I had suffered since childhood with severe headache and backache. Each year the suffering increased, and by the time I was twenty-one the headaches had assumed an alarming form. A physician finally diagnosed the trouble as an organic disease of the spine. Accompanied by a specialist in spinal diseases, I went to Cincinnati to have the spine straightened and to be fitted with an appliance to hold it in position, also an additional support for the head. I wore these for seven months; and during this time and for several years thereafter slept on a board. At the end of the seven months the doctor said I was well, but would have to be very careful for a long time. I returned home and was better for a time, but in less than a year the old trouble returned in an aggravated form and grew worse each succeeding year for five years. For six months of the last year of this period I was kept almost entirely under the influence of an opiate.
When I heard of Christian Science I thought I would try it, as all else had failed. I began treatment during one of my worst attacks. My first treatment was at five o'clock in the afternoon, and at eight that evening my husband telephoned the practitioner to treat me again at once. In twenty minutes after he telephoned I experienced perfect relief, and fell asleep and slept without waking all night,—the first perfect night's rest I had had for many months. When I used the opiate the relief was only temporary, while the after-effects were almost worse than the disease and usually brought on another attack. On awakening the morning after being treated in Christian Science, I felt perfectly well, but I went down town to take another treatment. On retiring that night I removed the board on which I had slept for six years, and have never used it since. I continued to take treatment for two weeks, and then at intervals for several weeks, at the end of which time I could say I was perfectly well and strong, and I have remained so ever since.
After studying Science and Health for several months, I was able to take off glasses which I had worn for fifteen years for an organic defect, and my eyes are now well and strong. I am deeply grateful to God for the many blessings that have come to me through Christian Science, and I am especially grateful for the spiritual understanding of the Bible which I have gained through the study of Science and Health by our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy. I want to say, in addition to the above, that the treatment so completely eliminated the thought of the disease from my consciousness that the years of suffering I had endured now seem to me as a dream, all but forgotten.
