Digastric muscle-who knew

I am so sorry.I hope this calms down.For 10 years?

What do you do that helps?

Just reading that Botox really messes with face bone mass(in rats and rabbits)

One of the stretches is to look up in the opposite side of the pain and sort of push the chest muscles down on the opposite side.That seems to be the one that works best- for me.Just waiting for this added inflammation to die down.

What have you tried?And is your problem in the anterior or posterior side of the muscle?And how do you know?

just curious because no one had discovered this for me until I asked for a diagnostic pain block

I wish someone had tried that 2 years ago.

Anyways-what have you found that helps?

Thanks.

I had an MVD in 2010 which did nothing. The only thing that helped was trigger point steroid injections which helped me get movement back in my neck and spine. I still get pain everyday sometimes tolerable sometimes unbearable . When its bad I take codeine and extra Amitriptyline to take the edge off. Its definitely irritated by neck muscles and referred pain.

Hi Natalie

Thanks

I had a pain block put in the digastric muscle and all my tooth pain vanished-for 2 days.

I am getting a cortisone injection in the beginning of May and hoping that helps.

I m not sure whether a home ultrasound unit would help?I have one-just don’t want to screw up the thyroid and anything else that should not get in it’s way.

Also a TENS unit for my shoulders.

I cannot believe they did an MVD and your problem is something else.

I wish doctors would look outside their specialty.

You get streamlined and treated in the way they know how.My son almost died in hospital because they put him on a ward for a bowel obstruction.He wanted to live so bad after getting crushed in a hit and run accident while he was on his bike.He was in rehab and had bad stomach pain.He had a bowel obstruction-but not something that needed more surgery.When I had him transferred back to the hospital that had done his surgery after the accident the doctor [pulled on his suprapubic catheter and the obstruction disappeared.A stone was on the catheter blocking the bowel and also urine.And they never even measured the urine output-and fibbed that the last nurse must have-but forgot to write it in the charts.And this the best hospital in my city.

I am so wary of hospitals since then.

I take codeine too.and amitryptilie and gabapentin and marijuana oil and baclofen.too much drugs for this old lady and I wake up in pain.Tried different pillows-no help there either.Thinking about a Dr. Ho neck collar.

Have you tried that?

Thanks-

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Sorry to hear about your Son, thats awful. I agree that they need to think outside their speciality as I had an op than was unnecessary. Yes Ive tried lots of pillows, if they are slightly to high it affects my face. My neck and shoulder muscles are so tight but if i get massage on them it causes me so much more pain.
I am In UK, I have not heard of a DR Ho neck collar.

I will try and find a link.

https://drhonow.com/neck-comforter

For 50 bucks it is probably one of the cheaper things to ty.The water pillow I got was over 60 bucks.Wonder if I can sell that on kijiji?

Yes look ok, might be worth a try…dont think they ship to England.

Natalie,
Interesting post, that you state chiro was the cause of your TN, and I can understand how it might happen. It does highlight the connection between the cervical spine and the TN nerve. I’m unsure but maybe you should have continued treatment, considering my earlier post.
However it also highlights the problem with exercise prescription. Your chiro may have performed the correct procedure for X complaint or the wrong one for Y.
From an exercise point of view, and this from what has been said makes it hard to prescribe for ellen, if you have narrow discs, facet arthritis then exercising your neck in the forward plane is likely to help, if you have TN due to say disc bulges then this is going to aggravate symptoms. What if you have both which is so often the case say in osteoarthritis, harder still. Yet the symptoms are likely due to one or other, rarely both, though possible.

In the above after stretching you neck it makes the symptoms worse for a prolonged period, as opposed to worse then better in a short period you should consider doing the opposite, ideally under the instruction of a therapist in the know. Or save your money and clean up your lifestyle/ diet if need be, which to a persons perspective is often relative, and often wide of the mark- I only eat ready meals three times a week and have vegetables on saturday, and only drink DIET coke.

I only had a stiff neck, the Chiro did an adjustment and I was in A & E next day is the most severe pain i have ever felt. Couldn’t eat for months, lost 3 stone. So no chance of them continuing any treatment. They obviously pushed something somewhere it didnt like and I went into shock with the pain.

And stories like these are why I have an admittedly irrational fear of chiro!

Looking back now, Nobody should be pushing with force on your spine.

I’m sorry for your bad experience. I could put forward a theory that it wasn’t the
chiro manipulation itself that caused the problem but then I don’t know enough about your situation so wouldn’t waste your time, anyhow I could be wrong. Manipuation of the spine is extremely safe if conducted appropriately for the right conditions, and at the right time. Probably safer than most medical interventions for the said complaint. I’m not a chiro, and by my understanding, their diagnosis of a subluxation in the spine is over reliant on the fact it needs correcting through manipulation. A subluxation is a restriction of movement in a joint relative to it’s normal range of movement.

The majority of the medical profession don’t even recognize a subluxation, which in my mind is incredible and wide of the mark. If you have a disc bulge in your neck for example, you will get muscle spasm in order to protect against the bulge. Is manipulation appropriate in this case no ,your going against your body and its natural defense and healing strategy.
Spondylosis/ wear and tear, muscle tighten as a result of the fact the joint doesn’t move, increase the movement in the joint via manipulation ( there are other ways) the muscle relaxes as a result increasing mobility, and other benefits.
There is a time and a place, for manipulation, and if conducted properly and appropriately can be of benefit for a host of conditions namely for the unrecognised, by medical for conditions due to subclinical spinal nerve irritation- the list is long. Manipulation used in its right place can be very beneficial, though has on occasion side effects. What procedure doesn’t, by all accounts side effects from manipulation is low. Reactions by correctly prescribed drugs taken in prescribed doses scary in comparison, I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of either. So rather adding to interventions first port of call should be removing things, potentially the cheapest route to healthy living.

Hi Ellen,

PT and acupuncture helps me a lot. It isn’t a cure but it can really take a flare up and knock it down a few levels. I have been doing this for a couple of years and long term, things are a lot better. Now, I know that if my pain starts to get out of control I need to go back to my therapist. I get symptoms on ON as well, so I think it is all connected for sure. Just be careful with who you let work on you. I hope it helps

I did not find that a chriopractor helped my tight muscles but I have been doing a therapy called myokeneatics that worked on the small muscles in your face and neck. Regular massage works by rubbing the larger tight muscles in hopes that they will relax, Chriopractors more the bones in hopes that the muscles will relax and the therapy I use loosens the smaller muscles so that the larger ones can relax around the nerves and stop the pain. Finding the right therapist is important. I am now doing regular massage, stretching and myokeneatics.

I will have to look into that.Thanks for the info.

My face has flared again .

All I want to do is play and stupid pain gets in the way.

That’s the thing-is finding the right therapist.

Going to the ENT doctor at the end of the month.he got rid of the pain last year by doing some weird adjustment and then,like a fool,I fell FLAT on my face the next day and ruined the whole thing…Hope he can do the trick again.

Thanks

and as you all must have guessed I am on the spinning wheel again.The pain has been unrelenting.I saw a chiro and he was good.First time I could reduce my pain meds by 1/3.Second time he did something different and it started it up again.His name is Dr.Muir -in Toronto area.Co-wrote a paper on trigeminal neuropathic pain.Good guy.Prices are good as he is not in the city.I really like him.Recommend him to anyone who wants a try