Found The Cause Of My Dysautonomia And It's Curable!!

[trappedat20]

I don't know if I mentioned it but I always suspected a link between my neck/back pain and my dysautonomia. Around the time my neck started hurting wayyy worse was when my dysautonomia started. Not only that whenever the pain gets excruciating, my dysautonomia symptoms will get a lot worse. I mentioned this to my doctor and he took a look at my bad and neck and said it was a good possibility and had me get x-rays. The nurse called me back and told me that I didn't have any pinched nerves and they only saw the scoliosis, and muscle spasms in my c-4. I started to lose hope and feel hopeless since I felt so certain this was the cause. So I was endlessly looking for the cause of my dysautonomia, which felt like a hopeless end of possibilities. When I had my doctors appointment on the Thursday before Christmas I found out what the nurse told me was wrong. The doctor said there is a good chance I have pinched nerves and that I have a degenerative disc in my c4 and that my c4 is starting to twist. This gave me a tiny bit of hope and so I went to a chiropractor on Monday.

First off let me say that I trust this chiropractor completely. They are really good people and aren't like most chiropractors. I know they are telling me the truth for several reasons I won't get into so that I don't have to make this longer then it has to be. They ran several tests on me on Monday. We found out that the coordination on my left side is completely awful. He was having me touch my hand to my nose and stuff and I was thinking "wow this is stupid. of course I can do this" but I was awful! Not only could I not touch my finger to my nose on my left side, but I didn't even wind up touching my face. This happened for several tests. I didn't have good coordination on my right side of the body, but my left was a lot worse.

You are suppose to have the curve in your neck for many reasons. Not only did I completely lose the curve in my neck, but after it straightened out completely it started curving in the opposite direction! It's called reverse cervical lordosis. Because of this my brainstem and spinal cord are being crushed, it caused my c4 to start twisting, a degenerative disc in my c4, and for my nerves to be really pinched. I was looking at the x-ray and I could see how messed up my neck was. When we got home I had my husband and brother in law feel their neck and then mine, and I did the same, and my neck doesn't feel like a normal neck at all. He told me that it was causing my dysautonomia (he actually knew what it was) because of the pressure on my brain and spinal cord and because of how pinched the nerves were, and the nerves that were being pinched are the same ones that would give me my symptoms.

Yesterday I had my first adjustment and the appointment where they discuss the treatment plan. After they were able to evaluate my results in forming the treatment plan, it was also discovered that I had bad arthritis in my neck and torn ligaments and tissue. They ran more tests then the doctors did btw and the doctor didn't have an x-ray of my neck from the side for some reason so they weren't able to see that it was curved the wrong way. They told me they were going to be honest with me that my back isn't that bad. I have scoliosis in my back but the curve isn't that bad and it's not causing me any problems. My neck is really messed up though. When I asked if any nerves were damaged he said that right now they aren't and they are just being pinched, but if I let my neck get worse they will be. This was not a scare tactic. I can feel how messed up my neck is. I have a migraine 24/7 and I'm always feeling nerve pain in my neck, and it's always super stiff and painful. You shouldn't be able to feel bad nerve pain in your body unless something is wrong.

I'm suppose to go 3 times a week for a total of 72 adjustments. Then it's just maintenance after that. He said most people see a significant improvement in symptoms caused from the neck being like that after 3 months. I can't wait to start feeling better! After my first adjustment although I'm still in pain, I do notice I haven't had a horrible migraine or ringing in my ears. I normally crack my neck probably like 40 times a day because it stiffens up so much I can't move it. Even after cracking it I still am in a lot of pain, but it allows it to not be so stiff that I can't move my head for a little while (and at like 40times a day a little while isn't very long.) He said I have to stop cracking my neck though because it makes it worse, so now I'm feeling all of the stuff I normally don't allow myself to feel, but I know it would be a lot worse if I hadn't gotten that adjustment yesterday.

I'm just really excited. I thought this was the cause from the moment we found out I had dysautonomia, but after the nurse called I lost hope that we would ever find the cause. Then when I went to the doctor and found out that what she said wasn't true I had a little hope again, and after going to the chiropractor I was like Hallelujah! The more stuff they told me was wrong with my neck the better lol. That is completely tangible and fixable. Guys, don't lose hope!! If you're still looking for your primary cause keep looking and don't listen to anyone who tells you to stop looking for it. Also to anyone who doesn't know their primary cause but has any kind of back or neck pain I seriously recommend getting it checked out. Do your research and find a really good chiropractor or something and have it looked at. For all you know you could have nerves being pinched or your neck could be all messed up like mine. Good luck to everyone still searching for their primary cause.

[BeforeTheMorning]

Wow, how great to have found your primary cause is something that can be treated! That's fantastic! I hope your treatment goes really well and you are soon feeling better.

Best Wishes,

Lyla

[trappedat20]

Thank you! Best wishes to you too

[ramakentesh]

Im sceptical but good luck.

[trappedat20]

Thanks. What are you skeptical about?

[badhbt]

I truly hope that you have found your cure. During all my testing I found out I had a birth defect at C1-C2 which caused instability which pinched my spinal canal when I moved my neck up and down. It didn't hurt at all, and I had it my whole life....it is called Os Odontoidium. I sought advice from 4 well known Neurosurgeons. I wanted to know could this be the cause of my POTS. 2 out of the 4 thought so. So I had a C1-C2 fusion. Over a year later I am doing much better, but unfortunately I don't think that was the cause of my POTS. I don't regret the surgery because I was a walking time bomb and it would have been hard to electively sign up for a surgery like that with no symptoms.

Keep us informed on how you are feeling with treatment.

[trappedat20]

Ever since my first adjustment (partly because I'm no longer allowed to crack my neck so I notice all of the things that bother me) I've noticed one of the things that hurt my neck is driving in the car with my husband. Today I was actually doing pretty okay when I went in the car. Have still had yet to have a migraine since getting my adjustment. My head gets thrown forward a lot (only like an inch or so but I still feel it in my neck) and I noticed it making my neck hurt worse. My migraine and the ringing in my ears started to come back a little bit, but not only that even though I was previously doing pretty okay when I got in the car, I couldn't even walk into stores because I felt so dizzy, my heart was racing fast, and I just felt very fatigued all of a sudden. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I've thought my neck was involved for a while now. I guess I won't know though for a few months whether it really is or isn't the cause. It's one of those things where I would have had to get it fixed anyways though. I'm just really hoping it makes the dysautonomia go away.

@badhbt I'm glad you are feeling better from the fusion and I hope you find the cause of your POTS. Good luck!

[acgraham]

This is really interesting and encouraging to me. I've always thought that my neck could be the cause of my POTS. I have gone to a chiropractor before and I had instant relief of my dizziness and visual disturbances after having my neck adjusted. Unfortunately I hadn't been diagnosed with POTS at the time and didn't continue getting adjustments on a regular basis. Please keep us updated with your progress! I'm eager to see if it helps!

[Katybug]

Cervico-medullary syndrome may be of interest to those with neck problems.

[trappedat20]

@agtaylor wow, I'm glad to know that there is someone else who's dysautonomia could be caused by that! You should def. look into that and think about going back to your chiropractor. Good luck

I have still only had one adjustment, although I have my second one today and I will def. let you know what happens. So far my migraines have gone away, the ringing in my ears,and I notice I'm a lot less sensitive to sounds. My husband was able to play the guitar and listen to his heavy metal in the same room as me for an hour and a half. That never happens because I'm so sensitive to sounds that we have to keep music down really low, and when he listens to heavy metal music it feels like there is too much going on at once and I don't know how to explain it except to say I'm sensitive to sounds, smells, and lights. As far as lights I think I'm even less sensitive to that now that I think about that. I say this because normally driving in the car at night bothers me because peoples headlights feel so much more intense than they are and really bother me, but I notice I haven't thought about this in the car the past few nights. Also we have really good speakers that play really loud and we were able to watch Lord of the Rings without it bugging me at all. This whole not having a migraine thing anymore is awesome too and I'm sure contributes to sounds and lights not feeling horrible. I still have a billion symptoms left but for only one adjustment it feels pretty hopeful. I figure in the first 3 months most of the changes will happen and I will know by then whether it's working or not. I don't expect to have less and less symptoms everytime I go as there is a lot to fix in my neck, but I'm glad the migraines went away after the first adjustment because 24/7 migraines are so unbearable.

@katybug That is really interesting! I've been looking it up since I saw you mentioned it and I will def. keep that in mind. Thank you. It's funny because a lot of the things mentioned with that word are things like EDS and Chiari and things that are mentioned so commonly among the Dysautonomia community. The ironic thing too is that I cracked my head open a year and a half ago and fell directly on the back of my head. I was getting out of the shower and slipped and fell head first and hit my head on the back of the tub leaving a dent on the tub. This was August 2012. I went to the hospital to make my head stop bleeding and with a concussion.

While I don't have EDS (at least not that I know of lol. nowadays I feel like anything is possible), I do find it interesting because I know my neck is constantly in a state of hypermobility. The fact I was cracking my neck about 40 times a day everyday for the last few years made this worse and worse. It wasn't until I went to a chiropractor that I found out just how bad cracking your neck is for you, but I felt I had to because my neck would stiffen up so much that I couldn't even move it, and thus began a vicious cycle. I've never dislocated anything or been really flexible or anything that would lead me to believe I have EDS. While I do find this interesting though because of the hypermobility in my neck. There is so much build up pressure in there right now that I'm barely moving it because it cracks every time I move it. The fact that I had to crack my neck so many times a day just to be able to move it should have told me that I need to stop messing around and go to a chiropractor years ago.

One thing I find interesting is I just recently (as in the past few days noticed something.) My back pain isn't really back pain at all. After being told that I have a minor curve in my spine and my scoliosis isn't all that bad, and that my neck is the main problem part of me was like well that makes sense cause I don't always have back pain, and the other part knew that when I got back pain it was really awful. 2 nights ago I got really horrible back pain, but noticed that it was a painful stinging feeling traveling ALONG MY SPINE. While I always knew it was my spine I noticed it started with my neck and that it wasn't really my back being messed up that was the problem, it was that sometimes my neck liked to tell my spine to start torturing me.

Around the time I was working it was really hard to differentiate things because I also had muscle spasms everywhere, which I just assumed was that. My husband massaged my back though when I first came here, and he's kept the muscle spasms in my back away. Not only that, since the curve in my spine isn't that bad it wouldn't make sense for that to give me pain either. Unless, my neck was sending the signal to my spine to start hurting. Seeing how messed up my neck is that is really possible and it seems like it was just my neck all along. Also, the curve in your neck is there for a reason so if you don't have that curve or it's curved the wrong way all 12-15lbs of your head are now crushing your neck and spinal cord. Imagine placing a bowling ball on top of your head and seeing how that feels or if it causes pain.

[Katybug]

I actually have no cervical curve left either with lordosis and a disc impinging on my spine at C4C5. There is also kyphotic angulation between C4C5. My geneticist is pretty sure I have cervico-medullary syndrome. She has referred me to a top neurosurgeon in the field of chiari and cervical instability to be evaluated. She also has me being fitted for an Aspen Vista Collar which is supposed to keep some of the pressure off my spine in my neck. She wants me to wear it as much as possible although it has to be taken off for driving because it will impede my range of motion. I actually saw a chiro for a long time before any of my diagnoses and I'm pretty sure he kept me going for much longer than I could have gone without him. I only stopped because he was near my job not my house and I can't drive that far anymore and he was adjusting 3x a week ( and cutting me a super sweet financial deal).

I would imagine in your search on cervico-medullary syndrome, you came across lateral medullary syndrome. That is a similar syndrome that sometimes affects people who have had traumatic injury to the lower back of the head or cervical spine.

[davecom]

I hate to be cynical, Katybug, but how do you know the chiropractor wasn't partially the cause of some of these problems?

[Katybug]

The beginning of all of these changes was already there. The diagnostics at that time prior to any treatment showed the complete loss of the cervical curve and significant disc degeneration in the c spine as well as the beginnings of arthritis (which is one thing that actually hasn't changed much.) I was going to chiro for low back pain but before tx, he insisted on full mri of head, neck, and back due to my migraines. The low back pain was from a slipped lumbar disc and a horseback riding injury when I subluxed my tailbone severely. When the symptoms of pots/mcas kicked into full gear, I basically put these other things aside. My low back pain was already gone and we had continued to treat my migraines. Just so you know, everyone assumes that chiropractic tx has to be those bone cracking contortions but that is not the type of tx my chiro practiced on me. He used a tool called an activator which is spring loaded and looks something like a miniature pogo stick. It is hand held and causes a very gentle percussion when used to make an adjustment. You can be skeptical but I only had relief of my symptoms (the ones I had at the time) when I would get an adjustment and he would put me in mild neck traction. None of the meds that the other docs were throwing at me at the time helped at all. We found out during this time that I was definitely infected with a Lyme coinfection and probably Lyme as well (although my testing was most likely screwed up by the fact that my PCP had had me on 2 rounds of antibiotics prior to ordering the Lyme test.) No chiropractor could cause Babesia or Lyme.

[jaddico]

MakeMeErised,

I'm glad that you are getting good outcome from your Chiropractor. Mine wasn't so great. After years of suffering from neck pain and stiffness, one of my friends suggested that I see her chiropractor. I trusted him and felt that he could help me. I kept getting more pain as time progressed and he kept telling me that I needed more time and the pain was due to the adjustment and its working. Well I ended up with C6-C7 spinal cord compression requiring screws/plates and bone graft. My neck from C2 down has diffuse degenerative disc disease (DDD), bone spurs and variosu levels of herniations. I've been told by others that the chiropractor should had never touched my neck since I most likely had DDD resulting in more herniations through adjustments. I know there are great Chiropractors out there, however my past experience has made me cautious. Furthrmore, I will never go to a chiropractor again. I pray for great outcome for you. Please keep us posted. Thanks for sharing your story with us

[Katybug]

Marigold,

I'm so sorry that happened to you. I have used a few types of alternative therapies and all of the practitioners, including my chiropractor, always told me that it shouldn't hurt. If something hurt that it wasn't right. I'm just so sorry you had an experience where the chiro caused additional pain and told you that was normal and healthy.

I also hope that MakeMeErised gets the relief she is looking for with this treatment. But I do agree that we all have to be careful with anyone who treats us whether they are traditional or alternative practitioners.

[yogini]

MakeMeErised, it sounds like some of the symptoms (like the coordination issues) may not be typical for POTS. I would be curious to see how you feel in the long run with your treatments. I haven't heard of too many dysautonomia patients pinpointing a cause that was "cured" by any treatment, but I hope that's the case for you.

I too have neck issues without having EDS, though my symptoms are not as severe (mostly pain and tingling, with the occasional headache). I am not sure if my neck issues cause POTS or the other way around. For me my guess is that they are separate and make each other worse.

[trappedat20]

@Katybug that's interesting that we have a lot of the same problems with our necks. Have you looked into getting the curve back into your neck? I now realize how important it is to have that curve because it causes so many other problems in the neck when you don't have it, and it's kind of like a chain reaction. I hope everything works out for you.

@Yogini the coordination issues came from my neck being screwed up and not the dysautonomia. I don't have POTS. I have all of the symptoms of POTS and all of the problems that people with POTS have, but my blood pressure and heart rate are completely insane and never do the same thing, so I don't have POTS. I'm currently just diagnosed with dysautonomia and vasovagal syncope. Tbh part of the reason that I'm hesitant in trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my life once I start to feel better is because I don't know how much better I will feel. I know that the adjustments will make a difference because they already got rid of the migraines and the sensitivity to light and sound, but I won't know if I will be 100% better until I'm done with treatment I guess. Theoretically it should be cured, but I guess when you're dealing with the nervous system and dysautonomia it's all a toss up even when you find your primary cause.

@Marigold I'm so sorry that you had a bad chiropractor. This was actually something I was worried about because I believe that chiropractors can actually be very useful if they are good chiropractors. Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad chiropractors out there which is where the mistrust of chiropractors comes from. My husband and I did a lot of research to find the best chiropractor in the area because we were worried about this. Especially with all of the issues with my neck we knew if I had the wrong person touch it that it could be very detrimental to my health. I immediately got a very good vibe from these people and I really like them. They even teach you how to read your own x-rays and stuff so that you know what you are looking at and they do progress x-rays and evaluations so that you can see the progress instead of just taking their word on everything. The fact that they even told me my back really wasn't that bad at all made me trust them more because they didn't try to lie and say my back was bad. They told me I just had minor scoliosis in my back and it wasn't really effecting anything but that my neck was really messed up. I could see and feel how messed up my neck was and had previous x-rays and knew they were telling the truth. Idk I just got really good vibes from them. If you get bad vibes from a chiropractor or if they are more interested in your money than your health than run as fast as you can. As far as pain there are two types of pain. It's very common and normal to be kinda sore for a few hours after your adjustment. I always feel a little sore after my adjustment and ice it when I get home and the next day I wind up feeling even better. There is also bad pain though. If you feel like you are getting worse instead of better and are experiencing more pain or bad pain then that is not common. There is a big difference between the pain I felt when my neck was really screwed up verses the slight amount of discomfort I feel after my adjustment. I would not trust anyone who did not take your concerns seriously either. It is your health and your back/neck and if you feel something is not right then you should be able to tell them that without them trying to tell you it's normal without looking into it. I'm very sorry you had a bad experience and I wish you the best.

My Update: I have now had a total of 3/72 adjustments. I have a really long way to go and a total of 9 months of treatment. As far as my symptoms go the only symptoms that have gone away are still the migraines, and the sensitivity to light and sound that happened at the first adjustment. I have barely had anything done yet though. It's just the beginning. I'm really not so sure how the whole symptom thing is going to work either. If my symptoms will lessen and then go away, if they will go away mainly at once, or if they will go away symptom by symptom. I'm not completely sure if that is all of the symptoms that have gone away, maybe there's a minor one that I'm not thinking about, but the migraines and sensitivity to light and sound were so awful that I noticed they were gone right away. My neck feels a lot better too. I still have neck pain, but it's not the unbearable I want to just cry pain that I was experiencing before. It was awful before. It's bareable now. There haven't been any negatives.There is something weird I experience after my adjustments though. I noticed this a little bit on the second adjustment and on the third adjustment it was a lot more noticeable. After my 3rd adjustment my ears felt like they had a lot of built up pressure (like when you're on a plane or have too much earwax), which was relieved by massaging the pressure points in the back of my neck after a few hours. I wonder if it has to do with all of the built up pressure in my neck (remember the neck cracking and hypermobility stuff) being moved after an adjustment. My husband say I'll probably experience weird symptoms after an adjustment because of that disc moving around and stuff but I'm not sure. Either way I will keep you guys updated. I have A LOT of built up pressure in my neck, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's just because of adjustments moving that pressure around because it's relieved after massaging the pressure points.

Also I have my first follow up x-ray in just my neck in 5 weeks, and my first full x-ray evaluation in 3 months. I'm very eager for the x-ray in 5 weeks. I want to know how different my neck will look and if I will see any progress that early on.

[trappedat20]

TREATMENT IS WORKING! Omg guys the treatment is actually starting to help. I only did 5 adjustments and I'm standing longer and able to do a little bit more physical activity. 2 days ago I did a lot of laundry, a little bit of light cleaning, went to the gym, and took a shower ALL IN THE SAME DAY! Normally I only have like 1 spoon and it's broken and I can only do one of those and I'll feel like crap for doing it too. I feel like treatment has given me an extra 3-4 spoons. Yesterday I did some cleaning and was able to clean up an area of the room that got so messy from me being too sick to ever work on it. Today I'm going to do some more cleaning and go the gym. There's a lot that needs to be cleaned because the house is getting inspected Tuesday and my husband works all of the time and I've been way too sick. Cleaning was always way more spoons then I had. I had gotten to the point the laundry was getting like 3 weeks backed up and we were running out of spoons because it cost too many spoons for me to do it. I was also showering only like once a week and my hair started to look like I dumped crisco in it. I don't feel normal, but those extra 3-4 spoons make quite the difference between being able to do a little bit verses being able to do nothing. I've also been standing longer and have been able to stand at front counters and stuff if it's only like 10 minutes verses before when after a few minutes it felt unbearable. I did 25 minutes straight on the bicycle thing at the gym 2 days ago. A month ago I only was able to do 5 minutes before I felt so sick I had to get up. When my heart started to speed up too much to the 170's (the 170s feel like crap for me) I would just slow down but I never stopped. I really feel like it's starting to help me out. I have a long way to go but if I'm able to do a little bit more after 5 adjustments that's pretty good since I have 72 total. My neck is starting to feel a lot better too. It use to kill me before and now it barely even hurts. Oh and guess who didn't even experience pre-syncope while cleaning? It's been a really long time since I've even had it in me to do any cleaning but when I did I would experience pre-syncope and normally wound up passing out. It's just the beginning and maybe I'm jumping the gun but my husband and brother in law noticed it so it must be helping. The fact that my neck feels a lot better makes me think that either enough pressure was taken off my brain and spinal cord or something got unpinched allowing me to feel a little bit better. I can't wait to get more adjustments. I'm hoping I will be able to make a full recovery. Wish me luck guys and don't give up hope that you can fix this.

[Katybug]

That's great news! I hope you continue to make improvements!

To answer your question, we did gently work on my neck but it would always return to the incorrect position. My suspicion is that since I have EDS, my connective tissue does not hold the vertebrae in place properly. I did feel temporary relief from some symptoms after an adjustment but the effects would wear off in about 24 hrs..

[AshleyPooh]

Although I'm skeptical about chiropractors ( half of them are quacks, at least, but some are legitimate and do good), I am interested in the idea that this could be for some folks, a spinal problem. I have myofascial pain syndrome, usually in my upper back and shoulders.

My mom has degenerative discs, and I always wondered if part of my problems in my back were from something like that. Also wondered if any of my weird dysautonomia stuff (silent migraines for instance) are from that. Of course, I don't have insurance, and so I won't be finding that out for a long time, but I imagine that I still have NCS, and that anything from my spine is just added symptoms.

[trappedat20]

@Katybug aw I'm sorry. Do you crack your neck or anything? If you do please stop. I don't have EDS but my neck cracking up the connective tissue in my neck and made it really hypermobile. I don't have EDS, so I can't give you specific advice there, but you should ask around and see if there is anything you can do. Whenever the tendons and ligaments in my neck heal (they are torn from this) I'm going to start weightlifting to make my neck stronger. I'm already weightlifting to make the rest of my body stronger, but I can't do the shoulders or anything that effects the neck because it hurts really bad when I start to do anything that puts pressure there because it's all torn. My husband use to have really bad scoliosis and had to see a chiropractor weekly for maintenance after his treatment, but he started weightlifting and it made his back muscles so strong that they stayed in place. I don't think that would work in the case of EDS though I'm just mentioning it. You should do some research and see if there is anything someone with EDS can do to make the neck muscles stronger and hold them in place better. Good luck!

@AshleyPooh I understand the skepticism behind it because even my chiropractor said that there are a lot of scam artists out there and imho I think it's really sad. Chiropractic, when done right is really amazing and it's amazing the things it can fix. There are a lot of corrupt chiropractors out there unfortunately and my chiropractor even explained the most chiropractors will only treat you until your pain goes away, verses fixing the problem. Or there are chiropractors who are so money hungry they talk more about that instead of your health and that's when you should run. I'm debating listing the name of my chiropractor because I don't want it to be considered that i'm promoting it or anything and get in trouble. We have a miracle board at my chiropractors office and people write all sorts of amazing things that have happened because of it. I could already write on the miracle board with what has already been accomplished, but I'm waiting until I'm done with treatment and know how much will get fixed. It's crazy what a pinched nerve can do. There's pictures out there on the spinal cord and what areas go towards what body system, and where ever that pinched nerve is will effect that body system. I'm not explaining this that great, but it's true. I heard this story about a woman at my chiropractic office (I watched it on a video) who was trying to get pregnant for 10 years and it turns out she had a pinched nerve around the part of the spine that controls reproductive help. She got it unpinched and wound up getting pregnant that month. There was another story about a kid who they thought had horrible ADHD that was unresponsive to medication and he was getting into all sorts of trouble and it turns out his neck was curved the wrong way like mine, only his was squashing the lower part of his brain that controls reasoning and stuff. I forgot what it was called. After a few months of adjustments when his neck started to curve the right way his supposed ADHD went away and he went from failing in school and doing drugs and being a troublemaker to getting good grades and staying out of trouble. There's plenty of people who had blood pressure problems disappear and migraines disappear. Doctors just want to give you medication to treat the symptoms, but if there is a pinched nerve that isn't going to help you at all, and it can be dangerous if you don't get it fixed. Now, I know right now I sound like some sort of enthusiast or something and it's not that I think if you go to a chiropractor it can fix any problem a person has. I just think that chiropractic is very underestimated and people don't realize how important your spinal cord is. It deals with the nervous system and we should all know what it's like when your nervous system doesn't function properly. So if you have a pinched nerve or if part of your spinal cord or brain stem is being squashed it can literally effect any one of your body's functions. Sorry for that long story. I'm really not some sort of cult person lol. I didn't even start seeing a chiropractor until about 2 weeks ago, but I know from experience it works.

Okay so this is a part that I forgot to mention. Part of what is going on with my neck curve being all screwed up is it's pressing up against my Medulla oblongata. Which your medulla oblongata controls cardiac functions, respiratory functions, autonomic functions like breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. All of those things which are compromised with me and with someone with dysautonomia. So even if I didn't have pinched nerves, which I have several pinched nerves,it would be screwing with me anyways for that reason. I'm not sure if I can post links but go look up the medulla oblongata. If you look up it's functions it controls all of the things that a person with dysautonomia lacks. Oh and it also controls like parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, and the vasomotor center and baroreceptors. My point is don't knock it. Maybe someone isn't having a problem caused by their spinal cord, but what's the harm in checking when it could very well be the thing that gives you your life back? If there is any possibility that it could be caused by a problem in your spinal cord than research and look around for the best chiropractor in your area. Do your research and look around and maybe even talk to people who go there. It's your health. Don't even mention the dysautonomia to them right away so they can't try to make it seem like it's the cause if it isn't. I told my chiropractor I had dysautonomia right AFTER he told me about the medulla oblongata and where my pinched nerves were. It fit perfectly for me and since I didn't tell them before I had no doubt in my mind they were telling me the truth. I agree with you that half of them are quacks, and half are legitimate. My migraines were caused from that because after having a 24/7 migraine all of the time, I went to my first adjustment and they disappeared. If I were you I would pay out of pocket anyways. Insurance only covers the first 20 adjustments. I'm paying out of pocket and while it's financially stressful now, it's worth it for me to have my health back. I really would wait if I were you. That's what I did and look where it got me. I started getting the pain and migraines when I was about 15 and I'm 20 now. Every time I would get a massage they would tell me I really should see a chiropractor. I always meant to but it never felt important enough. It wasn't important enough to me until I got so sick with dysautonomia that it disabled me. If I had kept waiting it would eventually have gotten to the point it was irreversible without surgery and the nerves would have been damaged. I already have a ton of problems in my neck that would have been prevented had I gone a lot sooner.

Update: I haven't had an adjustment since I last wrote, but I was able to do a SHORT STANDING WORKOUT yesterday. It was really pathetic and short and I took a break, but I did it and that is just amazing to me! I did Turbo Jam: Learn and Burn. To those who don't know what it is it's a short 10 minutes explaining the moves and a short 16 minute workout. I took about 3 breaks that lasted 2 minutes during it, but I was able to complete it which is great because I was able to do a standing workout.It wasn't until recently that I was able to even do sitting cardio at the gym. I'm hoping somewhere in my treatment I will be able to do my old 45 minute- 1 hour workouts again. Not only that I've been cleaning for the past few days. I've been cleaning everyday, and while I'm not able to do what a healthy person can do, please note that I haven't even had a good enough day that I've been able to work on cleaning for even 1 day in 2-3 months. The fact I've been working on cleaning about 4 days in a row and I haven't had a crash says something. I've been working on the bedroom this whole time and today it will be finished. A healthy person would be able to do it in a day if they worked at it all day, but the fact that this room got pretty gross from me being too sick to work on it and my husband not knowing how to clean up after himself and being too busy with work to help me, really says something. I'm such a neat freak and being too sick to clean the room has been dragging me down for a while now. I can't wait for it to actually be clean. If I feel okay enough I'm going to do the bathroom today too, if not I'll do it tomorrow. Like I said the landlord is coming to inspect the house Tuesday and it needs to be done, so the fact I have a few extra spoons is great.

[corina]

MakeMeErised, I have removed the post that was incomplete for you.

[BeforeTheMorning]

Hey, that's great that your treatment is helping, I hope you continue to do really well.

Best Wishes,

Lyla

[trappedat20]

@ Corina thank you

@ BeforeTheMorning Thank you

Update: I do a lot of updates lol. Today I have learned that I'm not completely invincible. I am now in spoon debt. I pushed myself too hard trying to clean the house up before the landlord comes on Tuesday. I'm going to probably rest for the next few days to make up some spoons because I overdid it and feel exhausted. Surprisingly I didn't pass out though. I haven't even been able to clean in the past few months, but before that whenever I would overdo things (not nearly to the extent I've overdone it the past few days) I would pass out and that would be the end of me trying to overdo things. I was surprised that I had cleaned and done laundry for 4 days straight as well as doing light workouts. It's kind of difficult when situations arise where you have to push yourself knowing that you will pay for it, although I also didn't know what my new limits would be so it's good to know how far I can push things.That is definitely an improvement! Besides, the spoon debt that I am in right now is just how I normally felt before I started getting adjustments anyways just without the passing out and migraines. It's more just that complete exhaustion to the point you can't do anything that is on a level that only people with chronic illness understand. I have an adjustment tomorrow so hopefully in 2-3 days I'll be back to feeling where I have been for the past week I cleaned about 3 months worth of mess in 4 days which is definitely not an easy task for a spoonie. Alas I'm done cleaning and will probably spend the next 2-3 days in bed reading or watching movies which is fine by me. I had a few days to catch up on the things I needed to do so I will be better able to relax knowing there isn't overdo laundry and the room isn't a mess. Plus there is the knowledge that I'm getting better to keep me going

I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you for listening to my ramblings

[Darlene]

do you ever get this burning sensation run down your arms and back? i have headaches every day too, havent had an xray or mri but i feel like my headaches are from my neck. i get these burning sensations... i m not sure if its from my neck or one heck of an adrenaline surge. my heart raises to when i get the burning.