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Topic: Chiropractic Therapy? (Read 310 times) |
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Sgt.Bones62
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Chiropractic Therapy?
« on: Jul 5th, 2003, 12:39pm » |
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Just found this great website! Bear with me a minute as I make this intro before getting to the "chiropractic" meat of the message. My episodic clusters started many years ago. Always started in the fall, after Halloween before Thanksgiving and always on the right side of my face. I'm a 40 year old male. I've tried a lot of things and found that mostly only temple masssage (to put it mildly) worked or the CH just ran it's course (more likely). The CH's seemed to work their way around the clock, starting in the wee hours of the morning in the first week of the cycle and making their way to later in the day towards the end of the cycle. A cycle being about 4-6 weeks. I actually experienced about a 3 -4 year remission about 5-10 years ago and thought I was finally through with them. (I even began to wonder if a test I was part of during my basic training in the Army had anything to do with my initial onset of these monsters) By the way, I just learned that my father experienced the same while I was a kid in high school, and after more than 15 years he has started again! Well, in the last 5 years I have been seeing more specialists but never opted for the heavy drug plans. My last ditch effort was a chiropractor who touted relief of migranes with neck "adjustments" (more like the neck twisting moves seen in action movies where the hero breaks the villain's neck). I decided to give him a "crack" at it. I made it through the first year with any episodes! He wanted me to write a testimonial but I was too skeptical thinking I was just experiencing a long remission. Our teatment plan was based on my insurance coverage which only would include 14 visits. So, we started with one adjustment every two months in the beginning of the year (January) and graduated to once per month in the late Spring early Summer and finished with weekly visits as we approached my historically bad period in Fall. I would then use my last 5 visits for multple sessions within a week. I made it through a second year without any episodes! Now the bad news; My chiropractor died suddenly at less than 40 years of age and my employer "modified" our health benefits. Now since I no longer have chiropractic coverage I was too frugal to spend the measly $30 and have gone 6 months without an adjustment. You guessed it! The damn CH's are back! Just started 3 days ago and I've experienced one episode each of the three nights at about 2am. Was this just the end of another remission or did the adjustments work? When I had started the chiropractic visits I said that if I continued to have the CH's I would next try accupuncture. Now I wonder if I should just go and try the needles or if I should pay for the chiropractic visits out of my own pocket. This, as with many other treatments concocted out of desperation, may not work for everybody but I just thought that sharing it with someone who hasn't thought of it yet might possibly benefit from it! Good Luck! Now I will rest before the next "dance". Sgt.Bones62
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BobG
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Re: Chiropractic Therapy?
« Reply #1 on: Jul 5th, 2003, 1:32pm » |
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Sgt.Bones, welcome to the board, sorry you had a reason to come looking.
Quote:| but never opted for the heavy drug plans. |
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Good for you. “Heavy” drugs I take as to mean narcotics? Correct? Pain killers will not help stop the pain of cluster headaches. There are medicines available that will help. Verapamil is the choice of most as a preventative, Imitrex as an abortive. Pure Oxygen inhaled through a non-rebreather mask, Dramamine may help you to not go into REM sleep mode, ice packs or heat packs and/or exercising the pain away.
Chiropractors……..this is only my opinion……..they can’t help you. Why?
Quote:| touted relief of migranes |
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Cluster headaches are NOT migraines.
Quote:| Our treatment plan was based on my insurance coverage which only would include 14 visits. |
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And the Chiropractor needed ALL 14 visits to relieve the pain? Hmmmmm?
Quote:| have gone 6 months without an adjustment. You guessed it! The damn CH's are back! Was this just the end of another remission or did the adjustments work? |
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IMHO, yes it was the end of remission and no the adjustments only adjusted the thickness of your wallet.
Acupuncture is something that I am also very skeptical about for the treatment of cluster headaches.
Click on the buttons on the left side of the screen. Much information there. Read, read, read. You’ll need it to educate your neurologist.
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Sgt.Bones62
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Re: Chiropractic Therapy?
« Reply #2 on: Jul 5th, 2003, 2:01pm » |
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BobG - Thanx for the welcome, even if it is to hell-although I've been in it for more than 15 years. I guess I chose the wrong words "heavy drug plans". I think I was referring to Narcotics as well as voluminous any other. I have tried Imitrex and it didn't abort a thing. Thank God the neurologist gave me some free samples because I don't think I could have afforded them otherwise. Once the first two did nothing for me I gave the rest to a co-worker. Besides they were meant for migraines and as you said CH's are not migraines. I new that, but when I chose to go to the chiropractor I was thinking, "what the heck". He also specified that he had only treated migraines thus far but was willing to give it a try if I was willing. I've also tried Oxygen and actually got to my doctors office and had an episode in front of him including the beads of sweat from the pain and the oxygen didn't seem to help. All my episodes seem to only last less than 10-15 minutes although it seems like forever. The chiropractor didn't need all 14 visits because it was not an abortive attempt. The visits were staged periodically as a preventative measure. When they were covered by my insurance they only cost me $7 each! To me totally worth the two years, right or wrong. I will definitely look into the Verapamil though. I don't think there is anything that you could get into your system that would act fast enough as an abortive when mine only last under 1/4 hour. But, if I started taking a preventative, like I did the chiropractic adjustment visits, I will always wonder if it is just a remission period I'm experiencing as opposed to the drug doing what I paid for. Will I consign myself to lifelong dosages of Verapamil, being afraid to stop taking it for fear the CH's would reappear?
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BobG
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Re: Chiropractic Therapy?
« Reply #3 on: Jul 5th, 2003, 2:41pm » |
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Sgt Bones........about the oxygen........
how did the doctor give it to you? It has to be a a high rate, at least 10 to 12 lpm through a NON-rebreather mask. Most users report a quick relief (within 10 minutes) if the oxygen is started at the first signs of an attack.
You say you attacks last only 15 minutes. Have you been officially diagnosed with cluster headaches? It sounds like maybe Chronic Paroxysmal Hemicrania (CPH). You might mention it to your doctor. CHP is very responsive to Indomethacin. If you can get indomethacin at the first sign of attack and it goes away then you probably have CHP. Indomethacin won't do much for a cluster attack.
But, and this could kill a military man, CHP is mostly a woman's complaint. But, if that is what you have we promise not to make fun of your manhood. ;D
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dellp
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Re: Chiropractic Therapy?
« Reply #4 on: Jul 5th, 2003, 9:08pm » |
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Welcome Sgt. Bones,
I have tried full spinal, recoil, upper cervical, and Gonstead techniques from chiropractors during a cycle and had no success - I am a retired DC myself and was getting regular adjustments for many years. The cycles still came.
I have tried four different 'styles' of acupuncture and only one was successful, the Classical Five Element technique as taught by Dr. Worsley. No one else, whether successful or not has volunteered the type technique they experienced.
Something else that worked for me was tryptophan. I have posted about these elsewhere on this board. Let me know if you need any other info.
Sorry this is so short and to the point but time has been very short for me lately. Good luck and wishing you PFDAN,
Dell
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