SURGERY?! Someone better have a very good reason and a lot of proof before I'd go there.

I am now a massage therapist trained in medical massage therapy, I did this to treat myself and where this goes from here... I'm not real focused on that right now.

I am not a doctor (nor have I played on on TV). I cannot diagnose or prescribe any drugs or methods or tell you that this will work for you. This is all my OPINION and should be taken as such. DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK.

I have an update on my TN since my last post. I have found the cervical vertebra (C-7) that seems to be causing my TN. As I have been relieving the knots (trigger points, look it up!) in my neck my TN has been shifting in severity and location. I see that as a good sign.

There is an extremely tender spot on the left side of C-7 that causes a pressure feeling in my neck, behind my left eye, and at the bottom of my left Scapula when I push on it (this is a classic trigger point). This has taken 6 months to locate and I'm still not 100% sure I have it.

This morning I got hit again and as my face lit up I poked into the C-7 location a few times and as I got the angle just right and pushed in the TN stopped. I have stopped the TN three times today just by pushing on that same spot when I get it. One of the indications that you have a trigger point is that when you push directly on the amorphous point, the pain in other areas of the body (side of my face) will stop. This has worked with many tender spots on me and ii recognize the relief when it happens.

I believe most people have one or more of these trigger points that is causing the TN. I have been going to school since last April to learn about Myofacial release of trigger points. My TM symptoms fit right in with the symptoms that trigger points cause in other areas of the body and now I have found even more reasons to be hopeful of trigger points causing my TM, and hundreds of other people as well.

I started the schooling to be a medical massage therapist because I have been trying to find relief for shoulder, neck, and hip pains, that no one can explain (until now) and Worker's Comp (started as a workplace injury) kicked me out and gave me a few bucks and told me to find my own way to relief (in so many words). So, I did.

I have stopped all my hip pain, most of my shoulder pain (although I still get up several nights a week to take a hot shower and calm down the trigger points that wake me up with a fire like pain) which is about one fifth of the pain I was in one year ago.

Here is a list of what I've been learning and is printed on the back of my business card. I'm not really in business yet because of the TM but I do have insurance, a business lic., I have been helping other with severe pains at no charge and have had spectacular results according to the friends I have helped.

Medical massage addresses
many problems including:
Frozen Shoulder - Knee Pain
Neck and Back Pain
Tendonitis
Trigger Finger
Auto/Work/Sports Injuries
Whiplash
Scar Tissue
Mastectomy
Pain Associated with Arthritis
Sciatica
Heel Spur
Problems walking or climbing stairs
Carpal Tunnel
Improved Athletic Performance
Fibromyalgia
Trigger Points

And Trigiminal Neuralgia

I have worked on and had varying success with all of these conditions except Fibromyalgia, and that's because no one has come forward yet for me to attempt relief.

I worked on my neck/TM for several hours today and the TM is a little touchy right now so I'm not going to taunt it much more for today.

The first thing I would look for to see if my TM was caused by knots in my body would be to have someone look at me standing upright and see if I have a head-forward posture (which I do). Besides that Whiplash can start TM if it has gone on for a long time. These "knots" can and do last in your body for many years. I have removed and had removed, spots that date back to 1972 when I spent a Thanksgiving night, all night, loading four-turkey pans into ovens at one of my first jobs. That Sciatica pain lasted for 24 years until I had the trigger point removed from my spine last year. That's why my hip no longer has any pain.

Anyway, watch out for doctors who want to cut. Most doctors who can't find an answer to problems always wnnt to cut for exploratory reasons or want to give pain pills to shut me up. I think I have a better way and I'm just trying to spread the information so everyone can look at a different method of solving a problem.

For what its worth,
KBCMT