Torticollis

Torticollis
Alice had this a couple weeks ago. It seemed like it happened all of the sudden when she was walking from the couch to the kitchen. As if she bumped into something, she raised her hand to her head and then just started freaking out. Nursing didn't calm her so I took her back to the bedroom and massaged her feet with serenity blend essential oils and rock rub. She laid on the pillow awake and was so serene that when I moved over to massage Chris's back she was fine with it. She looked around and held onto her serenity bottle and eventually her eyes closed. It was heretofore unheard of for her to fall asleep in this way. So I attributed it to the essential oil, snapped a picture for my oilophile sister and took chris to the airport. About 90 minutes later I pull back in to the house and find alice laying in anguish on Samantha's lap. Samantha said "she has been like this since about 15 minutes after you left."
Poor girls.
I nursed alice. She didn't want to stop. Eventually she did stop nursing and just lay on me. My little, probably-would-be-diagnosed-ADHD girl, she just lay there. She wouldn't support her head. I start freaking myself out with what possibly would be causing this. Meningitis was foremost in my brain.
So I began moving towards taking her in. She needed to get dressed. I dressed her and diapered her. She lay on my bed, looking to her left at the painting of the sun coming down through the leaves of a big oak tree. I needed to run to the bathroom- I figured bathroom trips while at urgent care with her would be rare. When I ran to the bathroom something happened that freaked me out in earnest. It reaffirmed my decision to get her seen.
She continue to lay there, facing the tree painting that hung on the opposite wall of the master bathroom. She lay there crying. She didn't get up and follow me which is what typically she would do. She didn't even turn her head to follow me with her eyes. I made quick business of it and got back to her. We headed to the Seattle children's urgent care clinic at overlake.
The whole visit was hard on her. She was in pain. A stranger was not only looking at her but touching her as well. I handed her over at one moment so he could see if she tracked me around the room- to see if she'd turn her head. She flipped out.
The dr allayed my fears of meningitis and told me it was merely torticollis, a neck strain. The nurse gave me some Motrin to give to her which I syringed her mouth while she was nursing and she began to improve a bit- supporting her own head.
A few days later I tried to get her adjusted at the chiropractors office. Yet again- strangers touching her. She resisted so strongly that the chiro could only adjust her halfway. It took about two weeks for her to finally gain full mobility in turning her head to the right.