First Trip To the Chiro

Okay, so I have been having really bad luck with health issues. And I keep experiencing odd and mysterious ailments, aches and pains.

Quite honestly, it was beginning to scare the crap out of me.

Remember the whole misdiagnosed UTI and then the ovarian cysts, right?

Well, a couple of months ago, my dr put me on a hormonal birth control for the ovarian cysts...but I'm still having this really awful pinching feeling in my back, side and sometimes in my front. Almost like a band around my waist, though it moves up and down, not always in the same location.

Weird, right?

Then my legs have been going numb.

I'm pretty used to occasional numbness in my left leg due to problems with epidurals, but this was becoming more constant.

Then my right leg began going numb, off and on.

Then both arms.

Back on Friday, even my lower left jaw/mouth/cheek area began going numb/tingly!

Antonio was thinking that his wife had lost her marbles and thinking that I just liked to complain. (yep, that's what he told me. ha!)

I finally made an appointment with a chiropractor and went in back on Saturday for a consult, initial exam and x-rays.

The chiro explained that he only deals with structural issues and that if it was something else with me, he would refer me to someone who could help. He wrote down all of my "ailments" that I rattled off and promised that he didn't think I was crazy or a hypochondriac. They did the x-rays...and his system is awesome! They are digital x-rays and I could see them on the tv screen hanging on the wall as he was doing them! Then he checked my alignment...(see the above pic) and we saw that I was all out of whack. He also tested my weight distribution. Before doing that, he reassured me that there is a 2-lb window, where if my balance is only off 2 lbs or less, it's nothing to really worry about. Then he checked mine...I'm carrying NINE POUNDS extra on my left side!!! Woah!!

They did some "tests" to see how far I could move my head and neck, how far I could bend to the left and right, if I could reach my toes. That kind of stuff.

Then we reviewed everything.

Turns out, I'm not crazy!! (well, I am...but not about all my aches and pains..haha)

My x-rays showed some damage in my lower back..but he was much more worried by the damage in my neck.

See...years ago, I was in a car wreck. Around 16 years ago. My girlfriend was driving the car and we hit black ice and gravel...while the car was spinning, some things got wedged under the brake pedal and she couldn't stop the car. A tree was nice enough to stop us. Hard. The entire front end of the car was wrapped around the tree. I wasn't wearing my seat belt and my head actually cracked the dash. Not cracked into...but actually CRACKED THE DASH and put a hole in it.

I fell on top of her lap and couldn't move for a few minutes.

The part that freaked her out is that I couldn't move but I just kept laughing hysterically.

(to anyone who's ever been to a funeral with me...you know that I tend to laugh during those, too...and you probably thought I was rude and didn't believe me that I literally laugh when I am scared...See? There's proof that it's true!)

Well, when I could finally move again, I thought I was fine.

Her parents didn't want their insurance to go up, so they told me that I couldn't go to the hospital. Since I was living with them at the time, I really wasn't wanting to push the issue and be homeless, so I didn't go. I never really thought about it again.

Until we looked at those x-rays.

You know the natural curve of your neck?

Well, sometimes in accidents, your neck can get straightened and that can cause a lot of issues...but mine? It got bent into curving the opposite direction! My top verterbrae is actually pushing into my skull.

He said that neck injuries of that severity can cause mysterious ailments and pains in my whole entire body. That was why my problems have been so weird and random.

He said I also have an area of my lower back that has some work needing done...ironically it's EXACTLY where they put my epidurals in at. Imagine that. ::angry face::

The good news is that he thinks he can help me!!

I'm looking at a 16 week course of action.

But I have high hopes and am so very excited to be on my way to feeling great again!

I guess all the babywearing and exercising that I was doing last Fall really aggravated things. Especially the weight lifting.

Hopefully I'll be right as rain soon and able to work out again with no problems!