|
I first saw Dr Amir some years ago, when I went to him at the end of my tether, suffering with severe headaches every other day which were very hard to live with. Within a year of starting his treatment the headaches had completely gone, and I then did not see Dr Amir for quite a long time.
I went back to him , to have a broken filling replaced, in autumn 2012, and he noticed me shaking out my hand and asked why I was doing that. I told him that the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which has affected me in a minor way for years, had got so dramatically worse over the summer of 2012 that I had reluctantly decided to go ahead with what the doctors advised, and have the operation to cut the ligament, in the hope that the newly re-grown ligament would be more flexible and thus cause less pain in my hand and fingers. I had been very resistant to having this operation as I know someone for whom it did not work - and indeed her symptoms got worse. But the doctors told me that since my condition was now beginning to cause loss of muscle at the base of the thumb, if I did not have the operation I would eventually lose the use of my thumb.
Dr Amir told me that I was silly to go ahead with the operation and that I should let him try to adjust my jaw so that the swelling in the tendons running through the carpal tunnel would subside, and the pain in my hands and fingers would ease. Since he had produced such dramatic results with my appalling headaches, I was very happy to let him treat me again for this entirely unconnected syndrome. I started wearing a new brace in October 2012 and within about 6 months, the pain had more or less completely gone from my hand and I just occasionally got pins and needles. I was able to write letters again, and sew, and hold a paintbrush, without having to constantly shake my hand to get the feeling back into it.
At first, I just postponed my appointment for hand surgery with the plastic surgeons because I wanted to be sure that Dr Amir could really help my condition. But I was deeply shocked when I went to an appointment with these doctors and told them that my hand seemed to be getting better with the adjustment of my jaw. They laughed in my face - in front of medical students - and said that there was no connection between the jaw and the wrist.
I wanted to say, " But what about the Head connected to the neck and the arm connected to the neck and all the neurology running through those structures. The nerve could be pinched higher up " etc, but they seemed without humour. I wanted to explain that Dr Amir had told me that if the jaw is not in exactly the right place, the top vertebrae in the neck could be positioned just infinitesimally out of place, so that the nerves running through the foramina in the sides of these vertebrae, and down the arms and into the wrists, would be fractionally affected resulting in what is called carpal tunnel syndrome disturbing their normal functionand causing pain and tenderness.
They were so disinterested and so disbelieving that I lost all respect for them, and I took myself off the lists for surgery.
I am still wearing the brace, as Dr Amir says I need some more correction and I do get occasional pins and needles in my hand still, after I have been doing something involving a lot of gripping with my right hand, but it is very minor and I no longer get any of the pain which was waking me at night and preventing me from doing so many important things.
I am confident that once my jaw has stabilised, the pins and needles will go away completely and leave me able to use my right hand as much as I need to.
I really do think that Dr Amir is a genius, and it's just dreadful that he isn't training ten thousand young dentists to carry on his ground-breaking work elsewhere in the world.
Henrietta Parsons
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
