Miracle cure

Any migraine sufferer will tell you that finding a cure would change their life - so when one man found the answer in chiropractic treatment it was a dream come true.

Michael Miotk started suffering from migraines as a young teenager and, by his late forties, had tried every treatment available.

His migraines started with visual interference in one eye, spreading to both, before moving on to agonising headaches which could last up to a week.

Michael, a self-confessed workaholic, says his migraines made him into a virtual recluse, as even speaking to someone made the pain worse.

"Even the thought of talking was too much of an effort. People think you are in a bad mood."

At times even his vision was impaired by the migraines and, for years, Michael, now 51, says he worried about what was causing them.

"It is frightening because you wonder if it is a migraine, stress, a brain tumour or brain haemorrhage - especially with the visual disturbance."

When the migraines first started the condition was not widely understood and Michael says people told him to just take a painkiller and stop complaining.

"I was taking over the recommended dose of painkillers to get rid of the migraines but then my body just got used to the drugs so they did not work any more."

After his wife mentioned Michael's problem to her chiropractor he was offered the chance to take part in a study at a Fareham clinic to see the effect chiropractic treatment would have on migraine.

From the first time chiropractor Emma Kinch, at the Homewood clinic in Osbourne Road, treated Michael he felt an improvement.

"I thought I would give it a try and once I started it was brilliant."

Weekly sessions of treatment on his upper back and neck eventually tailed off to fortnightly and then monthly as Michael gradually began to feel the benefits.

Now, he says, his migraine attacks have virtually disappeared, leaving him free to carry on with his life.

"My wife says I am happier now - I communicate more. Before I used to go quiet and sit in the corner not doing anything because of the migraine.

"I felt as if it was going to come on if I did things, but that is no longer the case."

Although Michael had his treatment free of charge, he says he would have paid any amount to get rid of the migraines that were blighting his life.

"Just think of the man hours lost and the friends you could lose through the migraines. The money is nothing if it gets rid of them."

Practitioner Emma became interested in treating headaches after her own were cured by a chiropractor when she was a teenager. She says that, although it is not a miracle cure, she finds most patients respond well.

"I might be the last resort for most people but nine times out of ten it does help - there is always an improvement."

For more information about services at the clinic, which also has branches in Portswood and Havant, please call the Fareham office on 01329 280283.