Growing up, I never thought I would be involved in Neuro-Structural Chiropractic.
Actually, my true love was basketball.
I woke up and thought about basketball. Went to bed thinking about basketball. Basketball was everything.
I was lucky to be good enough that I could play it in college.
Even luckier…I never suffered any sort of major injury throughout my career.
Except for this…
During the fall of my senior season in college, I began suffering with debilitating headaches.
The headaches would come in bunches. They were excruciating. As if someone was stabbing my left temple with a knife.
I’d have multiple headaches each day, sometimes as many as 5. Furthermore, they would last between 1-hour to 3-hours.
During the episode, I would be completely helpless. Just writhing in pain on my bed until it went away. I couldn’t have light anywhere (even a small crack would make the pain worse), no sound, or smell.
Miserable.
In fact, I later found out these headaches have an aka…”Suicide Headaches”.
When I did go to my primary physician, he diagnosed me with Cluster Headaches.
An uncommon type of headache that is the most painful headache a human can experience.
I was prescribed migraine medication, various pain killers ex: Vicodin, oxygen tanks, high dose Excedrin, etc.
Nothing helped.
Actually, the only thing that changed was my teammates officially labeling me “Grandpa P”, because of the oxygen tank I carried around on road trips.
The worst thing about the pain was missing school, and practice on a daily basis.
Because of this, I was failing classes and having a hard time keeping my starting spot.
My life wasn’t normal anymore, and depression became common.
I had been to everyone…massage therapist, traditional chiropractor, acupuncturist, etc.
Nothing helped.
I take that back…one thing helped.
Morphine injections.
However, you only get 3 of those before they cut you off completely, to avoid addiction. So, I used those up rapidly, and had nowhere to turn.
Finally, a friend introduced me to a Neuro-Structural Chiropractor in Denver. Admittedly, I didn’t know there were different types of chiropractors.
I thought they were all the same.
In the past, I’d always enjoyed going to a traditional chiropractor. But since suffering with the cluster headaches, this approach provided little benefit.
So, when I showed up at his Neuro-Structural Chiropractic office, I didn’t have high expectations…but also had nothing to lose.
He explained his process and testing (assessments I’d never gone through at a traditional office), and if a core problem was found it may be contributing to my pain.
I’ll make a long story short. Multiple core problems in my spine were found.
So, he began correcting them, and within a few days my cluster headaches were gone.
The impact this had on my life is impossible to put into words. To go from unbelievable amounts of pain on a daily basis to none, is a surreal experience.
I found my new purpose.
As soon as I felt normal again, I began studying how and why it happened.
Digging deep into research on the nervous system, and Neuro-Structural Chiropractic.
It was fascinating to me that no one ever mentioned the nervous system may be playing a role in my pain.
So, even though I graduated with a major in Business Administration, I decided to go back for more school.
6-years later, I graduated school and began practicing my new passion, Neuro-Structural Chiropractic.
It’s funny how many of my greatest trials have turned into my greatest triumphs.
Without the terrible experience of cluster headaches, I may be bouncing around from job to job without any real purpose in my life.
Now, I wake up everyday committed to helping others find the true answers to their most challenging health problems.