Teresa
15APR2014
Before starting chiropractic care, I had been struggling with my overall
health since 2011. I had chronic upper respiratory infections and several
issues with my eyes that really decreased my quality of life as symptoms and
medications kept me from doing things I love, hiking, running and just being
outside. I had a sinus infection that wouldn’t go away starting in Feb of
2011– I spent months of trying different antibiotics (strong ones with major
side effects), antihistamines and steroids. The bout ended
with a sinus surgery in Sept 2011. I had a few months of recovery and then
moved onto starting immunotherapy. I was given allergy tests in Aug
2011, and the results showed I had allergic reactions to 31 of the 36 things I
was tested for. So I began getting allergy shots in Jan 2012. In
order to mask the symptoms and terrified of going through another year of a
sinus infection that wouldn’t go away, I was taking multiple medicines while
building my tolerance with the allergy shots. Daily, I took 2
prescription antihistamine eye drops, a prescription antihistamine nose
spray, 2-3 antihistamine pills, and periodic pain relievers for these
tension headaches that began in 2011 when my illness seemed to take over my
life. I continued with the allergy shots and the cocktail of medicine to
accompany until Jul 2013. At this point I was over the 2 years of feeling
sick, spending hours at the Dr. Office and just not fully back to feeling
myself. I often would go to bed at 7pm after taking my 2nd antihistamine
pill. My energy was lacking and I was still limiting myself to the
allergens that I thought were causing me to be sick- so no hikes or open
windows. I had another bout with eye irritation in May 2013 and
went on steroid eye drops yet again. It cleared up temporarily but it
early Jul my eye irritation started to return. I saw an ophthalmologist
and gave my 5 yr history of issues. The Dr. was quite concerned of my
history, especially for my age, even asked if I had been tested for Lupus, and
decided to try another approach than just continuing steroids and antibiotics.
She put in eye plugs in both of my eyes to reservoir my tears to try to fix dry
eye irritation I have been having, a common procedure but not for someone only
29 years old. The antihistamines and nose sprays had literally dried out
my body. This was the final straw for me. My health was
slightly better in that I wasn’t getting frequent infections, although my
quality of life had deteriorated and I didn’t want to be on all the medicine
for the rest of my life. If in 2 years I had already experience the eye
side effects, what else was yet to come?
I wanted to explore other healing approaches. Try something new.
I felt like I had nothing to lose since I didn’t really feel better
anyway. So I set my first appointment with Dr. Nicole. I
wrote out my health history and came to the meeting fully prepared to explain
all of my health problems . In the first five minutes she asked if I had
been in any car accidents. I was completely surprised, but answered yes,
I had been in a major accident in 2004. I was truly grateful to walk
away, was in good shape at the time and never felt back pain. So I never
thought twice of the long term consequences.
My xrays confirmed subluxations in my neck, which correspond to sinus, eyes,
lungs, etc. I stopped the allergy shots since I wanted to try one thing
at a time, and be able to tell if the chiropractic care was working. I
began seeing Dr. Nicole three times a week. I few weeks in, she gently
nudged me to work on my diet. I have always been health conscious, did
not drink soda or eat fast food. However, I lived off of coffee and had
no idea how much dairy and sugar I was actually consuming. My husband and
I did a 7 day cleanse consisting of only organic veggies and wild salmon.
We both noticed a major change in how we felt and I feel like I turned a major
corner in my healing. I began weaning myself off of all the daily
medications I was on. We stuck to the diet in moderation and slowed down
our lifestyle of constant travel/go go go mentality. I slowly began
hiking again and enjoying the outdoors like I used to. By October, only 3
months of treatment, I had stopped all of my medication. I’m now in my
8th month treatment. Still getting adjustments weekly, but my health and
overall wellness is thriving. I began working out again in February,
hoping to get back to running half marathons eventually.
I am grateful I found Dr. Nicole. My life has changed from
medications, shots and limiting myself to things I know I love to do; to
working on my overall wellness, healing and finding patience in the
process. I’ve learned to not force my body to respond and heal, but if
you give it the right tools to do so, it could just happen naturally. I
recommend considering chiropractic care and a holistic healing approach to
anyone with allergies or chronic sinus/upper respiratory infections.