Anyone seen a Functional Neurology Chiropractor for PCS?
 

My Internist told me about a chiropractor name Dr. Carrick in Georgia, who developed functional neurology. He uses it to treat people with post-concussion syndrome and other issues. Other doctors come and study his techniques. I live in Maryland, but there are a few practitioners who are within driving distance (2 hours or less) who have trained at the Carrick Institute.

Has anyone been to a functional neurology practitioner for PCS?

I have. Carrick (from my home town) trained someone I saw last year. They don't do manipulations but do things which are similar to estibular and vision therapy. I stopped going because there was so much overlap between the different therapies.

Here is a link to an article about hockey player Sidney Crosby and his treatment with Carrick:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/11/03/r...crosbys-brain/

Have you had your vision assessed by a neuro opthamologist? That is a very important step ....needs to be done prior to any vestibular therapy.
Good luck!

How do i find a physician trained from Carrick? Are there any in the San Francisco Bay Area?

I've made an appointment to see a chiropracter for next week but after reading this thread thought it might be a better idea to see one specialized in PCS.

Thanks everyone.

link
 

this link is interesting

what do u think?

http://www.momsteam.com/chiropractic...ssion-syndrome

blue and others,

Dr Carrick has a very expensive protocol that he promotes to wealthy clients. Insurance will rarely pay for his treatments. He grossly over-represents the value of his protocol. As was mentioned, his protocol overlaps many other treatments.

Personally, I would not waste my own money on his protocol. I'd get the evaluations from the individual specialties, vestibular, vision, upper cervical, etc.

Dr Carrick is a chiropractor not an MD. he trains other chiropractures. I would google 'neuro-chiropractor' to find one in your local area. But as Mark and I suggest, there is a lot of overlap with vestibular and vision therapy. Some of the tests and exercises were identical, in fact.

so finding any "neuro chiropractor" who can treat PCS or migraines is ok?

I tried to google Carrick's office but just found a link to his school.

Well that's good news, I thought I would have to fly all the way to Florida.

Thanks again.

Just about any chiro will claim he can treat concussions and migraines. It sounds like you are looking for a quick fix. They are extremely rare with concussions. Have you done any upper neck icing ?

Hey everyone!

I will post my correspondence with a chiropractic neurologist. He was educated at the Carrick insitutute as well and part of a larger quite popular chiropractic group in SF. This is what he wrote to me. I had told him i'm not sure if i should wait and go to the UCSF spinal and brain injury program or see him? I think I will make an appointment with him first as a 30 min free consultation.

Thanks everyone


Hello Jennifer,

The best course of action for you is the one that is congruent with your personal beliefs and your goals for your health. I have had chronic headaches in the past due to a concussion while sparring and I did not want to wait to get treatment. I also did not want to use drugs as part of my treatment because I messed up my liver with NSAIDS and Tylenol when I was an athlete trying to make the Olympic team and drug treatment for headaches addresses symptoms without actually curing the cause. If a person has to stay on a medication indefinitely in order to prevent their symptoms from returning or takes a medication to help with pain when the headaches hit then it is not curing anything, would you agree? I don't know if UCSF can help you. I haven't heard your full story and I have not examined you. If you come in for a free consultation I'll be able to figure out if you are a candidate for what we do in our office and if I can't help you I'll be able to refer you to someone who can.

Yes Mark I have. I think maybe i'm at mid point of my emotional journey through this. I first started very depressed and not doing anything and just sitting and lying at home and eating and I ended up gaining 35 lbs in one month all from an avid marathon runner in a M.A program. I was feeling very suicidal. Now i think i've accepted the reality of my injury and just maybe in that stage of just wanting to treat it.
Yes, I think I do need to come to a higher level of acceptance and the marathon journey of my injury. Anyway I will get there.

Thank you

jennifer,

When you say M.A. program, are you meaning Masters grad work ? or is there another meaning to M.A. ?

Even though you are opposed to meds, I suggest you consider meds as a safer alternative to 35 pounds of weight gain. I am opposed to anxiolitics (benzos, Xanax, Valium, etc) but there are meds that can help you get past you current struggles with limited risks.

What doses of B vitamins and anti-oxidants are you taking daily ?

I bet you are a Type A personality. They usually struggle the most as their life gets shut down by PCS. The struggle to redirect that Type A energy can be difficult. Note that my signature verse is about transitioning from a Type A to a less stressed life. Achievement is great but at what cost ?

Hang in there, bluehiroko. Healing is SO slow for some people. But it happens....slowly.

Well Yes I do have a bit of Type A in me. Sorry I meant M.A as in Masters Grad Program. I admit I'm having problems coming to terms with what has happened to me especially since it was a non accidental situation. But I'll get there.

Yes I do think my depression and diet has helped the situation as well. I've honestly been eating a lot of sugar high fat and high white carb diet thus the 35 pound weight gain and have been pondering a cleanse or going on a gluten free diet. Ive read a lot about concussion diets and foods good for the brain. What do you think about them? Will it really make a difference in the healing process? Thanks Mark ! Thanks everyone for the support.

BTW Mark. I like your signature and believe in it! Thanks

A brain friendly diet has some does and some don'ts. Read the Vitamins thread. It was prescribed to me by an ortho-molecular psychiatrist 30 years ago to help me with a drug free recovery from severe depression. In 8 weeks, I was a new man.

If you have a sweet tooth, limit it to sugar sweetened dark chocolate if possible. Dark chocolate has some brain friendly components.

The fats in pork are the best for the brain. It has the best BCAA's Broken Chain Amino Acids.
The unprocessed fat from coconut is also good. It has MCTs, Medium Chain Triglycerides.

Stay away from processed fats and processed or modified sugars.

I went to a vision therapy optometrist 6 weeks ago and had a serious setback from the testing alone (45 minutes of testing). I still haven't recovered to the point where I was before the testing. When I met with the functional neurology chiropractor for the first time last week, he did one test (for gaze stabilization) and gave me one exercise to do at home. He said they take a very careful approach and only do what ther person's brain can handle, which I appreciated.

Did you feel that the chiropractor was helping you get better using functional neurology? I don't want to waste 6 months just to find out it didn't help. My PCS problems are more than just visual, although that's a huge part of it (can't be in crowds, brain fog, etc.), so I wanted to see someone who could address more than just vision issues. I'm disappointed to hear that you went to a functional neurologist, but then stopped, as it seems like maybe it didn't help you.

Did did the chiro do any tests on you? How long did you see him? Did the exercises he gave you seem to help you?

Thanks

cbs,

There is a saying in brain injuries, "If you have seen ONE brain injury, you have seen One brain injury."

They are all different. Everyone has a different mix of injuries. Each person responds to treatment differently. One person may have fabulous results with chiro neurology and the next person may have no benefit at all.

The term functional neurology chiropractic is new here. I guess it is just another term for Carrick's protocol.

Go to acnb.org and the find a doctor tab will show you the functional neurologists - also called chiropractic neurologists near where you live. I did this after hearing wonderful things about the functional neurologist in Portland OR and how much he helped a TBI friend of my niece. Functional neurologists go through a 3-year education program in neurology which makes them specialists. I would not go to any chiropractor, but only one of these Neurology Board Certified ones.

I have an appointment with the closest one to me in Alexandria Virginia - that would be in Woodbridge VA. I am going on Tuesday. We will see if he can do more for me than the MD neurologists, who have only made my condition worse. This one was trained at Carrick but he didn't mention any protocol on the phone. Just said come in and we will work up a treatment plan then - partly done in the office but mostly things you will do at home.

i'm seeing one...see my thread from yesterday neuro chiro /dr carrick. and my thread from today "setbacks..."

i'm not giving up on him b/c i did more reading and more exercise than usual yesterday, but am taking the day off from wearing the funny glasses or doing the prescribed eye exercises

Joe in LA,

I am within driving distance of Woodbridge, VA and am very much interested in seeing what the functional neurologist there has to offer. Please let me know what your experience is working with him, what he has to offer, and if he is able to help you.

Thank much!

Who did you go to, CBS? There are so few of them listed on the acnb website, which will show you all the Board Certified ones. The one we are going to is Doroski in Woodbridge. The second closest one to us was in Severn MD, and it looked like the third closest was in Harrisonburg. They show you on a map. Doroski has good ratings from patients, and he did actually call me before he left for a long weekend on Wednesday evening to make sure an MRI was done and did not show structural damage. He says he thinks he can help.....we will see, and I will let you know. I may have to postpone the first meeting however, because my headache has gotten very severe and I am not sure I can tolerate this appointment on Tuesday.

Can anyone tell me what this first appointment will be like? I will have to call on Monday and ask them also.

I saw Dr. David Sullivan of Keystone Chiropractic Neurology in Mechanicsburg, PA (near Harrisburg) last summer. He ordered blood work from Pharmasan Labs that indicated neuroinflammation, which he said needs to be treated before I can tolerate eye exercises or other therapy. His approach is to treat the brain inflammation with neutraceuticals (Apex Energetics Neuroflam and X-FLM, fish oil, theanine). Due to pre-existing sensitivities, I was unable to tolerate most of these substances, so I was unable to put out the neuroinflammation fire with his approach. So I'm curious to see how other functional neurologists approach PCS.