Chiropractors and PLS

[AKmom]

I have a bro in law that is a chiropractor and a very good one at that. He was even made chiropractor of the year in 2010. Although he has worked on me off and on through the years, I have neglected to go to him the past few years because I would spasm so bad when he adjusted me and he would get upset thinking I was over reacting (that goes with being related to someone and not having a diagnosed at that time).

Well, I am now in a place where I have so much back pain and neck pain not only from the muscles but from things being out of alignment. When I lay down.. both arms and hands will go totally dead to the touch. Feels like I am touching someone elses arms because the touch sensation is totally gone. It only take me changing position or bringing my arms up over my head to get the feeling back. This tells me I have something pinching a nerve somewhere. I also have problems with range of movement in my neck. I can only turn my head so far in either direction but not far enough to see behind me like what is needed when backing up a car.

So in hopes to fix this I have decided to go to my bro in law for some adjustments. Today was my first appointment in a few years. I had not told him about my PLS until today. My biggest concern was not only the spastic spasms when he tries to adjust me (and now we know why this happens) but the recent discovery of my tendons and ligaments poping and tearing easily. He for the first time understood my concern and really did a very easy careful adjustment. Not as agressive as he use to be. I did spasm but only in my right shoulder muscle group and up into the neck. They are still spasming 5 hours later. I have been icing them and will probably go in tomorrow for some ultrasound therapy if they dont improve soon.

My question to the people on this board is.... have you tried chiropractic therapies to help relieve symptoms of bone/joint displacement from the continual contractions of muscles? If so did you find it helpful?

 

[Alyoop]

Just a note of caution (from a non believer). Chiropractors keep Neurologists busy with the terrible damage that they can do. I do not say it lightly but I also underatnd That many people swear about them and get defensive.

My husband would never recommend chiropractors, especially letting them touch necks, as Strokes and verterbral artery dissections can occur with devastating and sometimes fatal consequenses.

Shoot me down if anyone wants but it happens more commonly than Jo public realises.
Aly

 

[joelc]

LOL. Doctors also do immense harm to people. Yes, I am as defensive of Chiropractors as you are about medical doctors. We need them both.

 

[Tokahfang]

I went to a chiro for a few years with a spastic back. I don't think he changed my long term outlook, though I'm not sure I would know. It did lessen the pain for a few days of each month, but the spasms always returned with a vengeance in less than a week.

 

[Alyoop]

Hey Joel. People just need to know that neck manipulation can cause extreme harm. Its fine if they are told the risks before hand. Sorry to have offended you, but if just 1 person does not have a stroke or end up dead from reading this then I will be happy. Many people are not aware of the risk. I have a friend who had a stroke at just 45 (and hes a doctor) when a Chropractor friend did a manipulation and must have broken off a plaque in his carotid causing the stroke! I am not saying it in the defense of Doctors, and sure some Doctors cause accidental harm as well. That was not my point.
Maybe someone could avoid being in a wheelchair!

 

[AKmom]

I think there are alot of quack chiros just as much as I think there are alot of quack docs in this world. ANY doc whether it be chiro or md or specialist that thinks he knows everything about everything and that I don't know anything at all is a quack. ANY doc that doesn't listen to me when I say something is not working for me is a quack. ANY doc that blows over all the tests I have already taken and says he has his own people he wants to do the labs or tests with is a quack. ANY doc that thinks himself a god and can heal anything through whatever system he funtions in is a quack. ANY doc that chose his profession because of the money is a quack.

Now with this said, my bro in law does not rip a persons neck to the side to try and get a crack out of it. He uses what I think he called an activator. It is a very low impact thing that he uses by placing his fingers on my neck at the place that its out of wack and then thumps his finger with the activator. Not painful at all and it puts just enough pressure on the offending bone to move ever so slightly in the right direction. It takes longer and more frequent visits for the effect to work because of muscles pulling it back out. But I must say I have had positive results already. Last night only half my hands would go numb on either side and on my back. That is an improvement from the whole arms and hands going dead. Although I am still cramping and having severe pain in my muscle under the shoulderblade on the right. I think I will go in and see if their altra sound waves works on the inflamation.

I know there are those who believe that chiros are scary. That is usually from the medical field docs who do not want to accept that homopathic remedies might have a place in this world. However I also have met some chiros with the same biases as these md's that are against them. Only the chiros are the other way...saying that a md will kill you. My bro in law was that way. But he is slowly changing some of his thoughts on this as he sees my case move along. He is angry that the docs have taken 20 years to figure me out and they have come close to killing me a couple times not to mention the 100 of thousands amount of money that has been wasted on useless tests and drugs. Matter of fact it was a neurologist who had me on so many drugs one time that it almost killed me when my bp dropped to 64/39 and he ignored the fact. This is when I just took things in my own hands and refused certain meds that were the culprits. Well the pompus 'donkey' then said he would not have me as a patient! Ok I would not have him as a doc because he was a quack!

But needless to say with as long as I have been dealing with health issues I have learned to not take everything I am told to do as gospel of getting better. Thus why docs are 'practicing medicine'. I have realized that the relationship I have with docs is one of employer and employee. I am the employer who has hired someone for their knowledge of medical field or expertise and the requirements of the job is that they work well with me, they are open to viable options even if its homeopathic, that they can think for themselves and study up on things if they don't know much about a certain problem. That they like and want to work on a hard to solve puzzle and have reasonable time to do so. And that I am the one that will decide if a certain treatment will be implimented or not. I do listen to the doc I have now. He understands this relationship and works well with it. He has even told me that he wishes he has more patients who have complicated cases work with him like I do. Most docs don't like this type of relationship in my experiences. They don't like their patients questioning them. I just want to trust and understand whats going on because 2 times of almost dying because of doc godliness and me following along blindly is just not going to happen.

So that is what I have to say about that. Gee I didn't know that I was going to type all that out!

 

[Alyoop]

The comment about chiropractors was just meant as a warning about neck manipulation and being careful!
For goodness sake. A lecture about doctor patient relationships is hardly fitting.

So as I said be careful when getting a neck manipulated as there are risks involved. talk them over with the chiropractor before hand, especially if you have a history of stroke in your family or osteoarthritis.

Warning like this are probably even in the chiropractors hand book! Whats the problem.

 

[Zaphoon]

I was going to a chiropractor for a while but I had forgotten to tell him about my neck muscles being stiff. You can probably guess what happened when he tried adjusting my neck. I've haven't been to a chiropractor since.

 

[AKmom]

Zaphoon did you tell him you had PLS and did he know what it was? My bro in law didn't know what it was and I gave him a very abreviated text book description of what I understand it to be. I am sure that he has since looked it up online.

Last night the muscle cramping on the right shoulder blade finally settled down. That was the longest cramp I have ever had! Lasted about 55 hours. Iced it last night till the area went numb then hubby really worked out the knot by massage. Its feeling much better so far today. Now my only concern is that yesterday I noticed when I walk around for a period of time my right foot is going to sleep. And if I ignor it long enough it feels totally numb and weak. Not the first time this has happened, it did this a few years ago when I was inflamed in my lower back and had to have injections in my spine. That took care of it. Bro in law did not touch my low back because I told him that I had a mri a few years ago that showed a bluging disc and calcification of one of the vertabraes...but I don't remember which ones. I have to get the mri results to him.

Beky...I know that the chiro treatments wont make the over all picture of the disease go away. I am just hoping to get some of this pain relieved from things being contorted out of place. If at all possible. My toes were curling something horrible from the constant spasming and deforming them. This was before my diagnosed of PLS so we didn't know why it was happening. My doc thought it was marie charcot tooth syndrome and even though my bro in law had some orthotics made for me I couldn't wear them because they made it unbarable to even stand on my feet. He used a new fangled machine to measure the pressure of how I was standing. So my GP doc sent me to a pediatrist who made casts of my feet and then made the orthotics. These I can stand in for a long time before my feet start to hurt beyond what I can handle. This is an improvement. I am happy to report that since I started baclofen at the beginning of summer, my feet very rarely have spastic cramps anymore. The toes are not tightly curled anymore and there is only the deformity that is not fixable without surgery that is left. At this point in time surgery is not something I feel is necessary as the deformities are not all that bad and hubby doesn't think any less of me with my crooked toes.

Thanks to the fine people on this forum for telling me about baclofen.

I am hoping to get some relief from the sharp pain that is right between my shoulder blades and my neck. Although now he has me on vitamin suppliments. Like I need to have to remember to take more pills!

 

[Zaphoon]

Regarding the chiropractor, he didn't know because PLS hadn't been discussed yet. I did go back to him to pay on my bill and at that time mentioned PLS being suspect. He then told me that upon hearing of my leg issues on top of the shoulder troubles suspected it could be a neurological problem.

He is the best chiropractor I've ever been to see. Okay, so he's the only one I've been to see...

He is still a very competent a likable fellow!

 

[AKmom]

I have had my second adjustment on Friday. Things moved much better this time than the first and although it sent my abdomin into a tail spin of spasms that then sent my back muscles screaming back their protests...it was a good session when it all settled down in about 1 minute or so. Haven't had much problems today with anything feeling like its out of place anymore so I think that this round has done well with me.

So we will see how things progress further. I am not one to feel like I need to go all the time but he wants to see me again on Monday. I got a feeling he wants to do a 3 times a week thing like he did along time ago. I remember I stopped going because it was causing so much spastic pain and he would get upset (was before I was diagnosed with pls). But now that we know why its happening it hopefully he will keep a grip on his emotions when I lay there all stiff as a board in a spastic mess. I am will to put myself through those brief spasms in order to keep my body in alignment so that my arms and hands do not hurt much. This is also only if my bro in law learns what pls is and not bug me to death about how hard physical labor will improve my muscle strenght! He seriously wants to help me but he seriously needs to learn what pls is we do not butt heads as he did in the past.

BTW, on another of my posts I had mentioned how bad my hands were hurting constantly in the muscles and tendons (at least that is what I thought was hurting) between the fingers in the hand....since the two adjustments they have gotten so much better! I don't know how exactly they are related but I guess it had to do with the pinched nerve I had somewhere in my neck. Now only my pinky and ring finger are falling asleep at night and its mainly while sleeping on my back and only on one hand. This is such a huge improvement!