Tinnitus, TMJ, Headaches, Neck Pain, Facial Pain, etc. — Possible Treatment

Btw, have you all tried muscle relaxant drugs? I tried them (Sirdalud 2mg) once after seing a jaw specialist dentist/surgeon for bruxism and I do remember having a lower T right after those drugs. Worth a shot for those with muscle issues.

No, but I'm in the process of obtaining them, or an NTI-TSS splint or something else.

Sirdalud you say? My dental surgeon suggested carbamazepine or amytriptiline.

Is anybody else been told Botox could help for the TMJ? No ENT knows about this but my neurologist and dental surgeon suggested it. I've read some horror stories about it on the web so I won't do it.
 
No, but I'm in the process of obtaining them, or an NTI-TSS splint or something else.

Sirdalud you say? My dental surgeon suggested carbamazepine or amytriptiline.

Is anybody else been told Botox could help for the TMJ? No ENT knows about this but my neurologist and dental surgeon suggested it. I've read some horror stories about it on the web so I won't do it.
Botox is crazy. I would never do that. You are just disabling if not destroying the nerves for a period of time. That is not correcting anything.

I highly suggest trying to lookup which back and neck muscles contribute to pain in the face muscles and find a person who has some kind of massage knowledge for medical treatment and getting those muscles treated.

For example, one person says:

"
TMJ is not fundamentally a dental condition).

Treatment is to the jaw and neck, especially the upper trapezius, splenius capitis, and cervicis, scalenes, and paraspinal muscles. But before treating the jaw, measure mouth opneing by number of fingers that can be inserted between incisors."

There can be other muscles involved too.
 
I'm already at a TMJ specialist now for 5 months. Goes better every week.
The botox thing is something they (TMJ specialist, dental surgeon) say it's safe. But no ENT knows about it.
I asked again and she did not comment on it. From what I've read is that the toxin indeed can damage the hearing nerve.

I also discussed the option what @Cor suggested in his topic, the needle on the nerve. TMJ specialist said that it's N=1 and that a lot of pain clinics are not even willing to do it. It's dangerous stuff as you are messing with nerve blocks.

There are drugs that I can try first. I discussed carbamazepine with an ENT, she sees no real obstruction in taking it.
But strange thing is that I was told she led the AM-101 in Belgium, which she did not. So I travelled 500+ km for just an high frequency audiometric test and some hyperacusity test.

It's not like they know anything of the meds that are available in papers on pubmed or Google scholar. I hate it. De Ridder seems the only person who really knows something about it.

When no hearing loss is found they say hmmm I think it is stress and/or anxiety. Duh, everyonewith T has stress and anxiety (at least in the beginning).

They never say go to a physiotherapist, dental surgeon, TMJ treatment. Even when you complain about other problems it's very hard to get a CT scan or even MRI.

It was even this hospital (the 4th) that did a T matching test for the first time. Too bad that the printer crashed and I did not get the results. Hopefully I get them next week.

Now in total I saw 7 or 8 ENT's and boy what a difference between them. Most of them let you leave the room because "time is up" and we don't know.

And the neurologist I saw said grumpy: "yeah they are researching new drugs every day" when I said that I hope there is a cure soon. Hateful message as patients with T need support, no grumpyness.
 
@Codaz

What are your muscle and neurological symptoms? I can't remember. If you have muscle pain like TMJ pain and pain in the temples, face jaw, neck, back then that is your target for treatment.

Your doctors need to know that you don't want to tinnitus drug. You want treatment based on the other symptoms you have which may resolve your tinnitus.

My orofacial pain specialist told me to go to cognative behavioral therapist if I didn't want drugs, which is a psychologist. He wouldn't say why. Before he recommended a physical therapist, but when I told him my experience with them was disappointing because of lack of treatment and unscientific nonsense not related to physical therapy he said there was no scientific basis for physical therapy.

@Mr. Cartman
I just remembered two more people who seem to know a lot and are probably very good at treating. They both produce materials to treat yourself, but still treat people:

http://www.julstro.com/ (located in Florida)
http://www.triggerpointtherapist.com/ (located in Texas)

I think I'm going to see this guy:

http://www.thechronicpaincenter.com/ (located in Virginia)

https://www.google.com/search?q=frank gresham&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:fficial&client=firefox-a&channel=sb#rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:fficial&channel=sb&q=the chronic pain center&lrd=lrd

I still have the appointments with the John F. Barnes myofascial release expert guy in a few months, but I'm not actually sure what he really does. I read the free sample of his book and it didn't tell me much. I also don't know why he is booked for months in advance. http://www.tavototalhealth.com (this guy)

I went to the mall over the weekend and paid a masseuse (licensed massage therapist) to do my back. These are the easy cheap walk-in types. I told him to press and hold stuff. I think he was getting into some good spots right above the shoulder blades. Unfortunately he was pressing really hard all over and not holding in the right spots long enough. It would have been better if he pressed less hard and held for longer on the right spots. These guys also don't speak much English.

I only gave a little feedback during the treatment. They don't speak english very well. It was only $30 for 30 minutes. The local fancy therapy deep massage place that you have to schedule with near my apartment is over $100 per visit. Also she was the one who told me to put ice on it and also didn't really do much deep stuff. She claims to know about trigger points.

As a side note I noticed that the woman at the massage place who runs the front counter was getting her temples massaged by another woman there. She said her temples hurt. I told her that the temples pain is not caused by the temples and that she can massage the temples forever and it won't go away. I told her the pain is actually originating from places in the neck and mid/upper back.

She asked me how I knew and I told her I had been studying the pain patterns.
 
@applewine

Great information you have there! As ususal! :)

I think the massage therapist you are talking about (the masseuse) could be a great approach to treat muscles indeed, as I have the impression they will do pretty much everything you ask them to do and they are willing to touch the deep tissue as well.

Ive had those masseuses in the back of my head as well, and I realized that theres a thai massage centre pretty close to where I live and they are cheap as well, about the same price as you paid for the massage. I did visit the centre a few years back and I got a really great deep tissue massage. It was a bit hard when it came to communication indeed, but very much possible.

I think Im going to schedule up for a few massages as well, and make sure they include a list of muscles :) We might want to draw a drawing of the muscles that we would like to have treated and hand it over to them though :)
 
Today is a good day. I don't know why but I'm sick like a dog. Flu or something I think. The T is now down to 1/10.
And also again 3 week interval of progression. And for the last 5 months my T went down every 3 weeks. I can almost set the clock on it.

It's like my body has other things to do with this flu now. Really happy with it, and that is not sarcastic. Because I know this flu like symptoms can be fixed, where T is much harder. I have a lot of pain today, facial, neck, headache and every 5 minutes loud sneezing. But I'm smiling as it is almost T gone day. I'm in a dead quiet room now and I hear it only faint. Too bad my neck is so stiff now otherwise I would sleep like a baby.

Tomorrow is the CT Sinus scan. With this yellowish discharge from my nose (normally with T it was just like water coming out) I hope they will find something.

I'm also going to try TRT. There is one guy certified by Jastreboff & Hazell in the Netherlands. And yes he has a waiting list, but I hope he can help with sound tolerance (especially keys are sharpbut not painful in that ear).
 
Hi guys,

I got the mri results from the neck and surprisingly everything was fine. Dunno if i should be happy with that because now I still don't really have an explanation for the pain I feel.

However according to my neurologist I got increased muscle tension in my neck and this can't be seen on a mri. Maybe this also explains why The sound drastically decreases when i rest and especially sleep, but increases when i play games or when I'm sitting in the classroom.

He adviced me doing physiotherapy or perhaps accupuncture to decrease the muscle tension.

I think he said that what I hear may be my own blood circulation.

Anyways, that's about it. I think I can deal with the sound, however last nite was painfull as fk, for some reason I always get this weird pressure and burning feeling below both my jaws/ears.

I still think I got this injury after doing the bench presses, because i think that I overstretched my neck back then. But ye it has been 7.5 months now, you would think that things should be improving, but apparently that's not really the case, but maybe because I play too many games, which doesn't give it a chance to properly heal.

I decided to go do some workout again, but i'm still anxious that this might increase the pain / sound.

Anyways I'll keep u updated


Cheers
 
Hi guys,

I got the mri results from the neck and surprisingly everything was fine. Dunno if i should be happy with that because now I still don't really have an explanation for the pain I feel.

However according to my neurologist I got increased muscle tension in my neck and this can't be seen on a mri. Maybe this also explains why The sound drastically decreases when i rest and especially sleep, but increases when i play games or when I'm sitting in the classroom.

He adviced me doing physiotherapy or perhaps accupuncture to decrease the muscle tension.

I think he said that what I hear may be my own blood circulation.

Anyways, that's about it. I think I can deal with the sound, however last nite was painfull as fk, for some reason I always get this weird pressure and burning feeling below both my jaws/ears.

I still think I got this injury after doing the bench presses, because i think that I overstretched my neck back then. But ye it has been 7.5 months now, you would think that things should be improving, but apparently that's not really the case, but maybe because I play too many games, which doesn't give it a chance to properly heal.

I decided to go do some workout again, but i'm still anxious that this might increase the pain / sound.

Anyways I'll keep u updated


Cheers

Hey mate! :) Im kinda happy to hear from you again! And thanks for the update!

I hope you are doing alright..!

Im pretty sure I got this thing after overstretching my neck as well.. At least thats when it all started..
And I have increased muscle tension in my neck for sure..

Lately Ive been doing some construction work and it really helps out.. :)

But yeah, weird pressure, burning sensations, itchy feelings.. I think I know what you are talking about :p
 
I got water sensation on my ears sometimes when I move my neck a certain way. I've heard some people complain of itching in the ears. I also get water sensations all over my body. I think sometimes it is when I move my neck I feel it in my legs, but it is also from leg pressure. It may be a combination of the two. It is hard to reproduce though. I don't get itching anywhere except in the past it has been this one spot on the front edge of my right lower rib cage. It is also my right lower back that is the side that always hurts and never the left.

I'm going to the muscle function guy soon and he will talk to me and tell me to make some adjustments. Then a week after that he will do two treatment sessions a few days apart.

One thing I've been trying to test recently is how much the temporalis muscle is supposed to move based on your bite. If I press my finger just above my ears up against the edge of the muscle and bite down the muscle will contract and slide backwards under my finger. I think if I bite slightly more forward perhaps where my bite may have been when my teeth were crooked (though not sure) then it won't do this. That may be because I can bite down hard enough though because I can't make full contact, so it may be nothing. Also, the problem is supposed to be the bite and you guys also didn't have orthodontics around when it started like I did.

I'm still getting this weird tinling, numbness, droopy feeling sensation below my eyes that comes and goes. That may be caused by the SCM, but the sternal division feels fine. The clavicular feels like it may have trigger points in it though.

My pectoralis minor seems to always have trigger points in it on both sides. I press in there and my whole arm feels relaxed. I'm still feeling the pain between the shoulder blades and also the deep masseter pain comes and goes.

There are still many tinnitus sounds on both sides and vision shakes when looking at this up close and moving my eyes.
 
@applewine

I got trapezius injected today and my ears feels so funny that words cant describe it..

At the moment I have no facial pain whatsoever.. I cant say for sure if the facial pain went away because of the injection as it has been intermittent in the past.. But this funny feeling in my ears are definitely from the injections.. Also my tinnitus changed from an ever-changing noise to a more stable solid tone and is now very high pitched.. I can bearly hear it.. And sometimes it goes away for a second now and then..

Wow, my ears are feeling funny.. :woot:

It seems like trapezius or something close to it might play a very important role in this for me..

Injections into levator scapulae also had some effect, but nothing like this..

I suspect that pterygoideus lateralis and medialis also needs an injection.. Im slightly skeptical of having this muscle injected though because of its close proximity to V2 of the trigeminal nerve, but I think I will have to try it out at some point.

The sternal head of the SCM seems fine for me as well, but theres something that doesnt feel right in the clavicular head of it..

Any idea when you will see this muscle function guy? Im kinda curious about what he has to say.. :)

The pain between my shoulder blades has decreased about 80%.. Its no longer pain.. Just a soreness upon palpation and it has moved down a bit.. From Th1 to Th2..

Im going to pay some attention to my deep neck flexors as well..


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Source: http://www.physio-pedia.com/Deep_Neck_Flexor_Stabilisation_Protocol
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"Evidence has shown impaired cervical flexor muscle motor control and strength in individuals with neck pain disorders. Recent research, investigating deep and superficial cervical muscle coordination, has shown that in a low load craniocervical flexion (CCF) task the deep neck flexors longus capitis and longus colli are specifically targeted[1] This research has revealed that patients with neck pain exhibit increased EMG amplitude of the superficial sternocleidomastoid and anterior scalene muscles, reduced activation of the deep cervical flexors and reduced range of CCF range of motion compared to individuals without neck pain. A low-load program of craniocervical flexion exercise focusing especially on motor control of the deep neck flexors has been shown through clinical trials to reduce neck pain and headache. This type of training has been shown to enhance the pattern of deep and superficial flexor activity in the CCF test when compared to strength training. Furthermore, a higher proportion of patients have shown improved temporal characteristics of deep neck flexor muscle activation following CCF training. In the following review, deep neck flexor assessment and exercise protocols from the peer reviewed literature are described in detail."
 
@Mr. Cartman Very interesting. I'll want to know more as things change.

I went to the muscle function therapist guy. The first visit he just gives me a lift for one shoe to balance out my body and one to sit on to balance the muscles the other way. He talked about where I feel the pain and stuff like that.

I need to use these things for a week and then he will do two treatments two days apart and see if he can break the cycle. He is going to press on muscles to release them. He also needs to see my sleeping posture and sitting pasture and stuff like that in photos. He has fixed a lot of people's problems by fixing that. For me it is likely not the problem by itself I think, but may need to be improved to help so his treatment might work.

On another note my grandmother has had sciatica every day for 5 years and just got an electric bed and she said it went away within five days of elevating her legs in the sleeping position in that bed. Perhaps the elevated legs took the tension off the muscles which were activating during sleep and couldn't rest.

On anther note, does anyone get weird red skin blotches on their chest/back/arms and neck? When I wake up in the morning my skin has this flushed like red dots all over my body. I think it also does it with heat or the shower too. It goes away within an hour or two of waking up I think, I hope.

I don't remember when it started or if I've always had it or if it just wasn't as bad. I did some searching and I think a dermatologist said that it is either rosacea and antibiotics would be given or otherwise if not then anti-histamines would be given. This suggests that it must be histamine because I do not think it is rosacea.

That is interesting because the physical therapist who was working my neck said look you have all this red stuff coming out on your skin and she said it was histamine.

I also started to get the stiff neck years ago when I decided to try allergy shots for spring allergies where they inject you with a serum mixed with everything you are allergic to. I did the express treatment of twice a week to go faster. I quit after a month because I had the worst upper respiratory infection of my life that wiped me out in bed for a few days and lasted for over a month and you can't continue shots. I decided not to pick it up again.

I just hope the 4 antibiotics I took for 6 months from the crazy doctor who said I had lyme disease didn't cause this skin condition thing. Other people of all types appear to have it too if you do a google search. I thought maybe it was just a change in blood pressure from sleeping or body position or allergic reaction to the sheets or washing formula, but I changed the formula to my old brand which is Shaklee from Tide and still get it. Some people have abnormalities and I can live with that, but I just don't like not knowing if it is an indicator of a health problem or related to anything else I was given or have.

People say Tide can cause eczema in susceptible people and I've had eczema on my elbow like 3 times in recent years and never had it before and switched to Tide about two years before I got eczema. I think I got the eczema the first time when I was taking the antibiotics from the crazy doctor though. They say eczema is caused by damage to the micro biome bacteria changing the immune system and a week spot in the skin. I've since switched back to Shaklee and haven't had eczema again and hopefully won't, but who knows. I've also noticed I get geographic tongue, but it goes away in a few weeks as the tongue heals. It happens suddenly and I don't know what causes it, but now I suspect it could be eggs, especially eggs cooked soft boiled. I didn't have it for a while and then noticed what I ate different that I hadn't had in a long time.
 
@Mr. Cartman I'd be curious to know where on the trapezius you were injected and how the doctor knew where to inject you. I suspect the lavatory scapula in myself. I also have pain around the shoulder blades. It was really bad for some reason a few days ago and felt like I had been kicked in the back.
 
@Mr. Cartman Very interesting. I'll want to know more as things change.

I went to the muscle function therapist guy. The first visit he just gives me a lift for one shoe to balance out my body and one to sit on to balance the muscles the other way. He talked about where I feel the pain and stuff like that.

I need to use these things for a week and then he will do two treatments two days apart and see if he can break the cycle. He is going to press on muscles to release them. He also needs to see my sleeping posture and sitting pasture and stuff like that in photos. He has fixed a lot of people's problems by fixing that. For me it is likely not the problem by itself I think, but may need to be improved to help so his treatment might work.

On another note my grandmother has had sciatica every day for 5 years and just got an electric bed and she said it went away within five days of elevating her legs in the sleeping position in that bed. Perhaps the elevated legs took the tension off the muscles which were activating during sleep and couldn't rest.

On anther note, does anyone get weird red skin blotches on their chest/back/arms and neck? When I wake up in the morning my skin has this flushed like red dots all over my body. I think it also does it with heat or the shower too. It goes away within an hour or two of waking up I think, I hope.

I don't remember when it started or if I've always had it or if it just wasn't as bad. I did some searching and I think a dermatologist said that it is either rosacea and antibiotics would be given or otherwise if not then anti-histamines would be given. This suggests that it must be histamine because I do not think it is rosacea.

That is interesting because the physical therapist who was working my neck said look you have all this red stuff coming out on your skin and she said it was histamine.

I also started to get the stiff neck years ago when I decided to try allergy shots for spring allergies where they inject you with a serum mixed with everything you are allergic to. I did the express treatment of twice a week to go faster. I quit after a month because I had the worst upper respiratory infection of my life that wiped me out in bed for a few days and lasted for over a month and you can't continue shots. I decided not to pick it up again.

I just hope the 4 antibiotics I took for 6 months from the crazy doctor who said I had lyme disease didn't cause this skin condition thing. Other people of all types appear to have it too if you do a google search. I thought maybe it was just a change in blood pressure from sleeping or body position or allergic reaction to the sheets or washing formula, but I changed the formula to my old brand which is Shaklee from Tide and still get it. Some people have abnormalities and I can live with that, but I just don't like not knowing if it is an indicator of a health problem or related to anything else I was given or have.

People say Tide can cause eczema in susceptible people and I've had eczema on my elbow like 3 times in recent years and never had it before and switched to Tide about two years before I got eczema. I think I got the eczema the first time when I was taking the antibiotics from the crazy doctor though. They say eczema is caused by damage to the micro biome bacteria changing the immune system and a week spot in the skin. I've since switched back to Shaklee and haven't had eczema again and hopefully won't, but who knows. I've also noticed I get geographic tongue, but it goes away in a few weeks as the tongue heals. It happens suddenly and I don't know what causes it, but now I suspect it could be eggs, especially eggs cooked soft boiled. I didn't have it for a while and then noticed what I ate different that I hadn't had in a long time.

The muscle function guy could be onto something though.. At least it seems like he is trying some stuff out and hopefully he could provide some answers.. :)

Do you have any idea if he has encountered patients with the same issues we experience in the past?

I think the red spots you are talking about is very common though, but I have heard of people that got an allergic reaction to sodium lauryl sulfate which is found in a lot of detergents..

I attached an image of where my trapezius got injected last time:

trap.png
 
I talked about the injections / needle stuff things with my TMJ specialist. He said all is N=1 so no indication it could work. @Mr. Cartman do you know a specialist that is aware of this?

My neck physiotherapist worked on the connective tissue just above the green arrows you posted. A lot of pain for sure. But since I now only do TMJ treatment I did put his treatment on hold for a while.

Strange thing now is (6,5 months into T) my T volume is 1/10 but very intermittant facial pain.
When facial pain: T is 2 to 4/10. No facial pain: T is 1/10.

So my body is still working, as I look into my diary. A month ago it was way way louder. So much improvement over the last month.
 
@Codaz Yeah, my orofacial pain specialist and neurologist have said similar strange things. They have said that things like there is no evidence it works, but it can work at an individual level. Well guess what, I'm an individual. It only has to work for me. Basically these guys are saying that there are no large studies showing it works for lots of people and if they don't have that they don't know if something works. They are ignoring the fact that there are rational ways to figure out cause and effect other than large scale percentage statistics. They lack the ability to think about establishing causality through any other means.
 
@Codaz Yeah, my orofacial pain specialist and neurologist have said similar strange things. They have said that things like there is no evidence it works, but it can work at an individual level. Well guess what, I'm an individual. It only has to work for me. Basically these guys are saying that there are no large studies showing it works for lots of people and if they don't have that they don't know if something works. They are ignoring the fact that there are rational ways to figure out cause and effect other than large scale percentage statistics. They lack the ability to think about establishing causality through any other means.

Indeed :)
 
I just got back from the muscle therapist guy. He said he was doing the superficial muscles today and going very gentle. I would agree with that and it didn't seem to do much. He knows to put heat on it though and did so. He also told me stretches to do. I'm supposed to go back in a couple days and follow up with the deeper muscles. This guys is big on postures for sleeping and sitting and also using a pad to sit on for one side to balance the muscles. Also a pad in one of the shoes.
 
I'm still thinking to do some muscular relaxation drugs. But I hate it that some of them are referred to as ototoxic / tinnitus intensifying. I've read reports that some people took amytriptiline while having non T, and got it.

Thing is, a doctor with no T experience can give it to me. If it goes wrong, I'm the one who is paying the price.

I've continued the acupuncture, this time for facial pain. The acupuncturist put some electrical wires onto the acupuncture needles and yes it was irritating. It did not really hurt but was close to it. 0,8 mAH for 30 minutes.
I felt the electrical pulses. Very close to the electrodes of the TENS electrodes my TMJ specialist uses on the temporalis and masseter muscles.

And no, acupuncture has absolutely no scientifical proof of being able to work. But it did initially do something for me. The acupuncturist is an ex neurologist too.

Why is it so damn hard to find T experienced doctors / neurologists / TMJ specialists. It's all trial and error after decades of existence. Even the professional hearing protection stores are looking weird when you tell them you have tinnitus but not from noise trauma.
 
@Codaz. I highly doubt any drug is going to fix your muscle problems. Oral drugs do not fix trigger points. Only physical medicine can do that. Don't mess with any more drugs. I suggest acupressure, not acupuncture. I've heard you need to press long and slow with incremental pressure on the trigger points over a a minute and maybe up to 3 minutes. Some say long is bad, but I'm not so sure about that now.

Physical medicine is extremely hard to find and medical services will not pay for acupressure or if they do they will only pay somebody to do it who would never do it like an M.D. or physical therapist. Some physical therapists may do it. Otherwise you need to find a massage therapist who does acupressure and may do thai massage and be interested in those things. Any type of massage will do nothing though.

It is hard to find T muscle experiences medical professionals because any muscle related professionals are not trained in physical medicine. PT's are somewhat and physiatrists are somewhat (but won't use their hands) and PT's don't like to do acupressure either. The medical schools don't include physical medicine like heat and acupressure as part of the mainstream medicine approach to muscle problems. They offer psychotherepy or drugs to avoid thinking about the problems only, or surgery. All of which won't fix the problem in these types of cases.

Physical medicine is expensive and time intensive. Could you imagine an M.D. doing acupressure on you two hours a day for a month? First of all they aren't trained to do it and second the insurance company doesn't pay them more based on patient outcomes or if they need to spend more time with a patient, which physical medicine requires. Same thing goes with PT's. You would need an entirely new medical system including schools, practitioners and insurance companies built into one company which streamlined the entire physical medicine approach. Otherwise you are going to be searching and paying a lot.
 
I just got back from the muscle specialist guy from Saturday. I felt good afterward. My right arm felt like it was much lower when I walked and not so high and tight. However, the next day my neck started to go crazy. I think my levator scapulea is not happy now. When I look down I feel a restriction and it hurts on the left side above the shoulder blades. This is not where it hurts normally which is lower around the shoulder blades.

This guy didn't press very long or anything, but I guess I'm having a reaction to it. Some of his movements were hard in the upper back with the elbow I think. He is the type that thinks pressing long is bad because it cuts off the oxygen. He presses may 10-15 seconds. There are various techniques. One is you press until the pain is gone and slowly increase as the pain alleviates at each pressure level. This can last for over a minute. I think the John F. Barnes people say 3-5 minutes. I'm not totally sure what they are doing though if it is acupressure or not as their definition of myofascial release is somewhat vague.

See "What is Myofascial Release":
https://www.myofascialrelease.com/about/definition.aspx

"Myofascial Release is a safe and very effective hands-on technique that involves applying gentle sustained pressure into the Myofascial connective tissue restrictions to eliminate pain and restore motion. This essential "time element" has to do with the viscous flow and the piezoelectric phenomenon: a low load (gentle pressure) applied slowly will allow a viscoelastic medium (fascia) to elongate."

I'm worried however that these guys are "fascia whispperers" and think its all about the fascia and not the trigger points and acupressure. I'm highly doubtful of the fascia focused people.

I may seek out some massage therapists who specialist in "acupressure" and avoid the ones that list "trigger point therapy", "neuromuscular therapy" and "myofascial release".

I'm still scheduled to see a John F. Barnes expert level PT in November.
 
@applewine

Thanks for the update! :)

I have to admit that Im kind of excited to hear about your experience regarding this new guy you are seeing (thanks for sharing)! Its also interesting that you had a reaction to what he did! Id take that as a good sign though!

Maybe your appointment with John could provide some more answers as well..
 
@Codaz. I highly doubt any drug is going to fix your muscle problems. Oral drugs do not fix trigger points. .

I have discussed the facial pain problems with my dental surgeon. He suggested 2 routes. Route 1 was botox, Route 2 was try an anti epilepticum which is for muscle relaxation. Suggested there are carbamazepine or amytriptiline. Low dosage start, higher when needed. And you need to taper off again slowly off course.

I even asked Dr. Nagler on this forum, but he does not know anyone that has tried Carbamazepine.
I still get stuck in the endless ENT discussions who think that Tinnitus is only possible because of noise trauma / hearing loss or the ones that review my audiogram and say: it's just stress go home and bye.

None of them, really none suggested to go for TMJ review, non suggested to try magnesium, non suggested Vitamin B12, all of those things I had to find out myself.

It might be not their field of expertise, but every doctor had anatomy and Tinnitus is not something which started yesterday.
 
@Mr. Cartman I didn't tell you but the day after I had a reaction that was very unusual. My neck hurt unlike what I can remember and it actually hurt more in the upper back shoulders. I think it was the levater scapula. Even opening my jaw a felt a pain in that spot. This was mostly all on the left side. I also had a hard time turning my neck to the left. It is all gone by now from what I can tell. I think I'm getting a flare up of a lot more water sensations may be experiencing more water sensations all over.

After the appointment he said to call back and wait for follow up appointment. Maybe I'll wait a while and see if the water sensations increase or I get burning. Neurologists can't explain why I would be getting the sensations everywhere though. I've heard people with TMJ say they get the sensations in their ears like water and I get that too, but not the most.

I just realized that after I have been trying to get the neurologist to review my MRI of my neck for almost 6 months (I think) he finally got the radiology lab to send the report after they lost it. I went to the appointment with the neurologist last month to review and we talked about stuff and he said I had something not discovered yet. However, I just realized we never discussed the MRI of my neck and I think he forgot about it. He ordered the MRI I think like 6 months ago now. I know the report because they shared the results with me mentioned c5 and c6 ( I think, I mentioned it here before somewhere), but he never told me what he thought. I kinda doubt it is anything though.That is pretty rediculous. I sent him a message to follow-up on that MRI test and want to know what he thinks.

The other PT's name isn't John though. He just practice the John F. Barnes technique of myofascial release. Apparently that Barnes guy started it years ago and teaches people and owns the company now and doesn't practice hands on anymore. He owns a practice and so does his son, but teaches people who work outside of that.
 
@applewine

Just something I thought was worth sharing (history of chiropractic) :)


William Harvey Lillard (1856 - September 7, 1925) was the first chiropractic patient.[1]

Biography

Harvey Lillard was an African-American[2] janitor[3] who worked in the Ryan Building in Brady Street, Davenport, Iowa, USA.[4] He was the first person to be treated with chiropractic by D.D. Palmer.[5][6][7]

Lillard maintained the building where Palmer had his office. In September 1895 he told Palmer that he had lost most of his hearing and was almost completely deaf. Lillard added that he "could not hear the racket of a wagon on the street or the ticking of a watch."[8] When asked how he had become deaf he replied that, 17 years before, while bent over in a cramped, stooping position[9] he "heard something "pop" in his spine"[10] and immediately lost most of his hearing.[11]

Palmer later told that he then offered to take a look at Lillard's spine and found a lump just between his shoulders;[12] he persuaded Lillard to allow him to "rack his bone back into position."[13] Palmer, in fact, thought Lillard's hearing loss was due to a misalignment that blocked the spinal nerves which control the inner ear, the so-called vertebral subluxation;[citation needed] he decided to push the vertebrae back into place[14] and, after a few days, Lillard said that his hearing was better and almost completely restored.[15][16] Lillard described:

" I was deaf 17 years and I expected to always remain so, for I had doctored a great deal without any benefit. I had long ago made up my mind to not take any more ear treatments, for it did me no good. Last January Dr. Palmer told me that my deafness came from an injury in my spine. This was new to me; but it is a fact that my back was injured at the time I went deaf. Dr. Palmer treated me on the spine; in two treatments I could hear quite well. That was eight months ago. My hearing remains good. HARVEY LILLARD, 320 W. Eleventh St., Davenport, Iowa.[17][18]"

The date of Lillard's treatment is not confirmed. Some sources indicate September 6,[19] while others indicate September 15[20] and 18[21] of September. Some sources also indicate that the month and year were changed by B. J. Palmer, the son of Daniel David Palmer.[22] Others indicate different years, 1894–1896, and month, January — April, as well.[23]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Harvey_Lillard
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@Mr. Cartman I didn't tell you but the day after I had a reaction that was very unusual. My neck hurt unlike what I can remember and it actually hurt more in the upper back shoulders. I think it was the levater scapula. Even opening my jaw a felt a pain in that spot. This was mostly all on the left side. I also had a hard time turning my neck to the left. It is all gone by now from what I can tell. I think I'm getting a flare up of a lot more water sensations may be experiencing more water sensations all over.

After the appointment he said to call back and wait for follow up appointment. Maybe I'll wait a while and see if the water sensations increase or I get burning. Neurologists can't explain why I would be getting the sensations everywhere though. I've heard people with TMJ say they get the sensations in their ears like water and I get that too, but not the most.

I just realized that after I have been trying to get the neurologist to review my MRI of my neck for almost 6 months (I think) he finally got the radiology lab to send the report after they lost it. I went to the appointment with the neurologist last month to review and we talked about stuff and he said I had something not discovered yet. However, I just realized we never discussed the MRI of my neck and I think he forgot about it. He ordered the MRI I think like 6 months ago now. I know the report because they shared the results with me mentioned c5 and c6 ( I think, I mentioned it here before somewhere), but he never told me what he thought. I kinda doubt it is anything though.That is pretty rediculous. I sent him a message to follow-up on that MRI test and want to know what he thinks.

The other PT's name isn't John though. He just practice the John F. Barnes technique of myofascial release. Apparently that Barnes guy started it years ago and teaches people and owns the company now and doesn't practice hands on anymore. He owns a practice and so does his son, but teaches people who work outside of that.

Thats very interesting! Do you have any idea what exactly caused it? Like did the guy work on your neck? Or was it the pads? I think the neck, jaw and ears are very closely related when it comes to muscles.

It could be a good idea to keep seeing this guy.. :)
 
@Mr. Cartman I remember that story about the first chiropractic patient. The thing I don't get is that I think that the cranial nerve that goes to the ear doesn't go anywhere near far down into the spine. Maybe the story is correct and we don't understand something.

As far as the treatment I got he was pressing all over on my back, shoulders and neck, legs. I think I'm feeling more water sensations. I'm also feeling stinging more in my ankles and feet. I think I'll wait a week or two and see what happens.

The last time my paresthesias acted up I don't know what caused it. I thought it was during an upper respiratory infection, but it was also a few weeks after doing some exercises like pull ups or cable pull which made my neck hurt really bad while doing it.

Unlike some of you I haven't gotten any MRI further down in the spine. I've had brain, neck (this year) and lumbar (years ago), but nothing in-between.

If the sensations come back strong again like burning all over and I don't have an upper respiratory infection I'm going to conclude it is probably because of the neck strain. I'll go back to my general doctor and tell him what the neurologist said and what happened.

I just got a reply back from the neurologist and he said the MRI of the neck was no major change and nothing significant. This was my first MRI, so there would be no change, but I guess he means he doesn't think the disc bulldogs are anything significant, but he didn't mention the results and I can't remember what was bulging or what the report said.

I know the levator connections to the top cervical vertebrae and the shoulder blade. That top vertibrae also connects to some muscles which attach to the dura matter of the brain. I think those are some of the sub occipital muscles. No idea if any of that would do anything. I also remember one youtube video of some doctor selling a sub-occipital instability injection for those ligaments. I'm hesitant to do any injection around there.

Maybe I should go back to my primary care soon and see if there is another type of specialist I may see if somehow neck strain is causing this. However, people say I would not feel it all over. If I scratch my skin behind my ear I even felt a weird burning or water. I'm getting it more in my legs too. I'll know soon if things start ramping up.
 
Sup homies,

Thought I would give a quick update about how I'm doing.

So the mri of my neck didn't show anything wrong. The neurologist suggested I should do physical therapy because i might have built up muscle tension.

So i saw my physical therapist this week. He is a manual therapist as well I guess and he's involved with treating the football club of my city. So assume he knows what he's talking about.

He just had a quick look at my neck and i told him my story. He pointed out that my c0.c1.c2 where stuck and that they r somewhat out of position, on the left side it's pointing upwards and and right side downwards, if u get what I mean. Then again there was also something wrong with the vertebras between my shoulders and there was extraordinary muscle tension in my jaws so I have to wear the mouth guard again. Oh ye and those vertebras between the shoulder are related to the c0/1/2...besides that the muscles in my neck r weak. I lost a lot of muscle strength as I haven't worked out for ages. So i did some push ups and i thought actually that it decreased the sound or at least the loudness. But he told me not to do it atm.

Im seeing him again next Monday. After hearing his story I was like wtf did my chiropractor do then ffs. That guy never told me anything, he just did the regular routine and that was it. Then again my osteopat pointed out a similar thing with my jaw and she wasn't able to reposition my vertebras as it wasn't her expertise. Although she never had a clear look at my neck. This guy immediately told me that there was a lot of things wrong with my neck, so ye hopefully he's able to restore it.. Let's pray :D

My T is still fluctuating like shit. At times I think like Ok if it stays like this I'll b fine with it, but then a few moments later it may b extremely loud again. Getting into sleep is a pain in the ass sometimes as I cannot find a proper position for my neck. I barely freak out about it but sometimes it makes me feel miserable, but then I ll say to myself that it won't help if I feel bad about it. I got it and I'll have to deal with it and try to see what works or not. I also experienced weird shit. I had extreme cramps in my neck twice which I could feel going up all the way in my ear and when the pain is pretty bad I've experienced numbness in my left arm/hand and shooting crampy pain in my left leg.

After seeing my physical therapist it finally made sense, because when I lay down on my side it feels that something is sticking out in my neck and maybe the abnormal position of those vertebras is also the explanation of the hard bulge I got below my right ear especially.

Every now and then if I can't stand the pain, I just take half of a muscle relaxer, lorazepam or diazepam. But I'm trying to do that as less as possible.

Anyways I'll keep u updated.
 
@Sjtof

Do these muscle relaxers not intensify the T?

I did manual therapy yesterday. Lot of temporalis muslce pain, he put the TENS electrodes on the two sides.
I felt nauseous afterwards. And a lot of pain on my left shoulder as the neck was loosened by him. Still, the right side does not loosen after all these months.

Today is great, T is down to 1/10.
 
@Codaz

As of now I didnt really experience that those pills increased my T. They help my muscles to relax, which in term makes my T go down a bit. But I barely take them and if I do I only take a half, because although they help a little I am still a bit anxious about the aide effects sometimes.

Great to hear that ur T is low, maybe the result of the therapy:)mine is very loud atm. I woke up today with a very low T, but i'm going to bed again with a very loud one . when playing games today with my mate I head shocks going through my head and I couldn't take the pain in my neck anymore after a while so we had to call it quits. It's just weird and frustrating. Lucky my T is the sound of a rustle,/hiss and not a beep or whistle, which although it's loud make it a bit more bearable.

However my dog died yesterday which makes me feel even more miserable about the T...
 

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