going to Dr. L. Once again going through my whole story, pain, symptoms, problems. By now I was sick of hearing myself talk about my pain. He had what I though of as strange ways, but it was just a different adjustment technique than what I was use to. He didn't actually "adjust", "pop" or "crack" anything, as some people say. His method was a less known, but very effective way of adjusting. Some type of pressure point or working with the body's natural flow or something. Whatever he did, it worked! I thought "YES! Finally! Relief. I was down to just a few headaches here and there a week. Everyone was happy and went back to my normal everyday activities. I had maybe 2 months max of
minimal headaches and neck pain. To me, 2 months of mostly pain free days was like 2 years. It was heaven. Now, the pain didn't go away completely, but I had enough good days that when I did have a headache I could deal with it. I suppose I had to come off my high at some point. After those couple months, the pain because to increase a little more each day for about a month and I was back to the beginning. And this time, Dr. L couldn't help me anymore. He tried, but I suppose my body was immune to his treatment at this point and we stopped going to Dr. L.
We moved back home and I started going to another chiropractor in Alabama, which was only about 45 minutes from our house. Dr B was another great chiropractor. He was very funny and always made a bad day turn around. I loved going to his office. His secretary always has a phrase when you came out from getting an adjustment: "Feel Better???". She was an older lady with a high southern accent, and whether you felt better after the adjustment or not, you couldn't help but smile and chuckle at her signature question.
I have always been a stomach-sleeper. Dr. B told me that I had to stop sleeping on my stomach because it was causing a lot of problems in my neck after an adjustment. When you sleep on your stomach for 8 hours a night your neck is turned in an awkward position for 8 hours a night. It isn't healthy for anyone, especially someone who already has neck issues. It was very hard training myself to sleep on my side or back, but eventually I won the battle with my subconscious mind. I still don't sleep on my stomach today....well...okay, occasionally I will lay on my stomach. I can lay on my stomach and be asleep within moments if I let myself, it's just something about it that I love.
Anyway, Dr. B did all he could the next couple months but again, like all the others so far, there weren't any results coming out of visits 2x/wk. So again, by the end of that year we chalked it up to another failed attempt.
2014:
It wasn't until 6 years later that we finally found a chiropractor who could make a difference for me. Dr K. We met Dr. K when my doctor uncle introduced him to us at a community dental day. He just sort of felt around my neck and back, listened to a shortened version of my back history and gave me a certificate to get the full workup at his office. So the next month, January, off to Dr K's we go. They done a totally new complete workup, took their own x-rays, poked and prodded, listened to the whole story of all 5 other chiropractors so far and got to work. We did active visits, 2-3x/week for a couple months and gradually worked to once a week, then every 2 or 3 weeks. Within 4 months I was mostly headache free, and within 7 months I was completely free of any pain 90% of the time. I had max
maybe 1 or 2 headaches a month. I was so happy. I was normal again, and I started doing a lot more. I got a job sitting with an elderly Alzheimer's lady for 10-12 hours a day, I started riding horses, I was always exercising, I was enjoying life....for 4 short months.
2015:
When I relapsed, I relapsed
HARD. It was around late December 2014 early January 2015. I went back to having neck pain, thrown back, hip problems, shoulder pain & constant headaches that were all worse than I'd ever had before, all within about two weeks. It wasn't a gradual process. I just bent over one day and when I came back up, I had a horrible headache. That night it slowly got worse and for the next couple of weeks it all started coming back. I had put too much on my body too soon after healing and it was a
big mistake. So, I started going back to Dr. K actively. Once a week, sometimes twice. I was getting my adjustments and the stem treatment but could no longer do physical therapy and massage therapy was extremely painful.
For the next few months new symptoms began popping up. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I learned that I had 3 degenerative disks. 1 disk was almost completely gone, another was close behind it and the last was in the beginning stages of degeneration. I was devastated. I only had a few shorts months of freedom and now I was worse that ever before. So Dr. K sent me to a specialist in February that was an hour and a half away, once a week. His name is Dr S. One and half short months and I knew he wasn't even touching any of the problems. Dr. K was giving me more relief than he was. So back to Dr. K I go.
As the months went by my headaches became worse and worse. All these years I've always had bad headaches but occasionally I would have unbearable headaches
(I call the head-killers). I wouldn't be able to stand light, sound, touch. I would just lay in my bed and cry and writhe in pain until the medicine took the edge off and it was bearable again. This year, I began having the head-killers more and more often. Well Dr. K went on vacation on week and I had a head-killer. Now, Dr. K had just recently brought in another chiropractor into his practice that was a friend of his, Dr. M. I had never seen Dr. M just because Dr. K knew what needed to be done and could do it fast, no explaining anything. Well, that week Dr. M was the only chiropractor in the office, so I went in crying and pacing. It seemed like it took forever for my turn to come up. When it finally did I went back and sat down in the adjustment chair. He dimmed the lights for me and asked what was wrong. I could hardly speak it hurt so bad, so I just pointed and said "It's killing me right here. Can you please help me???" He went right behind, wrapped his arm around my head and gave me the most painful adjustment I had ever had in my life. We just sat there in silence for about 5 minutes. When I finally got myself together and looked up, the pain I had been having was just gone. I couldn't believe it. Adjustments had never worked that fast for me before. So my next 3 appointments I went to Dr. M, but he was only adjusting the one spot that was giving me the head-killers and nothing more. So I resumed care with Dr. K.
By this time my neck/head pain was so bad I did nothing besides eat, sleep and watch TV. I was gaining weight at a rapid pace, due to my inability to move normally. I was constantly in a bad mood because I felt hopeless and really, what reason do I have for being happy? I never left the house unless absolutely necessary. I took care of my new puppy because I didn't have a choice and she is just an innocent puppy, she didn't understand that when she pounced on me it was painful, she just wanted to play. So I just ground my teeth through it. On the rare times I did go to town I would always think to myself: "How can all these people go about their business and normal lives and I have to be the one laid up in constant pain?" But honestly, I knew deep down that I would never wish this on anyone, even my worst enemy. Besides, I have been dealing with the pain long enough that I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and can deal with most of it. So the world kept turning and the months went on.
By the beginning of June I started having unusual symptoms. Often my I would stutter in my speech (which had never happened before), my memory got bad, and I couldn't form certain words and sentences in my brain. I ignored the problems, not wanting to admit that yet another thing was happening. Last week I finally told my mom what has been happening and she advised I tell my chiropractor. Which I did on my next visit......today.
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I'm not blogging about my journey through this tough time because I think it's going to accomplish something or because I want attention or pity from everyone. I've just always wondered if there is someone else out there in the world that's having the same issue(s) I'm having. So I though of this as my chance to find out. And maybe along the way I can encourage those of you out there who are going through a tough or painful time in your life, to let you know that you're not alone. We are in this together, whether we want to be or not. Comment below and share your thoughts. Don't be afraid, I am not going to judge you here and I hope you all will do the same for me. I know I'm not the worst case out there, we all have our struggles but together, encouraging, and supporting each other we can get through this.....
Besides, I'm just about sick of my bed and movies ;-)
If you want to know how my chiropractor appointment went today, read my next post to find out. I am going to try and keep up with what's going on every week so check back often if you get curious. Until next time...
Healing, Love, & Good Health to Everyone,
