Many of you may know of the dystonia case that has come to light in the news as of late. If not you can youtube it and see the devastating effects of the disorder. A young woman has been crippled because of it. The cause seems to be the seasonal flu shot she received this year. If you watch the video you'll see that her muscles contract at the wrong times and she can barely talk. The odd thing about it is this: when she walks backwards or runs forward her symptoms disappear. Her muscles fire in coordination she can speak proper and so forth. She states that her life has been devastated from what has happened. I'm a rare breed among chiropractors. I have a degree in biology so I'm supportive of things such as immunizations. What has happened to this woman really made me stop and think.
Vaccinations do work. It works on principles of biology. The only man controlled portion of it is the preparation of the vaccine. The immune response and the long lasting effects come from the body. Something happened that triggered, in my opinion, an autoimmune response against the nerve centers of the brain responsible for the proper functionality of her skeletal muscles. Sadly there is no known cure for this disorder. Sadder still we have members of my profession screaming and yelling making us look like lunatics. Chiropractors have said that H1N1 is a conspiracy, that this woman could be cured with an adjustment, and other statements of that sort.. Those statements are unfounded. While the woman may benefit from chiropractic care her condition, if it is not due to nervous interference, is not within the realm of chiropractic care. You don't go to a dentist to get your eye sight checked. There is a place for all things and a good doctor know his limits.
I do believe their his hope for this case (if not this particular case then ones like it in the future) because of some simple observations I have noted. Because proper coordination of the muscle returns when she runs or walks backwards that means not all control centers over the muscle has been destroyed. If we can find a means to reroute the control through those centers it could be possible for cases like her's to be reversed to some degree. I'm not sure right now if this is possible which is why this maybe a hope for the future. Also I've not read up on dystonia (not enough free time in my schedule right now) so I could be way off base. The second thing we can do is change how we administer vaccines. The chances of this occurring, as stated on the news blurb on youtube, are close to one in a million. While those odds a really low it is still a possibility and a devastating one. If we can find a way to screen individuals before they get a vaccine to determine if they are at risk for such devastating side effects we can hopefully prevent those from occurring. I know nothing is perfect but it doesn't mean we should sit idly by because we've got acceptable odds. Some day the odds may no longer be acceptable. As for this woman my heart and prayers go out to her. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEN5KGwNGeo here is the link to the video, don't read the comments if you wish to avoid vulgarity)
Now for the other bit of happy news, my wife is applying to school to get her degree in graphic design. She's a free spirit of sort and school isn't her cup of tea so to speak but she has decided that she will apply for this program and that will be that for her. I'm proud of her and her big step.
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