I was in my first semester of my sophomore year in high school at Cherry Creek.  At this point, I had been sick with severe sinus infections for nearly 5 years.  They had become so severe that at this point I was only able to attend a half day of school, flipping morning and afternoon classes every other day.  I had spent the last 5 years in and out of doctor’s offices.  My mom had taken me to the pediatrician, ear, nose and throat specialists, asthma specialists, allergist, etc., and no one had any clue what my problem was or what was going to cure me of this ongoing illness I was suffering from.  At one point, the doctors were even accusing me of making it up and that it was all in my head.  Excuse me?!  I’m a person who doesn’t sit still for very long, so having this problem really was holding me back from things that I wanted to do.  It was just about time for Christmas break when my mom had to take me to the doctor again for yet another flare up of symptoms.  At this point, the doctor had to up my antibiotic to yet another stronger one than the one before and recommended that if I wasn’t well after Christmas break that I was going to need to go on IV antibiotics and if that didn’t work that I was going to need sinus surgery.  I was only 14!!  My mom said “NO WAY” (not to the doctor of course).

It was during Christmas break that year that we travelled to Arizona to be with my grandparents who wintered there.  My Papa had started seeing a local chiropractor for his back problems and though maybe his chiropractor might be able to help me.  We had no clue what a chiropractor was going to do for chronic sinusitis, but though it was definitely worth a shot.  At this point, I was on 6 medications; 2 antibiotics, mucus thinner, decongestant, prednisone (steroids again) and a pain killer for the severe headaches I was experiencing.  I spent several hours per day at the multidisciplinary chiropractic office during our stay in Arizona.  Not to go into details, but basically what we found out there was that my digestive system had been destroyed from all of the medication and was where the real cause of the problem was now.  My digestive system was “leaking” toxins back into my body, which were attacking my weak spots, aka sinuses.  So, really, if I would have gone through with the surgery, it wouldn’t have corrected the problem either.  I left Arizona back in 1994 with a totally different lifestyle I was going to have to adapt to.  While in AZ, I learned that I had developed several food sensitivities to nearly everything that I loved to eat….primarily at this time, bagels and fruit.  My homecare program was going to have to consist of a dietary makeover while rebuilding my digestive and immune systems with the aid of nutritional supplements and homeopathic remedies.

Now, I had always known already at this point in life that I wanted to go into the medical field.  However, it was the holistic approach to healthcare that cured what the allopathic side nearly patched for the past 5 years of my life.  It truly was a life-changing experience and was the motivation for me to become a chiropractor. I’ve included a chart for you to look over.  It shows where the nerves go to after leaving the spine. You want to keep your spine healthy to ensure that the important messages that travel up and down these nerves are able to send and be received without any interference.  That’s where chiropractic comes in.  For more information, please see my other blog entries under the FAQ section.