Miss H – MY STORY

I was 43 years old and I worked as a Technical Manager for a Corporate Wear supplier. My job entailed long hours, frequent travel at home and abroad I suffered from migraine from my late teens. My general health was good thanks to low fat eating and regular exercise, I had no family history of stroke or heart disease, I did not take the contraceptive pill from my mid 30’s up to that age each attempt lasted only a short time, have never smoked and rarely drank alcohol.
On 18 July 2000 I visited a local chiropractic clinic with left side neck pain. I had previously visited the practice on a number of occasions and seen three chiropractors. On the occasions that I had visited the practice previously, I required help with tackling migraines, a condition I have suffered from for a number of years.
Although the intensity of my migraine attacks had not improved following chiropractic treatment they tended to occur less often.
I returned from a working trip in Sri Lanka on 30 June 2000. I had been working 25 consecutive days and when I got back I experienced a violent migraine. As usual I vomited and contracted a severe headache. (July 2^nd)
Two days later I travelled down to London (near Heathrow) to visit my sister in order to accompany her to the Royal Marsden Hospital when she was having a biopsy.
On Wednesday evening on 5 July 2000 I felt a gradual onset of pain on the left hand side of my neck. It felt something like a crick. I was in obvious pain and the next day I had difficulty turning my head. Nevertheless, I managed to travel to London by train to see a client. I was still in severe discomfort by Friday but in the afternoon the pain was subsiding and I regained freedom of movement in my neck.
On Saturday 8 July 2000 I drove home but had a migraine that weekend.
I went to see my General Practitioner on 10 July 2000 but instead saw a visiting locum who told me that he thought I had trapped a nerve in my neck and the pain in my head was due to a spasm. I recall that the GP put his hand under my left ear and felt the back of my neck. He went on to suggest that I take painkillers in the form Ibuprofen. I asked my GP if it was all right to see my chiropractor once the spasms had subsided. He did not envisage any problems and did not ask to see me again.
The following weekend I had another migraine and I telephoned the chiropractors' practice on Monday for an appointment. I was able to visit the practice the next day, 18 July 2000. I was still feeling the effects of the migraine. I therefore caught the bus as I thought in the long run this would be safer.
I met with a chiropractor at approximately 10.15am on 18 July 2000 and told him that my GP had indicated that I had a possible problem with a trapped nerve. I also told him I had endured three weekends of migraines. I also explained about the pain I had experienced in my neck. I recall the chiropractor asked me about what had happed to me during the last 10 months. I told him that the pain had come on suddenly.
The chiropractor did not, at any stage, indicate what sort of treatment he intended to give. He did not offer me an explanation as to what could be wrong with me. He did not suggest that I have x-rays. I did not tell him the name of my doctor – nor did he ask, but my notes carried that information and my consent to contact the doctor if the need arose. I was never warned of the risk of stroke, which chiropractors know can occur following manipulation.
Although I had visited the practice on other occasions the pain I had experienced in my neck was a new and distinct occurrence.
For the purpose of the appointment with the chiropractor I was given a surgical gown and undressed as far as my undergarments. I then went through some kind of testing procedure. This was similar to the procedures I had experienced before at the practice with other chiropractors where he walked his thumbs up either side of my spine whilst I was standing up, asking me to bend to the left and to the right, he then asked me to turn my neck to the left and to the right.
He treated me lying down on my side for the purpose, I believe, of adjusting the hip in the lower back area. I was lying in something like the recovery position. The treatment consisted of him lying across my hip, dropping his chest and jerking my back. This would occur to both sides. This treatment was no different from the other treatments I had received previously. He then looked at my ankles to check, he said, the alignment. I then lay on my back. There is a split headrest to enable access to my head and neck. The chiropractor went behind me and moved my head and neck slightly right and left. He then rotated and pushed my neck to the right and left. However, on rotation to the left as he started the manoeuvre, I cried out in pain which spread from the base of my left ear to the top of my head. As usual, I had my eyes closed but on opening them I was conscious immediately that I had double vision. I had never experienced this before and I asked the chiropractor whether it was normal.
He came straight round to face me and moved his fingers across my field of vision on both sides. I told him that as he moved his finger to the periphery of my line of vision I could see one finger and that it was the same for both eyes.

He appeared shaken and I asked if I could sit up, I was looking out of the window but was unable to focus. The chiropractor was in the far corner of the room. I felt that he had distanced himself from me. He did, however, help me to sit up. He did not perform any further treatment.
The chiropractor asked me how I was feeling. I said that my sight was still out of focus but starting to steady. Everything seemed to be out of perspective. At my request he fetched my glasses for me.

He then went to get my handbag and I slipped off the bed and started to walk towards the door. I have no doubt in my mind that I was noticeably unsteady. I recall he did not assist me in any way. I said to the chiropractor words to the effect of "you really hurt me". He told me that he had probably done too much treatment in one session and put trauma on the nerves. He told me my skin was hot but I should not put ice on it until it had cooled down.

He went on to tell me not to drive home immediately but wait in the waiting room. He did not advise seeing my GP or obtaining a second opinion particularly if my condition did not improve.
As I walked to the changing area in order to get dressed I used the banister for support.
At no stage did the chiropractor offer an explanation as to his diagnosis either before I went through the treatment or afterwards.
I managed to descend the stairs to reception but was still experiencing difficulties with perspective, things were not visually clear and I could not judge the distance between my foot and the floor and I felt that my symptoms were probably related to a migraine. I was in severe pain. I sat uncomfortably on a chair in the waiting room with my head hanging down and in extreme pain. The chiropractor did not stay with me nor accompany me downstairs.
The receptionist asked the chiropractor to see me. Both the receptionist and the chiropractor guided me to a small anteroom. He asked me to rest there. They helped me onto a bench, which was quite high, and then the chiropractor left the room to return, I believe, to his next consultation. I recall at the time that the waiting room was full. He asked me to rest but did not say anything else. He did not perform any further tests.
I was not comfortable on the bed; the receptionist came in during this time. I was now feeling nauseous and expressed so; the chiropractor came into the room and then guided me into another room with mats. The chiropractor did not ask about my condition or perform any further tests. He did, however, suggest that I might feel more comfortable leaning over a physiotherapy ball. I decided firstly to sit on a chair with my head below my knees and then, secondly, to lie on a mat as I needed to lay flat to combat the feeling of nausea and faintness.
Although I am not sure how long I was in that room I do recall getting up to return to the reception room in order to ask for a taxi. The receptionist telephoned for a taxi for me and when it arrived she assisted me to the car. This must have been around noon. I did not see the chiropractor again.
I thought at the time that I had a terrible migraine and did not want to be stranded in town and was therefore anxious to return home. On the way back, however, I experienced numbness and tingling to my right hand and foot. The taxi driver kept asking me if I was okay. I asked him to drop me in the main road so that I could walk the 10 yards to my home. This is my usual practice as I am anxious to protect my address from strangers particularly as I live alone. By this stage I was unable to walk in a straight line and on arriving home rang my employers and left a message on the answer phone to say that I was too ill to attend work. It was by this stage 12.14pm as confirmed by my telephone bill.
I took two soluble aspirin immediately and lay on the settee propped up by cushions. I must have dozed off to sleep. I was woken by a phone call, my answer phone engaged, it was my eldest sister, I returned the call to her mobile, at 14.25pm (confirmed my telephone bill), we conversed for 9 mins, but I have no recollection of the call, I went back to sleep. On waking I took two aspirins again to deal with the head pains. I was conscious that when I walked I was staggering. The chiropractor rang at approximately 5.45pm that evening. I cannot recall the precise time. He asked me how I was feeling. I said words to the effect of "fine". I thought at this stage it was just a migraine and there was nothing more to explain. I did, however, state that my skin was cooler and he suggested I could put ice on my neck. I had been asleep and did not inform him about the numbness to my right arm and leg. He did not, however, ask me anything about the state of my double vision. Later that evening another sister, telephoned at 8.44pm, confirmed by her telephone bill. I was unable to speak to her at the time because of a very bad attack of hiccups. I rang her back at 9.05pm (as confirmed by my telephone bill). She commented that I sounded drunk and asked what was wrong; I burst into tears and indicated that I did not feel well. I informed her that I had seen a chiropractor and thought the treatment had aggravated my earlier migraine. I took two aspirin and took myself off to bed. I had a fitful night and did not rest well. At 3.45am I took another dose of soluble aspirin. I tried to get up at 7.00am the following morning to take more aspirin but my leg buckled beneath me. By this stage I could not pick anything up with my right hand and my arm swung away from my body. I realised something was wrong. I rang my office at 8.15am and spoke to my line manager. (My line manager commented that I wasn’t talking properly—he said why aren’t you talking properly-are you drooling?) I then telephoned my sister who was clearly very alarmed on hearing my voice. (She commented that I couldn’t talk coherently) I then telephoned the chiropractors office and spoke to another receptionist. I explained the treatment provided the previous day and the receptionist then spoke to somebody else but I am not sure to whom. I heard another lady say over the telephone that I should ring my GP straight away.
I rang the GP Surgery to explain my symptoms. The nurse asked me to come in (not straight away –she in fact offered an appointment for 10am) and I managed to order a taxi. I staggered up my drive to the taxi, then I staggered into the surgery at 10.00am and explained my symptoms to the doctor, again I burst into tears and the Doctor arranged for me to have a cup of tea while I telephoned a friend (at the Doctors request), who drove me to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital for neurological tests. I was in hospital for approximately 10 days. I had suffered a bilateral vertebral artery dissection and a cardio vascular accident. I had a shower of infarcts to both sides of my cerebellum, predominantly on the left and a brain stem blood clot.
Since these events my life has changed irrevocably. I cannot do my job and I have lost a good deal of my former level of independence. It is difficult travelling alone or walking in a crowded area. Occasionally I struggle to be fluent and I tire both physically and mentally very quickly. My tolerance/concentration span is 1 to 2 hours and then I need to rest. I cannot stand for long periods of time because I sway. I now have a rolling gait. I also suffer from vertigo, which strikes me in two different ways. The first is not disabling and exhibits itself in short periods of dizziness. The second exhibits itself in a disabling period where everything around me is spinning. I have experienced several attacks of this nature, which are exacerbated by fatigue I now receive medication should that experience return. I tend to feel extremes of heat and during hot weather become exhausted and breathless very quickly. The cold weather causes my right leg and arm muscles to contract; which in turn is painful.
I am, for example unable to go shopping alone and tend now to use the Internet. Although I am reasonably strong the fine dexterity that I once had with my hands has deteriorated.
I am unable to drive for long distances because of my limited concentration span, I used to drive 35-40,000 each year.