Podcast - Episode 35: Treatment for Severe Headache and Brain Fog Leads To Healthy Habits

EPISODE SUMMARY
Guest: Stacy Cain

Stacy Cain has always been very health conscious, taking care of her teeth, wanting to learn about health, wearing sunblock, and going to a chiropractor once per month for maintenance. She is self-professed hypochondriac.  WebMD was her best friend and worst enemy. 

  •  The introduction to Upper Cervical Chiropractic and the neck's importance came through a Toastmasters meeting presentation.

  • The knowledge of the concepts of Upper Cervical Biomechanics was tucked away as merely an interesting concept until she started having debilitating, crushing headaches day and night along with brain fog and lack of sleep.

  • She went to numerous Doctors, and nobody could find anything wrong. She had a CT scan, MRI and saw a neurologist.

  • She was diagnosed with Migraines and prescribed heavy medications that she was reluctant to take due to the side effects and addictive qualities.

  • Sleeping at night was impossible; again, her doctor's answer was a prescription for heavy drugs she did not want to take.

  • At Blair Chiropractic Clinic, Stacy had an exam and a Cone Beam CT scan taken of her neck which showed a misalignment at the top of the neck. Dr. Gordon Elder explained all the findings and answered questions before giving a precise adjustment that was so light she didn’t feel it. After a 40 minute nap, the headache was 50%better already.

  • This experience set Stacy on a journey to learn even more about health, nutrition the immune system, gut health, and skin care.

To contact Ruth, go to https://www.blairclinic.com

ruth@blairclinic.com

https://www.facebook.com/rutelin

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome, welcome, welcome to What Pain in the Neck. I am Ruth Elder, your host. I'm here today with a really fun guest. I'm so excited about today's episode. From your intro, you know there's friends and experts, and this is definitely a friend. We're almost exactly the same age, just by a few months. We've also gone through some of the same health challenges. I'm sitting here with Stacy Cain. Stacy, welcome.

Welcome. Thank you.

We met maybe a year and a half ago when I joined Toastmasters. My goal in joining Toastmasters-- For those of you who don't know, Toastmasters is a club that helps you on your speaking and listening skills. I joined Toastmasters because I wanted to improve my communication skills in preparation for this very podcast. In the process, I had discovered that I loved just the club. I'm a people person, and I met friends. Stacy, you're a veteran, and you made me feel so welcome and comfortable at Toastmasters. Welcome to What Pain in the Neck.

Thank you. It was great to meet you at Toastmasters as well. It's definitely part of my heart, as now yours.

Yes, that's true. When we met, you helped me be comfortable there. I really thought this is a person that has it all together.

I've been in Toastmasters since 2007, which most people that know me know I'm very outgoing, that I love to talk to people, and that I take health really seriously, or what I thought was healthy really seriously.

You're always taking health seriously?

Well, yes. Since I was a child, it started out with my teeth, and then as I grew older, I just became very concerned and wanting to know more about health, of course. Some people would probably call me a hypochondriac, just because I worry about all types of different diseases and illnesses, but I know, and so--

Sometimes that is the back end of being educated when it comes to health.

It really is. Of course, WebMD was my best friend, and my worst enemy is WebMD. You gave a speech one day. It's been a while. It was like when you first started. You talked about what you did and where you worked, and you talked about upper cervical care. I was like, "Oh, that's really cool," but I have my own chiropractor. He's great. I've always gone to a chiropractor basically, say, on a monthly treatment plan just to keep myself in check.

You gave that speech, and I thought, "Well, that's interesting." I put that in the back of my head, but you made a comment about how when your neck is out of alignment, then your head feels like a bowling ball. I think you may have described yourself when you were going through your medical issues that your head would feel like it was as heavy as a bowling ball.

Yes, actually the bowling ball, it doesn't feel like a bowling ball. Your head weighs has a similar weight to it as a bowling ball, which is why chiropractors and especially upper cervical doctors will often use that analogy. Adult head is somewhere between 10 to 14 pounds, and that is also the weight of a bowling ball, and if you think of it, they're kind of a similar shape too.

Yes. I never thought about that, but when you said it, I was like, "Well, that's really interesting." At the time, I had intermittent headaches. I think most of us probably go through some type of headache, stress headaches. I drank too much headache, my kids are giving me a headache, all that stuff. I really wasn't worried about the minor headaches that I would have every now and then. Like I said, I was going to a different chiropractor, and then it was late July, August of last year, so 2022, my head really started hurting bad all the time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Did something happen?

It's funny that you say that because when I came in, and I'll tell you how I came in to your place, but I couldn't think of anything that I had done specifically because I do know a lot of times head injuries are from something, whiplash. I definitely didn't do any sports that would cause me to hit my head. Then, when I thought about it just after months of treatment, I do remember it was probably the spring before that, I was in the house with my grandbaby.

She was about one and a half at the time, and I was carrying her, and we slipped on some water in the house. Of course, I'm holding my grandbaby. I stopped the fall with my body, so my elbow, and I felt like as immediately jerk.

Yes, so it jerks. That bowling ball, then consider your spine like a chain, and then you have the ball at the end, then you have a presumably some kind of whipping motion.

Oh, yes, because we hit really hard. Of course, I'm holding a year-and-a-half baby, and I did not want her to hit the ground at all. If she didn't, I sure did, I took the brunt of that.

Yes. You're a incredible grandma. [laughter]

I had to protect that baby.

I know you'd do anything for that baby. [laughter]

Sacrifice my own body. That's the only thing I could think of really that I thought, man, that would definitely be a major jarring on my body. I couldn't think of anything else. At that time, I didn't put that together. I was really starting to get worried. Again, I am a self-proclaimed hypochondriac. WebMD is my best friend, and I started searching different things.

Well, I will say there's a difference between being a hypochondriac and actually having something wrong that you don't understand. Having headaches at that level is never normal. Even the so-called "normal headaches" that you said you didn't think anything about, those are common, but the only time it's normal to have a headache is if you hit your head. It's not normal to have a headache. I will say a lot of people will use those things as an excuse to not get help.

That is different than being-- Well, I like your humor and call it a self-proclaimed hypochondriac. A lot of times, there really is something wrong, and your body is telling you there's something wrong, even though maybe the cause is not immediately known. I just want to say, I just would like to make that distinction. How do you feel about that?

Yes. It's funny you say that because, at first, I do worry about how if I want to be healthy, I want to live to be 100. I want to enjoy my grandbabies, so I want to be healthy. To a point, I think of things, and then so several people in my circle, not my baby circle, but call me a hypochondriac. It's because I worry about stuff. Of course, that's part of my nature is just to worry about things, but also I want to live a long life.

Now, if it's a day or 50 more years, I also want it to be a happy life filled with joy and being able to spend time with my family and friends. Of course, if anyone's ever got on the internet and gone on WebMD, it will definitely go to worst-case scenario. I read different things on what my headaches could be because it was a different headache than I had ever experienced. My head felt like it was in a vise grip, and it was going to explode, like it was being smashed, and it was going to explode. It was all over my head. I couldn't figure it out.

I went to numerous doctors to try to figure out what was going on with my headaches. I went to the regular doctor, and they said there's nothing wrong. I've listened to a lot of your podcasts, and it does seem like that's the consistent is they say nothing's wrong. I'm like, "I know my body. Something's not right." Then one doctor sent me to the neurologist. I had a CAT scan done. They said everything looks good in the CAT scan. Of course, they're looking for just some very basic things.

Those kinds of CT scans that they take at the hospital, typically, what they look for is pathology. That looks like, do you have a brain tumor? Is something broken? Do you have a cyst somewhere, a growth somewhere, a fracture? Those kinds of things. Obviously, it's important to check for those things, but if something is just slightly displaced in the structure, that's what upper cervical doctors look for.

Medical doctors, they don't have that kind of training. They're trained to look for is something there that doesn't belong. They don't look for the parts that actually belong, are they lined up correctly?

That is interesting you say that because after I met with Dr. Elder, he was able to show me those things. I had one CAT scan done, and then they didn't see anything wrong. They said it is probably migraines, and they prescribed a migraine medicine.

Then again, why migraines? Did they answer that question for you?

They couldn't figure out what it was. It's unfortunate, but sometimes I feel like it's a go-to thing.

I feel like a lot of times, giving something a name, to me, that's not a solution.

It's not. I've always been leery on taking prescription pills because, one, the side effects scare me, and I think, "Man, these side effects are worse than what my initial problem is." Two, I've had two very close family members that have actually passed away from an interaction on prescription drugs.

Wow. That's intense.

It's always scared me to take prescription drugs. I don't remember the name of it, but the migraine medicine is one of those that's pretty intense, has some serious side effects. I didn't take the migraine medicine. Then the appointment, I finally was able to get an appointment for an MRI because they didn't see anything in the CAT scan, so they said, "Okay, let's do an MRI." I did the MRI, and I went to a neurologist, and he said everything looked good in it, everything was perfect. Every time I go to a doctor's visit, I'm crying because at this point I know something's wrong. Nobody can figure out why.

You even went so far to tell me you thought you were dying.

I did, exactly. It was to the point I would cry every single night. I could not sleep.

Wow.

You could ask my husband. Every single night I just sat on the couch and flopped around for hours praying till daylight. I know there's a song about that. I watched, I don't even know how many, Hallmark movies. This was going on during November as well. I couldn't sleep because every position that I laid my head in, it felt like it was just radiating pain from one side of my head to the other.

I do want to hear the rest of the story, but there's something I just really want to grab a hold of that you said. That you said it felt like pressure was building up in your head or something to that effect? 

Yes.

I just came back from a conference that was geared towards upper cervical doctors where there was a lot of new research presented, and it's actually not too far off from what actually happens. Our brain sits in our skull, and it's floating in fluid. It's called cerebrospinal fluid, I always need a second take to say it, or CSF. You can just think of it as a lake that the brain floats in, and it's there to protect the brain. People have just assumed that's what it's for, and that's the only thing it's for, but also it's for getting fresh signals into the brain and then get the waste products out. All of that fluid flows through the opening in the bottom of the skull into the spine, and so that's the upper neck that we're talking about and upper cervical.

If some of the structures there shift just a little bit, that hole gets a little bit smaller. Some of the soft tissues that are there, the tendons, something called the dura that goes around the muscles can maybe get a little bit swollen or out of place and further clog up that hole, for lack of a better word.

Actually, the pressure does build up in your skull because the water that's supposed to-- fresh water come in, wastewater go out, and just flow in and out like a lake that has a river coming into it and another one going out, it's like a little mini dam in that system, and the pressure builds up. When you were saying that's what it was feeling like, it's actually probably very similar to what actually physically is happening in there.

Even during that time when I would say there is so much pressure, I would also say, "I feel really hazy." My thoughts weren't really clear, and my head was hurting, and the pressure, and so all of that combined. Then, of course, Dr. Elder always talked to me about different things, like what you said, how it flows in and out, and how if you're bringing in, you're just passing around dirty water, then you're just passing around dirty water, for lack of a better word. I went to the neurologist, again, he said everything was perfect, and I have a great brain, which is good.

[laughter]

Yes. All the things that they're looking for, it's really good that they check for that. If you had some of that, it would be crucial to discover that. It's really good that you didn't have that, but just the fact that you didn't have that doesn't necessarily mean everything was okay. As your body was screaming at you, nothing was okay.

No. Then he prescribed to me-- I can't remember the name. Anyway, it's a very strong prescription. He said, "Well, I can give you some medicine that will help you sleep. It's like a muscle relaxer." I was like, "Oh, okay. That sounds good." Then, when I went to the pharmacy to pick it up and saw what it was, I was like, "I'm not taking this. This is a major addictive drug." Again, I didn't want to take that prescription.

It's like everyone was just wanting to patch what was really going on, and nobody could figure out what it was. Well, then I had my follow-up with Dr. Dalton. Dr. Dalton is my primary care physician, and he definitely leans toward more homeopathic natural healing.

I'll put a link to his website actually in the show notes.

I adore Dr. Dalton. He's very blunt, as we know, but he said, "I don't know what's going on. We don't see anything wrong, but maybe it's something that you need to go see an upper cervical chiropractor about." He had two recommendations for me. One of them was yours, your pamphlet, and then as soon as I saw the name, I said, "Oh, that's definitely where I'm going," because we were in Toastmasters together. I was like, "I'm definitely going there because I trust Ruth, and she has already talked about this."

Then immediately that thought that I had placed back in my head earlier about how your head is like a bowling ball and how heavy it is, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, exactly what she said during that speech makes sense." I got a hold of you, and you guys were so quick to get me in. I don't remember if it was because that same time my memory wasn't working really great because my brain was foggy. I came the first time and checked on some things. Dr. Elder did the-- Was it a CAT scan or an MRI?

It's a cone beam CT scan, so it's basically a very fancy 3D X-ray. It's a low dose CT scan, is what it is.

I had brought in my MRI. He was able to look at both, and then he explained them to me. He made so much sense. He explained it in such layman's terms, and I could see what he was talking about, like what you were saying when it's off, and how it adjusts that hole, and how the fluid goes in and out. It really made sense when he told me that. He could see that it was off. Then I had my adjustment, and like everyone has said, you just really don't even know that something's been done. Then I went and laid down, I think it was for 40 minutes, and I got up and I left. Just immediately, I felt better. I'm not saying I was 100% better, but I was at least 50% better.

In 40 minutes.

In 40 minutes.

That's amazing.

I cried all the way home.

That doesn't happen to everyone, but it's not unusual. Especially with all that pressure in the head, a lot of times when that adjustment happens, it's almost like the pressure just comes off.

That's what it felt like. I was immediately like, "I love this, and I'm not stopping this treatment." I trusted Dr. Elder. Just continued to come in for my treatments, but at the same time, because all that was happening, and seriously, you know this, I was afraid I was going to die, and I'm thinking, "I want to live. I want to live for my grandbabies. I want to live for my children." It definitely put me on a different path of health. What I traditionally thought about health was going to the doctor, if I get a sinus infection, I'd get an antibiotic, if I had this, I'd get a steroid shot. Just normal stuff.

How did you know? That's what I wanted to ask you about next. [laughs]

I got on a journey because also during all that I started feeling better, and I thought, "I want to live a long healthy life, happy life." Again, it's 1 day or 50 years, I want to be healthy. I started doing a lot of research. I will say I completely have eliminated WebMD. I never go to WebMD.

Oh, why is that?

They really do give you worst-case scenario.

Oh.

It could be you got a splinter, and you're asking about a splinter, and it says that you're going to lose a finger or something. I completely went away from those resources and did more journal reading, the Mayo Clinic, books by renowned nutritionists and cancer doctors.

When you say renowned, how would you know that somebody is renowned and it's a reliable source?

Because I cross-reference, and of course, Dr. Elder has been great at help when I ask, "What do you think about this person, or have you talked to this person, or what do you know about them?" You can read anything on the internet-

That's what I'm getting at here.

-but when they have resources, and they've written journals in the Mayo Clinic, not just WebMD. When I read different articles from different authors, and they're saying mainly the same thing, that nutrition and our body is made to heal itself, and we've just got to fix the underlying cause, then we can be healthy. We don't have to treat it with prescriptions. We don't have to live suffering the rest of our lives.

Essentially, your headache was not caused by a deficiency of any drug, it had a different reason, and so when we got to the reason for that headache, you got better. Then you're saying some other things that were going on in your health improved with proper nutrition and things like that.

It did. Obviously, I love Dr. Elder and the work that you guys do here, but it made me feel better, and I tell people now I'm good. I rarely have a headache. You also do great work in helping provide resources for people to live a healthy life.

Well, thank you.

You're welcome. Not just, "Oh, let me-- you need your neck fixed, or something, or your back."

That's why I have different guests here. [laughter]

You really do provide an atmosphere and the comfort that I have to ask about health and to go down that direction. I have completely reworked my nutrition. I have found alternatives for most ailments, whether it's an essential oil or a supplement that will help with, say, inflammation.

You mentioned the last time you spoke at Toastmasters that you had listened to lots of podcasts, you had found lots of resources. You said something else very useful to me about skincare and sunblock, and, oh, here in West Texas, bug spray. Can you share some of the resources that you found most helpful to you and some of the key things that you learned from those?

I will. It's funny that this even comes out because if anybody knows me, they know I have always been crazy about sunscreen because what are we always told? That if you don't wear sunscreen, you're going to get skin cancer, and you're going to die.

Yes. I'm the mother of four kids, and when they were little, we lived in Southern California, we had the pool. I was like the ninja when it came to sunblock is like, "If you're going out there, you're getting sunscreen, as long as I'm in charge. If you get skin cancer later on your own accord, that's on you, but as long as it's up to me, you're wearing sunblock."

That's exactly right, and I would do that to guests too. Of course, we have a pool now, we've had boats, and being up the lake, and I then became, "You have got to put sunscreen on if you're on my boat, or if you're in my pool, or you're on my house." Then, of course, now I've convinced most of my family that they have to wear sunscreen. During this time of me learning about health there has been a lot of research, and I don't have any of the quotes or who said them right now, but that our body needs vitamin D to fight infection and for our gut biome.

I've done a lot of studying on your gut as well, on how so many things originate there. It all made sense to me because I wasn't eating a healthy diet. I was taking antibiotics. I was using sunscreen, so I was never getting any vitamin D. When I say I was using sunscreen, I was using some sunscreen, every bit of my body was white. I wasn't letting any vitamin D into my body, which then impacts my biome, which then impacts your antibodies and how you can respond to injuries and getting better.

That made all sense because I was just going down the drain last year with my headaches, which then caused anxiety and stress for me. Then I wasn't able to fight the anxiety and the stress because I wasn't having a healthy biome, if that makes sense.

All of that makes sense. I get that you don't remember the sources because that you are doing this for your own health, not because you were publishing a research paper. [laughter] Can you describe a little bit of your process, your motivation? How did you go about finding this information?

I did. One of the things I have been watching some documentaries with Dr. Peter Attia and some of those that I have started following their podcasts. Darin Olien is somebody that I follow. He was on Down to Earth with Zac Efron, and they go around the earth to try to find healthy alternatives.

All your Beachbody people out there knows Darin Olien. [laughs]

He is the Shakeology guy.

Yes.

That is mainly where I found it, and then of course during research online with the Mayo Clinic, and some other of those valuable ones, but anyway. Basically, when our body is not getting enough sun, we're actually causing more damage and more likely to be ill, then your immune system is weakened because you don't have vitamin D. We're just creating the cycle of being sick all because we're afraid to death to get skin cancer. When they show you're more likely to get another illness from the lack of your antibodies in your system than melanoma.

Even in my presentation at Toastmasters, I said I'm not saying don't ever wear sunscreen because you also don't want to get burned. Burns are what causes most damage on your skin. What they have recommended, like I said, Darin Olien, Peter Attia, and some other doctors that I listened to and watch, they have recommended that you, of course, use sunscreen for a little bit. If you're going to be out in the sun, and you're like me, super white, and starting into the summer, because I don't tan, then I'll definitely wear some sunscreen. If you're going to wear sunscreen to use a organic sunscreen. I'll plug Badger sunscreen, they actually have it in different formulas, not formulas, it's like 98% zinc oxide.

I think zinc oxide is the key.

It's very healthy. It's definitely safe for the planet, but more importantly, it's safe for our bodies. Use a little bit of sunscreen, but once you get a base layer, you really don't have to pile on that sunscreen. I've been doing that ever since. Of course, I don't get sunburned. I'll put some sunscreen on the babies, same brand, Badger. They have it for the little babies.

Then along that line is what we talked about with bug spray because nobody likes to get bit by a mosquito. Nobody wants to get Lyme disease, but you're more likely to ruin your chemistry and your biome because of the chemicals in the bug sprays. Badger has a bug spray that we use as well, it's organic, and it will help repel mosquitoes, flies, but you're also not harming your body.

Good information. We've talked for a while and covered some ground. What is something that I haven't asked you that you were hoping to share today, that you want everybody to know?

I think the main thing for me, and I do say this a lot now, is you if you know your body, you know your body. When you don't feel right, and you have people telling you, doctors, whoever it is, telling you, "Well, there's nothing wrong, there's nothing wrong, there's nothing wrong," trust your body.

I agree.

When you don't feel good, you know when you don't feel good, and you will find the right person if you don't give up. I do believe in the homeopathic. I do believe in natural healing. That's one of the things I love about Dr. Elder is that he is really providing that and also giving us resources to other providers that can help. It's not like, "Oh, I'm the only one that can fix your problem, you have to come to me." You guys don't do that.

Usually, you have more systems in your body than just one thing. The upper cervical, the connection between the brain and your body, is absolutely crucial, and it's very, very, very important. I'm going to put a shameless plug here and say, everybody who has a head and a neck should get that checked from time to time because that's how important it is to know, is it healthy or not. It's not the only thing we need.

I think that's important for people to know is trust your gut, trust your body, find somebody that will at least listen to you and know that when something's not feeling good, it's not feeling good, which then, like I said, and we've talked about this, it really put me on a path to make sure that I was truly healthy. In one study, and I want to say it's the Mayo Clinic as well that did the study, only about 2% of the nation is considered healthy. They have different factors on lifestyle, nutrition, weight. When you think about only 2% of the nation being healthy, that's scary, actually. Everybody needs to come see you.

[laughter]

That's right. Only if you have a neck. What I so appreciate with you and why I invited you on here today, and the message that I think you found and that helped you, you knew something was going on with your body, and you trusted your body, you trusted your ability to figure out information based on what you knew was going on with your body, but also, you used your brain, and you looked at what is this source, and is this reliable?

You cross-referenced it, and then somewhere in your gut, in your spirit, in your brain, in your, I don't know, pain, your common sense, whatever it was, or maybe a combination of all of that, and all of that with a drive to I want to have a good life, you just plowed on, and in a very desperate situation was able to find the answers. That's, I think, the message that I want anyone who listens to hear is, there's an answer.

What do you have to say to someone that's, I don't know, 50 years old, and all of a sudden, can't see up from down, or they can't think straight, the pain is excruciating, and nobody can figure out what's wrong and thinking, "Okay, well, maybe this is it for me"?

With that, when I was starting to feel better, I also in my mind, I didn't feel great, you know that. It took a little bit of time.

Usually, that's how healing works.

They're like, "Oh, my gosh." I know you talk about different patients being the hardest cases. I think during my treatment, even though I was starting to feel a little bit better, I kept thinking, "Man, I don't want to live like this forever. I don't want to live with a headache every single day." I think that's part of what drove me so hard to research and to find these resources is because I didn't want to live like that every single day. I didn't want to hurt every single day.

If I was to tell another person that's going through the exact same thing that I was or close to it, especially when nobody can find anything wrong, is to come see you guys. I do love you guys, and I think you've done amazing work, but I also have heard several success stories from you guys and even other Blair chiropractics that it's in our neck, and it makes so much sense.

Again, there's research to back it up. At the very least, look at that research, and I will say if that resonates with you, give it a try. Thank you so much for your time, Stacy. I just love your cheerful, bubbly spirit. Oh, how's your head today? 

It feels great. As you said, my cheerful, bubbly spirit is because I came here. [laughter]