Tales from the Chiro

[same_sky]

Magnus always makes fun of me because I'm jumpy. I'm the one that will jump when someone speaks suddenly, or appears out of nowhere, or I see a particularly nasty spider. So you can imagine what happened when I go to the chiropractor today and got my first adjustment. Yes, folks, I jumped a foot off the table and screamed out loud. Twice. That's when he decided to try it a different way.. rofl. It was really embarrasing.

Anyway. He spent a long while going over x-rays and explaining how a neck is supposed to look and work. A proper neck is curved. In an accident, your neck snaps backwards and then returns, but the curve doesn't. (At least, if there's a neck injury.) My neck happens to be straight and/or curved in the wrong direction, with the gaps between the thingies all wrong, as a result. Descriptive, eh? And furthermore, it's all crooked. Pardon my description, but I don't remember all the terms and no one cares anyway. It was really very cool, because he pointed to each gap and explained what nerves were located there and what it would cause.

So. Not only did he tell me during the last visit that I have headaches, he told me today where they started and where they ended up (behind my eyes, often on the right side), asked me about how often I wake up with numb hands (5 nights out of 7, probably). He also described the way my shoulders feel all tense and burning at the end of the day, and furthermore, that my thyroid is being pinched (or something), which would explain why I'm often tired. Magnus will definitely agree with that.. I'm the sleepiest person he's ever met! And there was another thing or two that he pointed out.. it was all pretty neat. He seems to think that my big accident was when I was around 14, though, and I can't think of anything spectacular that happened to me then. I had a wreck when I was 17, but he insists that he's never more than two years off. *grin* I dunno.. people fall and stuff all the time and just don't remember it.

One of my legs is longer than the other, my neck is definitely messed up, my spine is very slightly crooked and my back is curved a bit too much. And I've got to stop sitting on my foot. But he said that it shouldn't take long to heal my pain, and if I did the exercises correctly, it'd be all fixed in a year.. but if I don't, then I'll be back in two years with the same problem. I'll be going twice a week for a while (he said probably not long) and then once a week until all pain is gone, then once a month after that. He was extremely optimistic about fixing me.. he kept saying, "How old are you? 24? You're just a baby!" *giggle*

As for the adjustments.. other than the jumpiness, it wasn't too bad. The thing he did to my shoulder really hurt, but it doesn't hurt now or anything. I did NOT like the popping neck thing.. it's scary, but it didn't hurt. I also wasn't too thrilled with how he was talking about the risks of stroke from adjustments, particularly among people who take birth control pills. Hello?! Tell me this before I lay down, dammit! Anyway. I'll probably stop writing such detailed reports now, since this was the last of the long visits and from now on, it'll be just adjustments and no long explanations.

In other news, our desks arrived today. They're extremely heavy, and I gues we'll put them together tonight, if possible. I need to clear off the current desks in preparation so when M gets home, it'll be as painless as possible.

Comments

[reebert.livejournal.com]

My chiro always tells me that it's very natural to be extra tired and or dizzy after an adjustment. So be aware that that is normal if you experience it. You're body is getting used to a new alignment and it can take a toll. :)

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know.. he didn't mention it. So far, I feel good.. I keep moving my head around because my neck feels much looser and lighter. I might point that out to M, though, when it's time for dinner.. I might be much too tired to cook! ;)

[paradisecowgirl.livejournal.com]

Heya, I finally dropped off some stuff for you at the PO :) Should be there no later than early next week :)

Fun times with the chiro, eh? I've never done myself...

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Yay! Neat! Now I'm going to be compulsively checking the mailbox. :)

I'm not sure if "fun" would be the word I'd use, but if he can really fix my shoulders and headaches, it'll be worth it. It might be worth finding one that does first visits for free (we have one in our town..though not the one I'm going to.) No telling what s/he might be able to fix that you didn't even know was broken... grin.

[stewlis.livejournal.com]

Wow. All that from an incident that you don't recall? Impressive doctor. I hope it helps you, I've heard wonderful things about chiropractors. Maybe that's why you can't stand to have your arm touched? The nerves are jumpy or something? Makes sense! :) Yay! Chick is getting all fixed!!

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I can't recall it. Still could be from my little fender bender when I was 17.. that's the only thing I can think of. But.. he said that a car wreck of 8 mph would do it, and if you fall on ice or something, you hit at 20 mph.. so I don't know if I'm just not remembering something or if it's the wreck and he's off with his estimate or what.

I dunno if it'll fix my sore arms.. I kinda doubt it. I didn't even mention it to him.. it hurts in a skin/tissue sort of way and not in a bone sort of way. But.. it'll certainly be a bonus if it goes away!

[stewlis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but nerves affect skin, too...otherwise we wouldn't feel pain at the skin level. So it very possibly could fix that and hopefully will. :) I wonder if my accident on Kimberly Lane in '98 is going to cause me problems later? I definitely should have had some whiplash type of thing going on from that, because the car spun around. That was freaky. I don't like car wrecks!!

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Yep. Maybe. I don't *think* it will, just based on how it hurts, but it's very possible and hopefully it will make a difference. :) Perhaps you should find a chiropractor for a checkup.. you get really good medical coverage, right? :) No better time than now!

[stewlis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but you have to be referred to a chiropractor and Tricare only pays a percentage of some things, so I'm not sure what their deal is with those. I have to pay 40% of my wisdom teeth extractions and that's about $500, so we're saving up for that right now. Of course, that's Tricare United Concordia Dental insurance, instead of just straight Tricare. Tricare pays for most everything. The insurance is one of my favorite benefits!

[courtesy.livejournal.com]

We are so similar in some ways :) I am SOOO jumpy too! And I've had a similar experience with a chiro. I have a slightly curved spine too and I get headaches and numb hands sometimes, not as often as you though. I have one leg slightly shorter than the other and I had a snow-skiing accident where I broke my pelvic bone so that's greated some other great shifts in positioning down there. And it all flows up to my neck. I've been seeing a chiro (different ones, sadly my favourite is back in Adelaide and I've yet to find a good one in Sydney) for about 5 years now. I find that it gets really bad and so I go and see them say once a week for four weeks and then once a month and then drift off and I do these exercises and then when I get too slack and stop doing the exercises and don't go thinking that I don't need to because i feel good when really you should go once every 3 months anyway, it all comes tumbling down again and I start from the bottom again. Wow, long sentence :) I also get quite emotional the day after I've had the 'neck wrench' so don't worry if you feel that too. I love chiros - they are the absolute best and they know what they are doing. I get scared about paralysis and stroke but really it's safer than taking a panadol apparently. You're on the road to success - well done!

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Panadol is a painkiller, right? Of the non-prescription headache variety? He was telling me that 1 in 20,000 people die from anasthesia and people think it's an acceptable risk, and he was talking about 1 in 250,000. It kind of disturbed me, as he hadn't mentioned such a thing until he was in the middle of poking around at my back. Ahh, well, I guess the odds ARE low, but still. :) Didn't help my jumpiness!

I've noticed that very thing about us. Anyway, I have this feeling that I'm going to be dismally bad at the exercises, but I'm going to give it a shot. I don't really have a lot of pain and problems with my shoulders, but he's got me tentatively hoping that he can do something with my headaches, and that's worth much more than the shoulder thing. To get it all taken care of at once is almost beyond imagining! ;)

[totte.livejournal.com]

And you know, there just might be someone around to pester you into doing your exercises until it's more work avoiding them than doing them. *cough*