I have begun seeing a chiropractor lately. I jokingly refer to my appointments as my visits to the “witch doctor.” No offense to those of you who may be chiropractors, know chiropractors, or love chiropractors, but I have always seen chiropractic care as somewhat suspect. My brother has been popping my back since he was a teenager and was tall enough to do this cool thing where he stands behind me and picks me up causing my back to snap, crackle and pop. He finds my back particularly entertaining and noisy and I think it feels really good. It is a win-win situation. ANYWAY, my brother routinely pops my back for free and has no training whatsoever. He has some high-powered executive type job that requires no chiropractic skill of any type. I’m pretty sure this back-popping thing is not even on his resume. So, now I am paying someone else to do it….go figure! Of course, my brother does live an hour away in Maryland and the chiropractor is right down the street.
This venture into chiropractic care is my latest attempt to conquer my migraine headaches. All joking aside, these migraines are seriously pissing me off. I have been having them for the past several years, actively fighting back all of 2007. My doctor has had me on several different prevention meds that, truth be told, are probably not really working so far…at least not consistently. Ever the optimist, I think I see improvement and then I have a really bad month. In September, I spent 10 days under the influence of my migraine medicine which, unfortunately, makes me really tired, grumpy and light-headed. An exceptionally bad migraine messed up part of a weekend away with my husband. So, I decided to try something new.
I have to say that I am actually really impressed with the whole process so far. I won’t go into any boring detail, but I think it might even be helping. Plus, there is this awesome massage table I get to lay on at the end of my treatment. Whether or not it is working, I feel like I am DOING something…taking control…fighting back. However, God has been reminding me lately that my continued prayer about it is also DOING something. Even during the times that I am not seeking different treatments, God is continuing to do His work in and through me… in my spirit AND my body…and He will heal the headaches, or not heal the headaches, in His time. That doesn’t mean that He won’t use medical science (even chiropractic care) as part of my healing…I must continue to get the treatment I need…but my additional responsibility is to keep praying and leave the outcome up to God. Ultimately, He is in control and I am not.
Of course, that is both good and bad news. I HATE not being in control. I am a first-born child and bossy by nature. I like to be in charge. If it’s broken, I want to fix it. When I can’t fix it, then I am clearly doing something wrong and must try harder to find alternative solutions. Whew! It is exhausting to try to control things not under our control!! Therein lies the good news. When I learn to pray about it and leave the results to God, I can wait for His guidance at every step and know that I am on the right track…whether or not the results are what I think they should be. When I am stuck with something difficult, I remember Jacob wrestling with the angel (or was it God?) I love what Jacob said in Genesis 32:26 “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” I truly believe that God can bring blessings from anything in life with which we struggle. And, like Jacob, we are all the better for anything that brings us into His presence.
I’m a big fan of chiropractic care. There is much we don’t understand about it and it doesn’t seem to work for everyone but it works great for me. I’ve also had acupuncture a couple of times for my back and loved the results, I’ve heard that acupuncture can be a good treatment for migraines… its not voodoo!