Return to Sanity
My patient Jim worked as an orderly in a mental institution. Jim’s job included calming down and restraining difficult and sometimes violent patients. He usually got the upper hand, but sometimes the inmates won. He’d come in for an adjustment all scratched up, bitten and subluxated.
“A sucker punch Doc, I didn’t see it coming. She really surprised me.”
But he did more than fight inmates. He also took more manageable patients out for walks and drives.
One evening Jim appeared for his appointment with a tall, good-looking and very wary eighteen-year-old.
“Hi Jim, who’s your friend?” I asked.
“This is Larry. He’s an inmate. He was committed about eight months ago by his family. He’s been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic—hears voices. His condition hasn’t improved and he’s on lots of meds (medications).”
“Want to give Larry an adjustment?”
Larry let me palpate his neck and even agreed to lie on his side for an upper cervical adjustment. His atlas was out. I positioned the drop headpiece and set it up on his neck. I probably won’t get another chance to do this, I thought to myself.
The headpiece dropped down and Larry jumped up. It looked like he went from a lying position to a standing one with no intermediate positions. “What did you do to me?” he yelled.
“I, uh, I adjusted your atlas, it was out.” Not my finest patient lecture.
“It felt like you stuck a sword through my head,” said Larry.
I turned to my patient Craig for some kind of help but he was doubled up in laughter. “Funniest thing I’ve ever seen. You should see your face Dr. Tedd.”
Eventually he came up and put his arm around Larry. “Hey, he does this to me all the time. Let’s go get some pizza. See you in a couple of days doc.”
They drove away. I never saw Larry again.
Jim came in two days later, “How’s Larry?” were the first words out of my mouth.
“Oh yeah, I meant to call you doc. They’ve cut back Larry’s meds. He suddenly seems better. The psychiatrists are convinced the drugs finally started working,” Jim laughed.
Jim came by the next week with more news, “Larry was taken off all meds today. The voices have stopped, and his family is coming in tomorrow to bring him home.”
“He’s back to normal, no more strange behavior?” I asked.
“Well, there’s just one thing that’s upsetting the staff.”
“What’s that?”
“He keeps telling people he wants to be a chiropractor.”