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Details
(ID=73)
Date:
Wednesday, 23 April 2003
Name:
name supplied
Date:
29-aug-2002
Main Condition
Main Condition:
Multiple Sclerosis - Relapsing Remitting
My Brief Story
Brief Story:
I am a 37 year old female who has been diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis, my diagnosis taking 3 years. Drs have to eliminate all other possible diseases which show same or similar symptoms to MS, some being painful, and some expensive procedures!! Testing negative to anything I feel I was dumped into the MS basket, hey they’re Drs, I was their typical text book case! But not a textbook patient. Not settling for their lack of knowledge on what caused MS, i read, listened and learnt everything I could about “my” body from the most important person. ME!
I have searched for the answer as to why I had always felt so unwell. I didn’t know what to pinpoint or what “well” was supposed to feel like. I didn’t know where to start.
I had also suffered a car accident, which didn’t seem too serious at the time. At the age of 7, I was a passenger in the back seat of a car which was hit in the side by a car failing to give way at an intersection around town. I was sitting in the back seat but was hanging over the front seat looking out front, only to find the windscreen coming at me, across over the back seat and planting itself into my face. Surprisingly, I don’t have much scaring! Well, not on the outside anyway………
Here is a list of some of my symptoms I suffered when I first came to visit Nicholas, the rest are still being realized!
Symptoms as at 29th August 2002!
Chronic Fatigue – to the point of total body shut down. Worst was 4 months spent lying on couch, dragging myself to the toilet across the floor, explained as an MS attack. Different “attacks” over the past 13 years, varying in lengths of time and severity but constant, all I want is to come home, lie on the couch and shut eyes. It is like I live continuously in a thick fog.
Pain – can’t explain the all over body pain, aches and pains etc. The only relief I get is from massage, pain being relieved but still present. Especially my shoulder blades, upper and lower back and hips. If I tilt my head back slightly and turn it from side to side, I can hear a grinding sound, sounds awful and pains, pulls up the back of my head.
Shaking and Tremors – uncontrollable shaking continuously now in my limbs, just varies in severity. First noticed my hands started shaking, then legs, lately my head shakes when I drink, while holding cups tightly with TWO hands for better balance and strength. Today my head shook horribly in the brace when I had x-rays done.
Tingles & Skin irritation – all my limbs continuously tingle, the intensity varies. Sometimes it feels like I have ants biting my skin patches. Areas sometimes feel like someone is trying to give me a Chinese Burn, or I have tight bandages wrapped around them. Pins and needles are contstantly present throughout my limbs.
Light-headedness – sometimes feels like the top of my head was lifting off, I had to hold it down by pressing firmly on the top. Sometimes a bubbly light feeling would pass through up my nasal bones. Other times it felt like my skull was icey cold.
Heavy head – head felt too heavy to lift, pain like a Migraine, but all over. Bad pain up the back of my head pulling the muscles very tight. Feels like there’s a lot of pressure inside my head, top of spine and roof of mouth.
Eyesight – continual eye problems, feel gritty and foggy, gradually getting worse over last 5 years. Woken up with NO sight in my left eye twice, lasted only a few hours, tunnel vision a few times. Started wearing prescription glasses in 1999. Some days nothing has defined edges, distorted and fuzzy. Night driving is a blur of lights and confusion, even with glasses. Very sensitive to light.
Balance – I cannot close my eyes and put heel to toe, I fall to the right. I cannot stand on one leg to dry the other after showering. Sometimes I have to “feel” my way around the house, I can see but I cant balance, using walls, couch, benches, kids, whatever happens to be within reach, to bounce off if need be!
Numbness – I have had at least one numb toe, for the last 3 years, not any toe in particular, they are all numb some days.
Strength – first sign of “ms” was when I started dropping the hairdryer about 6 years ago. Hands would loose grip, arm goes numb. My right foot drags if I walk too far on a bad day. Right side strength is far worse than left, but both are going. Continually drop things!!! Am a very cautious cook!
Alcohol – I have fallen straight to the ground at least half a dozen times while attempting to drink with the girls. I wasn’t literally falling down drunk, it happened when I didn’t even drink! If I had alcohol it went straight to my legs and they give way without warning, so week I have to sit down if I go out and don’t drink! Being a country girl this was foreign to me! I could drink most people I’d met under the table!
Breathing – very restricted. Chest was very heavy. Pleurisy has reoccurred every August/November for the last 6 years, and the cough lasts until summer passes. Sometimes my breathing seems to stop, I wake in fright and have to mentally catch it again, this also happens while I am awake!
Face – I was born with a birthmark covering my right side of my face. Drs removed this when I was weeks old by removing veins from under the skin. As I have aged my cheek is caving in, there is no support under the skin, and this is creating a huge “dint” in the side of my face. A large blue vein sits prominently on my right cheekbone.
Bladder – as soon as I have the urge to pea, it is an instant need, without warning.
Mind – I feel I am going insane. Getting through each day is too hard, full of pain and exhausted.
Memory – I have no childhood memories and very few others. I recall memories from photos etc but cannot remember. Short-term memory is shocking.
Flexibility – my body is becoming more rigid. Stiffness is painful continuously, all over, worse in my lower back, between the shoulder blades and worst in my hips.
Anxiety – without realizing I have been suffering panic attacks for years. Sweaty palms, nausea, panic feeling in stomach and legs as if my body was thriving on the adrenalin. If I go into a room I need to know where the exits are and know where a toilet is. While driving I get anxious if driving on unknown roads, heavy traffic, roadworks and lights are very confusing. I try not to drive at night; confusion with the lights causes panic.
Jaw – my jaw seems to be getting tighter. I have been to a Dentist twice with excruitiating pain in my lower jaw bone and teeth. He told me I had gum disease, but not noticeably, and to brush my teeth properly!?!
Speech – some days I slur and stutter when I speak, some days worse than others. I have trouble putting sentences together, I forget words and call things by the wrong name continuously (roof=head, thermometor=speedo etc).
Hearing – I have constant ringing/buzzing in my ears, drives me crazy trying to get to sleep. Sometimes it makes my ears sore it is so loud. It sounds like everything is at the end of a tunnel. When I chew I can hear a scrunching, popping sound.
Touch – some days I can’t tell difference between hot and cold temperature through my hands and feet. Hot bath, hotplates etc.
Circulation – always cold hands and feet. But sweat a lot!
Heat sensitivity – couldn’t have hot bath, I would feel overheated and my whole body went limp. Sit with palms and soles out of the water to release the heat, then sit in cold water for 10 – 15 minutes before getting out to regain strength.
Trying to drink – when drinking from a cup my head shakes and feels heavy, the pressure seeming to build as the cup gets closer to my mouth. It pulls and tightens up the back of my head; the pressure building up inside my head and roof of mouth is very painful.
Trying to eat – I have always been the slowest eater at the table, always! I cannot swallow anything that isn’t mush, therefore taking small mouthfuls and chewing well. For the last few years my tongue has been cramping (and staying cramped for hours) when I eat, or talk. I have to swallow a mouthful sometimes up to 4 or 5 times for the food to go down. I choke (obviously not fatally) frequently but find if I put my chin to my chest as I swallow it helps.
Sense of Humor – best health asset but expiring quickly!
More symptoms are appearing as I continue to heal!
Thursday 29th August 2002 – Initial Consultation with Nicholas Armitage
Today met Nicholas to see if the NUCCA technique would benefit me in any way. After Nicholas had concluded, by my ticking nearly every box on the symptoms form I was given to fill out, a physical examination was worthwhile. The tremors, stiffness and shaking shown throughout these exercises frightened me, I didn’t realize I had deteriorated this badly. I could not close my eyes and do the heel to toe exercise; I kept falling to my right. Nicholas commented that was the worse attempt he had ever seen. Nicholas found my right leg to be 1 inch shorter than my left. A series of x-rays was taken and I was to come back tomorrow for my first adjustment.
Friday 30th August 2002 - 1st Adjustment with Nicholas Armitage
I called Lona at midday because I hadn’t stopped throwing up all morning, possibly from the x-rays the day before. I felt dreadful and was going to cancel and go home to bed. Lona said that was all the more reason to come in, great…….anxiety attacks were common enough, to think I may throw up on my new chiro was embarrassingly terrifying.
On arrival Lona appeared with a bucked in hand, upon request. Nicholas informed me he’d studied my x-rays 5 times and gone over them using mathematics and physics to get the angle he needed to use to get my atlas to return to its original position, which was 2 and a half degrees to the right, apparently quite major. Nicholas made comment it was the second worse case he had taken on, this to me was a great relief, similar to when I was told by the neuro I had MS, it meant I wasn’t a hypochondriac nor was I imagining any of my supposed MS symptoms. I found the mental side of a sick body the worse part, mostly because I never found the answers to questions I would ask.
Nicholas asked me to watch a video explaining what he was about to do, mm, looked so simple. Unbeknown to Nicholas I had read every possible thing I could find on the NUCCA technique. By the time I had watched the 15-minute video I had slid down and was now lying on the table, feeling disgustingly awful and wondering why I was bothering, I had tried everything!
Nicholas excitedly asked me to go out to the bed. Still with bucket in hand, Lona would instruct me on how to properly lie on the table. Standing straight, calves against the table, sit straight down then using my arms lever and slide myself back and lie down. Yeh, easy for the normal co-coordinated person! Nicholas then turned me on my side, comfortably on a pillow, with legs bent into the feotal position, one arm under the other on top of your body. Nicholas then stood over me in the position he had calculated was needed to make the adjustment. After about 4 or 5 light pushes, comments like “that’s got it”, “yes that’s it”, “argh that’s it”, Nicholas looking pleased with himself asks me to stand up. Slowly! For a strange moment I found this amusing, he looked so pleased with himself. And then I stood UP! Up straight, it felt very very strange. I had strength in my legs, my right one in particular, for the first time in a long time I had legs that held me up confidently. Then I noticed my breathing. I could breathe in loads more air, my chest wasn’t restricted. I could move my head, it didn’t feel heavy, or light, it was just there and it moved where I looked without any restriction, stiffness or pain. I could read the numbers on the letterbox across the road, without the grit and fogginess in my eyes. Nicholas asked me to walk to the door and back, wow, I had balance in my body and my legs walked with ease, my right one in particular felt great. Then I started to feel balanced all over, my hips were not as stiff and restricted, my lower back not as tense, painful or restricted. And I didn’t feel nauseated anymore!!! But when I tried to look straight ahead I felt like my head was on crooked and my body was twisted. How bizarre!
Nicholas took another x-ray to see how the alignment was. Excellent, he was very happy with the result. The Atlas had moved 2 degrees back; a great result considering it had been that way since I was 7. That meant nothing to me, but hell I was happy with this new body I was in.
I drove an hour home, I was so excited with the fact that I didn’t have MS and now had the vision of a life again. In my soul a small miracle had just happened, I was alive, for the first time I had escaped my sick body!
I walked in my front door, dropped my bags and took off my shoes, that’s when I noticed the amazing difference. I could feel the bottoms of my feet were flat, I could see the edges of the books, the writing was clearer on their covers, the walls looked cleaner, the tiles and carpet brighter. I had lost the fog I had been living in. I spent next 3 days in tears and on the phone to Mum explaining what was happening to me.
Nicholas called me over the weekend to see how I was going. Rarely do we find such a truly wonderful, caring and dedicated person. Two weeks down the track I am still getting amazing improvement with ALL my symptoms, some disappearing totally, some worsening or becoming present when I am tired. I continually remind myself:
“Healing is not an event, it’s a process” and “Your biography makes up your biology”!
