"Can you help apnea, Doc?" was the question form this gentle, kind grandmother. her inquiry was for her grandson Isaac, who was only two but suffered not only sleep apnea, but also apnea that would attack him during waking hours. Apnea is a condition in which the body stops breathing for no known reason.
Isaac's episodes were as frequent as eleven time per day. He would be playing on the floor and suddenly turn cyanotic (blue) from not breathing. Isaac's mother was a nurse and would quickly rescue-breathe the child each time he suffered an episode.
I learned that the family lived in San Diego, almost a hundred miles from my office. I instructed the grandmother to have the child taken to a chiropractor for an examination to determine if chiropractic could help. This conversation was on a Thursday. On Monday the mother and child showed up on my doorstep telling me that the boy's grandmother assured them that I could help apnea. I quickly backpedaled and explained that if biomechanical problems could be found, then indeed chiropractic could help this condition.
When I met Isaac, or Zach as we called him, I was a little surprised. he was a two-year-old in a four-year-old's body. I expected to see a malnutrition case or a sickly looking child. He was anything but sickly looking. When I entered the consultation room, Zach was hiding under the chair. His mother apologized for his behavior, but I quickly understood as the history began to unfold. Little Zach had been pushed, pinched, prodded and examined with almost every imaginable test. He had undergone upper and lower GI tests, CAT scans, MRI exams, and an EMG in addition to three separate spinal blocks.
It was no wonder he was hiding under the chair, scared at the prospect of seeing another doctor who would do who knows what to him. My heart immediately went out to Zach and his mother, Susan. A trained nurse, Susan had a monitor that only went off when Zach didn't breathe for twenty or more seconds. She was constantly afraid that she would sleep too deeply and miss the sound of the monitor. Therefore, her sleep patterns were grossly disrupted.
It was a pleasure to examine Zach. While I held him stationary so i could get some upright x-rays, my associate took the x-rays. the views revealed significant abnormal function in the neck - I could tell by the x-rays that he had suffered a blow to the back of the head. the space between he skull and atlas on the two-year-old should be approximately 3 to 5 millimeters. Zach had a 0-milimeters space.
The vertebrobasilar artery enters the skull at this point. The majority of the central and posterior brain is supplied blood through this artery, so any minor movement of the child's head would compress this artery, thus decreasing blood and oxygen supply to the brain. The result was apnea.
As I described the x-rays to Zach's mom, her eyes filled with tears. I assured her that it was okay because we could treat his condition. This is that biomechanical disruption we needed to find in order for chiropractic to be the answer. She then assured me that her tears were tears of joy. No doctor at this point had given any diagnosis or hope for relief. Zach and Susan now had hope.
Since they lived in San Diego, I referred them to another chiropractor, but they insisted on driving to my office. I said Zach would need four adjustments a week. We arranged for Zach to get adjusted before I closed for lunch, then again as soon as I opened after lunch. We developed a very quick rapport with this family. Zach is a child full of capacity to give and receive love. Zach always greeted me with a very long and tight hug around my neck.
Zach responded very favorably to his adjustments. His apnea episodes decreased very rapidly. he went from eleven episodes a day to one a week within the first week. After sixteen weeks of adjustments, we x-rayed Zach because he had gone an entire month without an episode. The x-ray revealed a total restoration of the space between his atlas and head.
Zach is now twelve years old, six feet tall and weighs 175 pounds.
Zach has been involved in Tae-Kwon-Do for the past two years. He is not only strong and handsome; he is in honors classed in school. Zach tested the highest in his school on the SAT 9 test. He is a very special boy with an appreciation for life and an ability to love and laugh and share with all around him
John Holland, D.C.
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