The Big Crack

I did something I vowed never to do again after a really bad experience. I...saw a chiropractor. Yes. It's true. For over two weeks, I was experiencing these massive headaches that no amount of ibuprofen could control. For at least a year, I wake up with a headache that makes it very difficult to open my eyes. Oh sure, I could blame it on having two kids. That would be easy. They wake me up too early and scream in my ears all day so that would totally work. But once the headaches got to the point of causing me to want to beat my head on a wall in hopes of knocking whatever was loose back into place, I took the advice of a couple of people to request the aid of a chiropractor. Let me explain my past experience to you. About two years ago, I went to our friendly neighborhood chiropractor. I shall call him Dr. Pain. He contorted my body in ways that left me wondering what exactly he was attempting to accomplish. I went in with lower back pain and numbness in my limbs and went away with a headache that could only have been described as 'evil torture on my brain'. Dr. Pain was the kind of chiropractor that someone like me (aka: bubble-girl, aka: anxiety-gal, or aka: touch-me-and-I'll-probably-reach-around-and-punch-you-in-the-face girl) dreads to see. You see, Dr. Pain could also be named Captain Crack-a-spine. The noises coming from my spine and neck were horrendous. After five or six sessions with Dr. Pain, a very large bill, and twice as much pain as I went in with, I vowed to never again utilize the skills of a chiropractor. Okay...so my ability to make vows such as this never keep. After reading up on some articles about chiropractic care and anxiety and then reading about how headaches can be related to the neck, I sought a new chiropractor. I shall call him, Dr. Awesome. Dr. Awesome assured me that he wasn't going to break my neck and that my headaches would surely go away with the correct methods. At first, I was adamant that there would be no cracking what-so-ever. But I trusted Dr. Awesome and put my faith in his expertise. And when I least expected it, I heard the most hellish, awful cracking sound reverberating through my brain. This is what I shall call, 'The Big Crack'. Did it hurt? No. Of course not. He wouldn't be called Dr. Awesome if it did. Did it scare the living crap out of me? Um...yeah! I think I jumped a foot into the air, screaming all the while. But now, I am headache free and I haven't felt this good in a long time. In fact, I used to feel a lot of pressure and pulling in my chest and collarbone that has mysteriously disappeared, taking my never ending sense of anxiety with it. (Maybe this is what those articles about anxiety and chiropractic care were talking about. I suppose I'll never know for sure.) Will it last? Who knows. But I stand corrected. Apparently not all chiropractors are quacks. You just have to find an awesome one.