This is one of the happiest follow-up blogs I’ve ever written. I posted a week or so ago about being diagnosed with Meniere’s disease. It is an inner ear disturbance, affecting one ear. It is of unknown origin, with no cure. I have a mild form, (only roaring in my ear, partial hearing loss and mild vertigo,) but it can cause severe vertigo, vomiting, and complete hearing loss. I was diagnosed and told by my ENT that my only option was a diuretic to reduce the fluid in my ear, but there was nothing to stop the inevitable decline. He’s a great doc: he did 4 surgeries on my son, starting when he was only 18 months old. I couldn’t believe that’s all he had to offer.

Not at all happy with the idea of slowly losing my hearing; and possibly falling down and throwing up, I started down the research path and discovered an article about a chiropractor in Michigan, Dr. Burcon. Years ago, he had patients in his practice who were suffering from MD, and had a quick recovery from vertigo after adjustment to the upper cervical vertebrae. He began piecing together histories and discovered that past injuries, (on average, 15 years old and primarily whiplash,) had left these patients with an unresolved upper cervical misalignment that resulted, years later, in the development of Meniere’s due to compression, “creating a lesion affecting the Eustachian tube and/or the Trigeminal ganglion.”

He developed a specific protocol of care, and was able to eliminate vertigo in 291 out of 300 patients. I contacted him directly at his Michigan office, and he told me more about the treatment, and whom I could see in the Los Angeles area, (there are only two chiropractors who are well versed in this treatment.)

I had my first visit with Dr. Drew Hall, in Carson, on Tuesday. After a series of tests and 9 x-rays, he told me my skull and spinal column were indeed misaligned, and showed me where and by how much (only 2 mm!) After two tiny adjustments, I went home with the same roaring/rushing sound in my ear that I’d had for five months.

However, when I woke up the next day, it was gone, and I could hear perfectly well. No kidding. As explained, and as I already understood about chiropractic, adjustments don’t hold (especially if the injury is old, and the body has been compensating for it for years.) So, by the end of the day, the roaring was back, but not nearly as loud. I went again today, and will go every two days or so, until the muscles and tendons in my neck begin to return to their healthy position. This may take a few months, but the fact that I woke up symptom free and able to hear after 5 months, made me a very happy person. Dr. Hall told me “If you aren’t greatly improved by the end of this, I must be doing something wrong and you can blame me, because I know this works.” I believe him 100%.

Moral of the story? Be your own advocate, don’t blindly listen to one doctor, think outside the Western Medicine box, try everything. And if you find something that works, share it with everyone you can!!!

- Lee