Case Study – Headaches
This story demonstrates that Plant Meds take a backseat to nothing, in this case, for SEVERE HEADACHES, with neck and upper back pain. The PAIN started over 2 months ago…daily headaches, worsening with every passing day…louder, and louder, the message said “meet the NEED!” The pain is accompanied by heart palpitations, shakiness, and a tripling of bowel movements that are loose and watery! (Huh? How can that relate?)
These headaches are SO SEVERE, (graded 10 out of 10!!), that you visit the hospital 3 TIMES in 2 months. Begging for relief…an answer! You have CAT Scans, MRIs of your brain…and they tell you that “you are fine.” They run some lab tests…and tell you that “YOU ARE FINE.” (When I heard this story, I asked… “So did you grab him by the white coat and say, NO…I’m NOT…I’m NOT Flippin’ FINE!”…he did not do any grabbing of white coats…)
Doctors did not help
They offer pain relievers…first Percocet, an opiate based pain reliever… then Zofran, which is used to treat the vomiting of chemotherapy and radiation for cancer (??? Not sure why that was picked)…and prescription strength Ibuprofen.
And…holy crappola…these powerful drugs didn’t even touch it. The ibuprofen took an edge off, but just a little, but, as he said, he worried about harming his liver and kidney taking it everyday… multiple times a day just to get down to an 8 out of 10 pain intensity!
On his 3rd visit to the ER, they suggest a “specialist.” His next available appointment is 6 weeks out! You book it, because… WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO!? (Good question, by the way!)
Meanwhile, he steps on the scale at home, 2 months into this horrible experience, and he has lost almost 20 pounds!
What else can he do??
He found True Health. When I examine his posture, he was so twisted out of balance, it looked miserableand painful. His shoulders were hunched over, and pushed off to the left, tilted to the right. When I turn him around, I touch his shoulder blades to identify a body landmark, and his left shoulder blade is sticking way out. We don’t know what it means yet, other than his body is weakened…and if we can create balance, he will heal.
Next we check blood pressure and oxygen. I notice that is heart rate is 110 (RESTING!), and congratulate him on being in a “low aerobic zone!” (Not good at rest!)
We locate the muscle “weaknesses” that have pulled his body alignment out of balance, and start “asking” what the stress response is from, which defines the NEED. (Stress, injury, inflammation, hormones, etc).
Treating the need
Once we have the NEED, we treat his body with HANDS…acupressure, muscle work, massage. I tapped acupressure points and massaged body reflexes that strengthened his weak muscles)…then adjusted his neck (Duke University published a research study a few years back on CHIROPRACTIC benefits for headache!!). I retested a muscle, and he winced in pain…I had him touch the pain, and tapped the acupressure face point that extends through that painful spot…Next, I then pushed again…and tapped…another push…and he said… “Hey, the pain is less!”
I flipped him over and massaged two muscle points, by the shoulder blade and top of the shoulder (Injury)…he winced…and I eased off a bit, but continued to “care” for the muscles. I found another, right under his skull…again a wincer…treated with gentle massage.
I asked him to sit up, and check in on the pain. It had hurt with movement, so he rolled his shoulders and neck around a bit. Huh? 50% better? (Opiate drugs couldn’t decrease the pain).
I asked him where it hurt most now, and did the same process…tapping the face point corresponding to that body location, while massaging the areas where he felt the most remaining pain…upper back and head. After that, I asked him to stand up. His posture looked much more relaxed…I rechecked pulse rate and it was down to 85! (From 110)
I asked him to recheck for pain, and he said OVER 50% pain reduction! In about 30 minutes of work! NO relief in 2 months, even on high powered drugs…and 30 minutes of acupressure reduced his pain by around 70% total.
Finding stressors
We sent him off for labs to identify the stressors on the body and explain the inflammation further.
One week later he returns, and his pain has remained 40% reduced (AND HIS PULSE RATE IS NOW 77)! His labs identified an autoimmune thyroid condition that had just about shut down his liver function (Cholesterol 88! Which indicates Liver congestion), and all that appeared to be caused by a virus.
So how does the number 5 ranked hospital in North Carolina, behind Duke, Wake Forest, and UNC, miss Graves disease, liver failure, and a chronic virus…while a very desperate patient suffers and struggles for months!!?? A: Because they ONLY LOOKED AT HIS HEAD!
Weight loss, shakiness, and frequent bowel movements are 3 of the most common signs of Graves disease, which could cause headaches through the effects on fluid pressure in the head!
We prescribed a couple antiviral plants (Olive leaf and Schizandra), along with plants to drain out the congestion in his liver. I treated everything again with acupressure, and asked him how the headache feels. He shrugged his shoulders… “No headache.” One week after walking in my office!
He’s got a way to go to heal his whole body…and I have no doubt he was headed for an early demise (with liver shutdown!). But thanks to full system analysis…a wholistic approach… and actually touching our patients, he is headed towards LIVING!
If you are exhausted with your struggle, give us a call for a full system approach. Clearly, natural medicine takes a backseat to nothing (even opium!) Call 828-424-1064 or visit our New Patients page.