Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Update on chiropractic ... and pain

If I hadn't experienced this myself, I wouldn't have believed it. In fact, I almost didn't believe A. for the past year, as she ever-so-gently encouraged me to consider it. (She knows that with me, the harder you push, the more I resist... She knows this because she's much the same way... And that's one reason we are friends.)

She would slip a reference to the conversation here and there... Tell a story... Make an off-hand comment. And finally, once almost all other options were exhausted, I said, "OK, OK, I hear you! Give me the number for your chiropractor, already!"

I went. I blogged about the initial experience. It was horrendous. I called A. and asked, "What kind of witch doctor did you send me to?" She did her best to calm me down, which was hard, considering the amount of pain I was in.

I called the chiropractor on it, too. "What have you done to me?!" I demanded. He calmly explained that the initial adjustments were actually quite gentle... My reaction was uncommon, but not unheard of. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "I know this will be hard for you at the moment, but I'm going to ask you to trust me and stick with me. We'll get through this, but it's going to take time. I need you to just trust me."

I almost walked away. But I didn't. I agreed to trust him... or to try... at least for a while.

Now, it's been six weeks. And I'm glad I didn't walk away.

It got better after that... And has been getting progressively better ever since. I am still injured but overall, the pain is greatly reduced. My performance in the gym is better than it has been in months. My range of motion and the feeling that my body can actually move again, are better than before I was injured. Overall, I am feeling better than I have in a long, long time.

The injuries seem like just that now: Injuries.

Injuries heal.

I was thinking about all this yesterday, as I was lying on the table at the chiropractor's office. I lie face down, relaxing before it's my turn to be adjusted. I feel his hand on my neck, as he greets me, running his hand down my spine. I grunt when he gets to the usual hot spot. He works out the knot and then has me lie on my side.

As I lay there, in a fetal-like position, with my own arms hugging me, he tells me to relax. This is necessary to make the adjustment properly. I have to surrender my physical self and let him roll me towards him and do his work. Even though it feels like I will roll off the table and clunk with a thud to the floor, I have to trust him not to hurt me or let me fall. And I do.

After the adjustment, I feel great... as has become the norm.

I told him yesterday, "If this is what 'normal' feels like, I had forgotten."

He said, "After you were hit by that car, you had a lot of pain. You just learned to live with it, so pain became your 'normal'. After a while, you don't even realize that you're in pain any more... until it's released."

As I reflect on previous blog posts, I feel myself nodding as I start to realize that my inability to "feel" (as in, "feel" my way through exercises, know how to "feel" if I'm doing an exercise correctly or not, and even to "feel" pain) were all connected... A certain numbness or inability to feel... correlated to blocking out or normalizing pain as a way of living.

I am beginning to understand -- on a very physical level -- that it doesn't have to be that way. "Normal" feels way better than "numb".

Having said all that, I have been "feeling" a heck of a toothache these past few days. I think I have a cracked filing. I have my doubts about making it through any more dental work without anaesthetic (as I have done since I was 16) ... I normally would just block out the drilling. I wonder if I could still do that?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I condsider myself to have a high tolerance for pain, but I would never consider having a dentist drill on my teeth without medication. Glad to hear about your progress. Welcome back to normal.

Sarah said...

I had one filling done without anaesthetia. Never again. Glad the chiropractic is working for you! I go for quarterly adjustments and often I feel worse before I feel better. It does help, imo.

Turtle Guy said...

hmm... the only dental pain i've experienced of note was back in september when i had my wisdoms out. I had some pretty good drugs for that, and as I recall i may still have some in the vile... going cheap!

I don't envy your pain.

megz_mum said...

Glad the chiropractor is working for you.
The dentist without aneasthetic??? That is just Ugly! I do not enjoy the dentist at all - but he is ever so gentle and I don't think I could do it without pain relief.

ipodmomma said...

hmmmm.... I saw a chiropractor years ago, before the osteo. he was rough and I quit shortly thereafterwards. but my back is still giving me fits. albeit it little ones. and so, hmmm...

you are making me consider if I should give it another go...

once pain is gone, it is funny to think, 'oh, this is how I'm supposed to feel. whoa!'

so glad you are returning to a pain-free place! and good luck with the dentist. you're a far braver person than me to forego drugs!

Madcap said...

Sarah, when you say fillings without anaesthesia, it positively makes my hair stand on end!

I'm glad the chiropractic is helping. It's a great thing to learn to relax.

Legs and Wings said...

I agree with you about surrendering to the chiropractor. It's hard to relax and let him/her crunch you. I hope it continues to work for you.

Backofpack said...

I'm thinking that if you are questioning whether you can block out the drilling, then you probably can't. Get the anesthetic and be comfortable!

Anonymous said...

fascinating. what a powerful post.

soap said...

There is a normalcy to pain, like the normalcy of any drug. But it's one thing to feel numb, and another to submit to dentistry without anaesthetic. It's good that you're re-thinking that one now, but what I'm interested in isn't how you managed it (a feat in itself), but why you chose it. (?)

Ginger Breadman said...

You have really introspective throughts. I'm glad your trusted the chiropractor and battled through it.

Granny said...

I'm glad you're feeling better.

You've been tagged but only if you want to be!!

Unknown said...

Are you crazy woman? You go to the dentist and get fillings done without anaestethic? I think every single tooth of mine has at least one cavity so I can almost feel the pain while reading this. However, I'm still not sold on Chiropractors, but I don't have any pain that needs adjusting yet.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Sarah,

That great on the Chirophrator, but honey take it from some one who use to not have shots from the dentist either--get the shot! You don't have to deal with the pain anymore girl friend, any of it! Nor should you.

Janice~