Chiropractic Care - Seizure therapy?

[doclotus]

Long story short, my wife started seeing a chiropractor. As part of her therapy, they offered to give me a free x-ray and examination. Ordinarily I would have thought this was a solution in search of a problem. Until I saw my xray. The Dr. was stunned that I wasn't symptomatic in other areas due to several bone spurs in my cervical vertebrae. My C3 and C4 were nearly fused between spurs! I suffered head/neck trauma at age 12 but had no idea my cervical spine looked that poor.

Needless to say, I agreed to an adjustment program. Of course, in the back of my mind I'm wondering if this could be a contributor to my seizure disorder? It certainly stands to reason, especially with issues in the cervical spine, as pressure in that area can affect the electrical patterns to the brain. That's obvious a non medical opinion but it made sense to me. If nothing else I could see it lowering my threshold for seizures some.

My question is, does anyone else use chiropractic care to assist in their seizure management? I've heard of some stories about realignment eliminating seizures for some. I'm curious if anyone here has had progress using this approach.

Thanks,

Lance

 

[Bernard]

We've used chiropractic to help with physical problems - not for seizure management.

 

[skillefer]

I haven't used chiropractic for seizure control...but it might help. After all, if you think about it, many of us are more likely to have a seizure when we're under stress. That stress does not have to be emotional, or spiritual...it can definitely be physical. Such as when we are sick with the flu or cold or trying to function with too little sleep..So if we're more likely to seize when our bodies are out of whack due to those physical imbalances/stressors , then logically, we could hold that true for other times when our bodies are stressed or out of balance. It's worth looking into. But I don't think I would use that as a monotherapy. Complimentary, yes....exclusive, no.

 

[rackelsmom]

There is a man in our community who fell when he was young, probably 10yo, and developed a seizure disorder. His mother tried everything she could think of, took him to many doctors including Hopkins and CHOP. One day his younger sister told the mother when he bugs her she "turns him off". So the mom was curious and asked her to explain, she said, if you push on him right here on the back of his neck he goes to sleep (seizure). Come to find out there was a disc out of alignment that they finally attributed his seizures to, he was adjusted and after about a month he never seized again. He is now a local attorney and his mom works at our local grocery store. That is who I heard this from so I suppose anything is possible. Like Skillefer stated, complementary and not monotherapy...

 

[epileric]

I'd wondered if disturbances to the spinal cord can cause seizures.

 

[doclotus]

We've used chiropractic to help with physical problems - not for seizure management.

That's part of the problem, in my opinion. This isn't an attack on you, Bernard, but more the perspective that the spine gets looked at only after symptoms or problems exist.

Especially in the large number of cases where epilepsy is idiopathic (like mine), why isn't more of the central nervous system surveyed? My diagnostic experience thus far with a neuro that I've been very happy with hasn't even entertained the idea that the problem might have contributors from below the brain stem (in my case, the cervical spine).

Now, all this being said, I don't know that any of my neck issues are contributing or causing any of this. My concern is merely that the question rarely seems to get asked.

 

[RobinN]

I agree that it is very rare that you will find a conventional doctor that looks at any and all options. Even after you have symptoms, they do not want to bother to go hunting for the cause.

I definitely would consider this to be a contributing factor. Many conventional doctors still do not take seriously chiropractic care.

 

[doclotus]

Yeah, I had my 6 month checkup with my neuro today and he was polite but emphatic about the idea of chiropractic care in this area. When I mentioned them trying to realign my wife's cervical spine to alleviate her headaches, he said "the only thing that can do that is surgery or God".

I like this guy, but I may start looking for a new neuro. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I'm also not arrogant enough to dismiss new possibilities, especially in something as complex as the human nervous system.

 

[Meetz1064]

Actually, my

neuro, who next to never steps outside of mainstream medicine, SENT me to a chiropractor in an effort to help me. My neuro is usually a strict let's-use-the-meds-and-do-tests-only guy. But my case is one of his hardest cases, if not his hardest.

My back is truly messed up, (only the T7 thru T12 vertebrae are normal) and the chiropractor HAS helped me. He helped me with some nutritional choices, and between him, the neuro and my primary care, things have become very well balanced. Unfortunately, the chiropractor recently retired, so I have to find another.... But, my primary care is also a chiropractor, so he can do it......

Did the chiropractic care STOP my seizures? Mmmmmm, I would say no. Did it help slow them down? I would say yes. The myoclonic have all but totally disappeared as have the tonic clonics. And for that, I am GRATEFUL. While I have been diagnosed with two other types of seizures, they are nocturnal... and I am slowly gaining control over them, too.

 

[epileric]

I would recommend seeing an osteopath rather than a chiropractor. They are trained in dealing with all the muscles & bones instead of just the spine.

I started seeing one instead of a chiropractor & I like his technique since he uses other muscles to pull my back in line rather than cracking it like a chiropractor. I also like the fact that he gave me exercises to help keep things aligned which my chiro never did.

This form of manual medicine lets DOs examine the back and other parts of the body, such as joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles, for pain and restriction during motion that could signal an injury or impaired function.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/doctor/osteopath.html

 

[stilldancing_98]

My doc wont even talk to a "counselour," My son has scoliosis so we do have it checked. But because of my epilepsy, we knew before birth. My Dr. sais he is not God, but he is starting to act like it.

 

[doclotus]

If I didn't have to only see my neuro next year (crosses fingers), I'd be shopping for another one. I may still do that.

As for your son, you might think about finding a good chiropractor. In some cases (not all), they can significantly improve your son's scoliosis without surgery.

 

[RobinN]

A good definition about Posturology:
http://www.posturepro.ca/html/eng_whatisposturology.html
http://www.posturepro.ca/html/eng_posturology.html
http://www.nogier.biz/flash_en/index2.php?choix=posturo.php

 

[xxmatthewxx]

Chiropractic care performed by a professional correctly is safer than thousands of other treatments. You just have to be more careful in choosing the right chiropractor for you.

 

[stilldancing_98]

I have now seen a chiropractor and it helped me a lot with toxins. It should be done for everybody's well being. My son will be seing one soon. to

 

[lindinig]

My son sees a chiropractor. His father insisted that he be seen. I think it's good for the overall alignment of his spine, as I can see how that can cause underlying health issues. I used it for my migraines, but stopped, as my migraines aren't really dibilitating. My son has been going to a chiropractor once or twice a week for the past 2 months. He just had a seizure cluster on Thursday or Friday, so for my son, no it hasn't stopped his seizures (yet). He is also doing neurofeedback treatments. He just started with nfb, so I really don't think it has had a hand in his shortened post-ictal state.

He had a seizure on Thursday. His post-ictal state on Thursday was really mild, compared to previous seizures. He had another seizure on Friday. This one really did a number on him, even though the seizure (absense) only lasted a few seconds. He was post-ictal until yesterday afternoon. But, somewhere along the line, his post-ictal state got reduced by 1 day. It's normally 4-5 days. This last time, if you count from Friday afternoon's seizure, it was only 3 days. And, those 3 days still weren't as severe as I had seen with previous seizures. Did the chiropractic help in shorten the duration of his post-ictal state? maybe. Did the chiropractic help reduce the severity of the brain impairment during a seizure which probably lead to a reduced post-ictal state? possibly.

I think my son goes to a pretty good chiropractor. You have to be careful though. It seems that chiropractors want to adjust the world and some have no idea what they are doing. I went to one who told me I needed to come to his office at $35 / visit, 3-times a week until I had completed 85 visits. I couldn't get out of his office fast enough!

 

[Endless]

I see a chiropractor because my neck is really messed up. I think it has helped my neck pain and my general health, but not my seizures. Wish it did help - wouldn't that be an easy answer? Chiropractic didn't help the postictal migraines, either. But it did help the regular headaches that came from my neck being all out of whack.

 

[Shelley]

I had a chiropractor tell me once that he cured someone of seizures.
I am skeptical. I do regularly see a chiropractor for asthma and other problems.
But my seizures are a result of a lack of oxygen at birth.

 

[Westwind]

The librarian in a town I used to live in, would always tell me I should see a chiropractor for my seizures. Her husband has seizures, and she said that a chiropractor works on his neck. Said that since he started seeing the chiro, he was able to go off his meds.

I talked to a chiro here once, though not as a patient - I was working on his computers - and asked him what he thought about that. He said that he couldn't do anything that would get me off my meds, but that he was sure he could be of help. Thought about going in to see him about that, but never have.

And my GP is adament against it. He's a traditional doctor, doesn't seem to believe in any alternatives. Of course, he's also told me their's 'nothing' that can be done for my arthritis, which seem bizarre to me. Lots of arthritis in the family, and they are on pain meds, or oils, or exercises, or vitamins/suppliments.....and the doctor tells me 'nothing' can be done. Ugh.

 

[ddr1166]

My parents are crazy about using osteopaths and chiropractors. I think it's good if there are back/neck and other issues (that thereby cause stress on the physical body or pain it causes provides more mental stress), but not sure of the direct correlation to eliminating seizures. They are insisting we try it, but hubby is not so sure about it...