Chiro update, and fun with the hypothyroid!

Hey guys!  :)  Been a little while, had a lot going on!  So, an update!

My back issues and the chiropractor working to correct them continue.  I was having relapse pain/strain when I lowered my number of visits a couple weeks ago.  I'd been going 3x a week for 4 weeks to work on getting my pain under control, and the pain itself left, but I could feel things slipping back to where they'd been at the beginning of the pain when my visits lessened.  Not good.

The chiropractor did a follow up visit to see where things were compared to where they started off, and I'd made some progress.  As I mentioned before, a healthy neck curvature is not what I had.  It's supposed to be a 42* angle.  When all of this started, my first X-Rays, which I shared, my head was at an 8* angle.  Not good.  After 3 visits a week for 4 weeks, my neck improved to a 12* curve.  Better, but still not good.

So, we discussed the options to getting me back to normal, which will take roughly the following course of action:  3x a week for 8 weeks, 2x a week for 4 weeks, and 1x a week for 4 weeks.  After that I should be able to go back to 2x a month, biweekly, and that should be enough to hold me in a "normal" range.  We may never get back to the full 42* curve, but 30-35* would be so much better than where I am now.

But, my husband, a chiropractor skeptic, despite making my initial appointment, decided he wasn't sure continuing to go was the right thing to do.  Our compromise said I get a second opinion from a medical doctor, so I made my appointment for my physical for the year.  Two birds, one stone, and all that.

So, my physical came and went, they stabbed me a few times before they got the blood drawn that they needed (I have tiny veins that are hard to get without popping all the way through them), got my tetanus shot updated and all that stuff that needs doing every now and then.  And they essentially told me if my pain came back, they could medicate me, and run tests at that point, but where I am right now, they won't do much.  Well, that's really no surprise to me, but I'm not happy with the idea of waiting for things to get bad again before we do something about it.  So!  Chiro it is!

Anyway, so I started back on the 3x a week thing and have done that for a week or so now.  Feeling better every time I go.  So yay for that!

But...  then I get a phone call.  My labs are back.  They want me on a Vitamin D supplement because my levels are low.  No huge surprise to me, I've been inside all winter.  It's still pretty cold out some days, and I don't like being outside unless it's reasonably warm, because cold and I don't get along.  So that was no huge surprise, and I can take a vitamin, that's fine.

BUT it wasn't just my Vitamin D.  Apparently I've got low thyroid function as well, otherwise know as hypothyroidism.  (hypO, not hypER)  At first, this sounded kind of scary, because, as I recall, my aunt with non-Hodgkins lymphoma (a lymph node cancer) first showed thyroid issues...  so I asked them to look at my blood cell levels and everything there looks normal.  They'll keep an eye on it, but that's something to know, that there's a family history...

But then, I started looking into WHAT hypothyroid can present as.  And the more I looked at the lists, the more things sounded familiar.  My hair falling out as though I just gave birth.  I make jokes that it's a miracle I'm not bald, lol.  I have these little bumps on the backs of my arms, and dry skin.  My joints ache.  My muscles ache.  I get frequent, albeit mild, headaches.  Nothing to take pain meds for, since I try not to use those, but still there.  The older I get, the more PMS symptoms appear.  I get more mood swings, am more irritable.  I sleep a lot, have always been one who needs lots of sleep.  Fatigue sets in STRONG and I just have to go to bed.  I have difficulty losing weight, and if I'm not actively trying to lose, I tend to gain pretty quickly.  And cold sensitivity.  I've always had that.  I get cold and I just can't warm up again.  And my teeth have always been somewhat cold sensitive too.

All these things, alone, I didn't think were hardly anything.  Nothing to mention at the doctor, nothing to make note of.  Just things that happen to me, or things that happen as you get older.  Whatever, no big deal.  But when you add them all up together, it IS a big deal.  And if I can do something about it, why the hell wouldn't I?!  That seems SO SILLY to let it go and do nothing, knowing what it is.

If you want to take a peek at the symptom list, and if any of this sounds familiar to you, see the tests you can request to have run over here:  Squidoo's got a good page with lots of links worth following, and The Mayo Clinic's hypothyroidism page (more child related) is another good one.  HyPERthyroidism also presents with similar but opposite results.  Sensitivity to heat, loss of weight, etc.  Thyroid issues are VERY common, the more I look into it, the more I realize this!

Anyway!!  They want me on a synthetic thyroid hormone to correct the balance, and called in the script for me.  I've started taking it as directed, but of course, being the natural person that I am, I asked the chiropractor about it at my appointment this morning.  I need to get a copy of my blood work for him so he can figure out just what to do exactly for the supplements and all that, but there are things we can do without prescription medications.  As I suspected.

There are some supplements I can take and some stuff I can do (like more high impact exercise than yoga) to help stimulate the thyroid and get it doing what it should.  I plan on talking to my doctor about my plan, and hoping my levels are better enough they can lower my doses on the hormone meds, and hopefully the supplements can replace the synthetic hormone altogether soon.

There are some things I want to do alongside a medical doctor, and this is one of them.  I will take the synthetic hormone and do the supplements as well.  If the supplements and exercise program don't help enough, I will continue to do so.  But!  If I don't have to take the synthetic hormone, I'd rather not have to.  It's worth a try!

So, crazy long post later, here I am.  Doing well, on my way to even better.  Hope all is well on your end!  :)  Have a lovely weekend!

Chiro, tooth fracture, and dentists! Oh my!

Today made visit #5 for the chiropractor.  I do feel much better overall, they got me started with some exercises I can do to help strengthen the muscles around the spine in the neck too.  Fix the problem, train it to go the right way.  Come on now, I only have so many visits left!!  Work with me here, neck!

I'll admit my tension was a bit high this morning, and I'm still a little tight in the neck/shoulders...  but the last 24 hours have not exactly been forgiving.


Anna, my 9 year old, decided to have another fight to the death with her scooter.  And just like last time, when the scooter laughed loudly in her face and skinned her knee to the bone, she lost.  Only this time, instead of seeing the inside of her knee, we got to see the insides of her teeth!!!  YAY!









Broke off 2/3 of one tooth and 1/3 of another.  Awesome.


Grabbed kids and flew down to the dentist, but they were already gone for the day.  Nobody answered when I called.  Nor when I called the emergency line.  Hell, more than 24 solid hours later, nobody has returned my call.  We've found ourselves new dentists.  >.<


Took the kid to the Urgent Care and got her some hydrocodone to get her through until morning, and got her to sleep for the night.

Morning came with appointments made with two different offices by accident, chiro appointment, driving the kid to the wrong office, canceling appointment made by accident, flying to the right office, and being seen.


Turns out the teeth were not as bad as we thought, the roots were intact, not exposed, and there were no hairline fractures up in the gumline.


We ended up rebuilding the teeth with large fillings.  No crowns, root canals, caps, or nerve deadening needed.  Which meant, despite the awful look of the initial injury, we did not need near as much of our insurance today as we thought.


She got to watch Gnomeo & Juliet on the ceiling while they worked.  Ceiling screens are amusing on laughing gas, apparently.

While they worked, they told stories of other kiddos who were worse off upon coming in.


There once was a little girl who was hit in the face by a baseball bat.  It was intended for a pinata.  At her own birthday party.  While she was reconstructed in the chair, the party continued on without her.  Nothing worse than having to go to the dentist on your birthday and get home to find everyone else ate your cake and ice cream for you, eh?


So see, it can always be worse!


And in the end, she looks MUCH happier, more comfortable, and much more normal in the toothal region.  Yes, I said "toothal".  I know it's not a word.  I don't care.  :P




So, all in all, I think my neck tension was well founded.  And I hope it is melted away by morning...  but we'll see.  Stupid neck.  Be nice!

Back pain vs. the chiropractor!

So, a couple Saturdays ago, I woke with a crick in my neck.  This happens from time to time, and I felt it along with a knot in my mid back, just under the shoulder blade.  If I pulled my arm around to touch my opposite shoulder and felt around back, I could feel it, but couldn't get it released.  Every day it got a little worse.  A little worse.  A little worse...  until Saturday the next week, I simply could not move without pain.

So!  My lovely husband suggested I suck it up and see a chiropractor, because that's their job.  Fixing backs.  Fine, I said, though I was hoping it would fix itself on its own.  It usually does.  I couldn't even work the iPad from my prone position in bed because I couldn't move my right arm without hissing in pain.  Not exactly a good sign.

So he worked it for me (noticing a pattern?  I think I'm starting every paragraph with "so".  Not on purpose.  We'll see if it continues!  LOL).  Helped me sign into my insurance's website to try and find someone, and double check my coverage!  Kinda handy to know if it will be costing me out of pocket or not.  Turns out, it's covered for a $20 copay for each visit.  Up to 20 visits a year.  Well, all alternative health care things add up to 20 for the year, but I have a feeling this is where it's all going!

(So) I ran up there and filled out paperwork while making quiet pain noises, and got in to be seen.  I sat in half lotus on the bench and waited while playing my turn in a few games of Words with Friends, which I'd fallen behind in.  When Dr. Kirby was able to finally get in to see me (I was a rushed appt they kinda just smooshed me in between others, so I waited a bit that day), we chatted about the issue, he checked my posture, felt around the spine to see what he could feel, and what he found said he needed to look further.

(SO!) We did this crazy heat and tension diagnostic tool that is supposed to help pinpoint the problem areas.  Turns out...  where I hurt was NOT a problem area.  But I had some pretty bad ones.  Mostly in my neck.  Since that didn't look like expected, we also did some X-rays.  We went from taking those to hooking me up to a fun electrode thing.  Electrocuted my back in an X shape to try and get the knot behind the shoulder to release. Mostly, my left shoulder pulled up without me telling it to move, and my head tracked up and to the right!  It was kind of a strange feeling, but the knot does feel better now.  Still there, but not as intense.  Doesn't hurt as much.

(so...)  After that, we did the first fun adjustment.  Now, I've never been to a chiropractor before.  I didn't really know what to expect.  But I do know how to breathe in and relax with an out breath from my yoga fun, so I did that.  And I've had small people walk on my back to help pop it a bit when things felt a bit stuck.  So I know what a crunch and a pop feel like from moving the bones around.  And I wasn't too surprised to feel them, but I was surprised at how easy it was to do!  Crunch pop rat-a-tat-tat!  LOL

My upper back didn't move too much, but my neck, where all that pain was stemming from, cracked like nobody's business.  Serious cracks man.  Major noise.  Sounded like a little machine gun.  O.O  Kinda like this, lol.  Not me, unless I grew a mustache overnight and went blonde without knowing it.  ;)



Anyway, so I left, made my payment while they tried to figure out my insurance stuff, and set up to come back a few days later.  Went back and got to see my X-rays.  And...  uh...  my neck?  It doesn't look normal.  Not a good thing.

Normal neck looks like this, with a lovely curve to it.  Supports the 15lb weight of the head so the head rests over the shoulders.  Normal:

And this is my actual x-ray.  I took a picture of it on my phone while the doc was out of the room.  Because it's so crazy.  Seriously.  No curve.  BAD.  

So my back is holding up the weight of my head instead of the neck.  That absolutely explains the back pain.  My head is sitting 1.5" farther ahead than it should.

When I was standing there for the x-rays, I got the random flash in my head from the last time I had x-rays done of my spine.    I was 19, had just been in a car accident, and had broken a windshield with my face.  Hmmmm...  I wonder now if my current state is a result of that, and the x-rays not being read by someone who was looking for things like that.  I'll never know, but it makes me wonder.

Anyway!  So, yoga feels nice while I'm doing it, but I feel a little too creaky to really do too much that's different.  I guess I'm afraid of moving things out of alignment too much, in case I do something wrong...  but I know at the same time, I should be okay to do most things.  But I should also trust my instincts and stay away from things that feel like too much.  Like wheel.



I was working up to a good one!  I could hold it for 2 or 3 breaths before releasing when I hurt myself.

Ah well, such things can wait.  So, for now...  I am supposed to go back for a total of 10-12-ish visits to try and get this back in place so it can get to a normal state.  And get my pain to go away.  And stay away.  That would be nice.

I'm tired of this.  And I can't go back to the way it was last Saturday.  So!  I have a feeling I'll be going back every so often to maintain the good alignment I'm working so hard to achieve right now.  And hopefully, with my lovely $20 copay, it won't cost me an arm and a leg to do it.  Stupid 20 visit max.  >.<