Hello everyone,

I wanted to give a 4 month update. Since 1 month ago when I first posted, things have gotten about 50% better overall. I have been resting completely, taking occasional walks, taking the vitamin regimen, and going to an upper cervical chiropractor. No caffeine, alcohol, and less sugar and more grass-fed meat. I also drink raw milk and eat raw yogurt and take Blue Ice cod liver oil. I try to drink at least 64 ounces of water a day, and decaffeinated tea which I really like and soothes my head. I am sleeping about 9 hours a night.

My mental fogginess has cleared when I am home, but increases when I am in a small crowd. My dazed feeling when I am driving is less, but not gone. I do not drive but have only done so occasionally to test how I feel. My short term memory is getting better. The pain in my neck and chest has subsided, although I still get spasms occasionally. The heartbeat in my ear is subsiding but comes back. I have found that when I press on the left side of my throat when I have the heartbeat noise in head, I can move tissue (or something like it), it crackles, and the heartbeat noise subsides. It comes back a few days later. The sleep apnea is off and on, and when it is on I have nightmares and wake with headaches.

The symptom that remains the worst are the headaches. These seem to have gotten worse. They are migraines and when I bend my head back (to look up) it is bad. I also getting shooting pains in my head. I am taking this as a sign that my body is working on healing. A 30 minute nap, 1 ibuprofen, and a head massage can usually heal these.

The upper cervical adjustments have made a difference, although some symptoms come back temporarily after an adjustment, like the headaches. Since my skull and spine healed in a crooked position, the adjustments are disrupting that incorrect structural healing and while encouraging the correct healing position, can cause symptoms. I take it as a positive sign. The chiropractor belongs to NUCCA and is the president of the state's chiropractor board. I have someone drive me to see him. I recommend everyone see someone who belongs to NUCCA.

Overall I am grateful for the progress and I have had some spiritual healing as well. I will continue with this rest at least until Christmas and if progress remains, begin thinking about working part time and/or going back to school in a limited way. My husband and mom have been very supportive, and I hope that everyone out there is able to find someone who cares as much as they do. I do need to remember to slow down (I was an avid multi-tasker before the accident) and to stop running into things (I run into walls, doors, and last night stepped in a pot hole!). I am very clumsy, but always have been.

Thanks to all of you for being there for me. Please reach out to me if anyone would like to know more details. This has been a life changing experience.

VB

Glad to hear you are improving. I suggest you ice your neck after the NUCCA treatment. It may help reduce the after effects.

We routinely recommend NUCCA but must caution that not all NUCCA chiros are of the same skill level and benefit. Same goes for all chiros, including Atlas Orthagonal, and Chiro Neuro's.

Mark,

Good point about NUCCA. I believe I got lucky with mine. I am in Ohio if someone needs a referral.

The chiropractor I am seeing scanned me with an EMG before and after an adjustment and found that the adjustment caused the left side of my neck (around C2&C3) to spasm. My neck was injured on the right side, and the EMG shows that after the adjustment these problems disappear. Over time, the adjustments have reduced the electrical activity overall.

He was able to apply pressure to pressure points on my face and skull which reduced the headache to almost non-existent. However he does not do this every time. He believes this should begin self-correcting after time. I have tried ice and it makes my headaches stronger. For some reason, hot rags help, along with the massages and naps.

I still feel the electrical tingling at night (with Gabapentin), which I am guessing is a different symptom than what the EMG is measuring at the chiropractor. Any thoughts as to what that is? My guess is that it is the repair process of nerve damage, which is separate. However, my opinion is that the chiro adjustments are helping to facilitate some of the brain and nerve healing as well, but I do not know for sure.