Putting my money where my mouth is: NUCCA

Wino,

I haven't read all the posts but I hope you get some relief from nucca. It has helped me a great deal. I always knew my neck was big trigger for me. I have mav and stay away from the food triggers. I id to much this past week and my neck paid for it. I was dizzy again but once I got adjusted I am back to normal. Best wishes to you

 

No, studio34, I am not saying anything about conspiracies, by soft drink companies or anyone else, nor have I mentioned evil.

I posted evidence that aspartame has been linked to a number of health problems, in response to your assertion that "the evidence is not there."

In addition, the father of my best friend from high school was one of the chemists at Searle who helped develop aspartame. At the time, being a high school girl, I thought it was really great that a calorie-free sugar substitute was being developed, and asked him about it, hoping that maybe he brought home samples.

Instead, he said that he was very concerned because it had not been thoroughly tested. His concerns over preliminary results that showed problems were dismissed without discussion, and he said that he would not let his own family touch it. He also said that he thought it would turn out to be carcinogenic.

Apparently, he was correct: http://www.communicationagents.com/sepp/2007/04/17/new_study_by_ramazzini_institute_confirms_aspartame_carcinogenic.htm

http://www.wnho.net/new_aspartame_studies.htm

I would like to request (again) that you please refrain from further taunts and accusations pointed in my direction, or I will report you as a troll. Either discuss my points (for which I have always posted supportive studies) in a mature, civil way, or else please don't bother responding to my posts.

 

I don't know if aspertame is evil or not. I just know that when I consume something with it, I don't feel too well.

 

First off, I'm assuming Taximom accidentally addressed her last post to me, when it should have been addressed to Scott (studio34). At least, that's what would make sense since she quoted Scott's post in her response.

As to aspartame, I don't pretend to have any special knowledge about the stuff. My thing is that since this most recent flare-up started I have been making numeorus lifestyle changes to try to get the symptoms under control. For one thing, drinking as many diet sodas as I was in a day just doesn't "seem" like a healthy thing to do. Add in the fact that aspartame is a lab-created phenomenon, and there's just something about it that make me uncomfortable. Do I "know" that it's causing any problems for me? No. It might not be a factor at all. It's just an overall attempt to get better.

I'll use an analogy to make my point: They have those birth control pills for women that result in a woman only having 4 periods per year. It's FDA-approved and has been studied, and the conclusions have been that this is safe. But it just seems so incredibly unnatural to regulate a natural process in that way that I wouldn't be at all surprised if some years down the line women who are on this product develop all types of problems. That's sort of my take on aspartame. Safe in doses? Sure. Good for you to consume it in the amounts I was consuming? Maybe not.

 

But anyway, to get back on topic, I have been mostly symptom-free for 7 days now. I say "mostly," because once or twice per day I feel a "funny" feeling in the right ear that lasts a few minutes. It feels like the onset of some fullness, but then the feeling goes away. If the feeling is there when I start to exercise, it goes away after about 10 minutes on the elliptical trainer.

So, I saw the NUCCA chiro yesterday at 3:00 and then again this morning at 9:00.

I'll first address yesterday's visit. We followed the usual routine. I came into the exam room and he checked me for leg length discrepancies. He feels there is still a minor one there. He then proceeded to do another NUCCA adjustment. After that, he had me lay face down and did some muscle group testing. This basically consists of him having me move my arms into dofferent positions, and ach tome I do he re-measures the leg lengths. He felt I had some additional issues in the L-spine and T-spine with tightness, and proceeded to address those. Rather than give me a typical chiro manipulation, he used a device called an activator. For those of you not familair with what this is, it looks almost like a plastic toy gun but with a round rubber stump on the tip. It can be set to either a low, medium or high setting. Then he places the tip on the area that needs to be worked on and pulls the trigger. When he does so, the tip basically shoots out and strikes the area with a measured force. He did this next to my spine in the L4-L5 area, in the T-10 area, and then finally all around my left scapula and shoulder area. We then did 15 minutes of the muscle stimulator. I felt neither better nor worse after the treatment, though my neck continues to be pretty sore.

I returned to the office at 9:00 this morning. After going over my treatment to date, the doc felt I needed another NUCCA manipulation. Again, he laid me on my right side with a pad under my right ear to use as a fulcrum. He applied downward pressure, and again I felt a brief grinding sensation in my neck. This was followed again by 15 minutes of muscle stimulation therapy on my neck and trapezius muscles. The doctor also handed me a nutritional profile he did on me. According to this profile, my liver needs some supplements to help it work at an optimal level as I was somewhat deficient there. This was followed by some suggestions for plant-based nutritional supplements and homeopathic medicines that the doctor has in his office. I told him I would read over the materials and let him know what I think tomorrow.

I am supposed to get a new set of x-rays done some time soon to check my progress. That could be as early as tomorrow, or it might be next week. We'll see. I am most curious to find out what, if any, changes have occurred with respect to the lordosis (curve) in my cervical spine as a result of these treatments.

 

I'm so sorry, Wino, I scrolled to the top of the wrong post when writing that. You are right, and I have corrected my error.

 

I can tell you aspartame is a trigger for fullness with me. One Crystal Light drink mix and my ear fills up.

 

I will report you as a troll

This is not trolling. You display a pattern of cherry-picking data and then making gross generalisations. You don't seem to understand what a systematic review is or a meta-analysis (as we touched on in the SBM thread). You have to look at what the overall evidence shows not just one study here and there that suits a belief. You always seem to drift towards the negative with these sorts of discussions whether it be vaccines or now aspartame when the overall evidence does not support it as though there is some sort of plot behind it all. That was my point.

You need to start using PubMed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

Apsartame is safe in normal doses according to the *overall* evidence but I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone drinking numerous cans of diet soft drink daily -- even if it was the full sugar version, which in the States is full of high fructose corn syrup -- yet another contentious subject. Aspartame is a migraine trigger and given a lot of us seem hugely susceptible to headaches and weirdness stemming from that on top of everything else it seems very wise to stay away from it.

Anyway, I don't want to go on about this any more ... it's Wino's thread about NUCCA.

Scott

 

No, I don't do either. I posted data--VALID data--that supported my point that aspartame can cause many kinds of health problems, including migraines.

It is not reasonable for you to expect me to post every result of every study ever done on the product. Nor do I need to post results of studies concluding that aspartame is safe, particularly studies done by the company selling the product.

Pub Med is where I always start, and a majority of the studies I have posted were ones I found using Pub Med.

You need to start paying attention. You have a habit of ignoring the Pub Med studies I have posted that directly refute every point you have every argued with me.

That is the lamest thing you've posted yet. You make jabs at me--and then try to forestall my reply by claiming that you don't want to go on about this any more because it's Wino's thread?

Congratulations--you've just proved yourself a troll.

 

Taximom,

If that last salvo from you was not the kettle calling the pot black, I don't know what is! Sheesh.

Yes, you choose some valid data at times but you CHERRY PICK to suit your agenda or personal belief. If you want to continue this aspartame thing, I'm happy to take it up with you over on the SBM thread. In the meantime, please learn what a systematic review is. You avoided this in your comment for good reason – you don't know what they are and how they are used, demonstrated in a post you made weeks ago.

Scott

 

Was the diet coke you were drinking caffeinated ? If so, don't overlook the possible caffeine connection. Almost any hydrops diet says little or no caffeine. If it was not caffeinated, ignore this please.

 

I didn't discuss systematic review because it is irrelevant to both my post and this thread. My sources were valid.

Please stop trolling.

 

Let's see TM, that's the third time you've thrown the word troll at me .... so who's the troll? I know you're trying to deflect, but I'm going to help you anyway because I know you don't have the foggiest idea:

• A systematic review is a literature review focused on a single question that tries to identify, appraise, select and synthesize all high quality research evidence relevant to that question. Systematic reviews of high-quality randomized controlled trials are crucial to evidence-based medicine. An understanding of systematic reviews and how to implement them in practice is becoming mandatory for all professionals involved in the delivery of health care. Systematic reviews are not limited to medicine and are quite common in other sciences such as psychology, educational research and sociology.
  
  A systematic review uses an objective and transparent approach for research synthesis, with the aim of minimizing bias. While many systematic reviews are based on an explicit quantitative meta-analysis of available data, there are also qualitative reviews which adhere to the standards for gathering, analyzing and reporting evidence.

For someone who has an arm chair opinion on just about everything, you should start becoming acquainted with the above and start re-evaluating. Over and out.

Scott

 

Again, this appears to be a much more appropriate conversation to engage in Science based vs results based treatments. There no one would be restrained for the lack of staying germane to the OP's intentions here.

 

I tried Hank. I'd rather leave this out here. S

 

Feel free to invoke that post anytime you would like.

 

Scott - are you related to Nassman?

SB

 

Songbird - are you related to Hank Sullivan?

 

Hi Wino,

Sorry if you've already addressed this. If I read your posts correctly, you are making a couple of changes at the same time, how will you know which one helped you (and I sincerely hope they do)?