EPISODE SUMMARY
Guest: Elizabeth Toney
Elizabeth Came to work at Blair Chiropractic Clinic despite being terrified of chiropractic her whole life.
Elizabeth describes her health journey as epileptic and, previously, extremely overweight. She had high blood pressure. There were so many different health issues. She had the ACLs in both knees replaced. A lot of it she didn't realize was going on until she started healing and realized that I was so used to dealing with the pain. Sciatic pain went away after one adjustment to the neck.
In addition to her own healing journey as a front office administrator, Elizabeth started seeing these people come in for an Upper Cervical Screening for the first time. Their demeanor was poor, and they were in so much pain, and they were very skeptical that anything was going to help, and a lot of times, it's their last resort. It's amazing the transformation because you can tell whenever they start feeling better, they come in, and they're just bright like sunshine and happy and just feeling so much better, and it really is like a total transformation.
Losing 130 pounds, Elizabeth feels much lighter and more confident. She is feeling good internally. Her body is starting to function better. She attributes her results to a combination of things; somebody is taking care of her spine and other health issues.. At the same time, she is putting out the effort and sticking to her lifestyle changes. This combination is helping with the progress in her health.
To contact Elizabeth; elizabeth@blairclinic.com
Call: (806)747-2735
To contact Ruth, go to https://www.blairclinic.com
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Welcome, welcome, welcome to What Pain in the Neck, the Podcast. I'm Ruth Elder, your host, and I am sitting here with a very special lady that I have grown not only to like but to love as well. I have known her for about a year and a half, and her name is Elizabeth Toney. Welcome.
Thank you. I'm glad to be here.
I'm really glad to have you. We've actually scheduled and rescheduled this interview quite a few times. I'm really glad that it finally happened. Why don't you start, Elizabeth, to introduce yourself, just say a little bit about your background, who you are, what makes you tick, anything that you want to say that set us up and understand a little bit about who you are?
Hey, I've been in Lubbock since I was three, which is funny because I had never ever heard of the Blair Clinic until I interviewed with you.
Even though the Blair Clinic has been here your whole life.
My whole life.
You already said interviewed with me. You're not talking podcast interview.
Correct. Interviewing for a job.
Yes. That was in August of 2021, yes. How did that come about?
I was actually working for a temp agency, and the day that my last assignment had ended, I had called my representative and let him know that it had ended, and he got all excited and he was like, "Oh, wait, wait, wait. I want you to call this lady. She just called me asking about getting somebody. It's a chiropractic clinic and she needs somebody to help out." I was like, "Oh, okay." I called and I talked to you, and that day, I came in to interview with you.
What did you think when he said chiropractic?
Well, my first thought was I've always been terrified of chiropractors. I was thinking I don't know if it's going to be a good fit, but then I also thought, "Well, it's just temporary, so it's not a big deal."
You were brave enough to go, and we had a chat. Describe that.
Well, basically, what it boiled down to is you're a very cheerful person, which in turn, it was making me cheerful as well, and everything that you were telling me about the Blair technique and what it actually does, it calmed my nerves. I wasn't so scared of the chiropractor word.
Do you remember what it was, some highlights about what we talked about that resonated with you?
Well, one of the biggest parts of it is when I told you that a lot of jobs that I had in the past, I couldn't bear to stay because the people that were in charge were very unethical. That's one of the things that bothered me more than anything, and you were very happy to hear me say that because it's important to have ethics.
I feel like we kind of connected. I think I gave you a challenge to go and read a bunch of stuff on our website. I didn't have a podcast at the time, but if I did, I would've said, "Go listen to some episodes." Actually, interestingly, you took the position and it wasn't really a temporary position and I don't think I pitched it to you like that. I think I actually even really threw you into deep water under the bus right away because, for health reasons, I needed to be gone for the first six weeks. I think we just spent-- I don't know. Was it even a week together?
I don't think so.
Then I was gone. That was interesting. The ethics came in there. I trusted you and you trusted us that it wasn't quackery, I guess.
Yes.
Elizabeth.
Yes.
What was your health journey up until that point because I do recall we actually had some conversations about health during the job interview? You had actually had quite a journey up until that point. Your-
Correct.
-journey to heal didn't start when you came here.
Correct.
Can you talk a little bit about that?
My journey, I'm epileptic and, of course, whenever I first met you, I was extremely overweight, had high blood pressure. There was so many things. I had the ACLs in both of my knees replaced and things like that. There were so many things that I didn't realize were going on with my body until I started healing and realized that I was so used to dealing with the pain that I didn't even realize that it was there until I started healing.
You started healing, but your healing journey started before you came here.
I had started making decisions about my health before I came here. I had decided that I needed to be on a keto lifestyle because my body was really sensitive to sugar and carbohydrates and things like that and said I was extremely overweight, but I had stopped smoking. I decided to do keto. I stopped drinking Diet Dr. Pepper all day every day.
Also, what I saw and what I recall, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that you had a peace and an energy about you, and you described that that wasn't always the case.
Yes.
I think that sometimes, when we make a decision mentally that I'm going to do something good for myself and I'm going to go after something good, then that comes into our life somehow.
Right. A lot of the decisions that I made was it started off with me, I don't know finding God again. I read several books that my mother had given me, and it really inspired me to work on my relationship with God, and in turn, it gave me peace, it let me let go of a lot of things that I had carried on my shoulders for a very long time. I finally received all that peace and I let all that stuff go. Now, I'm just more joyful than I've ever been in my whole life.
That's good, and we'll go into some of that journey, but the reason I wanted to go back and dig into that is, a lot of times, the healing comes with a realization that we are broken, something needs to change, and then also that hope or that resolve or that seeking, "I want better for myself." Sometimes that is the first part of the journey. Is that fair to say that that's what happened with you?
That is very fair to say. That was one of the things that I found so funny about me interviewing with you the day that my other assignment had stopped because I felt like it was divine intervention.
Actually, interestingly, when you came here and interviewed, both my husband and I said, "This is the first time that we have interviewed somebody," and we just immediately trusted you. We had no reservations, no reservations. In our gut, it just felt right. A story that I wanted to actually mention, I think it might have been the first day you started.
We were talking about how you were going to be running some of the day-to-day things and free me up to do more education and getting the word out, especially Blair Chiropractic, what Blair Chiropractic is, and what it isn't, and then also other types of natural healing because when people have more information, then you can make a true choice. You can't make a choice about something you don't know about-
Correct.
-but if you know more options, then you actually can make a true choice about your own health. Even though you had a piece about you, you weren't super confident yet, but I got a text from you here. It was August 25th, 2021. I think it must have been the first day on the job. It was at 10:12 PM. "Hey, lady, you might be asleep or winding the family down." I wasn't asleep, but I had gone to bed, but I had been thinking about the weekly podcast suggestion, I feel like it would be beneficial to start with specified or targeted issues each week, and then it goes on. At that point, I felt it was too much. I had this idea, I had this desire to do a podcast, but it felt too much, and yet, here we are.
Yes, here we are.
You must have definitely had a piece in that. There's more to the story and we'll tell that story another time. I want our listeners to know that you definitely have been an instrumental piece of that from the first day. You encouraged me to not give up on that idea, which, at that point, I wanted to do it but I didn't think it would be possible or that I could do it. You encouraged me to do that.
Then the other thing is you took over a lot of the day-to-day running, the running of the clinic, so that I could focus my brain power on figuring out what I wanted to do, what I was good at, and then learning the ins and outs of how to do, for instance, this podcast, which actually hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be.
I know. I saw.
I didn't think it would be easy and it has been even harder than I thought, but here we are, and so worth it.
There we go. All in a nutshell, yes.
Okay. We've covered how you got started. When you were in deep, what did you see day-to-day?
Well, it was absolutely amazing really because whenever it's a type of chiropractic that you've never heard of before and all you've ever heard of is the popping and the twisting and the jerkin, I can see how people can be skeptical because I didn't understand how it would work.
All of a sudden, I start seeing these people come in for the first time and their demeanor is just poor and they're in so much pain and they're very skeptical that anything's going to help, and a lot of times, it's their last resort. It's amazing the transformation because you can tell whenever they start feeling better, they come in and they're just bright like sunshine and happy and just feeling so much better, and it really is like a total transformation.
Yes. Do you have some favorite stories that you've seen and heard?
I actually do. There's one of the patients that came in, she was so miserable, and she couldn't figure out why, all of a sudden, her body was just causing her to be so depressed and she couldn't do her yoga classes and stuff like that. She was pretty skeptical that anything was going to help. She had her first adjustment, and the next time that we saw her, a couple days later, she comes in and she's like, "This is the real me." I gave her a big hug because I was so happy that she finally got some relief. She was almost jumping up and down.
Something that's, I think, is significant about that story, she was skeptical but she didn't really feel like, what did she have to lose. The nice thing about what we do is whether you believe in it or not, it works, you don't have to do anything. You don't have to be positive. You don't have to think it works. We're not going to ask anybody to do anything difficult, and it just works. Do you have any other stories that you can think of?
I do. As of recently, we had a young lady that came in here and she had just an array of problems starting from when she was a baby.
Is this the person that came in with Shaken Baby Syndrome?
Yes.
Why don't you tell that story? That is her whole life.
Yes.
She is in her 30s, I think.
Yes, I think so. She came in for the first time and she was a very chipper person, but you could tell just looking at her how much pain she was in. Like I said, she had just a plethora of different things that have gone on in her life. She finally got her first adjustment and we saw her a couple days later and she was sore and she was still very chipper.
I think it was her second checkup after her first adjustment, she came in and she was just laughing and so excited because she said that this is the first time in her whole life that she has not been in pain and that it's amazing. I can't even imagine being in pain from being a baby.
Let that sink in, your whole life, and then the pain lets up, that is significant.
Very significant.
At the beginning of the program, you started talking a little bit about your own health journey, and I stopped you and backed you up and asked you about some other things. Let's go back to that story, what has your own healing journey been like?
It was interesting whenever I first let Dr. Elder do the screening, and then the first adjustment because, of course, we did find out that I had marine neck.
Marine neck meaning your--
Neck's straight.
Your neck was straight and it's supposed to be a C-shaped.
We discovered that, I believe my atlas was out, the very top part of your neck. Apparently, I also had a TMJ and I had no idea. He had to adjust my jaw and then the very top of my neck. It was interesting because I definitely didn't correlate something in your neck having anything to do with sciatica, but I had really bad left-sided sciatica since I was pregnant with my daughter.
She's how old?
She is going to be 19 next month.
This was a year ago, so for 18 years, you had sciatic pain?
Yes. I just thought that it was some sort of malfunction from pregnancy.
You got your neck in place and--
Yes. I have not had any sciatic problems ever since that first adjustment.
That's amazing, and it's been over a year now.
Yes, over a year.
Actually, I will point out, we don't have video, but your eyes are sparkling and you got the most beautiful smile and vibrancy on your face.
Thank you.
I think we can hear it in your voice, but I just want to point that out. What are some other things that you have noticed?
I think that a combination of things. Being here, I had really given up on the seizure medication because I had been on so many and none of them worked. I was very disappointed and had given up, and then I hadn't had any for a while and then I started having them again.
You hadn't had any seizures?
No, I haven't as of now. We finally found-- you all were encouraging me to go to the doctor and see if I could get on something else that I had heard about from a friend that I worked with. I did that. I went and got on a different medication, and the last seizure I had was actually in this office in June.
I wasn't here, but I remember that.
Yes, in June. I went and I got on medication and I haven't had one since, but I think it's a combination of things.
Yes. I was going to say what I think but what you think is more important. You said a combination of things. Why don't you elaborate a little bit about that?
Well, for one, obviously, I need to take the medication.
I think one of the things that's interesting that I have seen over and over the years is, a lot of times, when things aren't working, once you get your nervous system working right, which is what happens when you get your neck and head in alignment, then the nerves between the brain and the rest of the body starts functioning well. A lot of times, other therapies that didn't work before, now they will start working.
Yes. That's what I believe. I strongly believe that it was a combination of things with getting my neck taken care of. Of course, I knew that it would probably be a process because I've been having those seizures for 10 years or so. Actually, I was so relieved. I'm still relieved at this point. I remember just being in church during worship and just crying and crying because I really just wanted something to help. I think it's a combination of things. I hope to one day not have to have any medications.
Yes. That would be the ultimate goal. You actually hit on a point. I think it's important to note that sometimes different things need to work together. That's also why, from time to time on this podcast is not the Blair Show. It's about different experts that have different solutions to different problems. The more we can swallow our pride and say it takes a team approach, the better we can serve you.
Right. I agree with that.
What are some challenges that you've had here and that you've seen, whether it's from some of our people that we see regularly or even in your own life?
Well, in here, the biggest challenges to me are the first couple of visits with new patients because they're in so much pain that some of them have a tendency to be very rude.
You take the brunt of that as--
Yes. Yes, I do
Our frontline
The frontline of defense.
Yes. The friendly smile that everybody sees when they come in the door, which truly is the case. It's amazing to hear you say that because you never show it. You're always so kind and cheerful and beautiful to everybody who comes in.
Well, thank you. But no, they have a tendency to be rude sometimes, but I mean, I understand because of what they're going through.
Don't you also feel that when the healing happens, that almost makes it twice as sweet because--
It does.
You feel, and you feel that, feel it too, right? Not just--
Oh, yes. You can literally feel it.
You've even had patients apologize to you.
Yes. I was just thinking about that. I've had them apologize for snapping at me or whatever they said when they first came in.
Yes. There's definitely a mental and attitude transformation. When people, we often see people that thought we're last resort, and the desperation comes through.
That's one of the things, like I was saying, watching people totally change, it's an attitude adjustment.
Yes. We're talking about change. For you, it's been a gradual change. You mentioned earlier in the program that you used to be a lot heavier than you are now. One of the things that I have noticed is as that has been coming off, just the real you, your confidence, your personality has been coming out more.
Yes, I agree.
Since you are the one that's living this journey, do you have any thoughts that you want to share about how the healing and the weight loss, what the relationship is, how they work together, and maybe encourage each other, or I do think that it's important to note that a weight loss journey doesn't have to be part of the healing?
We've seen many people heal and start getting their life back. It's not necessary to be, we're not going to ever ask anyone to lose weight, but you had already made that decision when we saw you and you have stuck to your guns. I want to find out from you. I think you've lost quite a bit more than 100 pounds.
It's close to 130.
I, for a long time, did weightlifting for a living. I prided myself on being strong and lifting heavy weights, but I never lifted 130 pounds.
Could you imagine?
Just like not having that load with you. I want your thoughts on how all of that fits together.
I'm feeling good internally, my body's starting to function better. Again, that's a combination of things since I've got somebody taking care of my back and everything else. But at the same time, I also have to make an effort for me and stick to my guns as far as my lifestyle goes, but the combination of things, I think that it really is helping with the progress.
I actually want to change gears a little bit. Elizabeth, what advice do you have to let-- well, it could be a man or a woman, but let's say you were, I think, maybe 39 when you came here. Let's say it's a young woman with some experience with that has had a lot of hard knocks both mentally and physically that have substantial suffering, whether it's brain-related or pain in the body, maybe somebody that have twice as much pounds on as our bodies were designed to, and they feel stuck and discouraged and scared and maybe like, "Where do I go? Is there any hope for me? Is there any way out of this?" What would you tell that person?
Well, the way that I look at it, the only person in your way is you, and you're going to be the only one that can actually decide to make the effort to do the research and to find a solution to whatever's ailing you or whether it's mental or physical or emotional. It's funny because it reminds me of what Yoda says in Star Wars.
What is that?
It's do or do not, there is no try.
Okay, so make a choice and go for it.
Yes. Stick with it.
Elizabeth, is there something that you want to talk about that I haven't asked you?
Well, actually, yes. My favorite book of the Bible is 1 Corinthians, especially Chapter 13 when it talks about faith, hope, and love. Whenever you have all three of those is what we need to lead with on our journeys in life, like whenever it comes to healing, you have to love yourself. You have to good love those around you, and you gotta love what you do. We love what we do. That's how it gives people faith in the fact that healing is possible. You have those two together, and then it gives you hope for the future. I was thinking about that this morning.
That's beautiful. That's actually what I expected you to say, but that is really profound. Speaking of the future, what do you see the future holding for you?
There are so many possibilities right now, and you had asked me yesterday if I had ever considered going to chiropractic school. I mean, there's a lot of things. I've started thinking that that might be a possibility, and I think that we're going to end up expanding greatly. I just have that feeling that we're just going to grow and grow and grow, and one day, I may need to run everything.
Yes. I will say in the year and a half that I've known you, the biggest transformation is that like, you have this confidence and hope and go-get-itness that's just come with your healing. I think that that is actually what I love the most about working here is I've seen it in you, but when you start to heal and you start to get your own self, you mentioned the story earlier, and somebody came in and said, "Now, you see the real me."
That's what I love. I love to see the real you, the real person, not the pain that's like, in the way, that's a wall that's in between you and a good life. We don't want that wall. We just want to see the real you, and I love people. To see the real people come out, that is truly incredible.
It really is.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
A lot of this journey, I don't think, would've been possible, obviously, without you guys and my family, but also Tanner, my fiance, he's jus-- I love that man so much.
Yes. I thought when I asked you what do you see in your future, I thought you were going to say, "I'm getting married soon."
We are. In October, but I guess I thought it was work-related.
Yes. I don't know how easy, obviously, we want to compartmentalize and be professional at work, but we are who we are.
Right.
We can't really separate that easily, different aspects of our life. Elizabeth, every podcast episode, I ask the guest if they have a favorite life verse or a quote or something that keeps you motivated and going.
I have a really, really good verse from the Bible. It's Matthew 11:28. This one is very important to me because I look at this whenever I think I'm on the verge of giving up.
What is it?
It is, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." It's very important to me because I have to remember that just because I feel I'm going to give up, I have to reconnect with my faith and realize that it's all for a good reason and it's to keep me healthy and to keep me happy, and those around me, because they have proven that if two people are put into a room and one of them is extremely happy, it can transform the other into a happier person.
Why don't you end this episode by saying that verse again?
Okay. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."