Chiropractic Follow-up

I've been seeing my chiropractor for just over a week now.  I thought I'd offer a little feedback on how things are going for those who are curious.

First of all, I'm referring everyone I know to this chiropractor ... that probably says a lot.  I'm suddenly a "believer" in chiropractic medicine. 

My horrible back pain is gone already.  Even though we interrupted my early treatment with a long drive to Colorado and not so comfortable hotel beds, the adjustments have already taken care of the pain and discomfort.

Both doctors who work there, have used the phrase, "Your power is on!" with me, at separate visits.  I don't know what they mean by that, but they're very excited.  They also have told me that the movement between joints is doing really well.

Besides spinal adjustments, they are teaching me a lot about overall health and changing patterns of resorting to pain medication (read: Tylenol) every time I get a headache.  While I never thought of myself as a big pain medication addict, they were explaining to me the overall negative effects of using even over-the-counter (OTC) medications with any regularity.

I haven't looked this statistic up to verify it, but they told me that if I take 1000 OTC pain pills over my lifetime, my chances of having Alzheimer's when I get older increases by 60%.  Seriously?!  Has anyone heard this before?  That's one contest I don't want to win.

I also mentioned in my last post that I've switched over to drinking strictly water.  For me, this means drinking no diet sodas or iced tea.  I don't generally drink any alcohol, so that wasn't a problem for me.  But I live for a Fresca in the morning ... the bubbles perk me up!  But artificial sweeteners are apparently bad?!

Okay, so I have heard some reports about the problems with artificial sweeteners -- I'm not that far out of the loop.  I've just been in denial about it because I like the occasional diet soda.  Or, let's face it, some days, three or four of them.

I am not going through many soda withdrawals though, probably because I don't consume a lot of caffeine, so I don't have headaches or anything as a result of stopping.  I don't drink coffee, so no problem there.  I like iced tea and there will probably be a point when I have some of that now and then because it's not as big a problem as sodas -- as long as I don't sweeten it with Splenda or whatever.  But for now, I'm actually feeling better having my big water cup with me constantly.

C and the kids got me two of these cups over the past two Christmases (or birthdays or something) and I love them.  Nobody else gets to use them, so one is always available to me in the cabinet while the other is in the wash.

For me, this is a big accomplishment.

They have explained that breathing problems and asthma usually stem from problems in the upper spine (neck) regions.  Since that was my worst misalignment and swelling, they have done a lot of work in that area.  Maybe I'm imagining it, but when we were doing a bunch of walking and hiking around in Colorado, I didn't feel even slightly winded.  The other asthmatics in the family were coughing a bunch, but I was not.  Even at the higher elevations in cold weather.

That was very strange, come to think of it.

So I don't know if they're already improving some other conditions I've lived with for decades, or if I just have a good attitude about the whole thing.  Either way, I'm feeling better and I look forward to my adjustment days (right now it's about three days per week).

It helps that the people who work there are so friendly and nice, too.  When I enter, I feel like I'm going for a day at the spa even though the adjustments take less than five minutes each time.  Sort of nice for a tired, old mama!