Help! My head’s falling off!
Lacing up my sneakers, I called out, ‘Come on kids, let’s go!’ Landon, 12, Brooklyn, 10, and Evelyn, six, barrelled through the front door along with my husband, Sean.
After a relaxing Saturday in the garden, we were setting off on a hike together to cook snags around the campfire.
As a former ballerina, I’d always been active and my kids were too.
Throughout my dancing career, I’d suffered with back pain though, so I saw various chiropractors.
One day, in August 2019, I visited a new chiropractor. As he pressed down on my back and twisted my neck in sharp, swift movements, I tried not to wince.
It wasn’t painful as such, but as I drove home, I began to feel woozy.
Three days later, I woke up and a splitting pain shot through my head.
‘I’ve got an awful migraine,’ I told Sean, digging out some painkillers.
The migraines continued and then a few weeks later, I was lying in bed when my body began to shake.
Gripped with panic,
I could barely speak.
Sean was at work so all I could do was wait for the seizure to subside.
I’d been diagnosed with a condition a year earlier that affects circulation and caused me to faint often, so I put the seizure down to that.
Over the next few months, it happened a few more times so I saw my doctor who took a look at an MRI scan from a few years ago.
‘I think you’ve got craniocervical instability (CCI),’ he said. ‘In fact, I’d put money on it.’
He told me that CCI causes too much mobility in the neck joint and it becomes unstable.
I’d most likely always had the condition, but the sharp twisting at the chiropractor had exacerbated the symptoms.
He also diagnosed me with Ehler-Danlos syndrome, a rare disease that affects the body’s connective tissues and often goes hand in hand with CCI.
He arranged for an MRI scan to confirm his suspicions and then he would refer me to a specialist for physical therapy.
‘Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together,’ Sean told me.
The tests confirmed I had CCI and afterwards, I faced a three-month wait to see the specialist.
But a month later, I sat up in bed one day and
groaned as a wave
‘I feel like a human bobblehead,’ I said, describing
how it felt
When Jessica Yergensen, 34, opened her eyes one morning, the unimaginable happened
of vertigo hit me.
Clutching my head, the room was spinning.
Even when I closed my eyes, it still felt like I was falling and I could barely lift my head up.
Reaching over to the dresser, I grabbed my mobile and called Sean.
‘I need you to come home now,’ I cried.
As he rushed home, I tried again to sit up but it was impossible. My neck was so heavy, it felt like my head was falling off!
Once Sean arrived, he called the doctor.
He told me the vertigo was a result of the CCI, but my appointment with the specialist was still two months away.
‘I can’t do this for two months,’ I sobbed.
I’d gone from an active mum to someone who couldn’t even get to the bathroom on my own.
‘I feel like a human bobblehead,’ I told him, trying to describe the strange sensation, which felt like the kids’ toy looked.
When the children got home from school, Sean sat them down and explained that I wasn’t well.
‘Mum’s just going to take it easy for now,’ he told them.
By a stroke of luck, the specialist’s office called me that day. They were able to fit me in earlier and the doctor also recommended a neck brace to help me get around in the meantime.
Once I had the brace on, I was able to get out of bed, but I still couldn’t stand for long without feeling dizzy.
Thankfully, my neighbours rallied around to help and the kids were wonderful. Whenever I was lying in bed, they knew I didn’t feel well.
‘Can I get you anything Mum?’ Evelyn would ask.
As I began physical therapy, I wondered if I’d ever be the hands-on mum
I had been before.
I began doing exercises with the therapist and he gently adjusted my spine.
Gradually, my neck began to feel stronger.
After a few weeks, I was able to remove the brace and hold my neck up on its own.
Now, I’m still having physical therapy but life is slowly returning to normal.
My neck is much stronger than it used to be but by the evening, I can feel my head starting to drop.
I’ve learnt to listen to my body and take each day as it comes. While I loved being an active mum, I no longer beat myself up about what I can and can’t do.
It’s so easy to take our bodies for granted. I never imagined I’d wake up feeling like my head was falling off.
But finally, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.