I recently had an hour-long conversation with a gentleman at my church about the effects of chiropractic treatment on epilepsy. The more we talked, and the more I thought about the anatomy of the cervical spine and head, the more I began formulating my own theories. As I continued to do research, the results were astounding! Almost every study that has been done with patients presenting epileptic activity has resulted in reduction or expulsion of all such episodes. Wow! I have always known chiropractic as a very powerful form of treatment, but even I was blown away by the effects of chiropractic on a 5-year old boy… we’ll call him David.
David was born a healthy baby, and up until he was 3 months of age, he hadn’t even had the slightest sniffle. One day, that all changed. Two days after his “three month check-up”, David became “colicky” and developed a mild upper respiratory infection with a fever. His mother recalls him being a little fussy, not eating, but alert when she put him down for a nap before leaving for work. Fifteen minutes later, his baby-sitter found him cyanotic, gasping for air, and nonresponsive. David was rushed to the hospital immediately. In the emergency room, he was resuscitated and given IV antibiotics.
After a full work up, the only remarkable thing was swelling of the brain. David was treated and seemed stable until 24 hours later when he began to have seizures. He stayed in the hospital for almost two weeks while doctors tried to find the right combination of medications to control the seizures. He was finally released with a diagnosis of near SIDS or viral encephalitis.
Even though he was placed on medication to manage the seizures, they increased in frequency to 30 seizures a day. He had developed cortical blindness, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and severe brain damage, and the doctors told the parents that David would never walk, speak, regain his vision, or progress in school. They were given no hope…
When David was five, his mother noticed that he was having monthly reoccurring ear infections, and his doctor had scheduled a tubal surgery. That’s when a friend told her about her chiropractor… When the doctor examined David, he was unable to walk, communicate, or respond with a constant loud vocal drone and almost constant writhing. He couldn’t support his own weight to sit or stand. Upon X-ray and further examination, it was decided that David was a chiropractic candidate. Here are the results:
Week one: Adjusted twice. Result? First good night sleep in weeks, seizures had reduced dramatically to only 10 per day, his vocal drone became a quiet intermittent moan, and he began to clap his hands.
Week two: Adjusted once. Result? He became more alert, continued to sleep more soundly, began sitting up and looking around, responded to sounds by looking toward the source, and continued with a decrease in seizures to only 5 per day. His pupil reflexes returned to normal, and he began to respond to bright light with closure and appeared to follow. Almost all of his writhing motions had ceased. An examination of his ears found them to be clear.
Week three and four: Adjusted thrice. Result? Seizures continued to occur at 5 per day, but all grand mals had ceased. He was sleeping completely through the nights now. For the first time in his life, he said “Dada” and began repeating vowel sounds. David’s therapists suspected that his vision was suddenly improving. His mother was told that he had unexpectedly and repeatedly mimicked the answering of a phone by copying the therapist and holding the receiver to his ear.
A re-exam was done, and David was not showing ANY signs of: vocal drone, writhing motions, tenderness, or restricted/ spastic motions. He was now capable of sitting up on his own and his mother reported that for the first time he pulled himself up and stood for over one minute. He began to develop motor skills and even grabbed his own pacifier and placed it in his mouth. David was showing avoidance to bright light, visual fixation and following, and normal pupil reflexes. His mother also noted that this was his first month free of ear infections in 9 months.
Week five: Adjusted twice. Result? Still having 5 seizures a day, but had been reduced to only petit mals. By the end of the week, David was seen by his neurologist and eye doctor. The eye doctor noted drastic improvement with a recovery of central field vision. David’s neurologist reported that he had greatly improved and would be requesting further tests to evaluate his seizure condition.
Week six: Adjusted once. Result? Seizures reduced to only 3 per day, with increased alertness, vocalization (with addition of the word “eat”), and fine motor coordination with playing with toys. His mother said that he was now responding to verbal commands with placing the phone receiver to his ear by saying “hello”. His follow-up exam with his pediatrician noted that his ears were normal and that tubes would not be necessary.
Weeks seven through twelve: Adjusted once to twice. Result? Seizures steadily reduced to the point of staring episodes, and David could be brought out of these episodes by calling out his name. By the end of the twelfth week, there were no outward signs of seizures.
Over the next 10 months, David continued to improve and was classified as non-epileptic. All medication was stopped. His vision improved to the point where he was prescribed glasses, and his speech continued to improve with clear pronunciation of “Dada, Mama, eat, and food”. David began to learn how to feed himself and was even able to potty train. David is now walking, talking, and FINALLY… living.
THAT is why I love chiropractic. It is able to let people not only exist, but live… really live.
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