TMJ 'dysfunction' - Health implications

Alan I have had 'MS' for 15/16 years and my condition is no where near as advanced as a friend of mine who was dx 6/7 years ago. We are completely different - she suffers from alot of pain where as I have (luckily)none. Over the last few months I have got loads better with Amirs treatment and she is getting worse -so much so that she wants to die. I still feel we all need to get to the same place physically (symmetry) but are starting at very different place -hence the very different symptoms. As I have said before I dont really understand what Amir is doing but it is working for us all so I dont question it too much.

Emma
Here is a graphical representation of your progress:

Thanks Dr Amir, they are a pretty good representation of where Emma is right now.

We just have this odd sinusitus problem that Emma can't seem to shift.

Have you talked your friend into seeing Dr Amir?

Alan, my friend is too ill to travel to London regularly (she lives in Manchester near me). She has no one apart from me and her carer. She is at the stage now where she has given up and resigned herself to dying. She has written her will and sorted out care for her 5 year old son. i've done everything I can to make her see there is a way out of this dark place! I now see that all I can do is be a good friend to her. The whole thing is so cruel.

That's just awful, for you too knowing that there is something that could really help.

Thanks EJC for the history of Emma's treatment. Ella (my daughter) is just about to embark on this treatment and it is encouraging to hear that Emma has made some progress.

Maybe Dr Amir knows someone who can work miracles in Manchester. That is if your friend has the energy/money even to think of this treatment.

Julia's friend will be looked after. We are just trying to arrange the logistics and to encourage her not to give up.

November update.

Emma has had some ups and downs over the last month or so, mostly nothing to do with the jaw work at all.
Depression has been a big factor along with an annoying sinus infection that's been with her for 10 months and she just can't seem to shake it.

We're approaching the one year anniversary of starting treatment with Dr. Amir. Have we seen an improvement? Damn right we have and we fully intend to see this through to it's conclusion, however long that may take. Neuralgia eradicated, fatigue eradicated.

Emma picked up a new appliance today. Note I always call these appliances, braces is too simple a word for the creations that Dr. Amir comes up with. I was chatting with Emma on the way home about the appliances and we figured out this must be the 8th different type she's had in the last 11 months.

So why so many different types? Well that's the $64,000 question.

Like MS in everyone is very different, how our bodies respond to Dr. Amir's appliances is different. Don't think of this what Dr. Amir does is like fixing a broken limb - you don't set a splint or cast, it heals and you're cured.

What he does is make wonderful intricate little devices that coax and tease and push and pull and twist and stretch in all sort of directions. Teasing the teeth and jaw to move in the direction he wants it to. Sometime though the body just does it's own thing and moves it off slightly the wrong way or not where it was hoped. So then another device is created to move it where Dr. Amir knows it's meant to be to make Emma healthy and get things back on track.

Dr. Amir doesn't even know what he's doing with the next appliance until he gets there, the treatment is all very "organic". It's also why it's incredibly difficult to explain as a simple single process.

So back to the ups and downs. Depression has been Emma's biggest enemy recently, We'd been chatting with Dr. Amir a week ago when Emma had a few fixed items and one removable brace all taken out and given a "rest" for a week until today's new appliance was ready. The rest seems to have done her good as her mood has lifted and she's in an altogether better place mentally this week. Long may it continue. Of course we have no idea if these things are related or not (appliance removal and mood lift) but the body is a bizarre machine so it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

Where do we go now?

Well were back to see Dr Amir in two weeks for a check up. Emma is now seeing a neurophysio and visiting a gym once/twice a week to rehabilitate.

She walked into Dr. Amirs surgery today without her walking frame or sticks. She needed help from me to balance, but she would not usually be without the frame, it's as much a mental comfort blanket and it is a physical support. She's not running the London Marathon next year, but it's certainly a step in the right direction (pun intended)!