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Chiropractor Treatments - Helpful?

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Migraine Headache
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Posted 6/15/2006 1:50 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Guys~ New to the board...

Just a little back ground.  I have been dealing with these headaches / neck aches for the literally the past year that came about one day.  They are constant 24/7.  They are breaking me down emtionally and I really am just a shell of the person that I used to be.  I have them from the time that I wake up from the time that I go to bed.  I first went to my gp and he thought that they were tension headaches.  We went through about 5 different types of muscle relaxers.  No help.

He then put me on 6 months of phy ther.  No help.  He then referred me to a nuerologist. We did the whole MRI cat scan thing and everything came back normal.  Dr. thinks that they are plain old Migranines.  He talked me into trying Botox (go figure...the newest use in medicine).  That didnt work. 

So now, he wants to put me on Topomax.  I have been reading everyones use of the drug and seems that everyone has been having some good results with it, but I am currently on 6 different meds (for other reasons) and the last thing I want to do is start taking another med with more side effects. 

My dr. recommened going to a CHiropractor and I had my first appt Monday.  Before I really get into the expense of it, I wanted to gather everyones thoughts and experiences on the subject.  Has it worked for any of you out there?

HELP!!!!!!!!!!

Posted 6/26/2006 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hi

I am diagnosed as having Tension headache by my neurologist and prescribed Amitriptyline, but have not taken it due to its many side effects. With my tension headache i've already been feeling detached, tired and unable to concentrate in anything i do. I feel numb in my left side of the head, and my neck and head are always tensed up. Also, I had a pain in neck which hurts whenever i turn my head to the left.

I have just started 2 weeks of chiropractic treatments, and had a total of 7 adjustments done. After the 1st adjustment, my neck pain is gone, but my tension headache sees no change after 7 adjustments, and my neck and head muscles tense up ever so often(this only occurs on he left side of my head and neck)

I feel that the chiropractors just want to earn money and the treatments they give are rather general. whoever goes in gets similar cracks/adjustments and are adviced to go regularly for about 45 adjustments in total, which costs a bomb. Also, everytime i go in, my chiropractor does not address my problem of tension headache. He believes that all my problems are due to subluxations(again, all patients who goes there WILL have subluxations, and ALL their problems are "cuased" by it) and hence by having my spinal adjusted back into shape, every problem will be solved.

I am still contemplating whether to continue visiting as i see no result, although i'm glad that my neck pain is gone.

Have u taken Amitriptyline before? I dont know whether to take it as i already feel tired enough. Do let me knnow if u tried chiropractic treatments already and update me on your progress!!!

All the best.....
Posted 6/28/2006 6:16 AM (GMT 0)

Hi,

Sorry to hear you're having headaches all the time.  I was having them all the time too, in the back of my head, from ear to ear, and I was also having severe neck tension, shoulder blade and upper shoulder tension which extended downward into my back.  The headache never went away.  I went to bed with it and woke up with it.  Aspirin didn't help, neither did Aleve, which has always helped with any headaches I had before.  And of course, I have P/A, and I assumed I had a brain tumor.  Had CT and MRI w/wo contrast, both were negative.  So I started seeing the BEST chiropractor who isn't just after money like so many of them are.  I'd been to a couple of them before, and they just want you to keep coming back.  The one I go to will tell you when he thinks you're better, and will let you go, till you have problems again.  He doesn't crack my spine, he doesn't even mess with it.  He does pop my neck, but it needs popping, as soon as he does that, I can feel the tension leaving my neck, shoulders, etc.  Then he does deep, deep ultra sound on my muscles for about 20 minutes.  Oh, that's heaven.  When I leave there I feel like a new person.  These treatments that he does makes you feel like you're taking Valium or something.  So.......try to find one that does this deep ultra sound on your muscles.  I still have an occasional headache, but not 24/7 like I was, and now, even when I have one, I take aspirin and the headache goes away quickly.  He also uses electric shock treatments on your muscles.  He hasn't done that to me, but he is currently doing that on my husband's sprained knee and it is helping Brent tremendously.  Also, I'm not nearly as tense as I was before I started seeing him.

That's my experience with a very, very good chiropractor.  And it only costs 45 dollars per visit.

These kinds of chiropractors are out there, you just have to search for them.  Call some different ones and ask if they do the deep ultra sound, if they do, go there.

Good luck and I'll be praying for you.

In His love,

Melanie

Posted 6/28/2006 8:56 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Melanie,

how often do you need to go for your chiropractic treatments to keep to keep the tension and headaches at bay? And how long have u been receiving chiro treatments?

I'm visiting my chiropractor 3 times a week and this is my third week now, but the tension still doesnt go away, though I'm praying for a miracle. Been suffering for 5 yrs alrdy...

Really glad to hear from someone who had found a way to fight the headache! cos i'm losing hope already..
Posted 6/28/2006 7:02 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,

I only see him once a week, every Friday afternoon.  After the 2nd visit, I was already feeling better.

Does the one you go to do the deep ultra sound on your muscles, or does he just manipulate your spine, neck, etc.?  Believe me, that won't work, been there, done that.  It's this ultra sound stuff that's helping me.  I also have tennis elbow really bad, so bad that there are times I can't move my arm, the pain is so excruciating.  He worked on that elbow 3 times, and it has vanished.  He also taught my husband how to massage my neck, back, shoulders and shoulder blades when I feel a headache coming on, or when I get tense.  I tense up so badly that they compare these spots to be "hard as boards" with lots and lots of knotted muscles.  These muscles run into the head too, and the muscles in the head become tense, thus the headache.  I notice too that I grimace a lot and I sit with my teeth clenched.  That can't be helping.

But, like I said before, find on who does that ultra sound, they're out there.  I really am not comfortable with people messing with my spinal cord in the 1st place.

Good luck in your search.

BTW, where are your headaches located?  What part of your head hurts and how often?  How bad are they?  Feel the upper part of your shoulders and see if they're tense, you can tell, because if they're not, you can knead them, like bread dough kinda.  But if they're tense, you'll be able to tell, because they will be very hard and won't move.

Let me know how you get along.

All the best,

Melanie

Posted 6/29/2006 4:40 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Melanie,

Thanks for sharing! My chiro doctor only adjusts my spine and neck and nothing else. I went for my 9th visit today and asked him whether there's alternative treatments as my tension headache is not seeing any improvement, and he just told me to do a simple stretching exercise for the neck(which i felt is pretty stupid cos the exercise is like what he came up with at e moment just so he could answer my question). I am losing confidence in the doc. I'll try to locate other chiros for the ultra sound treatment! I think its pretty hard to find a good one, lucky u did!

Did the chiros u visited take any x-rays when u first visited? I often wondered whether that's an absolute neccessity.

Anyway, my tension headache used to be on the back of my head which started when I was 18, and after 3 years, it sort of got better out of the sudden(much lighter feeling) for abt 2 months. however, it came back again, and shifted to my left side of my head and shoulders and stayed there for these 2 yrs. Similarly, I also experience my tension headache during all my waking hours, from the moment I woke up to when I go to bed. Now, I often feel all tensed up like what happened to you, but mine's only on the left side. I'll be doing normal things like standing on the train or using my computer and I'll realise that my left side is all tensed up, right from my head, jaws, neck to my shoulders. I'll try to relax them but they'll tense up again. When I feel my upper shoulders, its all tensed and much harder, compared to my right side which doesn't have the tension problem. It also feels numb and sometimes feels swollen. There's also this pressure behind my left ear and left eye.

It's pretty weird, but I experience giddy spells occasionally and I can feel that the giddiness is always on my left side of the head where my headache is. I'll always get extremely tired and weirdly, the tiredness normally originate from my left head. But this is enough to make the whole of me tired! And I have such bad concentration and memory that I always feel that I'm can't do whatever I'm doing properly, be it work or studies, which is Extremely fustrating!

I had tried acupunture many times with no improvements. Went for massages a few times but thats very costly too.. the therapist will always be surprised at how tight and hard the shoulder muscles felt and the say the "qi" is all blocked and there's a lot of knots in there.

Anyway, I'm really glad to find this forum and to be able to find people to share experiences. Been pretty fustrated to have to explain to my family or friends who doesn't seem to understand my problem cos they don't know how bad it really feels!

Take care and good luck!
Posted 8/4/2006 7:39 PM (GMT 0)
I had extremely good luck with chiropractic.  After years of suffering, my husband met a chiropractic at a basketball game that said he helped a lot of migraine suffers.  I started going to him about 6 years ago.  You have to stick with it.  I started with a few treatments a week with ultrasound and now I go in once a month for a adjustment and I got in immediately if I get a migraine.  I didn't cure them completely, but I get much fewer headaches and I can knock the ones out I do get with a few Advil and an ice pack. Good luck to you.
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