Kathryn D N

I need medicine for anxiety? Seriously? It all started back 2 ½ years ago. I was sitting at my desk writing an email and tying my sneakers. I looked down and ZAP…darkness and everything started to go whoosh! I was very taken back. I actually called my son, who was 10 at the time, into my office so that I could remind him that if anything ever happened to Mommy that he shouldn’t hesitate to call 911 and that everything would be ok. I let him know I was not feeling very well. So there I sat, holding my head and trying to get over the electric shock feeling radiating through my front tooth. In a couple of hours I went to the emergency room. Knowing me as he did this was truly not normal and they were concerned. I explained my symptoms to the ER doctor. “I think it is something in my neck.” Poke, poke, poke. “No really, it is in my neck, I felt that is where it came from,” as I continued to poke my neck. Off for a CT-scan. No aneurysm, no tumor, all looked good. They sent me home with anti-nausea meds. A week later I had a high fever and a bad cold and the dizziness only got worse. My own doctor said it was a virus. More meds – steroids now. Seriously? Months go by and the dizziness is interfering with my life. Off to balance therapy. The migraines became more frequent and truly interfered with things. The therapist told me my neck was crooked and referred me to a neurologist. There wasn’t anything more she could do. I visited with my regular doctor and chiropractor. I got some relief from the migraines with my Chiropractor, but not enough. My regular doctor gave me some migraine medication. Now I needed the anti-nausea meds because all I did was throw-up which only made the migraines worse. I am too tired to walk my 3 miles a day. I am too tired to garden. I can’t get out of bed to start my day without forcing myself because I can’t sleep at night. I go on vacations and need a nap after breakfast. Mid-afternoon I can hardly keep my eyes open. Bedtime is after dinner, right? Seriously? My periods are irregular and sometimes twice a month. What the heck? Once is bad enough. Off to the OBGYN for my yearly check up and complain again...so the answer is you want to put me on the “pill”. My issue is hormones? Seriously? Hmmm…why now? “No thank you.” So I am in the middle of a conversation and lose my thought completely as I feel my heart stop and re-start. What was that? It happens again. It isn’t stopping, it is skipping. Seriously? I am not even thinking about my heart. Who feels their heart beat? Ever? Cardiologist says, “Yup, that is what you feel. It is ok though. These are good skipped and extra beats.” Uh…ok. My aching head. It will be ok tomorrow. Today I just need to throw up and keep my head under the pillow and tomorrow it will all go away. It did, but it was back again. Sometimes twice a week. I am so tired. Tired of feeling miserable. Tired of feeling my heart beat. Tired of feeling like I am choking. Tired of my aching head. I am so tired. This is so NOT me. So, to be sure I have got this straight. I need steroids, migraine medication, hormone pills and now anti-anxiety medication? I have received chiropractic care for the past 20+ years. At many times in my life it was truly a God sent gift to help what ailed me. Then I brought my bag of troubles to Dr. Aresco. We started working on identifying the true root cause of my symptoms. We weren’t trying to manage my symptoms. The symptoms can’t go away without removing the root cause. This makes total sense to me. I followed her lead and was feeling somewhat better. Some of my symptoms were lessoning, however some were just not budging. I was feeling I was at my whit’s end and she referred me to Dr. Roth. But I already see a Chiropractor. He is different in what way? Simply put, he has a specialty. Just like conventional doctors are all MDs, some are OBGYNs, Orthopedics, Endocrinologists and so on. I will go along and follow her lead. I am desperate now. I just want my life to be back to normal. MY NORMAL. Not what others tell me what it should be. So I had my first visit with Dr. Roth. We talked. He explained. I listened. He scanned me. I went for x-rays. We looked at them. We talked. He explained. I listened. I could not believe how far out of alignment my neck really was. I got adjusted. Within the first week I could feel my choking sensation had gone away. I wasn’t feeling like I couldn’t breathe as often. I had more visits, scans and adjustments. Into month two I went away for a long weekend with my husband. We traveled with a group of friends and getting a “good night sleep” was not something I could hope for while I was away. First night I got 4 hours. Sure as heck I was in for a day of napping and going to bed early. Guess what? Not a single nap and my husband dragged me to bed at 1:30 AM. Fluke, right? Few weeks later I realized it was happening all the time. By the beginning of month 3 I was back to having days where I could burn my candle at both ends. Seriously? Yes, this is my normal. Maybe this was working. I can’t remember the last time I felt rested or up for having a marathon day of anything. Being dizzy became a rarity. I found so did my migraines. Funny thing the dizziness and migraines seem to go hand in hand so if one should happen the other isn’t far behind. One day I got hit by the migraine and drove straight to see Dr. Roth. He scanned, poked at me. Then he asked me to stand with my arms spread apart in the doorframe. Ok I thought, anything that will take this away…it was almost immediate relief to my aching head. We did a few other adjustments. Then he asked if I had had a fall where I had to reach out and catch myself with my right arm. I looked at him and wondered how he could possibly know this. 6 months before my visit to the ER I fell down the stairs and had to catch myself so hard that within an hour of my fall I could not lift my right arm due to the pain in my shoulder. He poked around a bit more. Gave me some additional adjustments. Relief for my head. Could this be my root cause after all? Well I can happily say that I can’t remember the last time I felt my heart beat. My stamina is ever increasing. I am not clenching my teeth as much. Thinking is a joy again. Focusing is as easy as it used to be. I can swallow. I can breathe. I can do. This is ME! Adjustments have become less and less of a need. I am becoming adept at assessing my own needs with regards to what type of adjustments I need to keep myself in tune. I am writing this today because I feel strongly about sharing the lessons I have learned with others in an attempt to help them. I know hundreds of people. No exaggeration, hundreds who I have encountered in my life with many of these same complaints. Many of who are popping pills or taking drastic measures to cover their symptoms up, and not working to get themselves to the true root cause of their issues. I am sharing this with you as the reader to let you know you need to give it a try. It doesn’t hurt. Be patient. Be open. Be well. Kathryn D. N.