Let’s call her Mary….a 74 year old lady who came to our office in pain: A lot of pain. The left side her face felt like it was burning all of the time…to greater and lesser degrees….and then there was the electric pain. Shooting, sharp shocks searing right from her cheek bone to the center of her head.
Amazing pain…and Mary had been experiencing this to greater and lessor degrees for over 20 years. Over the course of this period of time she’s seen more than 12 specialists and undergone numerous procedures. She’s suffered many needles injected into her face, the side of her head and even in the roof of her mouth. In Mary’s words, “I’ve been given more pills than there are in any Walgreen’s” and she’s undergone brain surgery on two separate occasions with an instrument know as a gamma knife.
Yet here was Mary….20 plus years later….still suffering. She was experiencing symptoms from a condition called Trigeminal Neuralgia…an abnormal condition of the 5th Cranial Nerve (one of the 12 big nerves in the head). Sometimes called a palsy or simply put…a nerve that’s not doing its designed purpose. For this big 5th facial nerve, it would be providing normal sensation to one side of the face. So if a man is shaving, he feels the pressure; if a woman is applying makeup, she feels the light touch of the brush; if a mosquito bites my forehead…I feel the sting. These normal day to day feelings are provided by this nerve but become abnormal and unsolicited with a condition like Mary’s….they become sharp, burning, electric, stabbing and searing pain WITHOUT anything to actually stimulate those feelings. Anything can then set off these very terrible pains…lack of sleep, brushing one’s teeth, chewing, smiling, shaving or any activity at all. No doctors are truly certain of where it comes from and, as is clear in Mary’s case, know how to get rid of it.
Mary had heard from a friend that she had had very good results coming to our office for migraine headaches from which she suffered for ten years and was now headache free. Her advice to Mary was, “What do you have to lose?”
Mary presented to our office and, after extensive evaluation, a plan of care was established. Mary received corrective functional adjustment using an advanced technology, the Ultralign Technology, to alter the patterns of movement of the spine and other joints. She received care to poorly functioning joints in her neck and even gentle care of several sutures or joints in her head. Further, active forms of rehabilitation of the tissues of the neck was prescribed and initiated. While progress was slow, some three months later, Mary could proclaim, “I’m 95% pain free for the first time in two decades…it’s miraculous”! Now Mary is a wellness patient of the office and comes in simply to catch early problems before they ever create such issues again….and she’s had no resurgence since her initial corrective care.
Many people have conditions for which they may not no where to turn. If this is the case for you or a loved one, call today. If we can help, we’ll tell you that…if we can’t, we’ll tell you that, too.
Chiropractic care…it may be just what this doctor ordered!
