Update Smupdate

In my quest to update consistently I am updating now. Um, nothing much to say. I work, I shower, I sleep, I work, I shower, I sleep, wash, rinse, repeat.

For those of you who do not know I have been plagued by debilitating migraines since I was 16 years old. Medications do nothing for them. I have the rare headache that is not chemical or organic in cause. Mine are structural.

When I was 16 I was violently clotheslined landing very hard on my tailbone. What happens when you land on your tailbone with such force is the vibrations go all the way up the spine until it hits the end of the road. This would be your neck.

Just my luck I was young and the body was still doing some of its growing. Every persons neck has a gentle "C" curve in it. This allows the body to hold your 12 to 14 pound head without much effort. Some people have problems and their spine in their neck is straight. Not me, as usual I had to go that extra mile. My neck actually decided to pass straight and go into reverse "C" curve.

This generates a lot of pressure on my neck and mid-spine to hold my head up. The vertebrae easily twist and tilt (subluxate) incorrectly putting pressure on nerves causing life stopping headaches. Docs have pumped me full of some serious drugs and it does not stop the pain. It just makes it tolerable. As soon as the meds wear off, the pain is back in full force and often worse. The only thing that stops it is the chiropractor.

Quick plug. My chiropractor is freaking amazing! If you live in the Bay Area and need a chiropractor give him a call.
Dr. Michael Cleaver
21580 Stevens Creek Blvd. Ste. 110
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-253-9414

Over the years I have seen a number of docs trying to find a fix for this. Orthopedic docs, neurologist docs, you name it. I had one tell me my migraines would go away if I stopped riding motorcycles! What a jerk. They tried numerous meds but no real action was taken. Many told me that there was nothing that could be done. So off I went going along just treating the symptoms but not the root cause. Folks, this is no way to live.

Treating just the symptoms it seemed to be what I would consider under control. I was only getting a real bad one maybe once a month. Mostly because I could feel it coming and get to the chiro before it went bad on me.

In 2002 I had an impressive get off at Thunderhill raceway that aggravated it and added additional pain in my neck and left shoulder. I took a hard landing on my face and left shoulder. I remember most of it but it still is very surreal. So much for my somewhat under control state of being.

Since that crash I have been in some degree of pain 24/7. Sometimes it is just an ache, other times it is pure hell. Make no mistake kids, no matter how good I have looked to y'all, I was in pain. You would be amazed at what you can get used to, including varying degree's of pain.

I was seeing a chiro who was one of the best. Did a lot of teaching at the chiro college and such. I had been told enough times that this was the way my life was going to be so I never thought to push for a solution and continued with symptom management. Then the doc I was seeing decided to get married and move to SoCal. That was the best thing that could have happened.

He sold his practice to Dr. Cleaver. Dr. Cleaver is an excellent doc and very open minded. He also will not start something unless he believes you will follow through.

So for a year I was being treated by Dr. Cleaver getting to know him and him getting to know me. One day I came in with one of my life stopping migraines. I was in indescribable pain and totally frustrated with it. I just looked at him and asked him if we could fix it. Make these thing go away. They are exhausting. I can lose days of my life to them. Then once the pain is gone I lose another day to recover from the exhaustion they generate.

He had a look on his face like he has been waiting for me to say those words for quite a while. He was waiting for me to be ready to do my part and follow through.

First, x-rays then a full evaluation. Now I am in the middle of the first 12 weeks of intense treatment. My day starts with some stretches. I then settle in for the first of my two day four minutes in traction. Gradually we will work me up to a full 20 minutes a day. Before bed I stretch and traction some more. I also now sleep on an orthopedic pillow designed to align my neck properly and discourage sleeping on my stomach. The first 12 weeks I go in for adjustments twice a week. At the end of the 12 weeks I will be evaluated and then the doc visit schedule will be adjusted based on my progress or lack of progress.

This all started three weeks ago. It is a pain in the ass doing all the stuff I have to do and making all these doc visits. It is worth it though if we really can restore my neck and make the pain go away. I am already in less pain now than in the last few years so I am gonna keep on.

I guess I was wrong. I did have something to ramble on about.