Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I've Been Out and About

All On My Own

As I had gone off the pain meds for at least the day, I decided to see how driving was and made an appointment for the chiropractor for late afternoon.

I am SO glad I did. There were a serious number of vertebrae out of alignment in my back, all contributing to my general feeling of "not quite well." Most important, perhaps were the mid back ones that do affect digestion and can make you nauseous. I didn't think about that as a factor, but once I was adjusted, I had an almost instant sense of relief--kind of unusual under more normal circumstances.

One muscle in my back is still annoying me a little, but I will wait a few more days and then go back for another treatment. All I can say is that for now, I feel SO much better!

Which offers a word about alternative medicine. How sad that the mainstream medical world does not tend to recognize the value of anything except conventional practices. I had a doctor once totally scoff at the idea a chiropractor could cure my migraine headache and instead insisted an overdose of aspirin and Tylenol (potentially dangerous to the liver) was his solution. Had I had a good chiropractor in the hospital, I'd wager I would have been feeling a heck of a lot better a heck of a lot sooner than I did. Add to that something like acupuncture--I've had it in the past but not tried it yet for this--and the benefits soar.

Yet skeptics hold the reins of power. Too bad. It is rare to find a doctor who is ready, willing and able to see both sides of the issue. For example, in my case, surgery was probably a necessity. (There is a treatment called "chelation therapy" that might have some ability to cure cancers but in this situation, the surgery is so super successful, it is the better option.) My chiropractic center--which has medical doctors on staff--never questioned that, so why would a conventional doctor question chiropractic if I insisted it worked for me?

Unfortunately, at least here in the USA, there is a long standing rift between the two schools of thought. At one time conventional medical doctors were even trying to make chiropractic illegal....for horses too. I boarded at a barn run by a vet who refused to let a horse chiropractor practice on the farm, so the horse owner and chiropractor had to go to an adjacent empty field for treatment. Silly stuff, now that I look back on it, but feelings were pretty strong then.

I am certain there are some "not so good" practicing chiropractors out there, but I have a wonderful one. He promised me when I came in again after surgery that he could adjust me without my having to lie on my stomach on the table. So we did some of the work with me sitting up, and some with me lying on my back. All I can say is, "Wow!!" My doctor, Shawn Morris of the AIMS Clinic in East Brunswick is a miracle worker!

After the adjustmen I headed out to a few stores. I wanted to get some Activia yogurt for my tummy and perhaps a new string of Christmas lights for the back porch. Yogurt, no problem. Lights? Three stores were completely sold out, including Target and Home Depot. The guy in Home Depot said it is the first time he can ever remember this happening. While I am pretty sure I can fix my lights as I presume it's just a bad fuse...I am amazed not to be able to find a new string somewhere. Before my surgery, when I was shopping, the shelves were full of all kinds of lights. Now, nothing...literally. I am definitely going to have to drive around to look at displays on other houses to figure this one out. Is the stumbling economy making people overdo in order to brighten up their emotions? Curious. The new LED lights to not take up lots of power, so they are fairly economical to operate. Could that contribute?

I may take a drive later in the opposite direction to see of there are any lights east of here to buy. In the meantime, I hope your holiday is already lit up with the promise of good things to come.

And thanks, I am feeling much better now that I have been adjusted. *G*

5 comments:

  1. Interesting the riff between the two schools. In France, you need to be a Doctor as a MD to be able to insure. So Normal Drs train as chiropractor, acupuncturist, hoemopathy etc...
    Usually chiropractor or osteopath are physiotherapists.
    I prefer that the person has both schools. Of course they are chiro or osteopath or homeopath without a MD, but the care won't be refunded by the medical insurance.

    I am glad you are feeling better.

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  2. There are some incredibly bad doctors too as I am sure we are have examples of.

    It must be a good feeling to be out and about under your own power!

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  3. Anonymous1:58 PM

    Glad you're out and around! I was a skeptic about chiro for horses until I tried it on Mark Rashid's recommendation for Maisie and it started to make a huge difference. That said, I've also seen some not so good chiropractors, as well as some doctors and vets who were the same. I think so-called modern medicine does have its benefits for certain things like your surgery - but I think modern medicine also often has its blinkers on and just can't see that there are any other ways of thinking about or doing things other than drugs and technological fixes.

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  4. I'm so glad to hear you're out and about and feeling better. Interesting thoughts about the Christmas lights.

    I'm with you when it comes to alternative medicines and procedures. I've never been to an acupuncturist or chiropractor but I'm getting to the point where I'm strongly considering making an appt. My internist actually recommended one that he thinks is very good. We've had them both for the horses and some were very good and helped quite a bit. We still have this same man come since he's made such a difference in the horses. My daughter has been helped a lot by acupuncturists and chiropractors too. There are so many things we don't know and should at least keep an open mind about concerning different therapies. Believe it or not when we had a small barn operation we had a clinic featuring a Reiki practitioner. I was a little skeptical(it's my nature) but believe it or not it really helped some of the horses and I still use it occasionally. I did a post on it a few years back and got quite a lot of comments about Reiki and it showed how many people are interested in alternative therapies.

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  5. just the same over here ... some people are open minded and some aren't, some are good and some are bad

    you watch it on the driving (although i guess you have power steering? even so... it'll strain the muscles, as you know!)

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