A visit to the chiropractor

Day 29.  I've been feeling pretty good this week, but I'm also ready for the 30 days to be over.  Not so that I can eat poorly again, but just so that everything doesn't have to be so strict.  So that I can eat out and have shrimp and cocktail sauce, and cook from my Paleo cookbooks and not worry about reading every single ingredient.  The plan is to basically keep doing what I've been doing, only with a few less restrictions. 

I went to the Chiropractor the other day and he did three tests to see how my nerve function was.  His whole philosophy is that the nerves are essential to body function and when your spine is not in its proper place, then your nerves are not able to transmit their signals effectively.  The scans revealed that my neck was a mess, which explains my blackouts during yoga and when I get out of the hot tub.  I'm not sure if I've written much about them, but in Yoga if I'm bending over and then the position moves and I'm suddenly standing up with my head looking at the ceiling, which happens in practically every yoga class, my vision goes black and I get light headed and can't think clearly.  I just focus on breathing and wait for my vision to return.  I've never passed out or lost consciousness although a couple times I came really close.  It's the reason why I quit doing yoga.  The scans also revealed that I lacked muscle tension through my spine which was causing my lower back pain, and also probably the cause of all those times I pulled my lower back muscles when I was working out a lot two years ago.  I never pulled my muscles while working out, but while lifting my kids.  Also interesting to note was that in my lower spine, there were several spikes on the graph which the doctor said explained why my feet go numb when I'm working out (They always go numb doing Turbo Fire) and also when I'm skiing.  The idea is, that once the spine is in its proper place, the nerves are not being pinched by the bones and they can function properly.

I love how he does the tests, because it's bringing modern science into a realm of medicine that traditionally goes along with acupuncture and herbal medicines.  By using the scans you can actually see what is going on in your body and also if the treatments are improving anything.  All my life I have always leaned towards the scientific versions of medicine, what we think of as "medical doctors".  But as I've gotten older and more interested in living a healthy life, I've started drifting to the more traditional type of medicine.  Taking on the mentality of trying to improve my health on my own, without pills, through diet and exercise and properly taking care of my body. (which yes, I know, I stunk at this last year.  I did not handle my miscarriage well at all.)  Now I understand and know that modern medicine is super important, but I've come to find, that it doesn't have all the answers.  For instance, I know there is a problem with my fertility right now.  My cycles are not quite right, and I'm pretty sure it's my hormones.  After charting for one cycle, I can see that I'm not producing the right kind of cervical fluid, which could mean that Luteinizing Hormone is out of whack for me.  Now it might just be that my body needs more time to fully heal from the trauma that it went through last year, and there might be more underlying issues as well.  But the point is that OBGYNs won't even look at you unless you've been trying to conceive unsuccessfully for at least a year, because that is what is defined as infertility.  Perhaps by that time my hormones will have fixed themselves but in the meantime I want to know what is going on with my body. 

Just like with my blackouts, a medical doctor would most likely prescribe a pill to try and fix the symptoms, instead of addressing the source of the problem.  I feel like too often this is the case where we are given medicine to treat the symptoms instead of trying to fix the actual problem.  I know this isn't always the case but we have all heard stories and my recent experience with my miscarriage and the subsequent three months landing me in the ER at 2am has left me a little bitter.  That doctor should have known something was wrong, my levels were dropping super slowly and every time I asked about it all I got was "sometimes it just takes longer for some people" quickly followed by "Hopefully next week will be your last blood draw".  I suppose what I needed to do was switch doctors at that point. 

And when I've seen the podiatrist about my feet going numb I get this "you have poor circulation in your feet, lets make you some expensive orthotics to correct your arch and see if that helps".  Which of course they don't help the numbness in my feet.

Now I'm rambling, but I have hope that some of my issues just might be resolved or at the very least improve.  After my adjustment yesterday, I went about another 6 hours and then my lower back actually started feeling better, on the same day after one adjustment.  I'm glad I decided to go into it with an open mind, I'm hoping for the best.  Just to be clear, I'm not saying that chiropractors have all the answers, or that they are better than medical doctors,  rather this particular chiropractor (who sees things a little differently than the traditional chiropractor) claims to have solutions to some of the problems that have been plaguing me for nearly a decade.  I suppose time will tell.