How are you, guys? Thanks so much for joining us again for our monthly educational video. This month in June, we are celebrating migraine and headache awareness, because it's something near and dear to a lot of us. Dr. Todd, can you share a little bit about your visit story with us?

Yes, well, I met my wife Dee, gosh, 24 years ago now, and she was a regular severe migraine sufferer. This is before I was even a chiropractic intern, so I could not adjust her in any way. I used to have to just try to hold her in my arms. The room had to be completely dark. I'd just have to try to cuddle her. If there was the tiniest sound six blocks away, her head would feel like a horrible earthquake. Every five minutes, I would lay a hot wash cloth on her head. It was miserable. She hardly did any drugs growing up, meaning medication type drugs, she didn't do any type of those other type, but she did...

No Tylenols, nothing like that.

Literally. Yes, thank you. But she did Dramamine when she would get these severe migraines. Well, when I became a chiropractic intern, became able to adjust her, and let's face it, I wasn't that great then, 'cause you're still learning. Don't let just anyone touch your neck. Even just the chiropractic intern. Anyway, so just starting adjusting her, now over 23 years she's not had one migraine.

That's incredible.

It's changed her life dramatically. And so, there are some other key things that a person can do for migraines. In 22 years experience of serving this community, I found there are some really, really important things. A lot of migraine sufferers and headache sufferers already know a lot of these things, but what I find to be key, hydration is a big one. Because we know that migraines, but all types of headaches, are blood flow hydration mediated. So a lot of headaches go away from just drinking more water, not just immediately, but also regularly staying hydrated. Medications can be a big factor. I see a lot of medications causing migraines. So a lot of people, to work with your doctor, if they're over-the-counter work with tapering off those yourself, to get rid of some of those medications. Caffeine is a very, very big one as well, because caffeine affects the blood flow to the brain. So if you drink it regularly, but all of a sudden quit, then you may get a headache or a migraine again. Many of you know that, but you also may find that never drinking it avoids them altogether, so that's a pretty amazing thing.

The other thing that most people aren't aware of is stress, because stress creates tension throughout our spine and nervous system, and that affects blood flow to our brain, too. So those are big, big factors. But the reason to see an expert upper cervical chiropractor for migraines or headaches are because, when the upper two, especially vertebrae, but also the skull, these can misalign compared to one another, and it chokes off the brain stem, but it also chokes off blood flow up into the brain. So when that happens, we get tension headaches, we get migraines, we get all these problems that with auras, because the blood flow is blocked from these misalignments, or these subluxations. So, we can deal with those expertly here in this office.

But I do wanna say, when we share these videos, it really is not about Chiropractic First, it's a mission. Do you have any idea how many millions of people are suffering needlessly from headaches and migraines, just because they have no idea or they don't understand chiropractic? And if you know someone in Timbuktu, or in Spain, or wherever, who suffers from these things, we are happy to help you find the right doctor who's qualified to deal with the upper cervical situations. We do very specific X-rays to test the movement and alignment of the upper cervical spine. We'll find you the very best doctor where they are. And even in this town, if you like our videos, but you don't happen to like me as a doctor, that's completely okay. I cannot take care of this whole town in here. So you either call me and I'll tell you who else I think is good, or just go look up someone online, or whatever. There are other qualified docs right here in Redding who can help you with it. Please don't suffer. It's like 90% of people plus who have migraines or headaches, who get adjusted by specific upper cervical chiropractors, who don't have them anymore. And so, Megan, you wanted to share a couple testimonials from our lovely testimony.

Yeah. "For as long as I can remember, I've suffered with daily headaches, burning across my shoulders, and down my neck and upper back. I was a victim of a pedestrian versus auto accident in my teens, and have been involved in two auto accidents. In addition to this trauma, I spent 25 years at a desk job with poor posture and ergonomics. I'm sure all of this has contributed to my state of un-wellness." She goes on to explain how she was a skeptic, and not quite sure about chiropractic. But then she continues with, "I've seen tremendous improvements in my physical health since starting treatment with Dr. Todd. To date, my headaches are greatly diminished, and the burning and pain in my shoulders and neck is all but gone. No matter how stressful my day has been, I always leave my adjustment appointments feeling better, mind, body, and soul. Sincerely, Vicky."

That's awesome. And she was a tough one, and it reminds me, she said in the beginning, "As far back as I remember," it reminds me of the movie Goodfellas. The opening line is, "As far back as I remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." But anyway, I didn't wanna be a gangster, but, a couple of very important things about Vicky. So, amazing, wonderful person, but her skepticism, she said in her teens, she was in her 50s when she came in first, in her teens, she had this accident, and then 25 years at a desk job, never went to a chiropractor.

Yeah.

No one shared it with her, or someone did, but she was too skeptical. If that's you, please let us help you.

Absolutely.

Please let us help you. So she suffered way longer than she should have. So, let's hear the next one.

The next one is from Amy R., and this is back in 1999. So this says, "I've dealt with migraines and back pain, especially in my neck and shoulders, since a car accident in 1980. I went to various chiropractors periodically over the years, but never regular treatment. My migraines occurred every two weeks like clockwork. Any stressful situation seemed to mess up my upper back and neck. The migraines put me out of commission for 12 to 36 hours. Seven months ago, I had two migraines... " Oh, sorry. "Seven months ago, I started coming to Chiropractic First for regular treatments, and have only had two migraines during that time. When they started, I came in for an adjustment, and they went away in two to three hours. My son and husband have also been coming in, and seem to feel better than they used to. Not as tired, hurting as much, etcetera. Coming to Chiropractic First has improved the quality of our life, and we look forward to coming in to maintain our improved health." Yeah. It's pretty incredible.

It's like what Bernie Mac said in Oceans, I think it was Oceans 13. "That's enough said." God rest his soul. He passed away, but he was brilliant.

He was. And this last one here is from Janine. And she says, "The last four years of my life have consisted of one headache after another. I've suffered from tremendous headaches that would keep me in bed, in such a position as to not move my head. I have been a patient at Chiropractic First for two months, and it has been a wonderful seven weeks since my last headache. I've tried living on pills for this problem, but that never fully went away. All it took was one week at Chiropractic First to straighten my neck up enough for the headaches to go away completely. I praise God for the gifting he has given Dr. Todd, and for the wonderful staff who make it every visit a joy. Thank you. Janine." Yeah.

Boy, it does something to you when you rethink of these stories of these people with this, like my wife, like Dee. It makes you wanna shout it from the rooftops.

It does, yeah.

And in fact, Brooke, you know who Brooke is.

Yes, we love her.

She was gonna come and speak to this. She had a time conflict, but she said, "I will come anywhere, anytime and shout it from the rooftops." We just scheduled at an inconvenient time for her, but she no longer has migraines. She had them her whole life. And it does something to you, there's a special something that happens to you when you have a solution for something that very few people know about. I mean, millions of people go to chiropractors, but they don't necessarily go regularly, or they don't know that there's advanced upper cervical analysis that can be done, that can solve these problems permanently that people deal with.

So, like we said earlier, gosh, if this is you, or if it's your family member in town, if you like me, great, we'll take care of them, if you don't, and you live in town, there's other good docs. I can tell you about a few of them. Dr. Aaron Seaton's really good, Chiropractic Place, Dr. Michael Moore, I could mention a lot more, but they just come off top, Dr. Bobby by Chuckie Cheese. Really good docs, all very competent at taking care of the upper cervical spine. Or if they live in Timbuktu, or in Maine, or wherever, we'll find the best doc there that can deliver the goods. And this is way bigger than Chiropractic First, or me. You know people suffering, and they don't have to anymore. Also, if they wanna talk about it, just with me personally and I'll never see them, if they're in, I don't even know, Arizona or something, and if they wanna have a phone conversation with me, and I just find a doc, we're here to serve, that's what we're made to do. Let us know how we can help you. God bless your day.

Thank you.