TMJ 'dysfunction' - Health implications

I will never forget the train journey home from Whitechapel on the day I received my diagnosis of ''Multiple Sclerosis' for the symptoms I had been experiencing for a year since 1990. (I was only 22 years old) Both my parents had accompanied me to offer support but the news they had just heard was more devastating for them than for me. (Little did I understand the implications of what was to befall upon me with such a diagnosis)

The eminent neurologist had slapped my MRI scan pictures up on the light box and, in a very unsympathetic manner, announced that the white blobs we could see on the scan were 'probably' MS lesions and to go home, accept it and don't fight it because you can't. (He just fobbed me off.)

After that I didn't see him or any other neurologist for 10 years. (I was too scared of being given even worse news) During this time I suffered two or three relapses a year which usually involved numbness, optic neuritis and balance problems. I struggled through these; I put up with the embarrassment of having to get my food cut up for me. At one stage I went blind in one eye for six weeks. My walking became more and more difficult. I was beginning to accept what I had been told that I was suffering from an incurable illness which would cause severe handicaps as I struggled through life.

I did see a neurologist in 2002 during an acute exacerbation. He put me straight into hospital and hooked me up to a steroid drip. I left hospital three days later feeling a bit better but the effects did not last long after I had finished the weaning course of steroid tablets. The steroids perhaps caused me to suffer a yeast infection for several years afterwards which was extremely difficult to get rid of! This made me scared of ever getting anymore steroid or drugs which may cause further side effects.

I have avoided visits to the neurologist in recent years fearing that I might be put on some drug which might further incapacitate me. I took an active part in MS forums and read a lot about such adverse effects.

This year I read about a dentist and his cranio-dental and skeletal symmetry technique and how he had used it to great effect on MS patients. I had already undergone venous angioplasty to treat CCSVI with some moderate improvements and I was eager to see whether the painful, clicky jaw I had suffered since I was a child had any implication on my 'MS'. He examined me and I was found to have asymmetries in my teeth, jaw, atlas and pelvis and he said he could help me recover! I started treatment in July.

After only three months of treatment my 'MS' symptoms are disappearing. A constant symptom for 22 years, L'hermitte's sign has completely gone.
My walking which was crippling me, is getting better- not progressively worse. I have even managed to walk completely unaided for the first time in 10 years! I sleep better, and my body thermostat seems to be working properly again, normal perspiration. Could it be that my disability was actually caused by a problem with my asymmetries and had nothing to do with MS? Was I misdiagnosed? I have been paying a heavy price having lost my youth to this dreaded incapacity and utter lack of hope and dreading the future as I continued to decline prior to this intervention.

I feel better than I have done for years! I am hoping against hope. I will post regular updates as treatment progresses.

Lovely to hear of your improvements Jenny. I am taking the liberty of pasting some of your message in an email to Ella. She has been toying with the idea of going for this treatment but has been putting it off for a few months now. I hope that your example may help her see that this could be a real breakthrough for her, especially as she knows that she has TMJ problems and a misalignment of her cervical spine. L'Hermitte has been a significant symptom for her for a long time.
Thanks for the encouraging post. I do hope this forum takes off I do get exasperated with Facebook but it still has its uses.
Did you set this up? very comprehensive heading, only one fly in the ointment that I am quite prepared to put up with if it is of advantage to those who have optic neuritis, and that is the black background... I find it hard to focus on.
All the best
Michele

Thanks Michele,
I can certainly recommend TMJ treatment to Ella, especially if she is already aware of a jaw problem.
I didn't set this forum up, it is the combined effort of a number of people. I can pass on your comment about the background colour though.
Thanks for your comments
Jenny

Michele,
You are not the only one exasperated with Facebook. I myself stopped using it a while ago for a number of reasons.
Also, the forums get very disjointed when all kinds of postings get messed up and it soon goes off focus. This forum appears to be far better organised than anything I have seen.
By the way, there is a facility to change the appearance of the whole forum according to personal preferences in User Control Panel by clicking Overview -> Board Preferences and selecting a different style in My board style.
There are many different choices and once you select what suits you it will always appear like that in your Browser.

As to MS - this really seems to be the key to success. I'm not a medical person but out of all theories about MS I came across (a friend having been diagnosed with MS recently so I'm looking around for some help), this makes the most sense. From what I have read, it definitely isn't an autoimmune disease as the immune system is actually only acting to remove the already dead myelin whose decay has a different cause.

All the best

Beus, thanks for the heads up on the display of the page. I will go change that for myself in a moment. You are right regarding the auto immune theory. It has never been proved and the proof which does exist points away from it. I'm fighting for the vascular theory and there are various scenarios which fit into it, namely an infective agent called cpn and the structural TMJ/spinal one. In all probability there will be a number of associated causes to MS, people may have more than one, some people will be more genetically susceptible than others etc. Anything that affects the brain is going to manifest differently for each individual. Additionally it is entirely possible that many neurological so called diseases have much in common so that discoveries in MS or Parkinson's might have correlations with ME or Ahlzeimers for example. I'm looking forward to sensible explorations of ideas.

Dr Amir. Thank you for the very clear graphic display of symptom resolution. It's a great, easy to read format. Well done.

When you get them into a presentable state post them up on the thread I started about Emma's treatment, it will tie in nicely at this stage.

Hello,

Having read this very moving account I would like to share my own experience, as another of Dr Amir's patients.

I am 22 years old and have suffered from what I would describe as 'vague and underlying symptoms' for the past 8 years or so. These have included dizziness, fatigue, a constant sore throat, headaches, stomach cramps and terrible period pain, as well as having one leg slightly shorter than the other which created balance and gait problems. These symptoms would come and go, to a greater or lesser extent.

Over the years conventional doctors have never really been able to help. Any solutions seemed to be short-term 'plugs' to ease the discomfort rather than the root cause. Earlier this year I had a bout of a sore throat and flu-like symptoms which were more serious than usual; I felt completely drained for 9 solid weeks and felt too tired to do anything at all. I was living in France at the time and was prescribed multiple courses of antibiotics. These appeared to just make the problem worse. I also started to develop a painful, aching jaw.

Eventually I came home and on the recommendation of my wonderful mum (who had read Bella Freud's Evening Standard article a few years ago) went to see Dr Amir.

That first session with Dr Amir changed the course of my life. He found that I have a dental/jaw/atlas bone misalignment which has stopped me breathing properly and caused many of my organs to function inadequately. His consultation easily explained all my symptoms. The leg diagnosis was also completely wrong; and when my jaw is in the right position (ie when I am wearing my brace) they are the same length. Hearing that not only was there one answer to all of my seemingly disparate symptoms, but also that it was treatable felt as if I had been given a whole new lifeline.

4 months into treatment I feel physically the strongest I have ever been, but most important I have the psychological certainty that:

i) Yes, there has been a 'real' problem all these years (I often left the doctor's surgery blaming myself for being a whimp when they had concluded that perhaps I was just feeling a bit run down or that it was just a long common cold and I should 'rest up' for a bit)

ii) And that it was just ONE problem, rather than hundreds of niggling symptoms which I'd thought may all develop into separate, more serious illnesses.

These are the graphs of my progress:

I thought that I would list the symptoms that have significantly improved or disappeared altogether after 4 months of treatment. I have been wearing adjustable braces most of the time.

Neck and shoulder pain - all but gone
Patchy numbness on torso and legs - completely gone!
Abnormal excess perspiration - now normalised
L'hermitte's sign (constant for 22 yrs) - completely gone!
Walking (rollator only) - slowly improving, can go twice the distance, have taken few steps unaided
Stair climbing (very difficult, had to lift left leg with hands) - now getting easier, no leg lifting.
Energy & concentration (easily fatigued) - much more energy, head feels clear, easier to concentrate
Bladder (frequency & urgency) - much improved, results in better, longer sleep

I have lost my fear of 'MS' and dread for the future since I started treatment. I would say the only symptom that remains is spacticity in my legs. I'm working on that by exercising gently and doing regular yoga. I now look forward to the future and how it will unfold for me.