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Chronic Pain
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I have done it. My experience was so-so. Basically it is one of those things I think you need to do regularly to see the full effect and benefits of. I only went a few times, mostly because the doctor doing it was so convinced that I should be off all my meds and that would cure me. Go figure. And he was pretty pushy and made me uncomfortable. I know people do get relief from it, but again those that do find relief do it regularly from what I see. May be worth a try. I have some golf balls of my own so I know what you mean... and it is supposed to be a great way to get the body back in balance. Let us know if you give it a try!
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Tami, can you give us an update on your acupuncture experience? Has anyone else tried it?
Nicole
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Acupuncture = YAHOO !!!! I've gone two times and am in LOVE ! It's been so helpful for me. My muscles are looser, my ringing in my ears subside for about an hour (hey, i'll take it !!)... We are also working on my sciatica (sp)... It's working very well for me and I'm going to keep it up atleast for the forseable future... My doctor is gentle and very smart. He has an MBA in Chinese Med's and has a 'teacher' of whom he still talks to and has as a mentor. As we all know, acupuncture is by no means a cure for my tmj, but it provides me w/ a bit of relief that I haven't been getting, or have been getting by taking medicines.. This mitigates that and really gives me peace.... Net - I'm diggin it ! Tam
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| Posts: 60 | Location: San Jose, CA | Registered: 02-25-2007 | |
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has anyone else tried acupuncture? I am looking for a pain management technique to postpone or even stop a third surgery that would happen in a year and a half. Acupuncture has been mentioned, but I am a little nervous.
thanks!
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Erin_ Welcome!!!! I am confused... they are telling you that in 1 1/2 years you will need surgery? What are you currently doing to manage the pain? What type of surgery have you had in the past? Why don't you create a thread on the surgery section where we can all reply to you. We try not to distract the focus from the original post. I have not tried accupuncture personally, but everyone I know that has gone this route has had great success with it. Look forward to speaking further with you........
Lisa
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Tam....Yipee!!!!!!!! I am so happy that the acupuncture is helping with your pain. It sound like you have found yourself a wonderful Dr. who cares and understands what you are feeling and going through. Again, I am so happy and I look forward to hearing more great news about your treatment. Take care and be well!!!!! Sue  |
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Thanks Sue ! I am really enjoying the acupuncture... Last night I went to my 4th session (i had to skip a week cos I was in Shanghai) and my doctor was very pleased w/ my progress... I had a few tender spots, but that was because I was on a plane for 12 hours each way... So we worked those kinks out and I'm back in a good spot. I leave for London in a week and a half.. So just when we get me back to a good spot I'm off again... sigh.. Oh well, I'm so thrilled I've found this therapy to work for me.. I'm a firm believer in Chinese Medicine and their theories and method's for curing ailements... So this works perfect for me. Oh Sue-I was in Shanghai last week and had the BEST foot massage. This guy spent 1 hour on my feet and worked out every knot in my feet... I walked out of there in some crazy euphoria (sp)... Was in heaven.. So if I can find some foot massage cabana boy in the US and keep my Chinese Med doc, I'd be in Heaven !!! How are you ?!? Tam
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| Posts: 60 | Location: San Jose, CA | Registered: 02-25-2007 | |
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Tami_ How are you feeling? Are you still getting treatments?
Lisa
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YES! Try accupuncture by all means! But also be aware that THERE MIGHT EVEN BE SOMETHING BETTER -- PHYSICAL THERAPY.
After six+ years of suffering with TMJ, I tried accupuncture twice. Truthfully, the first time, it really didn't any good at all. But the second time (about a year ago) was a Godsend! [Moral: Watch out! Not all accupuncturists are created (or trained) equal. The one that worked for me was a little old Chinese lady that I could barely understand. On each visit, it took me about five minutes before my ear could catch up with her accent, so that I could discern what she was saying/asking.] That's just anecdotal evidence I know, certainly not comprehensively research, but after my experience, I would only go to an accupuncturist who has been trained in China -- I wouldn't go to a westerner who has picked up their training from "Who-Knows-Where?"
Anyway, the accupuncture and electrical stimulations she did during the office visits helped a little bit, but the MOST important thing was: she taught me a pressure point on my earlobe that allowed me to literally turn off the pain like a light switch when I felt a pain-pulse coming on. So, for pain-management -- it at least gave me some occasional momentary relief. But it didn't end the bigger problem, and it's not realistic or practical to go around all day pinching your earlobe every twenty seconds when you're having one of those days that the pain-pulses are coming at you continually.
RECENTLY HOWEVER - I basically stumbled into a major breakthrough! Having tried about everything else, my (GP) doc finally tried sending me sent to an orthopedic surgeon. He wanted to do some trials to see if the source of the problem was in my spine (the cervical part where I had a ruptured disc removed about seven years ago) and if I was a candidate for some kind of injection. But the trial for that was to send me for physical therapy to work on the muscles in my neck. AND, with that physical therapy -- loosening up some extremely tight muscles across the back of my shoulders and up along the back of my head and skull behind my ear -- my jaw/tongue pain began to decrease. (Some of my neck muscles were so bound up, that there were places that I could touch back there that feel now like the soft tissue it should be -- instead of what I previously THOUGHT was part of the bone in my skull.)
I began to realize that those bound-up neck and shoulder muscles - from a combination of major and minor injuries through the years, and also from poor posture from unconsciously sticking my neck out trying to "splint" myself away from the pain, and even to the accumulation of normal daily worry tensions of pressures in work, family, or other problems. Within the first twelve weeks of physical therapy primarily working on my neck and upper shoulder muscles, I could at last begin to feel a particular point (behind my ear and just "under" the base of my skull) where I could give myself a pressure point massage whenever I wanted - and cut off the jaw pain for (at first) up to five minutes, then ten or twenty minutes, then a whole night of sleep, and then several days at a time. (By the way, it was also great for relieving those headaches that many others have mentioned.)
I am convinced that the nerve involved (I had been diagnosed with tri-geminal neuralgia) is finally calming down from being so irritated and angry for these 6-7 years. I'm down to getting a fairly mild and manageable pain pulse only a couple of times a day at most -- and some days -- not at all!
I'm early into my second twelve weeks of physical therapy (by the way, with a PT who does unbelievable deep tissue massage...the kind that's actually pretty painful and can feel almost like they're bruising you -- and you're even sore for a day or two afterwards) and he's been busy releasing trigger points in muscles ALL over my back -- and I'm steadily feeling the WHOLE system of muscles beginning to loosen up and get some blood flow -- from my lower back right up to my neck and jaw, and tongue.
In short, my 6+ year ordeal is literally melting away - and sometimes, miraculously, by "treating" some muscles that are 20-36 inches away from my jaw.
After all the drugs, after the night-guard (which also did help a little but not permanently), and the accupuncture....through an army of oral surgeons, dentists, neurosurgeons and neurologists looking at a forest of MRI's, Xrays, CT-scans -- I am AMAZED that such a relatively "simple" thing as the soft tissue of my neck muscles has gotten so easily overlooked as a source of the problem, and simple physical therapy as a potential solution.
I can't explain the science of how a knotted muscle could have irritated a nerve so badly -- for so long -- but I am even more amazed at how far out of whack your muscle groups can get. Believe me! For everyone who is reading this -- I feel your pain! I know exactly what you're going through -- and that no one who hasn't experienced the chronic pain of TMJ for themselves can possibly understand the sense of hopelessness and despair that, at times, goes along with the pain.
Obviously I have no way of knowing if what has happened to me -- will be a solution for you. In fact, right now -- I don't even know if this will turn out to be permanent or not. But I've experienced the same thing you have -- that the medical profession seems pretty inept at understanding the problems and thus any effective treatments for TMJ. And, here's what I'm encouraging you to do..... call around and find a physical therapist who specializes in TMJ -- and try getting some physical therapy to loosen up your neck and shoulder muscles -- (realizing that your muscles are all inter-connected) through deep tissue massage therapy, and perhaps ultra-sound, and possibly even muscle relaxants - if you are going to use meds at all.
Perhaps, like in my case, that fairly simple solution - that it's a bound up muscle problem - has been simply overlooked by all the docs you've seen. I guarantee it's worth a try - and a lot less expensive than MRIs or pharmaceuticals.
Good Luck! I hope this may help you find some relief!
Mike in Florida
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