This is the story about Teresa. We chose to share it with you because it touched her, it touched us and sometimes we don’t realise how much suffering is happening around us before we find a solution to help.
Teresa is a 44 year old elementary school teacher and a mother of two. She feels fulfilled in her life and finds teaching being her true vocation. She has been teaching for over 22 years and she loves her job.
Around a year ago, she thought she would have to give it up due to her intense constant back pain and headaches. The children in the classroom would be very concerned about her because they could see she was suffering.
They would come to her and offer an apple or tell her that they would make a special effort to be quiet not to aggravate her. She really felt for those little ones and she eventually had to take a sick leave of indeterminate duration.
Her health problems had started out as discomfort that over a six month period had slowly turned into unbearable pain. She felt numbness in her hands, swelling in the throat area, headaches with neck and upper back pain. It kept her from sleeping at night.
It is obvious that she was feeling very depressed and could hardly face the day when she woke up in the morning.
She consulted her medical doctor who sent her for a cervical spine special imaging examination.
The results of that CAT scan revealed a cervical spine herniation with some disc degeneration and she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. She was prescribed anti depressant medication and physiotherapy treatments.
She improved a little bit but the symptoms were persistent and after seven months she was still suffering. A colleague of hers had told her about chiropractic care and that is how she came to our clinic. At the first visit, after the examination and study of her medical tests, we were able to start adjusting her spine right away.
Not only was her cervical spine adjusted but we also paid attention to what was happening lower down in her pelvis and lumbar spine.
As chiropractic adjustments are intended to help the body find its balance and proper motion, we address the body as a whole and look at all that can influence it.
Teresa was taught some exercises to help her to achieve long-term benefits in her lifestyle and help healing in her body.
On her second visit, she mentioned having felt a lot less numbness in her hands and had a better night and her breathing was easier. It was as if a weight had been lifted off from her shoulders. After a few visits she felt a lot better and, within a month-and-a-half, she was happily returning to work.
The students were delighted to see their teacher come back and she was very happy to be with them again.
She now comes to get adjusted once every three weeks and she feels good. Last time she was in, she shared with us that the year before, while she was at her very worse, she had contemplated suicide as her pain was so intense.
That is when I realised the harsh reality she had gone through with her condition. She said that the only thing keeping her going was the thought of her family and the schoolchildren that needed her.
And then she declared: “The most profound change in my condition is not only being pain free but that I can say that I am happy again.”
Dr Sandra and Dr Christophe can be contacted at [email protected] or telephone 282 312 853, 969 397 375 or 913 696 370. Alternatively, visit the Algarve Quiroprática clinic at Quinta das Fontainhas along the EN125 in Pêra.
