Friday, January 19, 2007

About 10 months ago we had a baby girl and our story began after she was diagnosed shortly after birth with Bell's palsy. Here is a basic idea what it is: http://www.facemakernyc.com/services/paralysis/

My sil is currently in Chiropractic school and is getting ready to graduate this spring. It was through her and some very helpful links, that supplied me with the help I needed. I can also say that if it wasn't for the thrush we had to endure while nursing in the first few months I never would have connected a treatment with her condition. As you may be wondering what does chiropractic/thrush/breastfeeding have to do with Bell's Palsy, well I'll tell you our story.

Although it appeared that LV had the perect latch from the beginning there was a slight problem with her palsy side. When she did nurse on my right side there was almost a gumming going on with my nipple and was sometimes painful. Then due to antibiotics being taken for mastitis we developed thrush which was a totally new experience for me and not a very pleasant one. I found this site through some online friends and found this related article on the site: http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/craniosacral.htm

I had heard of cranial sacral massage therapy before used in helping to treat ear infections and the like, a very noninvasive technique. I then went to my sil the chiro student and asked her opinion, as she's involved with pediatric patients at school and has watched her professor working with them. She highly reccommended that I find a certified Dr. and I used the link on her blogspot to find just the right one. I went to http://www.icpa4kids.com/ and found a great friend in Dr. Heather. She has been an absolute Godsend! LV didn't just suffer from BP but also from a nasty blocked tearduct in her left eye and by doing different techniques after about 5 visits it was totally gone and no more eye boogers bogging her down!

Some other almost instant transformations that occured. After about the first 5-6 visits LV's tear duct was no longer an issue, it went from being a constant gross green snot coming out of her eye to a clean eye and no more goo! We also saw the cheek that had started to really become drawn back and taught, relax and come forward and create a symmetrical relaxed look.
Her right eye which I had thought looked almost lopsided or unlevel with her other began to look fully open and equal with her left eye.

We experienced a strong tongue thrust upon entering the baby food era, and made it difficult to feed her with a spoon as her tongue didn't seem to realize which way it needed to move, to get the food down. Then miracously it started to work! She started babbling like a brook! It was quite the transformation in just two weeks time.

Although we've seen some dramatic transformations, she'll be receiving treatment for the next several months yet. Her one side of her mouth still does not always totally round out like it should so it makes the opposite side appear to sag or hang at different times. But the progress we've seen in just the past 3mos or so has been a complete reward for driving 75-80 mins one way to get to this great gal who is helping LV recover from her Bell's Palsy.