Question
QUESTION: My 16 year old daughter suffered a fainting spell on the tennis court in July 09. She fell on the back of her head. She had headaches and they were slowly improving until she got hit again in Sept. with a wild tennis ball at the exact same spot she fell.  She has had a chronic right side hemicranial headache since.
  We went to head neck pain clinic in Ann Arbor MI. They tried medicine- keppra, neurotin, indocine - no help. They wanted to give a marcaine block, but we opted it was too invasive.  We went to chiropractics and some relief, but brief.  She has FHP. An MRI shows some arthritis. We tried a Decompression system DRS no relief of symptoms.  Occipital blocks bring some relief, but not permanent.  It has been a long haul.  We just had a DMX which I can forward.  It showed FHP. Can you help us?

ANSWER: Sue,

From the sound of things you have tried just about everything to help your daughter. From the information given your daughter is having fainting spells, and very bad headaches that seem to have become worse after a fall.

To begin it can be frustrating when you are looking for help and all they can do is cover up the symptoms with drugs or treatments that are only temporary. Drugs are particularly frustrating because drugs will never fix the problem it will only temporarily mask or cover it up while your daughters problem is still there.

Putting all the information given together it sounds as though your daughter has pressure at the brainstem level. From your general Chiropractic experience it sounds as though you were on the right track however you need to find an Upper Cervical Chiropractor someone who specializes in the Upper Neck. The best website at this time to find an Upper Cervical Doctor is www.UpperCervicalCare.com

As a side note I just had a case where a young man came in having headaches so bad that he thought he had a brain tumor. He had a previous injury years before he started getting headaches. Then another injury that really made them worse. He went and got an MRI and it was negative. It turned out that he had pressure at the brainstem level via a torqued misalignment of the Atlas. Long story short we were able to analyze and correct his misalignment and his headaches went away as his body began to heal.

With the information given I would suggest finding an Upper Cervical Doctor, and get your daughter checked as soon as possible. I would encourage you to not give up. For every effect or symptom there is a cause. Thank you for you question.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Dr.Blom,  I agree this could be a reason for her headaches.  I have a few questions.. how is this diagnosed? Is it an accurate diagnosis?
 We are also considering prolotherapy and or acupuncture.  Do you have any knowledge of these?
Sue

Answer
Sue,

The diagnosis would be made through very specific x-rays of the upper neck, and in conjunction with thermographic analysis, and postural %26 palpatory findings.

As far as the accuracy I have had many cases with sever long term headaches get well that have tried everything else and been everywhere else. The other therapies you are investigating may provide temporary relief but again it won't fix the problem.

Your best bet would be to find and Upper Cervical Chiropractor someone who specializes in finding and correcting these types of problems.