NEED TO KNOW
Jaycie Conley suffered three strokes after a chiropractor’s neck adjustment caused a life-threatening artery tear
The 33-year-old mom was left permanently disabled with speech difficulties and weakness on her right side
Conley is sharing her story to warn others about the potential risks of chiropractic adjustments
A California woman was left permanently disabled after a chiropractic adjustment resulted in her suffering three strokes.
In December 2021, Jaycie Conley — from Ventura, California — was 33 years old when she started experiencing a persistent headache that she attributed to stress and sleep deprivation while caring for her 6-month-old son.
“I remember thinking I slept wrong, like I kinked my neck or something, so I let it go for a couple of days but the pain was getting worse so I contacted a [chiropractor] that I’d worked with before,” she told Kennedy News and Media, via Daily Mail.
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Jaycie Conley
Credit: Kennedy News & Media
A few hours after the neck adjustment, Conley started feeling nauseous and “my eyes [went] cross-eyed by themselves.” She texted her chiropractor about the symptoms and was invited to come back in for another adjustment.
“The chiropractor said, ‘I’d rather see you than not.’ So that’s why I went back the second time,” Conley recalled. She claimed that her chiropractor later told her she was simply having a “weird reaction.”
“She said if it keeps happening go to the doctor. She said that several times. It was alarming the way she wasn’t alarmed,” the stay-at-home mom recalled. “She never said it was urgent so I didn’t know any better, and trusted her at the time.”
When Conley’s symptoms continued with no improvement, she got scared and decided to go to the hospital. Doctors ultimately discovered that she had suffered a bilateral vertebral artery dissection (VAD), a tear in the artery that runs along the spine, supplying blood to the brain, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It’s a life-threatening condition that can cause a stroke in severe cases.
Conley’s symptoms were the result of her suffering two mini strokes called Transient Ischemic Attacks (or TIAs). TIAs are often warning signs that a person is at risk for a more serious and debilitating stroke, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Jaycie Conley in the hospital
Credit: Kennedy News & Media
Once at the hospital, Conley suffered a third and more severe stroke that put her in the ICU for five days. Doctors told her that the VAD was likely caused by the “velocity” of the chiropractor’s neck adjustment.
“I was completely shocked that going to a chiropractor had contributed to this,” she said. “I thought ‘I’m 33, how could this happen?’ To be 33 and basically be an elderly person in the ICU, not able to use my hands, not able to stand up and walk, not able to use the bathroom on my own, that really did a number on my psyche for a while.”
“I was terrified my child might not have had a mom,” she continued. “I couldn’t lift my son and I had a hard time being a stay-at-home parent. That put a lot of stress on our family.”
The ordeal left Conley permanently disabled, suffering from weakness on the right side of her body and speech difficulties. She said she’s “angry and disappointed” that her chiropractor didn’t explain to her the possibility of a stroke when she first mentioned her symptoms.
Jaycie Conley in the hospital
Credit: Kennedy News & Media
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Conley, now 38, is sharing her story in hopes of warning others about visiting a chiropractor. She said people should ensure their practitioners are thoroughly explaining the waiver that details the associated risks before treatment.
“[Chiropractors] are trained to look for and learn about strokes. They even make you sign a waiver that that is a risk but no one pays attention to it,” she told the outlet. “I signed a waiver not knowing what I was signing. That’s not education, that’s not fully informed consent.”
“I feel angry and disappointed. I just hope somebody learns what I didn’t learn prior to,” she added. “If you have a headache and you’re postpartum, go to the hospital. If there’s any part of this I can promote, it’s to be aware of what it is and the severity.”
Read the original article on People