I've been doing upper cervical chiropractic care for two weeks and am now lowering my dose of tegretol. I'm feeling more energetic, and the pain is much better. I'm off the Elavil completely (which has a lot to do with my increased energy). I can feel my body getting used to my atlas bone's new position (a little sore on one side of my back and sometimes a little stiff in the neck; my body is not used to my spine bones being straight, so until it "learns" how to hold the new position it might be a little sore).
I know TN naturally comes and goes, and this might just be a remission... but the timing sure is interesting! I haven't had a full remission in a long time. I still get very slight twinges when I do big-trigger things (eating apples, washing my face, brushing my teeth).
Paula, that’s great news! Thanks for sharing! Please keep posting about your progress. I’m currently looking into this while I await MVD surgery.
Do you mind explaining to me what happens during a session?
Thank you, I hope this leads to a full remission for you!!
(( hugs)) Mimi
Paula,
I have questions regarding the upper cervical adjustment (atlas bone?) please email me ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ or I have soo many quick questions. How did this turn out? What physician did the adjustment? How are you today..Nov 2012?
Thanks Tina
Hi ladies! I’m so happy to share what i’ve learned:
Upper cervical is VERY specialized, I live in San Diego, a huge city, and there are only three certified upper cervical practitioners close to me that I know of (there’s another in Temecula, about 30 minutes away). If you are interested in chiropractic care for TN, you must find someone who specializes in this type of service and has been specially trained for it; ask for proof!
The bone they are focusing on, for me, is my Atlas bone. they showed me the xray where I could see that mine was out of alignment, quite a bit, and how it is compressing the spinal cord and at the brain stem. My head tilts slighly, my shoulders are uneven, and my hips are tilted. I didn’t notice before, obviously I don’t look all twisted to the casual observer, but once the docs how to look, I could totally see it. Felt silly for not noticing it before! The whole thing just made sense to me- my bones are irritating my nervous system, so if I have a disorder of the nervous system, this is a good place to start (before jumping to surgery). Meds are a bandaid, this attempts to address the physical cause of the problem.
During a session, I first lay on my back and they check my leg length. This gives them an idea of how out-of-balance I am at the moment (when I started, one leg was more than and inch shorter than the other). I then lay on my right side and they move a headrest under me until my upper spine is lined up (this feels weird to me, very slightly uncomfortable, because my neck has been tilted for so long that being straight makes the muscles and ligaments feel slightly stretched- more on this later). Then they do some sort of measurement to make sure the angle of my head is right, then they use a tool (it looks like a drill actually, but it just has a rubber tip the size of an index finger tip) and put it under my earlobe and “tap.” Its very subtle, nothing feels “jarred” or jerked around. After each tap, they feel my spine and I tell them where there is tenderness as they feel down my spine with their fingers. they can also feel the alignment, but my telling them is just more feedback. They continue the taps, one or two at a time, until I feel no more tenderness. Then we re-evaluate my leg length, and if I’m even, I’m done.
I see Drs. Dawn Bortoluzzi and Peyton Ely, their website is here: http://www.familychirosd.com/meet-dr–dawn/
Look under the “new patient center” for the most info