A couple of weekends ago I was at a coach training, and I met this really cool lady who told me about how her head is literally not screwed on straight. She was having these chronic headaches for a few years and had seen a chiropractor and a physical therapist to no avail. She ended up going to see an upper cervical chiropractor who did some x-rays of her head and saw that her skull wasn't sitting on her atlas correctly, which could cause the headaches. At the time that she told me about this, she had been in treatment for about a month and was already having fewer headaches.
As she was telling me this, it was all sounding very familiar. The chronic headaches, the pain in the back of the head, the inability of other professionals to help ease the pain...
The Monday after that weekend, I Googled upper cervical chiropractors in San Diego and found one that I liked the look of. I got in to see them the next day for an evaluation. As part of the evaluation, they asked a lot of standard questions about the pain that I experience: how long has it been going on, how severe is it, how does it interfere with my life, etc.
What I realized from that appointment is that I've really compartmentalized how much pain I deal with. Most people (possibly including you) have no idea that I've had these chronic headaches for several years. It's not something I really talk about, unless you're in a helping profession and I'm hoping you can make the pain go away. And even then, I may downplay it. Mostly I just deal with the pain, take Advil when I need it, and go about my business.
But as I sat there describing all of the symptoms and details to the chiropractor, I found myself on the verge of tears. I think that in that moment I finally allowed myself to grasp and acknowledge how much pain I deal with, and how it affects my life. I sometimes joke about how the only thing that seems like it would bring relief from the headaches would be to have someone pound an ice pick into the back of my skull. As my physical therapist says, it's not normal to want that.
It was gratifying to find out that there is actually something going on with my neck/head. Things are rotated and tilted in ways that they shouldn't be. And not only are there arteries that carry blood to my brain that are possibly being squooshed, there could be all sorts of other things (including my jaw issues) being caused by these imbalances. The good news? It's FIXABLE!!! I've started treatment, and will be going three times a week for the next 6-8 weeks and should hopefully start to feel some relief soon.
So here's to getting my head screwed back on straight, and getting rid of the chronic pain once and for all!!
(Photo Source)
