The trouble started with a sharp and persistent shooting pain in one side of my head – from the base of the skull at the back to just behind my left eye. It was continuous, but became even more acute if I bent forward, or tried to pick things up from the floor. Coughing or sneezing was devastating. I couldn’t think, read, or drive. I couldn’t even put my shoes on.
My GP was sympathetic and helpful and over the next year investigated me for ear problems, sinusitis, neck problems (x-ray), back problems and a brain tumour. In all, I think I saw six different consultants at the Royal Surrey County Hospital and none of them could find anything wrong.
I kept insisting that the problem was mechanical, showing the movements that exacerbated the pain. I told them it got worse when I bent forward, coughed or sneezed, and that it eased considerably when I lay flat. They pretty well told me that I was imagining it – that it was “stress”. I was possibly “suffering from depression” (this at the happiest, most stable and relaxed period of my life so far!). One even told me to “go out and buy the most expensive pillow you can find”!
In the end, after an MRI scan “proved” there was nothing wrong, I was referred to the Pain Clinic and told that I would have to live with the problem and learn to “manage” it.
At this point, after more than 12 months of misery, most of it spent lying in a recliner chair with my head wrapped in frozen peas, my GP referred me to Tone. “It may not work”, she said, “but I’ve known cases where all else failed, and Tone’s treatment made a huge improvement.”
With my daughter’s wedding just one month away, I was desperate, so I decided to give chiropractic a try.
It was worth it. First Tone listened – really listened. Then, already having an idea of where to look, it took her just 5 minutes to pinpoint the problem: a trapped nerve in my neck. And although the treatment was painful at first, things did start to improve.
It wasn’t an overnight miracle cure. It’s taken more than 6 months to get back to normal. But the nerves are healing, and step-by-step I am getting my life back. And after that first month of intensive treatment I even danced at my daughter’s wedding!
Felicity Howard 04.06.09