Nervous System Chiro (Seizures No More – Part 8)
I remember sitting in my bed with my research materials on my lap, thinking, “God what’s next?”. I had gotten to the point where I felt like my hands were tied and I didn’t know what else to do. So I prayed and prayed and prayed some more. I felt I had already tried everything I possibly could. I remember texting my husband and telling him, “I feel like we’re missing something”. Just moments after I sent that text a thought came to mind. I had remembered a chiropractor I followed on Instagram. I didn’t know much about her or what she did specifically so I went on her feed. As I was looking through her highlights and posts I noticed that she was a Nervous System centered chiropractor, something I had never heard of. I had been studying the nervous system for a couple of months at this point, so I was invested and wanted to understand more about this method.
The Central Nervous System
Intrigued by the idea of chiropractic care involving the central nervous system, I took a deep dive. I had no idea that the primary focus of pediatric chiropractic care was to restore normal body function. Having not grown up with chiropractic care as a norm, I had a pretty naive understanding of the work. As I began to research the subject I started to realize that I had much to learn.
During my research I discovered that the The Central Nervous system was one of the most important systems of the body. I was learning that reducing stress related interference to the nervous system could enhance overall body function and the body’s natural ability to heal. All the systems of the body, immune, muscular, respiratory, skeletal, hormonal, digestive, circulatory, integumentary and reproductive, depend on the central nervous system to function optimally.
I began to wonder if this was exactly what her body needed. Remembering that the instagram Chrio had just recently launched a new nationwide database of vetted nervous system based chiropractors, I scoured it but found that it did not have any chiros listed in the state of Florida. I was determined and took to the internet. I search engined for hours and wasn’t able to find much of anything listed near me. Having discussed this new direction my husband, we were ready and willing to relocate if we needed to, as we were willing to try just about anything to help heal our daughter.
I felt very strongly about this path, It was much more than a hunch, the science behind the method really prompted expectation. I really felt God was leading me in this direction so I was not going to give up until I found someone.
The very next day a few more chiropractors were added to the directory and as divine intervention would have it, a nervous system centered chiropractor serving Orlando, Florida, was added, I screamed!
I immediately took to social media to follow the practice and fell in love from afar. I was so excited to set up an appointment. I called the very next day and to my disappointment I was informed that they would not have any new patient openings until the following year. At the time that was a month and a half away from that opening. It was too long of a wait. I knew there had to be a way and briefly gave it to God in prayer, “Lord make a way”. 3 minutes later I received a call back informing me that a new patient appointment had just been cancelled and that a spot had opened up. I scheduled without hesitation.
I realized the office was a little over an hour from my home so I jumped in our vehicle and headed their way. With tears in my eyes I prayed the entire car ride. My desperation and despair was at an all time high. I knew that God was able to miraculously heal my daughter, but was He willing? I was sitting on this scripture for a while at the time.
Then a man with leprosy came to him and, on his knees, begged him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he told him. “Be made clean.”
Mark 1:40
When I read this verse the words, “I am willing”, seemed to jump off the page. I can’t think of a time when someone came to Jesus asking for healing or help and He didn’t respond. We often come to God in prayer, feeling like we need to convince Him to hear our prayer or meet our needs. We forget that Jesus is generous with His healing and help. Even though I had this understanding I was still struggling because my daughter was still very much having multiple seizures a day and no amount of prayer or fasting seemed to be working. You can read more about my spiritual posture and experience during the time on part 8 of this series.
I made it to the office and that day Justice got 3 scans done to give the Chiro’s insight as to what was going on in her body. Traditional medicine often falls short when it comes to assessing the health of the central nervous system. Symptoms can be vague and easily attributed to other causes, while standard exams like blood work, MRIs, and EEGs often fail to reveal any obvious pathology. We got blood work done and an MRI done and the results were “normal”. The scans they did provided us with an accurate assessment of Justice’ health and the function of her central nervous system.
By scanning for areas of tension and stress, they were able to better understand why certain symptoms and conditions were present. I will try my best to explain the 3 scans that were performed at our consult visit. There is a lot of terminology you may or may not understand (I didn’t at the time) but it’s very important and an intricate part to understanding what exactly was going on in Justice’ body. With that said I will be trying my best to explain this process. If you’re a chiropractor and reading this do not laugh at me, this was my level of understanding 🙂
Neurothermal Scan
The NeuroThermal Scan helped them identify the areas of Justice’s body that were not working correctly. This includes the area where your spine is not in alignment (subluxation) and the area where you have problems with your autonomic nervous system.
Neurospinal EMG Scan
By detecting areas of nerve disturbance, muscle imbalance, and postural disturbance or imbalance, the EMG scan was essential in ensuring that Justice received the most effective care possible. This scan helped them better understand what was happening in Justice’s neuromotor system, which gave them insight into her brain and neurodevelopment.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Scan
This scan helped us understand Justice’s neurological health. It allowed us see if her autonomic nervous system was healthy and functioning well or if it is stressed out and not working properly. This scan measured heart rate variability which allowed the docs to understand the amount of reserve and balance her nervous system had to cope with different stressors. Being adaptable is the key to good health.
Report Of Findings
The next day we were to meet back at the office again and go over the report of findings. The report of findings showed us all some very interesting information and gave me a lot of insight, as to what had been going on in Justice‘s body. In that moment, I was overwhelmed with this new found information. I began connecting a lot of the dots. In that moment, I realized that Justice being delivered via cesarean section truly affected her. I thought that process was traumatizing for me, but didn’t truly know how extremely traumatic it was for my newborn baby. I strongly believe this was the start of it all and that reality crushed me and hit me like a ton of bricks. Did my unnecessary C section (ill share my story soon) kick start the stress and dysfunction in my daughters nervous system the vert first day of her life? I was happy to finally feel like I had some type of answers but the truth of this was devastating. Birth trauma was a huge trigger for me. I’d spent years healing from my first traumatic birth and now I have new information that led me to believe that this undoubtedly affected not only me but my child and I was pissed and angry all over again.
The chiropractor walked me through all of the scans and helped me understand everything I was looking at. She explained in detail what subluxation was and what that does to a body. Justice’s upper cervical area was severely stressed and showed tension stuck in that one area. She then began to explain how the bones in the skull, upper neck, and spine are very important. Those bones protect the most important part of our health, which is the central nervous system. If anything happens to these bones during birth, it can change how they work from the beginning. Specifically when the upper cervical region is stuck in a stress mode, the list of possible symptoms are great. Guess what is on that list? Epilepsy and Seizures. I cried when I seen that. It made sense.
Things finally started to make sense for me. Can I say with 100% certainty that THIS was the cause of her seizures, no. But what I can say with certainty is that it was undoubtably clear that this was THE START. These are the dots I began to connect.
Physical Stress = Trauma.
Justice was born via cesarean section. The very delicate brainstem area and vitally important bones that protect her brain, that house the autonomic and central nervous system were physically injured and altered her very first day of life 🙁 A physically traumatic birth can damage the brainstem and upper cervical spinal cord. The brainstem and vagus nerve are responsible for most of the autonomic functions in the body. When these areas are stressed and out of place at birth, dysautonomia can set in. This was the beginning of her autonomic nervous system being stuck in a dysfunctional state.
Chemical Stress = Toxins.
Then toxic mold and dust were introduced to her already stressed out system. I HATE mold. I HATE dust. They are both neurotoxins. Neurotoxins are toxins that destroy nerve tissue. Neurotoxins are a type of chemical that can damage developing and mature nervous tissue. This also caused a host of skin related issues with both my girls.
Emotional Stress = Thoughts.
Then we lived in hotels and airbnb’s for 2 years. The toll this must have taken on her emotional state. Witnessing my husband and I crying, constantly trying to figure things out. A new living environment every 5-7 days. A few traumatic experiences at hotels like the alarm going off in the middle of the night because of a guest smoking in their hotel room and setting off the system. Red lights flashing and the loudest siren sound you’ve ever heard causing me to flip out of the bed, pregnant, while picking up/dragging my 3 sleeping children to safety. And honestly so much more random stories that you wouldn’t even believe. We’ve been through THINGS y’all!
I connected all these dots and felt some sort of relief to finally have some concrete answers but I didn’t anticipate the amount of GUILT I’d feel. I truly felt like this was all my fault.
“I should have done more research about that hospital I gave birth at. I didn’t know it was the highest c section rated hospital in Chicago. If I had known that I would have never went there and I would have had my daughter vaginally because I dilated fully to 10 and wasn’t allowed to push. If I had known about how important the nervous system was I would have taken her to get pediatric Chiro care as a baby. I should have known that southern regions are known for mold. I should have figured things out quicker. How dare I enter another home with mold knowing how much the previous one affected us, but I desperately needed a home for my children.” And the list goes on and on of all the thoughts that plagued my mind. That pointed an accusatory finger at me saying “Amanda this is all your fault”. I knew this was not the truth but that didn’t keep the thoughts from coming.
Restorative Care
Based on our history and exam findings Justice was placed on restorative care. Restorative care meant that she would be seen three times a week. We were there every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. For 8 months we commuted 3 hrs every other day.
Beginning Stages Of Care (Nov-Jan)
In this time we weren’t experiencing much progress but also an uptick in seizures and seizure activity. Justice was having seizures during adjustments, in the car ride on the way to see the chiropractors and on the car ride back home, as well as a few when we got home.
I remember a specific time during an adjustment she went into a full-blown seizure. Our Chiro was able to witness firsthand Justice’s body before and after a seizure. She knocked out after that seizure. Afterward I let her stay sleeping on the table for a while and then woke her so that we could begin our long drive back home. She had another seizure in the car.
Not only were we dealing with seizures we were simultaneously dealing with what felt like the deterioration of her cognitive abilities, all due to her having seizures. Her memory, attention and language were all affected. A little over a month into our care plan the chiropractor‘s office would be closing for two weeks. In those two weeks Justice had 40 seizures. The chiropractors let me know beforehand to contact them if I needed Justice to be seen. The LOVE and CARE that these women expressed for my daughter meant the absolute world to me. God knew that I needed that!
After the two week break Justice got scans redone to see where she was at. These were the scans. To the best of my ability I will explain: Adaptability Reserve, Postural Energy and Temperature Balance.
Adaptability Reserve: You see that little white circle in the yellow area? Shifted to the left shows that Justice was stuck predominantly in sympathetic flight or flight mode.
Postural Energy: The red and green bars on the top half indicated that Justice had tension and sympathetic dominance of subluxation. Subluxation of her spine and nervous system meaning tension, interference and misalignment.
Temperature Balance: You see those red lines on the left side and then white lines on the right side? That was showing an imbalance in overall brain function.
We’ve Got To Switch Things Up
After these scans my husband and I were discouraged. We were experiencing regression. Justice seemed to be getting worse, not better. My husband and I went back to the drawing board. We started watching a bunch of videos on YouTube about seizures and chiropractic care. After watching a few videos my husband was convinced that Justice needed a good cracking. Up until this point the care she was receiving was extremely gentle and did not involve any cracking. I fully understood, respected and trusted their approach to address the nervous system first so all else can follow but at this specific point we just felt she needed her cervical area physically adjusted.
These were my thoughts. “Did the bone move out of place thus affecting the nerve which then affects the muscle? Bones cannot move by themselves so there must have been a muscle imbalance first. Did the muscle imbalance occur first thereby causing the bone to move out of its normal position? Muscles do not think or act on their own so a muscle imbalance can only be the result of an unbalanced nerve supply to the muscles. So, the bone can only move if a muscle moves it and a muscle will only move when the nervous system tells it to.” These were some of my thoughts. I just felt like her body needed and could handle a more aggressive structural adjustment.
The Perfect Storm
Justice’s emotions were at an all time high. It was extremely difficult for her to regulate. Anything made her mad. Anything made her sad. Anything made her cry. Her emotions were all over the place and I felt like I was going insane. I was pregnant, I had a toddler and 3 others to care for. I felt like all my attention and focus was going to Justice and I felt guilty and was just completely disregulated myself.
I’m going to show you Justice’s scan before we did the one week intensive. Don’t worry, I’ll explain what you’re looking at!
Ok, now that you’ve seen the scan let me explain what those three scores on the bottom mean.
Energy Index: You see those black lines that look like scribbles. That was the energy index in her body it was literally jumping off the charts especially in the upper cervical area. The “normal” score should be 100. Justice’s energy index was in the 1000 range! HOLY LORD! This clearly showed that her body was wound up and stuck in a sympathetic mode.
Pattern: 20% That’s an extremely low score. A low score here allowed us to understand why she was struggling hard with emotional disregulation, focus and concentration and extreme exhaustion.
Symmetry: Patterns of stuck tension and imbalance, her body was struggling.
Raging Bull
Justice’s case was considered a Perfect Storm case. The Perfect Storm intensive program is designed specifically for children who struggle with neurological issues and need neurological restoration. Chronic neurological conditions such as epilepsy, autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression, PANS, asthma, allergies, chronic constipation, and a bunch of other ones I don’t even know about. The EMG scan detected patterns of tension and imbalance, Justice’s brain was stuck in a fight or flight mode and also had problems with regulating emotions, behavior, learning, and memory. Dr. Kasey was explaining to me that Justice was exhibiting 1 of the 3 common findings with pediatric EMG scans. Again, ill try my best to explain below.
Raging Bull – Justice’s nervous system was stuck on the ‘gas pedal’ and fully in sympathetic mode, which lead not only to her having seizures but also to challenges with hyperactivity, impulsivity, and difficulty sleeping.
One Week Intensive
The docs suggested we do a one week intensive (getting adjusted daily) to see how Justice’s body would respond. Some days it was just network spinal, some days just structural adjustments and sometimes both.
This was the first time Justice’ got her neck cracked.
We went faithfully everyday for a week to the office for her intensive and we were immediately noticing a change in behavior and also a DECREASE in seizures!!! After this specific adjustment Justice went the entire day without a seizure! This was the first time in 8 months that Justice had a seizure free day. She still had night time seizures but this was the first time ever she went all day until late evening without a seizure. PRAISE BE TO GOD! We were all so happy. It had been 4 months of regression and her body was responding quickly during this one week intensive.
The one week intensive ended and we did some scans to see how Justice’s body was responding. This was her new scan after the one week intensive. NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENCE!
Her energy index score dramatically decreased it went from 1004 to 210. Do you see how much calmer the black lines looked especially in the cervical area? Her pattern score dramatically increased which explained the shift in her behavior. The symmetry score was almost at a 50% meaning balance was taking place!
A side by side to appreciate the miracle that took place during the one week intensive!
You could only imagine the rejoicing that took place. We were witnessing a miracle right before our eyes. Things were shifting. Things completely changed after this one week intensive. Justice’s seizures during the day COMPLETELY STOPPED! For the first time in 8 months my daughter was able to make pancakes with me. She stayed and helped me through the entire process. This was huge for me because it was something we loved doing together but had stopped because she couldn’t stay interested or engaged long enough. The next day she helped my husband bake cookies and also helped him the whole way through. The next morning after that I woke up to her downstairs washing dishes! Her nervous system had become UNSTUCK and she was able to do normal things again. I wept as I was experiencing glimpses of Justice as JUSTICE JOY.
We continued to pray, believe, and do all that we could to support her body. Now that I could physically see what was going on in her body, I prayed specifically and commanded her body to align and function properly in Jesus’ name. Our trust was not in the chiropractors, our trust was not in supplements or anything else we were doing. Our trust was in the Lord God, who fearfully and wonderfully created Justice and desires her wholeness.
