Coloradan Halts Allergies, Migraines with Chiropractic

“This is how I’m supposed to feel… It was as if a fog had been lifted away.”
– Taylor Stoecklin

On a clear fall day in St. Louis, Taylor Stoecklin was driving home when he noticed that the colors looked more vibrant than ever before. He also felt calmer, more relaxed and happier than he had in a long time.

Later that day, he told a friend, “This is how I’m supposed to feel.”

“It was as if a fog had been lifted away,” he says.

Soon after, other things began to shift as well. His regular migraines ceased and his severe allergies eased.

And surprisingly, he felt different. Before, he had never experienced strong emotions, good or bad, or had very deep connections with others. Now, he experienced a fuller range of emotions and began being more social and connected with others. He even became more active in events at school.

“My personality changed,” he says.

All this came after a chiropractic adjustment unlike any before.

Life-Impacting Allergies, then Migraines

Prior to that day, Taylor had suffered from allergies and migraines for years.

Starting in middle school, the trees, grass and pollen in his native Illinois triggered severe itching, sneezing and watery eyes.

When the antihistamine Claritin stopped working, he progressed to regular allergy shots. For years, he received shots until, again, those no longer worked.

“With allergy shots, you’re sort of immune for a while, and then they start to come back,” he says. “They started coming back worse and worse around late high school or early college.”

Then in high school, the migraines began. The pain centered behind his eyes and blurred his vision to the point where he couldn’t read. Each time, he just had to lie down and wait it out.

The Key: Treating the Upper Cervical Spine

As college wrapped up, Taylor looked to his next step: chiropractic school. In high school, an adjustment had successfully soothed a shoulder injury and the career field had repeatedly come up as an option for him on career assessments and in talks with counselors.

Not long after starting chiropractic school, a local doctor of chiropractic welcomed students into his clinic for adjustments. The doctor specialized in the upper cervical spine, the vertebrae that extend from the base of the skull down the neck.

Before, Taylor had always seen chiropractic as a musculoskeletal treatment. But his experience with Dr. Eddie Weller was wholly unlike any previous chiropractic adjustment.

Dr. Weller first scanned Taylor to identify electrical imbalances in his upper cervical spine. Then, he adjusted him accordingly.

“With upper cervical spinal adjustments, there’s no popping, twisting or cracking,” Taylor says. “It’s very fast and relatively light.”

Afterward, the doctor had him rest for an hour and a half.

A Better-Functioning Body

After that adjustment, Taylor noticed a difference immediately and in the months that followed.

Beyond feeling more relaxed and sharper senses, previous pain at the base of his skull had subsided. He could also turn his head further without it hurting.

“I learned later that was probably because things had shifted after being strained from the atlas vertebrae being out of position,” he says.

As pollen season hit, he anticipated his allergies would spike. Instead, they were surprisingly mild.

And each subsequent year, his body seemed less reactive, until finally, he no longer experienced allergies at all.

As for easing migraines with chiropractic, adjustment addressed those as well. Now, Taylor only occasionally feels a slight sensation behind his eyes. However, that no longer progresses into a full migraine.

Moreover, his body seems to function better as a whole.

“At a certain point I noticed that my athletic ability actually improved, which was kinda cool,” he says. “My reaction time was really, really fast. I felt like my climbing started to get better too.”

He also slept more soundly. And others commented that his posture had improved.

Unlocking the Atlas Vertebrae

Though Taylor was already on the chiropractic path, that one adjustment changed the focus of his career. He apprenticed with the doctor who had adjusted him to become versed in upper cervical spinal work.

Specifically, a focus on the upper cervical spine addresses the atlas, the ring that rotates around part of the second vertebrae.

“Typical chiropractic adjustments are more two dimensional,” Taylor says. “The atlas is very three-dimensional in nature and moves in a different way. It can get misaligned and stuck. Using an upper cervical approach takes that into consideration, and in my opinion, it’s much more effective.”

Adjustments to the atlas, he explains, unlock the vertebra 360 degrees and give the body time to correct itself. When the atlas is adjusted properly, the neurological pathways are opened for the signals to run freely.

Taylor also points out that upper cervical spine chiropractors objectively test the signals in those pathways with measurement tools.

Getting Clients Back to Their Healthy Selves

These days, Taylor remains migraine- and allergy-free, and continues to be checked and adjusted regularly as part of his health maintenance.

Taylor now runs his own practice, Grounded Chiropractic in Boulder, CO, where he applies his upper cervical spine specialty on children and adults.

“My approach opens up the body to a greater awareness of its internal and external environment, which means it has better information and signaling to adapt, create, and restore healthy, normal function,” he says.

If you found this story helpful, you might also like: Michigan Mom Finally Halts Migraines with Weekly Chiropractic Care.