Sydenham's Chorea

Sydenham’s Chorea is considered an autoimmune disease initiated by an infection settling in the brain. Any time a “bug” gets lodged in body tissues, the immune system becomes very interested in those hiding places and begins attacking those tissues. This can be a big problem! When it happens to the heart, your own body protective cells begin destroying heart tissue and suddenly you have “heart disease.” With Sydenham’s Chorea, mostly seen in children, the damaged area of the brain controls muscle activity. As a result, a child will begin to show extra activity in the face, body and arms like a slow writhing or twitching movement. Most of the time, the symptoms clear on their own after a few months, but should we wonder if there is other damage to sensitive nerve tissue.

What we know about the immune system is that it is not so much an isolated system as it is an alliance among all the systems of the body. It involves nerve, skin, bone, digestion, endocrine, blood, elimination and even respiratory events to function at its best. We need our thymus gland (endocrine) to produce lymphocytes, our spleen and liver (lymphatic, elimination and blood) for antibodies. We need our long bones for producing blood that carries nourishing oxygen and nutrients to all body tissues. We need our nerves to control and coordinate all the functions of our bodies that keep us alive!

Where the NUCCA procedure helps is to restore blood flow to the brain, (there is ongoing research about that interesting fact), and to set up conditions favorable for long-term healing in all the systems of the body. Many patients report fewer sick days, no more asthma attacks, no more seasonal illnesses. One NUCCA patient with Multiple Sclerosis (a condition characterized by deterioration of brain cell tissue) has shown improvements in her neurologic tests after one year. It’s a slow process of restoring normal function as the nerve system rebuilds, but as the immune alliance rebuilds, we see autoimmune disorders recede. For complex conditions like Sydenham’s Chorea, upper cervical care is a fundamental contributor to care.