Being a Chiropractic Patient/living a chir

Being a Chiropractic Patient/living a Chiropractic Lifestyle

I have been asked this question a lot, “ Why do I believe so much in Chiropractic? “ so I thought I would take this chance to explain, why I honestly believe that EVERYONE should have a Chiropractor as part of their Health and wellness team.
Chiropractors do more than handle back and neck pain… Oh sure they are great at handling that but far far more important than pain is what their primary purpose is. Chiropractors are really doctors that handle keeping the central nervous system working at its peak.
The central nervous system is housed in the spinal column. There are 33 bones of the spine any one of them could be just slightly out of place and cause pressure on any one of the many nerves, causing the all important signals from your brain to NOT get where they need to be or to be incorrect or vice versa.

Think about it this way. Your garden hose is your spinal column; the water flowing thru it is the life-force, the energy, the power. Someone parks a car on the flowing garden house. What happens? The water or life force STOPS flowing. What a chiropractor does is help that life force flow correctly, by removing the interference from the central nervous system.

Interference can come from any number of things. Macro traumas such as an auto accident, falls, being tackled by a Buick, and then there are micro traumas – repetitive motions, lifting a squirming toddler, or even a cough or sneeze can cause interference on the central nervous system. Chiropractic teaches that the power that made the body can heal the body. Medications DO NOT heal the body, the body heals the body. That is not to say that medications, surgeries, etc do not have a place in our health care- they do, but they should not be the first choice to solving an issue. Trust me- the night I was tackled by the Buick I was so happy to have pain meds and surgeons that knew what to do.


My own story with Chiropractic began about 16 years ago. Here is why I swear Chiropractic saved my life.

Born in the mid 60s, as soon as my Mom went into labor she was given general anesthesia and knocked out. I was then pulled out with forceps – this method was thought to be easier on Mother and child. As with many “forced” births the forceps did some damage. For the first several years of my life I had a large purple mark on my forehead, my parents jokingly called it my light bulb. By the age of 3 I was having horrific migraine headaches, at my 4 year old check up the Peditritan told my Mom it was impossible for someone so young to be actually having a headache that intense and that she should punish me for seeking attention. Thankfully my Grandmother knew that the dark circles and pale face, and severe sensitivity to light were NOT thing I could be faking.
I spent much of my adolescence and teen years curled up in a ball on the floor of the cedar closet in our basement. It was the coldest, darkest , quietest place in the house. It would be years later when I was in my thirties that we discovered I had a birth trauma know as a Chairi I Malformation. I am lucky mine is stable and will be fine without surgery.

Headaches aside I lived my life, College, marriage. Then 1 Sunday morning in June 1992 I woke up with my period or so I thought. It was a bit strange as I hand not have a spontaneous menstrual cycle since I was 15. I had been complaining of joint aches and muscle fatigue for a few months, but my HMO doctor was constantly telling me my problem was my weight and my thyroid. After 2 straight weeks of this “strange period” I called my GYN. He did the usual exam and stuff and determined it wasn’t a period- he then preformed a D&C and exploratory – all in all he found no reason for the bleeding, which was getting increasingly worse. For months my GYN begged my HMO Primary care physician to order a CT scan, or send me to an Endocrinologist- but he refused always stating that I just needed to lose weight.

Then one Friday in April of 93, my bosses sent me home from work. I was bleeding heavily hemorrhaging, my joints and muscle hurt so bad I could barely move. Brushing my teeth had become a painful task. I went home that Friday night and tried to sleep, I was pale, weak, my hair was falling out in clumps, my joints hurt so much that the simplest of tasks brought tears to my eyes. I had an awful night and early Saturday morning my husband fearing for me well being while he was at work, called my Mom to check on my till he returned home at noon.


All you parents reading this will understand what I mean when I say that my Mom was in Mother Bear mode that day. Mom and Dad arrived at our apartment to find me ½ in our master bedroom and ½ in the adjoining bath. Lying on the floor, bleeding, crying, unable to muster the strength to get myself up from where I fallen. I begged my Mom to just let me die. I had endured all I thought I could at that point. I could not continue living that way any longer. Mom called my GYN and in typical Mother bear fashion, insisted that he DO SOMETHING to help me. He instructed my Mom to get me to the local hospital where he was delivering a baby. He said he would meet us in the ER. It took a lot for my Parents to get me out of the apartment and into their car. As promised my GYN met me at the ER door with a wheel chair. I again begged him to just let me die. He explained that a friend of his was on duty today in the hospital and that he wanted me to meet her, she was one of the best endocrinologists in town. About 20 minutes after I had settled on the gurney in the ER this little Tornado appeared. She stood about 4’9” in 3” heels, and never stopped moving. She took 1 look at me and told me she was nearly positive that I had Cushing’s disease. After days and days of testing she determined that she was right. I left the hospital with a diagnosis I had no understanding of, 22 medications, and a pronouncement that I had 18 to 22 months left to live.

I went home and as the saying goes, put my affairs in order. I wrote a will, a living will, an advanced directive, I told my husband and parents what my last wishes were, I signed the papers to donate my body to medical science. Lucky for me, one of my oldest and dearest friends was attending Chiropractic College at Life University outside Atlanta GA. In March of 1994 he decided to spend his spring break with me. He arrived over the weekend. Monday morning he said to me- that between finals and the flight he really needed to be adjusted, would I mind calling the friend from my Jaycee Chapter that was a chiropractor locally and see if he could see him. My Jaycee friend was more than happy to adjust my friend. Little did I know I was being set up.

Dr. John Rosa, finally of months of talking to me at Jaycee meetings, had me at last in his office. He talked me in to the exam that first night and then offered me something NO one else had…. HOPE. Over the course of the next 8 months Dr. Rosa adjusted me 4 to 6 times a week, and low and behold I started to feel better. After about 3 months I noticed my joints were not hurting as much, my muscles weren’t as fatigued. Sadly about 9 months into my care Dr. Rosa moved an hour and ½ from where he had been practicing due to contract issues with the corporation that owned his clinic.

After Dr. Rosa moved away- I figured I was fine and went on living. Well that wasn’t the case. I started to see a few other Chiropractors around and they either used techniques that didn’t work for me, or for a number of reasons were not right for me. Then 1 night in early 1999 my Husband and I went to one of our then favorite little places to eat. As we were leaving the diner, my husband said to me look they are putting up a sign for a new Chiropractor. You have been looking for a good one- why don’t you give this one a call. I called the next morning and went in for an appointment the day after that and as they say the rest in history. I became Dr. Howard Lipman’s patient on February 1,1999, about 20 months later he offered me a job, even as his employee I am his patient too. He keeps my life going; he keeps my body healthy and functioning at its optimal.

I see my chiropractor first for everything. That is not to say I don’t have a Primary care Physician – as I do, I have a GYN, I have a dentist, I have any number of specialist. They are all part of my health and wellness team. When my Chiropractor says “I think you need to seek additional assistance”, I do. This is pretty much what my Chiropractor said to me a few weeks ago regarding my knee.

I still to this day credit chiropractic and Dr. John Rosa with saving my life, for I was sick of the pain, tired of hurting and believed I was on my way out. I now have many many chiropractors in my life, all over this country- My incredible coach is a Chiropractor in Langhorne PA, I have several chiropractors friends in Pittsburgh, Marietta GA, Tucson AZ, Ft. Meyers Fl, Woodbridge VA, Dallas TX, Pittsfield MA, Stratham NH, etc. I love them all.

Just like you go to the dentist once every 4-6 months for a checkup, and women go the their GYNs a few times a year, you take your car in for a tune up or oil change every so often, you should take your spine in for a regular checkup too.

To update you on the knee- well it’s still very swollen, I have been elevating and icing it and limiting my movements as much as I can. My friends are being very helpful with doing all kinds of things for me from my grocery shopping to cleaning the apartment. Ariel is doing her best to take care of me too. I know that there are many of you that read this blog either on facebook or blog spot and enjoy it; you are friends and relatives of friends. I am told some of you reluctant to post a comment or ask to be a friend. PLEASE do not be, my Grandmother taught me that there are NO such things as strangers in life, only friends you haven’t met yet.

Remember no one’s journey is without struggles, it’s thru the struggles we gain life.

Love and Laughter.

HOORA

Terry