Today's Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul

[Guest guest]

A Daring Adventure

By Gloria Updyke

For as long as I can remember, my husband Warne and I had each longed to hike

the entire length of the legendary Appalachian Trail. The wilderness

romanticism, the rugged individualism, the intrigue of a self-sufficient 2,000

mile journey on foot; it was an untamed frontier in our own backyard. He even

proposed to me on a jagged alpine summit, a day-hike, amidst reindeer lichen,

bare granite, and near gale-force winds on the fabled Appalachian Trail.

Life's pleasantries and plans, however, had been violently interrupted for years

by my perpetual, excruciating migraines. Oppressive daily painkillers and

industrial-strength migraine drugs kept me zonked out enough not to care. My

cherished work in Shenandoah's deep forests and sky-kissed ridges was a haze,

and physical activity a determined struggle.

On one sun-baked August traverse, I was plodding along in a miserable medicinal

fog when Warne, a highly experienced backpacker, disappointedly confided that he

didn't think I'd ever be able to hike the Appalachian Trail. I just couldn't

undertake a journey of that magnitude. Utter devastation didn't even begin to

describe how I felt. One of our most treasured dreams had died.

I nearly gave up when my neurologist insisted that my blood pressure,

skyrocketing from the mind-numbing medication, be controlled with yet more high

dosage prescriptions. Instead, in the dead of winter, despite hopelessness and

fear, I gathered up my nerve and abandoned dreams, defiantly taking the first

step of a daring new adventure. Nervously lacing up my comfortable old trail

boots, I fussed with the well-worn grommets, wondering whether I really had the

strength to do this. After all, I was deliberately running from conventional

authority to a less-traveled path. Taking one last look around, I opened the

door and intrepidly set off on my search, a quest for the life-changing wisdom

of an acupuncturist.

In silence I sat on the little carpeted bench as Dr. Berman, who was also a

chiropractor, diagnosed a seriously pinched nerve on the x-ray which he could

treat to lower my dangerous blood pressure and eliminate the blinding headaches.

I desperately wanted to believe him, but I'd learned not to get my hopes up.

Decades of doctors and neurologists had only scarcely eased the nightmarish,

knife-in-the-eye migraines. I figured it would be two weeks tops, if he was

really good, before the next headache floored me. Even so, I began making

regular trips to his office for chiropractic and acupuncture treatments. Two

weeks came and went - no pain, no migraines. In fact, I'm still waiting. The

next one never did appear.

The skillful chiropractic adjustments, and non-piercing acupuncture was so mild

and non-invasive that I wondered how it could possibly help. But slowly my neck

stabilized, blood pressure dropped and I got off the addictive medication.

The holistic treatment took me much further on my journey than I had ever

expected to travel. For years, on the backcountry hikes I lead, I'd also been

tormented by a searing tree-pollen allergy, foot bones painfully out of line,

and worn knee cartilage that made steep descents agonizingly slow. The effects

of the acupuncture needles and the absolute relief of gentle spinal

manipulations yielded consistent and progressive healing by eliminating the

causes rather than drugging the symptoms.

Finally set free of persistent pain, heavy medication, and hasty side effects,

active recreation became fun again. Warne was amazed at how happy and unstressed

I'd become - how effortlessly I climbed the craggy, cloud-bound peaks.

On Valentine's Day we talked of dreams, of hiking the high peaks and of the

ever-compelling Appalachian Trail. Then he handed me to the essential topo maps

for the Long Trail; the long-recognized, classic training ground in Vermont for

preparing to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Never in my wildest imagination did I suspect my dreams would be returned

through the hands of a chiropractor and acupuncture. We're planning daring

adventures that stir the soul because they're really possible now. It's not just

about restoring health; it's about restoring dreams.