I’ve got a practice member. She’s pretty remarkable – remarkable as in life has thrown her a lot of trauma mentally, emotionally, physically, and chemically.  While she has struggled at many times to just make it through the day, she continues to come out on top, not succumb to a world of negativity and hopelessness, and sift through the diagnoses, prescriptions, suggestions and recommendations many have given her to come out SAFER and HEALTHIER, by avoiding the many substances that can mess with our ability to live a “normal” life.

She has claimed chiropractic has saved her in many cases –I see it as her choices and understanding of the chiropractic premise, principles, and applications, have led her to “say no to drugs” and strive her BEST to live naturally – even if at times it’s not comfortable, scary, or downright terrifying.

This is her story – we’d like it to give you hope, perspective, empathy, and a baseline understanding that OUR BODIES are amazing, when we remove the crap in the way.

P.S. it’s in 5 parts; don’t forget to read each one to truly grasp her journey.

Dr J Gelber

Introduction: how chiropractic has changed my understanding of health + migraines

Last week I was sitting in my co-worker’s office as she opened yet another Diet Coke. Without saying a word, as though she read my mind, she said “I know what you’re thinking, but my doctor said it’s ok to have them every now and then.”  I had become used to hearing the sound of a can opening multiple times a day coming from her office and we often joked about her Diet Coke addiction. Granted, lately I had heard the sound less often, probably only once or twice a day, but she was 8 months pregnant, and, although I am not one to judge, the chemicals are probably not healthy for the baby. But at the same time, I could almost feel the bubbles underneath my nose – as though I was about to take a cool, refreshing sip myself and curb that Diet Coke craving.  The truth is, I hadn’t actually touched the stuff in 6 years, despite growing up on a steady diet of aspartame. I kicked the habit while living abroad for a year, when it did not taste the same as in North America. When I returned to Toronto, my first swig of what had been a cool, refreshing and clearly addictive beverage tasted like a can of chemicals. Yet, 6 years later, I can still remember the smell and bubbly feel… My co-worker, a mom in her 30s with 2 kids and a third on the way, joked all the time that she might as well enjoy her Diet Coke and daily handfuls of candy, since “we’ll all die one day.” Those were her vices, and they weren’t hurting her, she insisted. But were they really as innocent as she claimed?

 

I thought about my own mom, who died when I was a teenager of a form of cancer that is largely attributed to an unhealthy diet. I’d be lying if I hadn’t considered whether her daily Diet Coke habit hadn’t somehow contributed to her illness. She was never obese and if there was one rule in the house while growing up, it was “you don’t drink your calories.” Unfortunately, this did not mean hydrating with H2O – it meant drinking anything that was filled with aspartame, especially Diet Coke. With my aspartame-filled childhood, I considered what my co-worker said. Sure, we’re all going to die at some point. But what about how we live day-to-day? Maybe aspartame and sugar don’t affect her the same way that they affected me. Although I hadn’t realized the influence of aspartame and white sugar all those years ago, I certainly feel better without them in my diet now – I actually have more energy in my 30s than I did in my 20s. Maybe it sounds judgmental, but it made me sad that this young woman, who is the same age as me, would rather not do all that she can to live a healthier lifestyle for herself and her children. Certainly, I used to have a similar thought pattern, but at some point, my mindset changed. But what was the catalyst to this change? It certainly did not happen overnight and I thought back to a time when I too had a similar mindset as my co-worker…

 

I was a typical 20-something grad student – stressed out, anxious, hopped up on caffeine and spending copious hours hunched over books in the library. I had just returned to Canada after a couple of years researching abroad, and was ready to embark on another year of teaching and writing. I was also the unhealthiest I had ever been – overweight, exhausted, anxious, constant headaches and weekly migraines had simply become a fact of life. Each day, I had about a 2-hour window of time before the exhaustion and brain fog would take over. Everything seemed like a struggle, but most of all, taking care of my health and myself seemed overwhelming and time consuming. I saw doctors and specialists and no one could tell me why I experienced constant headaches.

I was told to take Advil for the headaches, Imitrex for the migraines, hormones to control ovarian cysts, more Advil for the pain caused by endometriosis… the list went on. On top of that, I had blurry eyesight, which my eye doctor swore was NOT the result of deteriorating vision. Two ophthalmologists confirmed this “diagnosis” and sent me on my way. Amidst the stress of grad school, constant exhaustion, and various health problems with no real answers, my recurrent anxiety had also begun to rear its ugly head. Having been diagnosed in my early 20s with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), I figured the only answer was to go back on anti-anxiety medication. At the time, it simply felt like one more task to add to an ever increasing list. And then, the night before I was to present my dissertation prospectus to my committee, I felt the familiar twinge in my low back – instantly, I knew that the next day, I would be unable to stand, sit, or walk straight, and simply putting my socks on would be a struggle. Although I had been in this situation before, this time was different.

I was home in Toronto and could no longer blame it on an unfamiliar bed, an overnight train across Eastern Europe, or an uncomfortable wooden chair in the basement of an archive. Nor did the pain dissipate after an expected 3-day mark. Instead, what had become a monthly ritual of “throwing out my back,” seemed to last for an entire month. At one point, as I rolled out of my dad’s car and he helped me onto the sidewalk, he remarked, “maybe you need to see a chiropractor.” I thought, nah, chiropractors are for old people. I was young! This was nothing…I’ll just pop some more Advil.

 

After about 1 month of on and off debilitating low back pain, I had reached my end point. While teaching a class of undergrads one morning, I crawled under a desk in order to reach an overhead projector. Although my back had been feeling stiff and sore, I did this weekly and was always fine. However, this time, I felt a pop in low back and was suddenly unable to get up. As 20 pairs of eyes stared back at me while I was stuck under the desk, one kind student took pity and helped me up. I concluded that maybe I needed more permanent relief and maybe, just maybe, I should see a chiropractor… After all, I still needed to deal with that blurry vision, endometriosis and cysts, and see my doctor about some Prozac for the increasing anxiety. And I couldn’t do any of that if I could barely walk.

 

Finally, I took the leap and made an initial appointment with Dr. Gelber. By the time I went in to see him, the back pain had subsided and, still being under the impression that chiropractors only dealt with back pain, I felt a little silly sitting in his office while he reviewed my paper work and asked me questions. As he spoke and explained to me more about what he does, I became increasingly intrigued. He explained that people under chiropractic care often experienced less frequent headaches and migraines. After experiencing abdominal migraines as a child, which then turned into classic migraines from the time I was 10 years of age onward, and constant daily headaches for the last 10 years, along with a strong family history of migraines, I had never considered a life without them. To say I was intrigued is an understatement, and I couldn’t wait to begin care…

 

I still did not fully understand how chiropractic was going to help with my headaches and migraines. Although Dr. Gelber explained the connection between the brain, spine and nerves, and how stress causes subluxations, I was still nervous and unsure in those moments before my first adjustment. And then, immediately, the constant head pressure and headache lifted for the first time in 10 years. On my way home after that first adjustment, I noticed that I could see things more clearly – colours were clearer, and the blurry vision that I was told had no cause or cure, was completely gone. Over the next month of regular adjustments, the blurry vision and constant headaches continued to improve. I suddenly had more energy and could push myself harder at the gym. I was no longer exhausted by lunchtime and could actually make it through an entire and productive workday. And the increasing anxiety that I had been experiencing began to alleviate – I felt calmer, more in control, and no longer needed to visit my family doctor for anti-anxiety medication. Although by seeking chiropractic care I had only made one change, that one change allowed my entire body to begin working better to heal itself.

 

Over the course of that first year of care, I saw other significant improvements as well – from the very first month of care, and for the first time since I was 14, I no longer felt pain with my monthly menstrual cycle. I had also been diagnosed with endometriosis, which, when it flared up, made the pain each month excruciating, yet I no longer experienced that pain either. And the ovarian cysts that I had been diagnosed with completely disappeared within that first year of chiropractic care, despite being told that the only way to shrink them would be with the use of hormones. There were other unexpected changes as well – as soon as spring came that year, I went out to buy my “yearly supply” of Reactin for allergies, yet I didn’t need to take it as my usual allergy symptoms, which I had experienced for as long as I could remember, never appeared that year.

 

Although the back pain that prompted my original decision to seek care flared up a couple of months into regular chiropractic care (while sitting in the library, no less), after 6 months of continuous adjustments, it finally relented and I have not felt that severity of pain since.

 

Continue to Part 2