temporary relief

[Guest guest]

hello all,....again

a couple of members have asked me about some therapies that provide

me with some temp. relief I must note that i am diagnosed with a

chiari 1 malformation, which is apparently fairly mild.....i've never

inquired as to the mm. That being said, my mri's are on a cdrom and

my computer and thus i can email them to anyone interested.

i have found the following to help with some of my symptoms....i mean

i can be feeling absolutely lousy, and after some treatments i can

feel pretty decent, BUT i must stay fairly still and fragile. I was

never told to do this , but i 'm guessing that my body tries to stay

still so as to avoid disrupting the chiari and /or neural

tissues....??

i always just thought i had a bad neck and tmj.

anyhow here's what helps me get some PT relief...i think everyone's

case is different so please keep this in mind....

1)nucca therapy: here is the website....http://www.nucca.org/home.htm

nucca is a form of chiropractic. Yikes! this is a bad word i know,

but nucca is drastically different than the bone crunching types of

chiros. I read on the wacma site to avoid chiros. This being said,

nucca is a method where the patient lays on his/her side and the

doctor very gently applies pressure to the atlas or c1 to take

pressure off the brainstem.

this gives me immediate relief of most symptoms, but of course is not

a cure for me. my nucca guy suspects that the chiari is most likely

in there irritating the area.

i have found that not all nucca people are created equal.....similar

to neurosurgeons i suspect. some are better than others and i tried

a couple until one came highly recommended that helped me out. its a

very specific art to adjust the c1 so its important, if you go ahead

with it, to find the right one for you....especially one that doesnt

seem like a quack.

the website can better tell you in detail about the treatment. it

helps me and maybe it could be of benefit to someone else??? my

neurosurgeon has heard of nucca and he has sent a couple patients to

see one before. I spoke with my nucca guy and asked if i was to have

surgery whether or not he would be able to still help me in the

future. he said no problem....so i hope he's right but i suspect he

is because c1 laminectomy takes off the back part of the ring which

i'm pretty sure doesnt provide all the structural support for that

particular verebrae.

2) Cranial sacral/ osteopathy..... i have heard that cranial sacral

is more gentle vs. cranial osteopathy which is slightly

deeper/stronger but overall very gentle. For me, i see a cranial

osteopath which is more mechanical in nature it helps....again with

some short term relief......for example when i come home from nucca

or cranial work, i am able to sleep like a baby ....sometimes for

several hours....it's like my body is trying to catch up for poor

sleep the previous few nights. I'm not always totally sure exactly

what the cranial is doing but i suspect it helps with csf movement

3)manual therapy/ osteopathy. I'm very careful to notify my osteo

that i have been diagnosed with chiari so that he doesnt do anything

to crazy with my neck.....which then again he never really did,

excepting for some traction......but that being said, i dont do

traction anymore since i got diagnosed with ACM.....i'm very careful

with my neck. I've heard one member saying she liked

traction...guess its different for each person.

i find the manual therapy to help with my body's aches and

pains....perhaps tissues and surrounding areas can have a breather.

so after 8 years of seeing all these types of people, as well as

accupuncture, massage, and every doctor under the sun....i began

searching under brainstem compression because so many doctors and

therapists i went to discussed the issue. i found the topic of

chiari, and then held my mri up to my computer screen to compare

images. mine looked very similar to those who had surgery so i went

to a neurologist in BC and he confirmed the chiari. I also sent my

mri's to Dr. Heffez in chicago and he also said i had chiari.

i'd be interested to hear what anyone has to say about my mri's If

you're interested to see them please email me, and i'll send'em out

kindest regards, and best of luck to all!

ryan

vancouver,bc canada