How A Chiropractor Changed My Daughter's Life

Here we are again! This is the second installment in a three-part series about infant health and wellness/ awareness depicting my daughter's diagnosis of epilepsy. To read about her diagnosis and the recommended treatment we pursued (aka Part One), you can find that here. In this installment, I'll be discussing what we did after continuing recommended medical treatment and the results.

As a recap, my daughter was diagnosed with a very rare form of epilepsy, Infantile Spasms (IS), when she was five months old. She endured a five-day hospital stay, several lengthy tests, and was prescribed a Corticotropin (steroid) treatment that lasted six weeks. I covered the first two weeks in Part One when we discussed her diagnosis and the small percentages she, luckily, fell into. Let's begin.


-Finishing ACTH

The initial two weeks of the ACTH (Corticotropin Steroid Treatment) were extreme. As scheduled, we received an EEG after the two weeks of high dose steroids. This was supposed to give us the optimal level of results. Waiting for that EEG was the longest three hours of my life. I remember telling my husband if the treatment hadn't worked, I would never forgive myself. The changes in my daughter were severe, and it had taken a toll on the whole family. Luckily, after about five days, the seizures had entirely stopped, and this had given me significant amounts of hope.

When my daughter was first diagnosed, though her neurologist and epileptologist were extremely hopeful, I made them tell me the worst case scenario. We caught the seizures so early, she was still on track developmentally, she had everything in her favor; her doctors were very confident she would be one of the very few kids to make a full recovery. That's a lot of hope. Considering only about 5% of kids make full recoveries from IS. That's a small percentage. And she had already defied several of those small percentages already. What were the chances she would again?

I wanted to be ready. I needed to know. So, they proceeded to tell me she may never crawl, never walk, never talk. These were the extreme results. A more accurate result may be having a speech delay, learning disability, sight issues, and continued seizures. Always continued seizures. They assured me they were very hopeful, but seizures were, according to them, going to be a part of her life forever.

The results from the EEG were good, but not great. There were still a few blips of abnormal activity in a specific part of her brain. We didn't see the huge spikes anymore, but there was still something happening that wasn't normal. We were instructed to finish the taper (four weeks of slowing lowering the steroid treatment until she was completely off), wait two months, and get a repeat EEG. She was also given a one-year prescription for an anti-seizure medication (Zonisamide), which is standard to anyone who has a seizure.

About a week into the taper, I got to see my daughter smile again for the first time in almost four weeks. Those four weeks, my daughter became something I didn't recognize. She had put on a lot of weight (a side effect of the steroids), she was irritable beyond belief, and she never smiled or laughed at anything. It was hard to see that. Even looking back on it now breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes. That day she smiled at me was one of the happiest days for me. I felt like I was being forgiven. And to this day (almost a year later) I still carry guilt from putting her through that treatment. It was necessary, but it was hell. The only silver lining of it all is that she won't ever remember going through that.


-Seeking Chiropractic Care

Before my daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy, she was a hard baby. She cried constantly, had trouble sleeping, and would nurse for comfort. Every doctor I saw would wave me away, saying it was colic and it would pass. So, I waited and waited for the misery to pass. While I was waiting, a few of my more homeopathic mom friends suggested I take her to a chiropractor. I quickly brushed off the (repeated) suggestions. Who had ever heard of taking a baby to a chiropractor? I certainly hadn't. It didn't sound safe.

About a week before the seizures started, I decided to make an appointment. My daughter was five months old, officially past the stage of colic, and she was still having so many issues. I decided to at least see what they said. It couldn't hurt anything, right? I set an appointment and everything. We were hospitalized three days before her appointment. I eventually rescheduled and decided to go. I found the only chiropractor that my insurance would accept and took my daughter in, hoping for some help.

I ended up going to Advanced Sports and Family Chiropractic in Overland Park, Kansas. Our first appointment was with Dr. Brad Woodle. I disclosed my daughter's medical history and explained we were still on the taper and that she might be irritable. This visit is not much to write home about. He took a good look at her and told me he wanted us to see his wife who worked at their sister practice in Lee's Summit. He assured me she was a baby expert, had worked with seizure kids before, and that she would do a more thorough job.

We made an appointment and went to see Dr. Christina Woodle. I asked her if she remembered that first visit with my daughter and she did. She said, "I could see the frontal bone was very prominent and abnormally formed." The spot she referred to on her frontal cortex is exactly where the seizure activity was happening in my daughter's brain. She continued to say, "I also noticed some [issues] with the palate inside [the mouth] and a little more narrowing in the back of the cranium that needed to be worked on. These were all major issues that were most likely causing her a lot of discomfort."
Dr. Woodle also informed me, because of all this misalignment, there were excessive amounts of pressure on her brain. Was this the cause of the seizures? We didn't know, but Dr. Woodle told me my daughter had most likely been suffering from headaches as early as birth. Five months of headaches. No wonder she cried so much. Dr. Woodle set up a treatment plan that involved three adjustments a week for about four weeks and then we would begin to decrease them as the results became more settled.

Let me tell you, an infant getting an adjustment is absolutely nothing like an adult getting an adjustment. The most pressure that is applied is equivalent to how hard you would rub your eye. I was skeptical as I watched Dr. Woodle. Probably saying, "Is that all?"

"It's very easy, and it's very gentle. An infant's joints and bones are still developing, so they're not going to have that resistance or the degeneration that we have built up. There's nothing fighting us during an adjustment. It's like, 'Here I am, fix me,'" Dr. Woodle describes.

After that first adjustment, we went home, and I put my daughter down in her swing (literally the only place she would rest). And she slept for four hours straight. Up until that point (especially with the steroids), she could only sleep about an hour at a time, maybe two if we were lucky. The results were enough for me to agree to keep bringing her in. Something had worked.


-Long-term Results

The immediate results of the chiropractic care were very evident. My daughter was sleeping regularly, she was able to lay flat on her back without crying (something that was unheard of since birth) and she was attempting to crawl. Every time we went to see Dr. Woodle, she would mainly adjust cranial bones and my daughter's hips (which were also a tangled mess).

Our repeat EEG was coming up, and my daughter had remained seizure free after we finished the taper. I remember telling Dr. Woodle that the EEG was coming up and she told me, "Don't be surprised if it comes back clean. And don't be surprised if you get scolded for bringing her here." I remember thinking, she's silly. Why would they scold me?

The EEG did come back clean. That was a really good day. Her epileptologist was very impressed, telling us the odds again and again. Only 5% and she managed to defy them. I did end up telling him we were seeing a chiropractor and he waved it away saying it was the medicine that helped her brain. I nodded, remembering what Dr. Woodle had said, but I knew. The peak results still showed activity, the only other treatment we pursued was chiropractic, so how could the results have changed if we had discontinued steroid treatment? I didn't argue. But in my heart, I knew Dr. Woodle had done that. She had changed my daughter's life.

The last seizure my daughter had was sometime in September of 2017. We will have another EEG at the one year mark of her diagnosis. We have continued chiropractic treatment with Dr. Woodle monthly, although my daughter (and son) now only receive general maintenance adjustments. Her cranial and facial bones are now in their proper place. My daughter crawled, she walks, she talks, she is developmentally right on track for her age. She smiles and laughs. She's very mischevious. I am thankful every day I decided to take her to a chiropractor. I'm grateful it was Dr. Woodle. And I think it's important to share this story.

Do I think the steroid treatment was necessary? Yes. I do believe in modern medicine. My kids get all of their well-child checks and immunizations. The steroid treatment was the short-term solution. Chiropractic care was the longterm solution. I'll stand behind that decision forever.


-Q&A with Dr. Christina Woodle, D.C., MSEd, BSRT, FASA, CACCP



Q: What makes you more certified to handle infants?

A: "I have quite a few certifications, but the CACCP is a Chiropractic Pediatric Certification. So, I took an additional 200-hour program specific to kids and pediatrics. In school, we get a limited exposure on how to adjust kids. I think it was one semester, it's extremely small, so if you really want to truly be able to treat infants and small children appropriately, you really need to go beyond that and get further training. I had to take a national board, after those 200 hours, and every two years I have to take classes specific to pediatrics in able to keep my certification. It's a continual learning process."

Q: How would a parent find a certified chiropractor for their child?

A: "I would highly recommend finding a chiropractor with the CACCP after their name, especially if there are preexisting conditions. I'm not saying there aren't other chiropractors without this certification that do good work, but if you want to be sure your kid is getting the most from their chiropractic care it's wise to find someone who has those initials. You can go to the icpa4kids.com website, and they will list all the chiropractors in your area with either pregnancy certification or this specific certification. It's an excellent source to find a chiropractor in your area.

Q: Do you get a lot of pushback from Primary Care Physicians when dealing with patients with preexisting conditions?

A: "It's a dilemma, and it's challenging because medical professionals don't have a lot of training on what chiropractic is or how it works. They don't understand it; therefore, they don't recommend it. There isn't a ton of research out there that proves much. Research conducted on chiropractics are 'case studies,' which aren't considered evidence-based scientific research. So, since the research isn't there, the medical professionals say 'I can't promote something I don't understand.' We, unfortunately, get put on a back burner because there's no 'scientific proof' that we can make a difference. I think that medical doctors are afraid chiropractors are trying to steal their glory, we're not. We just want to help people live their life to the fullest and help people heal with the greatest potential. I think if we could all just work together, we could make a much better world, and we could make a lot more progress and success for people instead of fighting back and forth. If I think a patient needs medical attention, I don't hesitate to tell them. There's a time and a place for everything."

Q: What should a parent expect on the first visit with their child?

A: "A clear medical history, so a lot of questions, beginning with how the birth went. Then we'll do an examination and get a good look at them. Depending on the age of the child makes a difference in what kind of exam is performed, but if it's an infant, I like to use the inversion test because I feel like that gives us a good look at what's happening with the spine. It mimics the same posture as if the child were standing, but obviously, not all of them can stand, yet. The inversion will show us where there's unnatural tension on the nervous system. Typically a child will get adjusted on the first visit, somewhat, because it doesn't require a whole lot to make an adjustment. A little wiggle here and there goes a long way. I like to call myself the Wiggle Doctor sometimes!"

Q: How early can you bring your child in for an adjustment?

A: "If I'm treating a mom before pregnancy and throughout her pregnancy, I'd say on your way home from the hospital. Or, if it's a home birth, on the day of! I've adjusted babies on their birthday. I can't do that in a hospital setting because they don't give us privileges to do that, but the sooner, the better."

Q: You've told me several times that you don't treat medical conditions, that you're just a Chiropractor, so what exactly do you treat?

A: "I'm removing nervous system interference. That's simply what I do. And sometimes those miracles happen, and I can't deny that, and that's why I love what I do because I get to see that all the time."

I am so very grateful to Dr. Woodle for the work that she does. If you would like to know more about her backstory and what services are offered at her practice, you can find that information here. I hope this helped somebody who was looking for answers. It certainly changed everything for our family. Thanks for stopping by, check in next week for the last installment of this series.