“I
was diagnosed with Sydenham’s Chorea as a child. As I recover from headaches
under upper cervical care, can I expect that other problems related to that
diagnosis might also clear up?”
Sydenham’s
Chorea is considered an autoimmune disease wherein the infection (thought to be
a type of strep) gets into the brain. Any time a “bug” gets lodged in body
tissues, the immune system becomes very interested in those hiding places and
begins attacking those tissues. This can be a big problem! When it happens to
the heart, your own body’s protective cells begin destroying heart tissue, and
suddenly you have “heart disease.”
With
Sydenham’s Chorea, mostly seen in children, the damaged area of the brain
controls muscle activity. As a result, a child will begin to show extra
activity in the face, body and arms, like a slow writhing or twitching
movement. Most of the time, the symptoms clear on their own after a few months,
but you are right about wondering if there is other damage to sensitive nerve
tissue.
What
we know about the immune system is that it is not so much an isolated system as
it is an alliance among all the systems of the body. It involves nerve, skin,
bone, digestion, endocrine, blood, elimination and even respiratory events to
function at its best. We need our thymus gland (endocrine) to produce
lymphocytes, our spleen and liver (lymphatic, elimination and blood) for
antibodies. We need our long bones for producing blood that carries nourishing
oxygen and nutrients to all body tissues. We need our nerves to control and coordinate all the functions of our bodies that keep us alive!
Where
upper cervical care helps is to restore blood flow to the brain (there is
ongoing research about that interesting fact), and to set up conditions
favorable for long-term healing in all the systems of the body, including the
immune system. Many patients report fewer sick days, no more asthma attacks, no
more seasonal illnesses.
One
patient with Multiple Sclerosis (a condition characterized by deterioration of
brain cell tissue) has shown improvements in her neurologic tests after one
year. It’s a slow process of restoring normal function as the nerve system
rebuilds, but as the nerve system rebuilds, we see autoimmune disorders recede.
For
complex conditions like Sydenham’s Chorea, upper cervical care is a fundamental
contributor to care.
Dr.
Philip Schalow is a NUCCA practitioner in Rockford. He owns 1st Step
Chiropractic, S.C., 4519 Highcrest Road, Rockford. Call (815) 398-4500 for
details or visit www.MyRockfordChiropractor.com.
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