The “gift” that keeps on giving…

I was in a pretty bad car accident in 1999. The girl hit me from behind so hard that it broke my seat back and I ended up laying down when all was said and done. At the time I was off work something like 10 or 12 weeks because of all the problems I was having; whiplash, couldn’t turn my head, dizzy spells, TMJ. I had them all. Eventually, with the aid of lots pf physical therapy, all the symptoms seemed to go away. I have had an occasional dizzy spell, they did get pretty bad a couple of years ago and I had to go to an ENT (ears, nose, throat) specialist because my doctor thought I had vertigo. The ENT doc said it was after effects from the whiplash, because mine was so severe, the swelling would come & go and mimic the symptoms of vertigo. He put me on a round of steroids to get rid of the swelling, and no problem since. Or so I thought...
Since January, I have been noticing that anytime I tried to lie on my left side, which I have always done, my shoulder would start popping. I could be lying perfectly still and “POP” would go my shoulder. I didn’t think much of it, started laying on my right side instead. Not a big deal. Then, about a month ago, out of the blue, I had a pretty good dizzy spell. I was standing outside my supervisor’s office when it hit, and I hit the floor. My behind was pretty sore (I sat strait down on the concrete floor from a standing position) and then it moved up my back, but I went home took a hot bath and stretched on my exercise ball, and by Monday I was as good as new. Until this past Wednesday, then my shoulder started aching quite a lot, I shrugged it off thinking I had aggravated it by unloading my car full of groceries on Tuesday afternoon. But then yesterday, my hand and arm starting hurting too, and then started going numb!!! That freaked me out! So last night I spent two and a half hours at the emergency room in Pueblo (an hour drive from our home), because I refuse to go to the “hospital” in La Junta (yes its that bad); all for the doctor to say he guesses its from the car accident, it might be a pinched nerve, I need to go see an orthopedic doctor and get an MRI. They gave me some pain pills and a sling and sent me home. So I am sitting here at work this morning, my left arm in a sling, my leg itching where the hives appeared this morning (side effect of the Vicodin), trying to type one- handed (and did I mention I’m left-handed??) and trying to decide which chiropractor to call, because I want to see if they can fix it without any more drugs or expensive tests… What next????

Update- I got an appointment this morning with the chiropractor here in town! I am thankful they could get me in so quickly! I hope this works, otherwise it's gonna be a long weekend with a numb elbow & hand...