my chiro experience...as best I can communicate it today. :)

About three weeks ago, my spine decided to break. Okay...well not really break but it decided to throw itself out of commission. For three weeks I participated in physical therapy exercises and they did not work. The pain in my back was only growing worse and worse. Shortly before the lobster left for training, my back reached an all time peak of pain. We started wondering if I should go to the ER, or what I should do. I had a left over pain prescription from a surgery a few months back, so I started taking those. They helped, for about two days. Just in time for the lobster to then be gone. :(

On Sunday, my back decided that failure was indeed an option, and it refused to allow me to get out of bed. We are talking pain on such a scale that I was laying flat on the floor bawling my eyes out. Now I realize that a lot of chicks are pansies and they can barely handle a papercut, but I am not one of those people. I took some heavy painkillers and they literally did nothing. I soaked in the tub, and nothing. I tried ice...nothing. I finally called my friend (tripod). Okay, I didn't even call. I texted. She was at church (where I was not at, obviously), so I texted her, "Please call me ASAP". I think it was only five minutes later that she called and I believe I said something along the lines of, "I need help!" She, being the amazing friend that she is, responded, "I am on my way right now." I think my friends know that I must be really freaking out of commission if I am saying I need help.

Anywho...she was here and I started throwing around the idea as to whether or not I should go to the ER. I had already decided a couple of days earlier that I was going to visit a chiropractor (an aspect of back story here...I had never been to a chiro up to this point and I was nervous about it, but the pain was so insane, that I was willing to try anything), but I wasn't sure if I should go to the ER. I think at about three o'clock or so, I had been so stressed by this pain that I decided to to go to the ER.

Now bless the heart of the Army hospital here...but...truthfully? I just have to shake my head. I got in there, and they decided to take an X ray. Nevermind that the doctor literally WALKED away from me mid question...but whatever. I suppose I can overlook terrible bed side manner. After my exceptionally painful X ray, the "radiologist" (I am adding quotation marks because I wonder to what degree this person has actually been trained...we never see them. They are sort of like the wizard of oz. They "exist" but yet we have no idea who they are...) literally wrote on my radiology report "Beautiful spine. Everything looks excellent. No spinal abnormalities." (I was given the report so I am actually quoting him/her). The ER doc said I was having a muscle spasm (that was lasting for three weeks because my spine was "beautiful"). He prescribed me four heavy, heavy drugs: percocet, two muscle relaxers, and an anti inflammatory. He told me all that can be done is to medicate me through the pain and wait for it to "go away."

I am no idiot, and I know better than this ridiculousness. So off to the chiropractor I went on Monday.

At the chiro (I will now refer to him as Dr. B), I had to bring a copy of my X rays for him to see. He pulled them up and we looked at it together. I told him exactly what the Army "radiologist" said the day before and Dr. B said "Okay. Well hopefully everything is fine. Lets have a look!" Um...folks, when my X ray came up...it was PLAIN to see that my spine was not "excellent." Seriously. It doesn't take any sort of education or schooling to know that a frontal view of the spine is not supposed to look like a "C". It also doesn't take an idiot to realize that the spaces between the vertebrae are not supposed to be pencil thin. They are supposed to be thick and pretty. Dr. B said that I have what is the most painful spinal injury: ALL of my thoracic vertebrae are compressed. The pressure on my lumbar is so intense that I have bone spurs on two of my lumbar vertebrae's because of the pressure. My back is not shaped like an "S". It's flat. My rib cages (on either side of my spine) are a half an inch off. My spine is so messed up that even my RIBS are uneven!! What's the short version of this? My back is a mess.

Dr. B said that this can be fixed. He said we don't just "wait" for this to "go away". We need to adjust my spine and put it back to where God intended it to be. After he adjusted me that first day on Monday, I felt SO much better...for about two hours. After two hours, I felt worse! I couldn't possibly believe that was right. Dr. B said I needed to come in every day for this week, so you can bet I went in there on Tuesday morning pretty darn unhappy. I walked in and immediately said, "What have you done to me!? I feel worse! All of these other parts of me are hurting now!" He said, "That is normal. To get better we have to move everything and you're going to hurt more. But over the next couple of days you should start to see improvement." Well...I suppose out of desperation I decided to give him a chance. I mean, after all, the Army's solution was to just basically cross my fingers and hope this goes away...so what could it hurt?

Today is Wednesday and for the first time in three and a half weeks, I woke up with my pain level at about a 9 as opposed to a five million. It felt like a miracle from God! For the first day in weeks, I was able to get dressed with out bawling my eyes out from the sheer pain.

Since my back is doing so well, Dr. B has reduced my visits from every day to every other day. YAY! I have "graduated" to the next level! :)

So, am I sold on chiropractors? You bet your life I am! Dr. B is so amazing! He is kind, gentle and caring. He views health and well being as not something laced with narcotics and heavy painkillers, but rather stuff that through acupuncture, ice packs, and adjustments that can be maintained. He even will put me on an exercise routine once I am out of the acute phase of my injury to get myself healthy. Can I say I love him? Yes! Yes I can.

A couple of things I want to say...I am still on muscle relaxers so my brain is foggy...We are hopeful that as of Friday that will be done. But, I know that this situation didn't occur overnight and it will take a while to get better. Pain is part of that process. But hopefully the meds can be reduced and eliminated quickly. Because I am medicated, if this isn't all that interesting, I apologize. My brain is foggy!

But in short...I will always be a chiro gal. For ever! :)