Dr. Brandon Goodpaster

Witnessing Natural Power

Of all the patients I have treated over the years, the most memorable patient was a late, middle-aged woman. She discovered chiropractic care by browsing Facebook one day and stumbled upon an advertisement for migraines. At first, she ignored the ad but it appeared again. After a year and a half of suffering, she decided to book an appointment as a last resort.

When she came into the office, she didn’t fully disclose what she had been dealing with because she had little hope at this point. She tried physical therapy for 6 weeks, a pain specialist for 3 months, a neurologist, an acupuncturist, a psychic, and an internal medicine doctor to rid her of the constant severe migraines.

She told me that her migraines occurred every day and were worse in the early morning and also woke her up every day at 4AM. This took a huge toll on her as she couldn’t go back to sleep. She tried self-treatment with NSAIDs, alcohol, and resorted to prescription opioids that stopped working after 3-4 months.

As most of us know, these situations are a slippery slope. She kept taking her medications with hope, but suddenly fell into depression and increased her dosage. This resulted in not leaving the house for months, decreased sleep and appetite, laziness, and isolation from her family and friends. Nobody would listen to her and many thought she was overexaggerating to cover up an opioid addiction. This was very tough for me to hear.

We proceeded with her initial examination, then I ran an orthopedic and neurological exam to rule out any major issues. Upon reviewing her tests, I discovered that she had some arthritis, degeneration in her cervical spine, and had a severely decreased lordosis of the cervical spine.

When she came into the office to review the tests with me, I told her what we discovered. She then told me that she had been a frequent and chronic smoker who had multiple health issues, cancer being one of those. As a physician, this worried me because a sudden onset of migraines with a history of smoking, and cancer can lead to a tumor in the brain that could require surgery for removal. However, all of her images and tests were negative for this. That was remarkable.

She decided to continue with chiropractic care and after a few short visits, she started to notice a change in the intensity of her headaches without any medication. A few adjustments later, the frequency began to decrease and after about a month, the headaches were completely gone.

After one of her visits, she asked if we could chat in private. We entered a room and she disclosed that she previously had no hope for care. Then pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. It was a hand-written suicide note that she wrote a few days before coming into the office. She explained she couldn’t live the way she had been for the past year and a half and was ready to take her life for peace and relief. She then said I saved her life.

I had no idea how to respond to that kind of news, but I did realize that what I do is much bigger than it sometimes seems. Ever since that day, I think of her when I have a rough day. This story will keep me going for a long time and is why I truly love what I do. Our patients make our job invaluable.