Chiropractors / spinal specialists australia
Dr.
Hakan Bilal of St Albans in the state Victoria,
Australia
I am an unashamed chiropractic advocate. I cannot help but
invite others to share in what I have had for over six or
more years. For Chiropractic care was a significant trigger
to a profound and wonderful change in my life.
I am now 42
years old and I had been your classic sick kid. From the
age of 15 months, I battled bronchitis and asthma. At the
age of 5 I had a collapsed lung. Until the age of 12, I could
not play sport because of a lack of strength and lung capacity.
I remember most vividly many nights sleeping "upright" in
bed, with mum at my side trying all sorts of natural remedies:
Cold towel around the neck, steam pots, towels to cough into,
until I got through an asthma attack and waited for the next
one to strike like a stalking cat. This is not to mention
going without anything with cows milk or sugar for most of
that time. (I think the cows milk trick actually helped a
lot, and to this day I don't think we like each other.)
A
move overseas to a tropical climate brought very welcome
relief from the asthma. "Ah ha!' we thought, "it was all
to do with climate! Now I can get on with life!" Well, not
quite.
I developed severe hay fever and other allergies started
to plague me. But at least I started to gain some strength
and develop physically. The drugs kept the hay fever at
bay as well as most of the allergies, so in general, life
was on an up for me. I became quite proficient at many sports
and just loved to battle my older brother for supremacy.
I hated to lose back then! After a sports injury, I started
to occasionally suffer from lower back pain, but if I took
it easy, it went away after a few days, and would not bother
me again for months. But other than that, life was good.
When
a return to Melbourne in my late teens brought with it a
return of the old enemies, I was strong enough physically
now to cope better, and it did not seem to be as bad as the
childhood years. I moved through the end of High School,
did three and a half years of college, started work, got
married, and started a family.
Like many young guns, I threw
a lot into my work, and after a few years started to develop
pretty severe headaches. A trip to the optometrist seemed
to help for a while, but eventually they came back, to the
point where I suffered my first migraine collapse. From then
on, it was 3 to 4 Panadol at a time, 3 or 4 times a day,
to quell the pain when it hit, and the lower back pain got
much worse, to the point that when it happened, I was in
bed and unable to move for up to three days.
This
went on for about 8 years. Then I decided to take up swimming
on advice from some friends. I really got into it, and ended
up doing a lot with my sons as well. But after 2 years, I
had to stop. For some reason, it really flared my allergies,
and I developed severe red itchy welts all over the body.
I took prednisolone as directed by my doctor. That enabled
me to sleep at night and stop scratching till I bled. A course
of desensitisation injections (apparently I am allergic to
dust mites and grass pollens) actually settled the skin problems
for about two years (at a cost of about $1000). Meanwhile,
the rest of the problems persisted.
Leading
a busy lifestyle, like most people these days, I could never
be bothered getting around to doing anything about it. The
drugs kept me limping along. Until about 6 years ago. I was
passing a stand in a shopping centre offering a free spinal
check. What the heck right? I knew my spine was out. I had
been to see a half dozen chiropractors in my lifetime, each
of which was able to fix the pain I had at the time. It seemed
like the right thing to do at the time. Something drew me
in.
I was surprised at how thorough
my initial visit was, being informed in brief, for the first
time, what chiropractic was about, and how important nerve
flow was to the overall health of the whole body. I really
loved that everything was interconnected. Things made real
sense. I was surprised indeed, to learn that there may even
be hope for my allergies, my asthma, my hay fever, poor sleeping
habits, feeling tired all the time, and on and on. It was
quite freaky how he checked my body over, telling me what
problems I was having; with a nod from me each time a problem
was mentioned.
So together,
my chiropractor and I set out to work on the immediate pain
relief issues first, then depending on how that went, to
look at what else I was willing to try. I was given exercises
to both strengthen and make flexible. In fact, this was part
of the bargain. He would only work on the spine if I agreed
to look at other aspects of my life style. Otherwise, I was
wasting my money. He was so right. I could hardly believe
the results. My migraines virtually disappeared within weeks,
and in four years, I have not had one incident of lower body
collapse.
Given that success, I
invited family members to follow my path, and then given that success,
(my eldest son lost most of his headaches, my wife's lifelong
battle with sciatic pain (due to one leg being 'diagnosed' as longer
than the other as a young girl) all gone, I realised I wanted
to keep this up. I felt more alive, healthier than I had
ever been. That's the only way I could explain it at the
time - ALIVE.
The big obstacle was the cost of course, so
thankfully, and in consultation with my chiropractor (in
fact, more prompting from him than me), a long term scheme
was devised where I could get all the care I wanted and needed
for my whole family. Needless to say, I jumped at it.
I can tell you that I am
so glad that I did. Nothing major actually changed for a
while after that - physically, just
felt great after every adjustment (oh, and by the way, there
were times in that first couple of years - and since - that
I got lazy and didn't do the exercises, and it was amazing
the difference it made).
The only thing that still amazes
and is yet to tell, is that during the 3 rd year, I suddenly
realised that perhaps I should risk dropping all the antihistamines
that I was still pumping into the body for my skin rashes
and allergies. I was waking up doped, my skin was almost
numb, and I was starting to think that maybe I was actually
causing damage to the nervous system with all the weird positions
I would be left in during the nights, where I was so drugged
I hardly moved.
So I stopped the nightly drug ritual, determined to
see if I could find a better way. I was so stunned with the
result I could hardly believe it. After only a week, the
itches were about 70% better and since then, I have only
occasionally got itchy wrists and hands.
It would appear I had been taking
drugs simply out of fear. My body had been undergoing continual
and gradual improvement and I had not even been letting it
tell me about it! I could have even been slowing it down,
who knows. I do know, however, that as it stands today asthma
and hay fever are now only minor irritations that may require
a does of antihistamine or a puff of Ventolin a few times
a year, that lower back pain is a bad memory, that I sleep
better and longer than I ever have (I used to wake up at
least a dozen times a night), and that pain in general is
there when I know I have done something silly to cause it.
It is almost like a friend being there to say "stop it, don't
do it that way or it will cause problems for you later!!"
In fact, I remember complaining in the early years about
how often I seemed to notice pain now. "Why" I would ask, "if
I am under constant chiropractic care, do I seem to notice
pain more often? Surely the pain should be getting less frequent?
Is this really working?" A look of sheer delight passed over
my chiropractor's face, only tinged, it seemed to me, with
a sense of compassion for my suffering. "Pain?" he exclaimed. "That's
great news! Your body is really starting to work efficiently
now!"
I was taken aback. Was he serious! He actually wanted me
to suffer? What was this? "What do you mean? Pain is actually
good? I thought we were meant to be avoiding pain? I am certainly
not enjoying it!"
"No." he said. "We don't want you suffering. But in the
past, your body was so shut down that it was taking ages
for the body's signals to reach out to you. Pain," he explained, "is
one of the last measures the body takes in sending you a
signal that things are not as they should be. But it is a
very efficient way of getting your attention.
The thing with
pain is that if you ignore it, if you think it will go away
eventually, or if you throw drugs at it to trick the mind
into thinking it's not really there, the body will listen
to you for a while. The pain will go away, giving up on that
attempt. But if things persist in not being as they should
be, if the body realises that damage is being done, the next
time, it will send a stronger signal. And again until you
do something about it. In many cases, chronic pain ensues,
damage can be beyond repair. Depression, susceptibility to
bugs, disease - life can get pretty bloody hard."
This was a revelation to me. Could this be true? Could it
now be that because the blockages were now systematically
being removed that I was getting many small signals. Experience
held the answers. I tried putting the theory to the test. 'Be
open to the experience and the evidence" I told myself. There
was certainly nothing to lose.
I started to notice things
about my lifestyle that brought about signals. Not just pain.
Tiredness, irritability, lack of concentration. All these
things started to become quite noticeable. I was starting
to very quickly become aware of the cause and effect of day
to day life. One wonders how I could have been so blind before.
But I was. I am not so these days. At least, not as much!
So now I find myself in
frequent reflection on where my life is and what chiropractic
has meant to me. I think on the many conversations I have
had with my chiropractor in getting to know myself better,
the process of pain and healing, of living a healthier lifestyle
and of the choices I make toward that each day.
I have become aware that for me, it
has been not only a physical journey to wellness, but a mental
and spiritual one as well. Indeed, I take that now as my
greatest gift from Chiropractic - Awareness . I have
become more aware of what my body is doing and telling me.
I have become aware that all those trillions of cells have
woken up. They are communicating with each other in a wonderful
microcosmic example of real life. My chiropractor told me
not once, but several times over the years, that healing
happens from the inside out. For me, this is not only a reality,
but I believe it goes even further.
The healing does not stop
at the skin on its way "out".
It keeps going, on and out into our perceived reality of
life. I find myself more aware of life around me, of the
joys and pains of those I meet each day. I see things from
a new perspective. I see life full of constant reminders
and rememberings. Of wonderful relationships, the fruits
of which, in turn are received again and internalised. And
so the cycle is complete, and starts anew.
Just like what
is happening in me. All those little cells communicating
as one. If you like, re-minding with each other - re-membering
what they had forgotten simply because the messages were not
getting through. The mind, I have come to believe, is not stored
in the brain. It is the whole working as one. It is a joining,
a re-membering of what it knows already. Healing therefore,
cannot be a physical thing only, it is Mind and Body working
as one. Chiropractic helps keep it that way.