I think I’m well overdue for some self-pity.
Poor, poor me.
Poor, poor me.
And my poor back.
I’ve tried to stay positive but I’ve had it!
Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
{August 2002} – Newly married & in Nursing School, woke up one morning CROOKED, bent to the left. I didn’t know what the heck was wrong but it made me a believer in chiropractors because one adjustment and I was straight again.
{August 2002 – 2 weeks later} – Found out I was pregnant with little Ethan bee-than – Not one sniff of back pain for the entire pregnancy.
{May 2003} – Gave birth to little Ethan – (water broke, epidural, 4 hours later, out came Ethan) – BUT, when I pushed him out I felt a huge pop/tear in my back.
{June 2003-July 2004} – Back pain when I would try to “run”. By “run”, I mean half jog/ half walk on the treadmill until I reached a mile. Begin regular chiropractic adjustments with Dr. Wooden and yoga with myself. Helped a little, but could never hold an adjustment for longer than a week.
{July 2004} – Found out I was pregnant with Lydia – Immediately back pain goes away again and I get to have 9 awesomespice months of freedom.
{April 2005} – Gave birth to itty bitty Liddy – (water broke, epidural, 2 hours later, out came Lydia) – No probs with anything, no pain.
{May 2005 – November 2005} Low back pain again everytime I tried to exercise. Got a referral for Physical Therapy. Went 2 times a week for 6 months. No change, just more pain.
{January 2006 – July 2007} Learned to deal with it. Also went to a quack guy, Max VanOrman who was not a doctor, but he would put you in a machine and rip & stretch your back Medieval Style. This was seriously the most painful thing ever and supposedly was meant to break up scar tissue but it didn’t do anything. Did more physical therapy, more yoga, at this point I was more concerned with my dizziness and went to A LOT of doctors for that.
{August 2007} Back is killing me, got a lot of flare ups where I am walking crooked and out for a week at at time. Went to a Pain Specialist. Had 2 epidural injections to knock out the inflammation. Lasted a week.
{October 2007} Went to Dr. Field to consider surgery. Basically I had two disc bulges and one tear. I had the choice of a discectomy(cut away the bulge) or disc replacement. I chose discectomy. (The worst thing of my life is when they did a discogram. READ HERE. HORRIBLE.The surgery went great READ HERE. And I felt relief of my pain instantly!
{June 2009} Roughly a year and a half after surgery I started to have wicked leg pain. Shooting down my legs was even worse than my previous back pain. Yes, it can always get worse. I go to Dr. Biggs(chiropractor) to try to fix things naturally. I do decompression therapy, and it doesn’t help. I get an MRI and all they see is a small bulge and of course some degeneration on 2 disc levels. Degeneration means smaller disc, smaller disc means smaller space for the nerves.
{October 2009} I go back to Dr. Field(surgeon) and we discuss surgery again. From my experience, the previous disc surgery was awesome, so I said, let’s do it again! He said, okay lady and off we went skipping to the operating room.
{November 2009} Surgery was NOT a success. A nerve was damaged on my right side leaving half of my right leg numb when I touch it, yet I can still feel nerve pain. I also have a spinal headache and have to go back in for a blood patch. READ HERE.
{January 2010 – July 2010} Leg pain worse, at this point I don’t know what do to.
{July 2010 – December 2010} Went to Dr. Dever (chiropractor) by far the weirdest one yet. He uses a little noisy squeeky thing and uses he hands and hovers over your body and “fixes” it. I know, I know. But at this point I was willing to try ANYTHING. He didn’t help at all and tried to convince me I was causing my pain by thinking negative thoughts.
{January 2011} I swear off all doctors and I just hunker down and spend my days crying and trying to just live with it. Probably made it worse according to Dr. Dever. I did see my cousin’s husband who was a chiropractor a little, but they moved and so I stayed in my “no doctors” zone.
{July 2011-March 2012} Somebody recommended Dr. Bernard, a chiropractor. I went in VERY skeptical and depressed. He was JUST what I needed. He wasn’t telling me I would be cured. He didn’t give me false hope. He didn’t tell me to come in fifty million times and then if I wasn’t better, I needed to come in fifty million more to be cured. He was a total realist and I needed that. He knew EXACTLY what was causing my pain. EXACTLY. He knew which muscle was connected to which nerve and what to do to help me. The only problem is, he knew I still might need another surgery. In fact, the main problem is I need another surgery not because I have a bad back, but BECAUSE of my previous surgeries. See, once you cut on a disc, you instantly reduce the space between vertebre and then that reduces space for nerves. My story is one that is repeated again and again and again.
Also, from him I found out I had a shorter leg. After an adjustment, my legs became balanced, but the very next day it would be shorter again. Here was his theory on why my disc’s degenerated & bulged in the first place:
For most of my life, I have been walking around with a slightly shorter leg. After years of this, my discs started wearing down, much like a car out of alignment’s wheels wearing down. This led to weak discs, which let to bulges, which led me to surgery, which led to smaller disc space, scar tissue, bone spurs and subsequent nerve compression.
He put a lift in my shoe and I felt a lot of relief, but I still continued to get some flare ups and it didn’t feel right to just accept my back always being out and wear a shoe lift the rest of my life.
He put a lift in my shoe and I felt a lot of relief, but I still continued to get some flare ups and it didn’t feel right to just accept my back always being out and wear a shoe lift the rest of my life.
{April 2012} I was at the Freestone Rec Center one day waiting for Lydia to be done with her dance class. Gilbert was having a “Get Out” celebration with free smoothies and health flyers and such. I noticed a chiropractor doing free scans. I totally did not want to go over there, I mean I had seen enough chiropractors but I was bored so I walked over and told them to give me their scan. “Had I ever seen a chiropractor?”, they asked. Hrmph. “Of course”. I said.
I could probably BE a chiropractor with how much I know.
They were nice and did the little scan and told me some stuff about my atlas and how if that gets out it messes the whole body up. All I heard was blah, blah, blah, a million visits. Then he peaked my interest when he said they saw a lot of people with vertigo and dizziness. What? That’s what I have. How do you fix it? Can you fix me? I used the coupon they gave me to get a free first exam the next week. My first visit was annoying because they made me watch all these videos about how chiropractic care was so important and I was SO over it.
But then the little video said one thing.
I could probably BE a chiropractor with how much I know.
They were nice and did the little scan and told me some stuff about my atlas and how if that gets out it messes the whole body up. All I heard was blah, blah, blah, a million visits. Then he peaked my interest when he said they saw a lot of people with vertigo and dizziness. What? That’s what I have. How do you fix it? Can you fix me? I used the coupon they gave me to get a free first exam the next week. My first visit was annoying because they made me watch all these videos about how chiropractic care was so important and I was SO over it.
But then the little video said one thing.
It said that if your Atlas is out(the very top bone in your spine) it will follow down your spine until you develop a shorter leg, then your discs will wear down and you will get degenerative disc disease. HEY! That’s me! I was here for my dizziness and they just explained my whole lower back history in 1 min. So I started to go to them and get my Atlas adjusted. It’s where they put your head in this machine and tap on that bone. And do you know what the weird thing is? After that little tap, my legs were both normal length. Balanced. And do you know what else? After a couple visits, they stayed that way. I didn’t get out again. I didn’t need my lift. I continued to go back and my atlas has mostly been in. A couple times it went out again and I could tell too, because I would get dizzy.
Wouldn’t be awesome if both of my issues were actually connected?
Holy cow, how awesome would it be if a little tap on my atlas would fix my dizziness AND low back. Well, at this point I am still working on both. I have been feeling less dizzy, but those nerves have been compressed in my atlas for a while now so I am patiently trying to heal my dizziness completely and I plan to do some physical therapy to train my vestibular system to work correctly.
Wouldn’t be awesome if both of my issues were actually connected?
Holy cow, how awesome would it be if a little tap on my atlas would fix my dizziness AND low back. Well, at this point I am still working on both. I have been feeling less dizzy, but those nerves have been compressed in my atlas for a while now so I am patiently trying to heal my dizziness completely and I plan to do some physical therapy to train my vestibular system to work correctly.
And my low back/leg pain? Well, here’s the problem. Even though I don’t need the lift in my shoe and my legs are balanced, I still don’t have room for those nerves. In the exrays, you can see the teeny tiny space for those nerves. They say it only takes the weight of a dime on the nerve to cause inflammation. Oh I’ll probably be fine as long as I don’t ever SIT, but who can live like that?
SO…..yes I am visiting the surgeon next week yet again, and we shall see what he says. At this point, Dr. Arter(chiropractor at my current place) thinks he may do a mini surgery and clean up all the bone spurs and scar tissue and create more room for those nerves…..OR….maybe he’ll recommend a double disc replacement at which point I’ll collapse into a heap at the thought of it.
Scary.
Like “THEY GO THROUGH YOUR STOMACH to do the surgery” scary.
I’ve learned a lot from my back story.
- I TOTALLY believe in chiropractors, the only thing is, there are SO MANY different methods and if you don’t feel better within 6 weeks, try another method because it really can work.
- Surgery can ruin a lot and can make you just need more surgeries. You think your pain is bad? Well, it can always get worse. So be careful in the surgery department.
I’m trying to have faith. I’m trying to hope that I will get better and be able to live pain free. I REALLY hope so. I want to get better, I NEED to get better. We really want to continue our family and I am so ready to be on the OTHER SIDE of this.
I don’t mind having adversity in my life, I just want to be done with this one.
I don’t mind having adversity in my life, I just want to be done with this one.
I have to say I saw Max Vanorman and he did heal me with the same technique and my family has gone to him for years. After I went to Max I never thru my back out again and that has been 12 years.
Hi Jean,
I’m glad to hear that. I had a very different story with him. I also had 3 other family members who are still in severe back pain after going to him for a year:(
Max van Orman changed my life with a work that he does. I would not be working and functional today in my life had I not had a series of treatments with him about 10 years ago. I’m very grateful!! I feel like it’s time for me maybe to go again and go deeper with the work but it really takes a lot of courage to pass to that threshold of terror when you get on that machine! but, I totally trusted him! I’m very grateful, he i very skilled and experienced with the work he does (he is no “quack”) I hope that I can let him know that someday what a positive experience this has been for m.I don’t know how to get in touch with him anymore.I’m sorry that you and anybody you know didn’t receive benefit from it!
I am very interested in that atlas tapping. Could you please tell me more and where I might get it. I don’t have the physical difficulties you do, but i have extreme dizziness and in years have not been successful in getting it figured out or diagnosed. Thank you for sharing what had to be a very difficult history.
Really acupuncture is worthy technique that is being used to put some pins in your body that may be increases the pain holding capability or that can remove pain consistently.
Physiotherapist Clinics in Dublin
Hello. First of all I want to say that I just recently discovered your blog on facebook and am finding great inspiration from it. Slowly plotting for goats and chickens of my own in the future:) Unfortunately I’m in DC where having a yard is reserved for the very wealthy so have to weight the pros and cons of a commute. Anyways, I am an acupuncturist with a background in Nutrition and truly believe that diet is the cornerstone to good health. I discuss it with every patient that walks through my door regardless of their condition. I’ve even told a few about your blog lately. I try to spark passion to educate themselves about different ways to eat for your health. So, thanks for serving as one more educational tool in my arsenal. I am so sorry to hear about your struggles with pain. I wanted to ask if you’ve ever tried a series of acupuncture treatments? If not, I highly recommend it!!! Years back I had a hellish year with herniated discs in my neck and low back, but luckily avoided surgery and am doing much better now. Acupuncture is so very effective in treating a wide variety of health conditions but is particular effective for pain relief. It was a life-saver for me. So much so that I became an acupuncturist myself. I treat so much back pain with fantastic results. I would give it a good 10 sessions but you typically see results within the first couple. http://www.acufinder.com is a great tool to find someone in your area. Make sure you go to one who has done a full 5 year/3000 hour program (vs. in some states MDs, chiros or PT’s can practice under their licenses with only 300 hours of training – big difference) Best of luck on your journey!
I have never tried acupuncture but I have heard A LOT about it! Thanks for all the info, I start searching in my area!
DaNelle!!!! You and Nielson have the same exact story….besides the babies. 🙂 It has now been two years since he had his replacement etc and its been pure BLISS!!! After decades of back pain he only gets muscle pain here and there after he lifts something heavy. You will be a brand knew person. His dizzy spells are gone too. I know you already have doctors but i highly recommend Nielson’s surgeon. It was Dr. Datta in Mesa. Sonoran Spine Center. He was truely amazing. You can email me ANYTIME if you have questions about anything he already went through.I hope you get releif soon. Back issues are not fun and it effects your ENTIRE life and your families life. I feel for you. Seriously email me anytime. Good Luck!! [email protected]
P.s. Nielson uses Dr. Bigler as his Chiropractor. He is a light force one who does not believe in popping. My family has been using him for years and years and anybody i send to him is always amazed and now goes to him regularily now. I even take my newborns to him. Really amazing. He always kept Nielson in line and his muscles calmed down unti his surgery which helped his pain. Nielson has the degenerative Disc Disease to. No Fun 🙁
Vanessa, oh my gosh I wanna just cry thanks for commenting. It is SO nice to hear a successful story! I am going to email you and get your number we seriously need to talk and especially about the Kimber academy too!
You must be pretty strong to have all those trials! I don’t think I could do it. Look at you Wonder Woman!!!
Gosh, I never knew it was THAT bad. You never really talked about it and you were always so positive. Perspective; I just got it.
I hear you. I have degenerative disc disease, arthritis and a whole bunch of pain problems. I also have a shorter leg, diagnosed when I was in 5th grade and found to have scoliosis.
When I see a chiropractor and get adjusted, I feel great. Usually it takes about two weeks of regular adjustments before I feel good for another month. Mine also has a massage therapist in the office who works wonders. The problem is, my condition is not just a simple misalignment anymore. My bones are messed UP. I hate it. My mom has it even worse — she has bone spurs on her neck so she can never get adjusted!
Anyway, send me an e-mail about that atlas tapping thing. I’m curious. momtheintern at gmail dot com.