Kathleen Huston, Patient

Her Personal Story with Upper Cervical Care

I would like to share with other TN sufferers the great results I’ve had with an alternative treatment.  I was first diagnosed with TN in 1994.  The first flare-up lasted for about nine months.  During that time I tried Tegritol and Dilantin, both had troublesome side effects so I just didn’t use any medication.  After nine months the TN went into remission.  In the following ten years I would occasionally have slight flare-ups but I never had to seek medical treatment.

In Oct of 2001 and I had a terrible flare-up.  I couldn’t believe it was possible to endure such intense pain.  My doctor prescribed Neurontin, which worked for a while, but because I kept having pain he prescribed Trileptal as well.  This combination worked but I still had occasional flare-ups and had to keep increasing my medication.

During the three years that I was suffering I tried many different alternative treatments, acupuncture, biofeedback, two different types of chiropractic to name a few.  I was ready to undergo surgery and beginning to investigate my options.  Then my issue of TN Alert arrived.  In that issue there were reports on several different types of alternative treatments.  One of them was treatment by a practitioner of National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA).  I was intrigued by the description of the treatment because the article said that there was no cracking of the neck or spine.  The treatment is very gentle.  I was able to find a NUCCA practitioner near my home and began treatment in January of 2004; by April I was pain free and had weaned myself from all my medication.  It is now September and I am still pain free. 

Updated 1-24-05