'A Patient Voice' Community

hello, R --

i acknowledge that chiropractic has been shown to be helpful in treating headaches, neck pain, and lower back pain (see PS1). at the risk of offending some readers, let me say, however, that i am very skeptical that anything a chiropractor does could affect your mother's dizziness over the long term, and i am just plain appalled at this "adjustment" that went wrong. as a consequence of it, her regular chiropractor has washed his hands of her and has sent her to her primary-care dr, which in my view is where she should have been in the first place.

now that i have gotten my lecture/temper tantrum out of the way, tho, and emphasizing that my opinions about chiropractic are my own personal ones and perhaps not generally held, let's concentrate on your mother's symptoms as a whole. i am not a medical person (PS2), and i don't quite know what to think about your mother's various gastrointestinal (GI) diagnoses (PS3), but i do think it is possible that some of her GI complications are related to a neurological problem. nausea and vomiting are not uncommon as corollaries to neurological problems; these in conjunction with her headaches and dizziness make me very nervous.

i believe that your mother needs to see a neurologist as soon as she can. it sounds as if things are only getting worse, the headaches in particular. delaying further consultation because of fear over what it might find is not going to help in the least; it is always better to know than to not know. your mother needs to know all of the relevant factors in order to make an informed decision about what she might do next, and she can't know them if she doesn't investigate them.

i send caring thoughts to you and your mother and hope that she can find some relief soon. please keep us posted on how the both of you are doing.

-- susie margaret

PS1 -- webMD info on chiropractic is at http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/tc/chiropractic-topic-overview . be sure to check out all of the subsections, which are listed at the left in blue ink under the black title "chiropractic."

PS2 -- i welcome, solicit, and indeed beg for correction, amendment, or replacement of any inaccuracies in this post.

PS3 -- because they preceded this bad "adjustment," i don't think that her GI problems are related to this "adjustment."

Hello.

I am a strong proponent for chiropractic adjustments. One of the methods I use for managing my moderate to severe chronic back pain is periodic adjustments by an excellent chiropractor. The thing to remember about chiropractors is that they are not medical doctors. They do have a great deal of medical training, but not enough to truly diagnose any medical problems. My chiropractor would not touch me before I had a full set of spinal x-rays and then a full set of spinal MRI's done. For the first year or so he would have all my reports and films in front of him when adjusting me.

susiemargaret, IMHO your advice was spot on. I really don't see how any adjustment could result in these symptoms.

rachelledesiree, I think your mother should schedule an appointment with her primary physician for a full exam. After that your mother and her doctor can decide on what course of treatment to follow which could include seeing some type of specialist such as a neurologist. Further testing, either GI or other If it were me, I would stop seeing this chiropractor and follow another course of treatment for now until the symptoms are resolved.

Praying that the patient can get the treatment and relief she needs soon.

hello, R --

as for the communities that J mentioned, you can find them at --

-- the digestive disorders community, http://exchanges.webmd.com/digestive-disorders-exchange ,
and

-- the back pain community, http://exchanges.webmd.com/back-pain-exchange .

i still believe that seeing a neurologist is your mother's next best step. consequently, i am taking the liberty of posting a related message in the neurology community, http://exchanges.webmd.com/neurology-general-neurology-questions-and-support , altho i respond to many of the posts there also (i have no neurological background, but i'm a pretty good researcher). there are two other people who also respond there, and who are extremely knowledgeable and whose comprehension of things neurological is quite sophisticated compared to mine (of course, that wouldn't be too hard!). you might therefore also want to check there periodically to see if they have had anything to add to our various comments here.

i send you and your family caring thoughts and the hope for a good new year for all of us.

-- susie margaret

I have a couple questions...

Does your mom have worse stomach pain and nausea after eating a meal that is higher in fats? as examples, foods with Butter/margarine, creamy sauces, fried chicken, peanut butter, apple butter, etc. I ask because a large majority of 40 year olds--more women than men--start to have gallbladder (GB) problems at this age. Nausea and or pain can start within 30 minutes of a meal. Pain can go straight through the body-- front to back. In fact, many people complain of pain below the scapula. Many people take a medicine for gallbladder disease; the capsule contains bile salts; when the gallbladder does not function well, it can prevent bile salts from being pushed into the stomach where they are needed for digestion of food. A GB problem could cause pain at the upper or lower sphincters of the stomach. One other question to ask her is, well, is she gassy? In hospitals, professionals refer to GB Females with the 4 hallmark signs, "Female, Fat, Over 40, and Farty". Not every GB patient is "fat", or even overweight, though. The
"4-Fs" listed above fit the majority of patients with GB Disease.

How was the "duodenitis" diagnosis made? Was it a "best guess" or was it made after tests, such as a barium swallow x-ray? If no tests were done, I'd question HOW was this diagnosis made.

Nausea/vomiting can result from GB disease-- or from the constant irritation to the stomach lining and sphincters (such as in duodenitis),

"Dizziness"/"vertigo" fit so many possible causes... it's difficult to sort out. One of the first "Rule Out" (RO) areas is the ears, of course. A simple splash of water into one or both ears can be enough to set off a flood of dizzy-nausea-miserable symptoms. The next area to RO is sinus infection, which can be a low-grade chronic infection. The next area is her obvious neck problems.

I tend to agree with SusieMargaret--- chiropractic care has it's place, but only to a point. I'd see my Family Physician again and get checked for the things I listed above. THEN, ask about an MRI of the cervical spine.

Until the Dr appointment, I'd ask your Mom to keep a food-nausea-dizzy diary. Write down what she ate and drank and what effect -- if any -- that it had on her symptoms. She will either see a connection that could point to GB Disease or "Sandy GB" -- or see no connection. Gallbladder problems can be seen on a simple Ultrasound test that takes less than 40 minutes to do. If it is GB, like I said, a medication and a careful diet can delay having to have surgery.

I feel a need to apologize about a response you got here. Many people *wrongly* (very wrongly) believe that anyone who smokes **then must not do exercise or take care of themselves** and that anyone who is ill or takes meds **must then be fat** and **looking for a quick fix*** to what ails them. These are obviously offensive statements, especially when the truth is--- even the thinnest and healthiest people get sick, get diseases, have diabetes, heart disease, and yup, injuries to the spine that require medications. Just because someone gets a disease or gets ill, it does not automatically follow that the person did ANYthing to cause it ! Illness and disease are much more genetic than physicians ever knew before (including diabetes and heart disease). Genetics, aging, wear and tear, and lifestyle all contribute to the kinds of illnesses humans experience or endure. Attacks against someone's lifestyle or personal habits---especially in an Internet forum when we don't even know the person--- is uncalled for and unhelpful. It perpetuates the myth that humans can control all disease and ills---which is not true---and if it were true then we'd all be "gods".

Please post back when you know more.

Lifes

hello, lifes --

thanks for looking in on this!

-- susie margaret

Thank you for your response Susie,

I appreciate the links to the posts, I will continue to read them hoping to find information somewhere! And also for posting the thread regarding the neurology community board post. Hopefully someone might have some additional information.

It's not that I do not have faith in doctors or the medical community- it just seems that sometimes finding the correct avenue to follow for a diagnosis can take so long. I pray that perhaps someone might have experienced the same symptoms and might have an answer that could work for my mother as well.

I believe my mother has an appointment with her family physician next week and we will see who he sends her too. My guess would be your suggestion- a neurologist, but I think perhaps a cardiologist may not be far down the list as well. I've read where many heart problems in women of my mothers age can mask themselves with many of the symptoms she has been experiencing.

Thank you again,
Rachelle