Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 3 (A New Vertigo Doc, a Special Coffee Date, Braces for Olivia, and Father’s Day)

Last week was a great one – I had a special coffee date with some of my favorite people, Olivia got braces (that’s she’s been wanting since she was tiny – why? I don’t know.  Haha), we celebrated Father’s Day, aaaand I think I finally got some answers about my vertigo, dizziness, unsteadiness, and neck tension!  Praise God, y’all!

I’m going to go ahead and warn y’all, while there is a lot of fun in this post, there is also a TON of medical jargon as I am recapping every single detail of my testing, diagnosis, and treatment from my appointments with the UCC (I’m doing this for myself so I can have it all in one place, but also for anyone out there who may be suffering with something similar and isn’t getting answers).  So, if that stuff doesn’t interest you, just feel free to gloss over those parts and move along.  And if that kind of stuff does interest you, you are in for a treat because this post is REALLY, REALLY long and extremely informative.  It’s actually all quite fascinating, the things I learned from my testing.

Monday, June 9

Monday was Brian’s first day back at work after our wonderful, relaxing beach vacation, but he was able to work from home to ease back into things.  Meanwhile, I spent the day getting caught up on various things that had been cast aside while we were gone.

I got up at 7:30, got showered, and ate breakfast, and the first order of business of the day was getting groceries because we had NOTHING in the fridge aside from the few necessities we’d picked up Sunday.

When I got home, I got the groceries put away, and then I did my entire blog post for Tuesday and my entire blog post for Wednesday.

We all had lunch together after that, and then my dad picked me up to drive me to my appointment with my new doctor for my vertigo – an upper cervical chiropractor.  UCCs are highly specialized and completely different than regular chiropractors.  In fact, they are so specialized that we don’t even have one in our area, and therefore, we had to drive an hour-ish to get to my appointment and then an hour-ish to get back home. 

As a quick review for anyone who may be new here, on July 11, 2023, I woke up and hit the floor, plagued with horrific vertigo.  I couldn’t sit up without nearly vomiting, and for several days, if I would even slightly move my head everything would spin.  I had to walk holding onto walls and banisters and chairs and tables and arms of loved ones for weeks, and I couldn’t drive for nearly six weeks after it started.

Over time, the vertigo spins happened less frequently, but I was left with constant dizziness, unsteadiness, brain fog, and a sensation of rocking on a boat along with HORRIFIC neck, face, jaw, head, and scalp tension (although the tension started years before the vertigo).  I would have vertigo spins every time I lay down on my side or roll over in the middle of the night in bed, I would have vertigo spins if I would move my head too quickly, and I could no longer do everyday things like flip my hair over to dry the underside of it… and many things like that.

All of my symptoms gradually improved over the next two years, but even today, 95% of the time, I still have some degree of dizziness or unsteadiness, and I still have frequent (awful) tension.  Some days, the tension is unbearable.  In other words, I haven’t just felt “normal” in years. 

Those of you who have been around here for a while may have followed along with my journey, seeing doctor after doctor, having test run after test run, and getting told over and over that there was no issue that anyone could find.  If you’re new here and would like to read more about that journey, I summarized everything in this post.

A few months ago, a sweet blog reader reached out to me to tell me about a Facebook group for people just like me, and she told me that I would find some really great information there, so I joined, I spent hours upon hours poring over all of the information, and nearly every conversation in that group all pointed to one thing that was the cause of their vertigo, dizziness, tinnitus, tension, etc. – the atlas bone in the cervical spine (neck).

I’d never heard of an atlas before, so if you haven’t either then you’re in good company.  ;o)  The atlas is a bone that looks like a little donut at the base of the skull, and it only weighs two ounces, yet it holds up your 8-14 lb. head.  It has a hole in the middle of it that your brain stem runs through, along with trillions of nerves including your vagus nerve that controls a bunch of very important things.  It’s a very tiny, yet crowded, area, so if that atlas bone gets out of alignment it can WREAK UTTER HAVOC on everything in your body.  It can cause things like…

 

-       Neck pain and stiffness

-       Headaches and migraines

-       Dizziness and vertigo

-       Back pain

-       Shoulder and arm pain

-       Jaw pain and TMJ issues

-       Restricted range of motion

-       Tingling or numbness in the arms

-       Fatigue

-       Poor posture

-       Vision problems

-       Brain fog and cognitive issues 

-       Muscle imbalances

-       Tinnitus and/or hearing problems

-       Sleep disturbances

-       Anxiety (because your vagus nerve runs through there)

-       Digestive issues (again, from the vagus nerve)

 

Y’all, from this list, I have been experiencing every.single.symptom except for fatigue and sleep disturbances.  Some, I have had for more than two decades (neck pain and stiffness, facial strain, jaw pain, digestive issues, and several others), I’ve had tinnitus since October 2018, and then I started having the vertigo, dizziness, and unsteadiness nearly two years ago, in July 2023.

My appointment was informative (seriously SO much information), validating, and, honestly, pretty mind blowing, and the doctor was extremely encouraging.  He was very thorough, he ran many physical tests that no other doctor had ever run, and he explained everything to me in great detail as he worked. 

He had told me during my phone consult weeks before that the physical tests and scans that he would run would show him definitely that he would either be able to help me, or he would not, so I knew going in that he was not one of those doctors who would try to make money off of me even if he knew he couldn’t really help.

When I arrived, he took me back promptly at my appointment time and my dad stayed in the waiting room.  The doc asked if he wanted to come back and he declined (he later told me he thought I might want privacy), and I didn’t think anything of it.  In hindsight, I wish I’d asked him to go back with me for all the testing because the doctor did SO MUCH and gave me SO MUCH INFORMATION.  It was impossible to remember everything he did and all of the information he gave me so it would have been nice to have a second set of eyes and ears in there.

Here’s what I have been able to remember from all of it…

 

1. He tested the reflexes in my arms and knees and said those were normal
2. He did the traditional vertigo test where he held my head tilted to the left and lay me back very quickly.  Although the test did not give me the vertigo “spinning” feeling, it did make me a little dizzy, and he did see nystagmus in my eyes (where the eyes wiggle back and forth indicating a neurological issue).  When he did that same test on the right side, it still made me dizzy, but way less so, and he said that he didn’t think he saw any nystagmus.
3. He made me lay on my back on a table, and he looked at my legs.  He noticed immediately that my left leg looked shorter than the other, and he was correct as my left hip has been higher than my right for 15-ish years.  He held my heels and told me to turn my head to the right.  When I turned my head to the right, my short left leg corrected itself and both legs were even.  When I turned my head to the left, my short left leg got even worse.  He was able to tell from that alone that there was a major imbalance in my body that was stemming from my cervical spine (neck) since the head turning changed my entire body.
4. He noticed that my left SI joint was swollen, and he was right about that because it’s the one that still gives me trouble all these years later after my traumatic childbirth back in 2011.
5. He gave me a traditional “DUI” test where he took a red marker and waved it back and forth in front of my eyes in different patterns, eventually trying to “trick” me to see if I could follow it.  I did the test once with both eyes open, once with my right eye covered, and once with my left eye covered, and the results from that test showed that my left eye doesn’t react as quickly as my right eye.  This was a potential indicator of a neurological issue… and remember, at this point, I have been cleared from a brain standpoint as I had an MRI and a CT Scan of my brain months ago.  So, in other words, this could be happening because my brain stem is cramped and not getting proper blood flow due to my atlas being out of place.
6. He took several “mug shot” pictures (front, left side, back, right side) to be analyzed for asymmetries… results for that were given at my appointment later in the week, and spoiler alert, nothing was symmetrical.  Lol.  More on that later.
7. I stood next to a vertical table and kept my eyes open while he lay the table (and me) down.  I had to tell him at which point I got dizzy going down and then coming back up and he watched for nystagmus.  Then I did the same thing with my eyes closed – he lay the table down and I had to tell him at which point I got dizzy and then he raised the table back up and I had to tell him at which point I got dizzy.  I was much dizzier when I had to do the test with my eyes open.
8. He also checked for range of motion, asking me to turn my head to the left, turn my head to the right, lean my head back and look at the ceiling, and put my chin to my chest.  My range of motion was good on the right side, but I have never been able to turn my head to the left.  And when he told me to put my chin to my chest, I couldn’t get my chin anywhere near my chest… there was a massive gap of about 5-6 inches.  He took pictures of every position so those could be analyzed as well.
9. He tested my strength in my arms and legs by putting his hand in various places and asking me to push against it.  Everything was pretty normal there.
10. He then tested the strength in my neck by taking his hand and pushing against my head.  When he did that, my head automatically kept tilting up.  He asked me if I was doing it on purpose and I said no.  So, he did it again, and sure enough, same thing – my head kept moving upward in an unnatural way and he said it was not supposed to be doing that.  He said that, too, was a sign indicative of a cervical spine imbalance.

 

By the end of the physical exam, he already knew that my atlas was misaligned, and he was able to tell me that all of my issues were stemming from the left side of my body which makes perfect sense as all of my issues are typically on the left side of my body.  I have had loads of trouble with my eustachian tube in my left ear since I was pregnant with Jacob in 2010/2011, so that’s another issue I failed to mention.

After the physical exam, it was time for the scan.  This doctor uses very high-tech (and new!) imaging that takes a 3D model of the skull and cervical spine (neck).  All I had to do was sit in this special chair that’s attached to the machine, and he put my head in the exact place it needed to be, then he put a pillow behind my back and a bar in front of my chest to keep me steady.  I had to focus on one spot on the wall directly in front of me and stay as still as I could for 30 seconds while the machine went once around the top of my head and once around the base of my head and then it was done.

The data uploaded to his screen in about two minutes flat, and then he was able to pull up the 3D image of my head on the giant screen in the room.  This imaging isn’t traditional black and white… it’s human colored (for lack of a better term – haha), so he asked me if I was squeamish before he pulled it up, because apparently, some people may think it’s gross.

I thought it was FASCINATING.  Absolutely fascinating.

The image is interactive so you can zoom in and twirl it around and even go inside the skull since the top of the skull is left open.  We looked at every single angle of my skull and cervical spine inside and out together, and as soon as he pulled it up, even I could tell that my atlas was out of alignment because the image of the back of my head is SO asymmetrical.  He made the following observations…

 

1. My atlas is, indeed, misaligned in three directions – side to side, front to back, and spinning (I don’t know how else to describe that last direction, but it has basically spun on its axis)
2. I have bones in two places where I should have ligaments, and one is slightly thicker than the other even though they should be symmetrical.  He said that while this is not considered a “defect” it is very uncommon (less than 5% of people have it) and that it is 100% hereditary, meaning that either my dad or my mom has the same thing.  Which also means that I could have passed it along to Jacob or Olivia.  I can’t remember what the bones/ligaments are called, but they look like little bridges that connect one part of my skull to another.  He said that this should not be causing any of my issues, though.  It was just a little “fun fact.”  Haha.
3. When looking at the back of my skull and neck straight on, there are two little circles on the back of the head, one on each side of the atlas.  On the right side, the circle looked tiny and very close to the atlas, and on the left side, the circle was larger and further away from the atlas, thus proving the atlas was not sitting where it is supposed to… it was SO asymmetrical.
4. I have completely lost the curvature in my neck.  The neck is supposed to be shaped like a C and mine starts to curve into the C shape and then goes veering off the other way, making it look almost straight.  Mine is severe and the doctor said that this is something that may correct itself during these adjustments.  If not, he is going to get me to purchase a specific neck pillow that I’ll have to lay on for a certain period of time each day that will restore the curvature to its proper position.
5. He looked at all of my sinus cavities and he noted that the ones over my eyebrows are very small.  That doesn’t really mean anything, but it was just an observation he made.
6. There is a joint in my neck that looks like it’s starting to get a little bit of arthritis because the disc is worn down a little bit due to the fact that the joint isn’t in the proper position.  He is going to correct this.
7. He noted that I have calcification on a place near the top of my skull in my pineal gland, and the second he mentioned that, I knew exactly what it was.  When I had the MRI of my brain, the doctor told me that I have a cyst in my pineal gland, and that it is harmless, so that explains that!

 

After assessing everything, the doctor told me that he sends the images off to a radiologist and a medical doctor to get a second set of eyes on them, and they analyze everything together to get all of the exact data and measurements, and that he’d have them back in a couple of days.  After that, he’d come up with the treatment plan, and then I’d start getting adjusted.

He told me based on everything he saw, I am a textbook patient for him, although, I’m a little on the complex side (he said my misalignment is moderate, but it’s complex, if that makes sense), but he is confident that he can restore my atlas with some very mild adjustments.  He said that my atlas is so out of alignment that it’s pretty clear that my brain stem, vagus nerve, and loads of other nerves do not have the space they need in the area to function to the best of their ability and he is confident that by adjusting my atlas and moving it back into place that It will reduce, if not, eliminate all of my horrible symptoms altogether.  He did tell me that with tinnitus, though, once a person has it for five years or more, it doesn’t usually go away, so he’s not confident he can eliminate it, although, he did say there is a chance it could decrease a bit.

He also mentioned that since the vagus nerve runs through the atlas, my anxiety may also significantly decrease (WHAT?!) and my digestion issues could improve as the vagus nerve plays a significant role in both of those things.

After all of that, he showed me the two tools that are used for adjustments.  One is a handheld tool that looks like an electric drill, but it has a flat end instead of a sharp drill.  All he does to get the atlas back into place is to use that tool to lightly tap it back into place.  He even put the tool on my hand to let me feel it, and it seriously just feels like somebody is tapping you with their finger.  No pain, no jolting, no cracking, no popping.  It's WILD.

For more severe patients, he has a similar tool that’s attached to an arm, so he can use it for more precise adjustments.  It works the same way as the handheld tool, but it’s just not a handheld version.  Instead, he positions me under it and then uses the tool that way.

He told me to make another appointment for Friday where he’d give me a folder with all of the data and that we’d go over everything again, this time with exact measurements and numbers.  And he told me that I would also get my first adjustment.  He told me that I’m not allowed to drive myself to the first two adjustments (and maybe never depending on how I do) because after the first one, I had to be a “robot” for the rest of the day, not turning my head AT ALL because he wants the adjustment to “take” and not get out of alignment again.  After the second one I’d have to be a robot again, so I couldn’t drive that time either, but then he said depending on how I do with the first couple of adjustments, I might be able to start driving myself after that.

While I was in there, the song “What a Beautiful Name” by Hillsong came on, and I’ve been playing that exact live version on repeat for weeks, so it felt like a total Godwink to me, as I’ve been praying for God to give me some sort of sign that I’m on the right track, or to derail my plans if this is something that is going to worsen things.  Hearing that song gave me so much peace and further validated that I’m in the right place for healing.

I walked back out to the waiting room in a daze after receiving all of that information, and I was just BURSTING to tell Daddy about it in the car and call Brian and my mom as well.  I scheduled myself for a Friday appointment per the doctor’s request, and then Daddy and I hit the road.  After I left, I realized I hadn't taken a single picture of the images we saw on the screen and I wish so badly that I had!

I pretty much talked his ear off all the way home, and then I called Brian and my mom and talked their ears off, too. 

We were home by 4:30-ish, and we said goodbye to Daddy.  It was so nice to have one-on-one time with him.  We don’t get a lot of that these days!  I was super sad because I forgot to take a road trip selfie with him, too.  :o(

When I got home, I texted a few friends to update them on the appointment, and then I chatted with the kids about their day.  They had both started summer homework, and Olivia had done her entire math packet from start to finish!  Impressive!

After that, I got dinner ready – turkey and cheese biscuit sliders and fruit – and then I walked two miles while the kids played.

They got showered and I got showered when I got home, and Brian burned Olivia a CD with some of her current favorite songs. 

The kids had built a Minecraft world out of Lego, so they showed that to us next, and then we watched Lego Masters before sending them to bed.

Brian and I ended the day with an episode of The Better Sister, and that was our day!

 

Tuesday, June 10

Tuesday, I was up at 7:15, and the kids and I were out the door by 8:15 to drop them at my father-in-law’s house because I had a very special coffee date!  One of our old friars who was at our church from 2018-2022 was back in town for a few days, and he and my Momma, and one of our dear friends were all meeting downtown for coffee.

The weather ended up being perfect – sunny, but not hot at all.  As a matter of fact, we sat outside on the sidewalk downtown for nearly three hours and I never got warm… I actually had chills when we first arrived.  We got donuts and coffee from a favorite local place, and we talked about everything under the sun for three full hours.  As a matter of fact, when I looked at the time when we were getting ready to leave, I was SHOCKED at how much time had passed.  I had no clue that it was approaching lunchtime.  Haha.

The morning filled my soul to the brim, and it was so good to spend time with Father Manny… he is truly one of the best humans I know, and we all love him (and miss him) to pieces.

I texted my FIL to apologize that time had slipped away from me, but he told me he had no place to be and he and the kids were having a blast.  I ended up hanging out at his house for about 45 minutes when I arrived because they wanted to finish the game they were playing.  They had played Farkle and Bluffaneer, and they were seriously having the best time when I arrived.  They both LOVE playing games with Grandpa, and I know Grandpa loves his one-on-one time with them as well. 

When we left Grandpa’s house, we ran to Target really quickly so Jacob could get a very specific Pokemon Mega set (similar to Lego).  We have been avoiding shopping at many big box retailers lately, but Target was the only place we could find it, so we made a beeline for it and then left promptly.  I’m still not happy with them for doing away with their DEI policy.  Of all of the stores, Target was the most shocking to me to do away with it.  Such a shame, too, because I loved that place.

We headed home after that for a late lunch, and then I jumped on Instagram to talk about my appointment on Monday since several people had asked for an update.  We also checked on Olivia's GIANT sunflowers.

After that, I worked on my blog post for Friday, I got my emails tended to, I updated my planner, and then it was time to make dinner.

Tuesday was stir fry – chicken, rice, broccoli, red peppers, and pineapple – and I made some Hawaiian rolls for those who wanted bread.

While I cooked, I put on a Taylor Swift record – I’m still going through all of my new records to make sure they sound good – and I put some lime and vanilla in the diffuser, and it was the happiest little evening.

After dinner, I cleaned the kitchen while B went out to mow, and the kids played outside for a bit to get some fresh air.

When they came in, I played some hand games with Olivia – think the old school clapping games we played in the 90s when we were little – and then I did a leg strengthening workout while they showered.  The doctor told me on Monday, under no circumstances should I be working out my upper body right now.  Eventually he wants me to work on strengthening all of the muscles around my cervical spine, but NOT while everything is displaced.  That explains why my arms workouts have started wreaking so much havoc on my body!  I’ve barely been able to do them for the last couple of years because they cause so much pain and tension the next day… now I know why.

After my workout, I caught up on my gratitude and prayer journals and my devotional from the past two days, and I did another day of my Bible recap before settling in to watch America’s Got Talent with Brian and the kids.

After the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched another episode of The Better Sister, and then we went to bed, too.  And look at this sweet picture I was able to grab of the kids before bed... they both hugged each other before bed, just because... the sweetest!

 

Wednesday, June 11

Wednesday, I was up at 7:30, I got showered and had breakfast, and then the kids and I headed to the orthodontist for Jacob’s and Olivia’s appointments.  Jacob just had a checkup scheduled, but they ended up adding two new brackets to his teeth because he had two new adult teeth that had come in far enough to put them on.  That was unexpected, but he did great!

Meanwhile, Olivia got a full set of braces!  As you can see, her teeth are very crooked, she has a ton of crowding, and she has a huge overbite, so she’ll have to wear hers for at least three years, but y’all, my little girlfriend was SO excited to get them.  She has been wanting braces her whole life… even before she had her adult teeth.  Haha.  She thinks they’re cool and that they look pretty, so she was thrilled. 

Both of the kids did great, and we were out of there in less than 45 minutes!!  And now the three of us are triplet-ing with our metal mouths.  I think at this point our orthodontist should name a room after us or something.  Hahahaha.  Here's the before, during, and after...

We went to the library once they were done there.  I had more books to pick up and I had to drop off all of the ones that I’d read at the beach.  The kids wanted to browse for a bit, too, so we stayed for a few minutes.

After that, we got the car washed, vacuumed, and cleaned out, and it was so satisfying to see all of that beach grime wash off right in front of our eyes.  The car is always SO GROSS from the salty air at the beach, so it was much-needed.  And it’s just such a treat actually being able to see out of a clear windshield.  Lol.

Once we were done there, we hit up the liquor store and the gas station to buy some gifts for Father’s Day – a nice whiskey for Brian and some lottery tickets to add to the basket I made for him – and then we headed home.

The three of us ate lunch together, and then we put together Brian’s gift basket.  I then spent the entire afternoon getting totally caught up on my blog reading… I was a week and a half behind at that point, so it took a couple of hours, but it was nice to see what all of you blog friends have been up to after missing out following along while we were at the beach!

After that was done, I tackled my never-ending email inboxes, I contacted a local neighborhood HOA about using their pool this summer since they open to the public, I scheduled Olivia for her 11-year old immunizations, I ordered some new water bottles for the kids (we’re going with Owala this time), I paid a bill, and then I rescheduled the kids next orthodontist appointments that I had just scheduled earlier that morning because I realized I had scheduled them for the one afternoon that we had a concert.  Oops.

Meanwhile, the kids were both in pain from their braces, so I gave them both Ibuprofen and they laid low all afternoon playing Minecraft.  Olivia had way more pain than Jacob did, even after he got his on for the first time, and I think she was surprised at how uncomfortable the braces are, so she wasn’t feeling great at all, poor girl.  She wasn’t her usual jolly self at all, so I could tell she was really suffering.

After that, I wrapped up my time in my office with quiet time and a Bible study.  By the time that was done, it was time to cook dinner.  On the menu was fettucine alfredo with chicken, steamed broccoli, and garlic cheesy bread.  We had to have something nice and soft for the kids!

Olivia really struggled to eat at dinner, but she powered through, and she’s already so much better.

After dinner, I walked two miles even though it looked like a massive storm was going to blow through.  A quick check of the radar showed that I had plenty of time, and it turned out that it was just pop-up storms that disappeared before they could reach us anyway.

When I got home, I showered and then I read for a bit while the kids got ready for bed.  We finished America’s Got Talent and then watched The Price is Right at Night with the kids, and then Brian and I watched another episode of The Better Sister after the kids went to bed.

 

Thursday, June 12

Thursday, I woke at 7:30, and I stayed in my PJs as we had no place to be until later in the afternoon.  I got breakfast, unloaded the dishwasher, watered the outdoor plants, and then had a lazy morning in my office.  I finished my blog post for Friday, I started my blog post for Monday, and I caught up on all blog comments while the kids watched some TV and played with Lego.  They also cleaned up the playroom without being asked, which is rare, and something that I appreciated very much.

Olivia has the cleanout and tidy bug, so she wanted to clean out the kids’ bathroom.  She started before I could get a “before” picture of her cabinet but trust me when I say that it was stuffed from back-to-front, top-to-bottom, and every time we opened the door something fell out.  It. was. bad. 

We ended up cleaning out every cabinet and every drawer, we wiped down every cabinet and drawer, we washed Jacob’s and Olivia’s toothbrush holders, we added drawer organizers to Olivia’s drawer, and we got everything reorganized.  Olivia got rid of so much stuff, thank goodness! 

Once that was done, she and Jacob deep cleaned their toilet and countertops, and then they got everything settled back in.  So so good!

By the time that was done, it was time for lunch, so we ate together.  Then I got showered while the kids played Zelda.

I finished my blog post for Monday, and then it was time to go to music lessons for the first time in five weeks.  Olivia had missed the last week of lessons because of her dance recital, then the school was closed for two weeks, then we missed lessons when we were at the beach, so it had been a long time!

Jacob picked right back up with the piano, and Olivia wanted to try something new.  She wanted to learn Astronaut in the Ocean, so Mr. Steve wrote the chords for that, and she picked it up right away since it’s so easy. 

When we got home, I posted in my Facebook vertigo group to ask others in the group who have seen an upper cervical chiropractor if they had any bad side effects after their adjustments.  I was really scared to see the responses, but they were all very positive and many people told me that they were happy I was getting this treatment and that I was going to feel so much better. 

Every person who responded said they never had any vertigo, and most people said that they just had neck and back pain (kind of how you feel after you’re in a fender bender).  A couple of people said to expect to have a headache, and a couple of people said to expect to feel exhausted afterward.  Tired, achy, and headaches I can handle – it’s the vertigo that I cannot handle – so the responses were very encouraging.

After that, I did my quiet time and Bible study, and I made my to do list for Friday.

Brian and I cooked breakfast for dinner, and the kids played outside while we did that.  After dinner, I started cleaning out the living room since it’s on my list for this month. 

Once the kids were ready, we watched The Wild Robot as none of us had seen it.  I got in a stair stepper workout for the first 30 minutes while I watched, and then Brian made Manhattans for us.

About halfway through the movie, we saw three rabbits run through the yard, so we paused the movie to go see what they were doing.  We have rabbits here, but they’re VERY rare to see (I’ve only seen a few in my lifetime, and it’s always been one at a time), so to see three at once was wild.  The three of them were bouncing around and flipping in the air and then having standoffs before bouncing and running around the yard again.  It was so bizarre.  None of us had ever seen anything like it.

I posted about it on my IG stories, and several people DMed to say that it was probably a mating ritual.  Several people also reached out to say that it looked like they were being territorial.  To us, it looked like they were playing hide and seek.  Lol.

After the movie, the kids got in bed, and then Brian and I watched another episode of The Better Sister.

 

Friday, June 13

Friday morning, I woke at 7:30, I got showered, and I had breakfast.  I did my blog reading while the kids woke up and ate breakfast, and then we all headed to my mom and dad’s house to drop the kids off.  Brian was taking me to my appointment with the upper cervical chiropractor (my first adjustment), so Momma and Daddy let the kids hang out with them while we were gone.

The drive to the office was smooth, and the doc took us back just a few minutes after we arrived.  My appointment was scheduled for 45 minutes because the doctor had to go over all of the specifics of the data that had been collected from the radiologist, and then he had to do my first adjustment. 

The first thing he did was go over all of the data.  They had a folder for me of all of the images, which I'm posting in here.  These images are the computer generated images based on my data... they are not the actual skull pictures taken with special x-ray machine.  Again, I wish I would have taken pictures of those with my phone on Monday, but I didn't even think to do so.  And also, one thing to note, these pictures posted below are pictures of the papers that they gave me.  They are going to eventually send me the digital files, but until then, I just snapped pictures directly from the paperwork in my folder, so they may not be 100% level.

These were the findings (and some of this is repetitive from the findings from the first day, but he went over them again to confirm since a radiologist had looked at them, too):

 

1. My atlas is misaligned in the following ways, causing stress and altered nerve flow to and from the brain and creating posture distortion and body imbalance:
1. Atlas Laterally – Right 2.07 degrees
2. Frontal Plane – Left 1.43 degrees
3. Lower Angle – Left 2.40 degrees
4. Atlas Rotation – Posterior 4.91 degrees (this is significant)
5. Axis Rotation – Left 5.63 degrees (this is super significant)
6. Short Leg – Left
7. Degeneration – Phase 1 (meaning my spine has been out of alignment for 5-15 years causing my whole body to overcompensate)
2. My injury twists the upper neck, adding to the complexity of the misalignment and compounds stress to my brainstem. 
3. I have mild atlantodental arthrosis (mild degeneration of the joint between atlas (C1) and axis (C2) vertebrae in the neck)
4. I have minimal intervertebral disc space reduction with osteophytosis at C5/C6 (degeneration where spaces in the vertebrae are slightly narrowed and bony growths are present)
5. I have severe straightening with minimal reversal of the cervical curve, apex C4/C5 (the neck is supposed to have a natural C curve and mine is completely straight which is SEVERE)
6. My Right Lateral Flexion (how far I can tilt my head to the right) is 25 degrees which is below the normal range of 35-50 degrees.
7. My Left Lateral Flexion (how far I can tilt my head to the left) is only 27 degrees which is below the normal range of 35-50 degrees.
8. When I sit in a neutral position (head facing forward and straight with good posture), my whole upper body leans to the right, which is obviously not normal at all.
9. My Cervical Extension (how far I can tilt my head back) is 56 degrees which is within the average range of 50-70 degrees.
10. My Cervical Flexion (how far I can tilt my head down chin to chest) is 52 degrees, which is above the normal range of 40-50 degrees.  I actually thought my range of motion was bad this way, but it turned out to be above normal.
11. My Cervical Axial Left Rotation (how far I can turn my head to the left) is 68 degrees which is below the normal average of 70-90 degrees.
12. My Cervical Axial Right Rotation (how far I can turn my head to the right) is 58 degrees, which is below the normal average of 70-90 degrees.
13. When I stand in a neutral position facing the front (head facing forward and straight with good posture), my head is shifted 1.19 inches to the right and my head is tilted 2.7 degrees to the right.  My shoulders are tilted 1.4 degrees to the left.  My ribcage is shifted 0.29 inches to the right.  And my hips are shifted 0.79 inches to the right and tilted 2.6 degrees to the right.  This is all not good because it basically means my whole body is asymmetrical.
14. When I stand in a neutral position facing the side, my head is shifted 1.30 inches forward and it’s 7.5 degrees off vertically, meaning that my 8 lb. head feels like it weighs 20.4 lbs. to me!!!!  CAN YOU EVEN?!  I have been telling Brian for years that sometimes my neck feels like it can’t hold the weight of my head and that sometimes it feels like my head is going to fall off, and THIS IS WHY, friends.  OMG.  In addition to that, my shoulders are shifted 1.36 inches backward and they are 3.7 degrees off vertically.  My hips are shifted 0.25 inches forward and they are off 1.0 degree vertically.  My knees are shifted 1.76 inches forward and they are 8.7 degrees off vertically.  And my head vs. ankle alignment is 1.94 inches forward and 2.0 degrees flexed off vertically.  My knees have recently started hurting when I walk or run, so I’m thinking maybe they were going to be the next thing to deteriorate in all of this mess.

 

Numbers 10 and 11 in this list mean that I have postural abnormalities that are likely causing structural deviations and will eventually cause pain as well as a myriad of other health problems.  And all of this basically means that… MY BODY IS JACKED UP, Y’ALL.

The doctor told me that it’s likely my atlas has been misaligned for years… possibly since I was a child… and that it continued to get worse and worse the more my body compensated.  My neck and face tension/TMJ/clenching issues that started in my early 20’s were likely one of the first symptoms to pop up from it, and the tinnitus that started in 2018 was likely next in line.  Then my anxiety ramping up in 2019 could be directly related to it as well.  All of my severe neck strain, ocular migraines, and headaches were likely next, and then eventually the vertigo, dizziness, and unsteadiness that put me over the top, leading me to finally find this doctor.

Thankfully, the doctor told me that I look like a textbook patient for him, although, more complex than most of his patients, but all findings show that he should be able to help me.  What a relief it was to hear that!

View of my misaligned atlas and axis from behind

View of my misaligned atlas and axis from the top... look how bad that is!

View of my misaligned atlas and axis from behind with problems it can cause

View of my entire body from behind... look how the atlas affects literally everything!

View of my lost neck curvature. Google what it should look like & you'll see how bad it is

After going over all of the findings, he did my first adjustment.  The first adjustment he did was to my left SI joint since I have issues with it as well.  He used this little tool that looked like a handheld drill, but instead of a drill bit on the end, it has a flat end.  He lined the end up in very precise areas, and he pulled the trigger, and it basically felt like somebody was just tapping me with their finger.  It was SO quick and easy and completely painless.

Once that was done, he used a larger version of that very same tool to adjust my atlas, but this one is connected to an arm as it allows for even more precise adjustments.  I had to lay on my left side, and he used the Atlas Orthogonal percussion instrument (I think that’s what it’s called based on my Google search) to do two taps in very specific places behind my right ear.  Then he used the small, handheld tool to do three more taps behind my right ear. 

After that was done, he had me lay flat on my back on the table with my feet hanging off, and my legs were EVEN.  Five tiny taps behind my right ear fixed my short leg.  Y’all, my mind was BLOWN. 

He told me that after the adjustment, I’d probably have a headache, and I would probably feel pain all over, especially in my neck and upper body.  (Several people in my vertigo Facebook group described it like feeling you’ve been in a fender bender.)  He also said that within a couple of hours I would probably get SUPER tired because adjusting that area can kick the body’s fight or flight response into overdrive.

He gave me my schedule for the adjustments – three the first week, two the second week, two the third week, and one the fourth week with 30-minute massages once a week for the last three weeks to help the muscles rebalance and retrain themselves. 

I scheduled the first week of appointments and then we headed home.  I had to be a “robot” for the rest of the day, meaning that I couldn’t turn my head at all, so that was tough, but doable. 

On the way home, we grabbed Chick-Fil-A from the drive-through in Newnan, and then we went straight to my parents’ house to pick up the kids. 

I felt suuuuper unsteady when we got out of the car at my parents’ house, and by the time we got home, I was exhausted and in pain.  Crazy how five taps behind my ear could wreak such havoc on my body!

I went straight to bed when we got home and slept until 5 PM while Brian finished up with work for the day and the kids played video games.  When I woke up, I did my quiet time, but no Bible study since I wasn’t allowed to move my neck or head (I couldn’t hold my Bible straight out in front of me for that long period of time as it puts strain on my neck), and Brian left to pick up Culver’s for dinner per the kids’ request.

I typically like to have a cocktail on Friday night, but I passed on that just to be safe since my body was in turmoil. 

After dinner, the kids showered, and then we watched Snow White (the live action version) and it was just okay.  During the movie, my pain started settling in, and sure enough, I felt like a train wreck.  From my torso up, I felt like I had the flu.  Everything hurt, I had a headache, I felt hot and sweaty, I had to hold on to the wall and other things to walk because I was so unsteady, I was sensitive to light and sound, I felt foggy in the brain, and I felt super winded just from doing nothing… it was not fun AT ALL.

Side note, during showers, Olivia built a "fake" Olivia to put in her room to trick Jacob when he got out of the shower.  Lol.

After the kids went to bed, we finished half of the episode of The Better Sister that we’d started the night before, and then we started the last episode, but I couldn’t make it all the way through because I was in so much pain and sitting so straight and rigid was wearing on me.

 

Saturday, June 14

Saturday morning, I woke up feeling pretty good.  I had slept like a rock for nearly ten hours.  I was TERRIFIED I would wake up with vertigo, but I didn’t, and I felt pretty steady on my feet.  I also had no dizziness during the night when rolling over in the bed, so that was a relief, too, as that was a HUGE issue I had for months after my vertigo started.  I had very little pain, too, so I felt good enough to make waffles for breakfast. 

After that, I worked on this blog post all morning, but it was tough to concentrate because I did have a good bit of brain fog.  I also had terrible sensitivity to light, and I was still easily winded just from walking up the stairs.

Right before lunch, I started feeling pretty unsteady again, but I think I needed to eat.  Sure enough, after lunch, I felt much better. 

After lunch, I worked some more, and then I watched the Pope Leo special in Chicago.  While I was getting ready for church, I was very careful when putting on makeup and drying my hair but putting on my eye liner set off my vertigo for some reason.  I had two little spins from that, and then after drying my hair I had another vertigo spell that was larger… it was almost a drop attack which is the worst kind where you feel like you’re being forced to the ground.  It scared me to death.  I hadn’t had a vertigo spin since April, but it was minor, and I hadn’t had a drop attack in nearly a year I think?? so that sent my anxiety into a tailspin (since the doc had told me I shouldn’t have any vertigo after an adjustment), and I went downhill from there.

We went to church anyway, and I felt awful the whole time – I was super unsteady the whole time and I was terrified when I walked down for Communion because I was worried I would fall.  Thankfully, all went well, and by the time church was over, my anxiety had calmed a bit, which helped.

We went to dinner with my parents, Mama Cass, and my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg at the local pizza place across from church.  By the time we left there, I felt pretty steady and good again, thank goodness, but I was very disheartened that my vertigo had come back since the doctor told me it doesn’t typically come back after these adjustments.

After dinner, Brian and the kids wanted Blizzards from DQ, so we swung through the drive through, and we ended the night with the last episode of The Better Sister.  We loved it!  We also started Nine Perfect Strangers, season two, but it was a little slow, so we turned it off and went to bed.

 

Sunday, June 15

Sunday was Father’s Day, so I headed out to get donuts for breakfast per Brian’s request.  I was a little nervous about driving (and Brian told me he’d pick them up himself if I didn’t feel comfortable doing so), but I felt confident enough to do it myself.  I also figured that it was early on a Sunday morning so the roads shouldn’t be too busy anyway, and I was correct.  There was nobody on the road.

When I got home, we all had breakfast and then gave B his gifts.  Olivia always makes a homemade card that she hides somewhere and makes us find on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, so Brian found his card from her, and then the three of them spent some time playing Zelda (TOTK to be exact) together.

Brian didn’t want much for Father’s Day – he didn’t even want to go out to lunch – so we just stayed at home all day, which was nice since I was still recovering from my adjustment.  I felt pretty good all day Sunday – all I had was some mild dizziness, the start of vertigo while I was getting ready, and some unsteadiness here and there – but it definitely wasn’t as bad as Saturday.

After lunch, the kids were “bored” so I told them we could clean out the coat closet – LOL.  That’s not what they had in mind for something to do, but it actually ended up going well for all of us.  We had previously used the coat closet for coats, hats, gloves, etc., but we also had a big two-drawer bin in there that held a bunch of the kids’ outdoor toys.  They barely use any of those outdoor toys anymore, so we were able to get rid of a whole pile of stuff (some trash, and some to donate), and I was able to reorganize the closet to utilize that space for our pool accessories and beach bag.

Those have been in our linen closet upstairs forever, which is a dumb place to keep them because, a) they are not linens, and b) it makes more sense to have all that stuff downstairs by the door since we take the stuff when we leave.  So now, the pool toys are all in the bin – floats in the top drawer and toys in the bottom, and the beach bag is sitting on the floor in the front, ready to go!

I now have a whole extra shelf in the linen closet to play with, so I’ll be able to move things around in there so it’s not so crowded!  Woo hoo!  I was exhausted by the time I had finished cleaning that closet out, even though I took it really slow, so I didn’t work on the linen closet, much as I wanted to.

Linen closet "before" with all of the pool stuff in there

Coat closet "after" with all of the pool stuff moved in there

Everything we got rid of... trash on the top and donate on the bottom

After that was done, I showered and got ready for the day, and sure enough, putting on my eyeliner started to set my vertigo off again, but thankfully, this time, when my eyes started feeling wiggly, I straightened up, and the vertigo never came.  I also skipped drying my hair since it was the main culprit of the vertigo on Saturday.

After I was ready, I headed to my office to transfer pictures from the week to my computer, and then I wrapped my daddy’s Father’s Day gift before heading to their house for dinner.

We hadn’t been to my parents’ house in quite some time, so it was great to be back over there again.  Momma made pork chops, rice, broccoli casserole, and the most delicious corn with bacon + a new recipe for dessert called Neiman Marcus cake. 

We snapped our traditional Father’s Day pictures, and then we headed home.  I’m so grateful for these two right here… they’ve been taking extra good care of me recently with these new adjustments.

When we got home, the kids got showered, and I sorted the laundry.  After they went to bed, Brian and I started a new-to-us show called Gracepoint.  It’s a miniseries of just 10 episodes and it’s a mystery/thriller… the acting isn’t the best, but the storyline is keeping me interested, so hopefully it’ll be good!  And eventually we may come back around for Nine Perfect Strangers, season two, but we have so many other things to watch that we don’t want to waste time watching something that’s boring.

If you are still here, BLESS YOU, because this was so dang long!  Lol.

Happy Wednesday, y’all!