Dr. Katz, iHATEheadaches Blog

Whenever I see someone for headache or Tmd pain, I usually temper their expectations by letting them know that the cause of their symptoms have had years to develop and resolution of their problem will probably take time to resolve.

last Thursday was a very intense and stressful day for me. I was looking forward to the day's end. Jennifer was my last scheduled patient. I had given her a lower orthotic two week ago and she was back to check the appliance and for me to make any adjustments necessary.
Jennifer had been experiencing pain for over nine months on an almost a daily basis. Pain on the side of her head, on top of her head, eye pain, head and neck pain and very tender muscles of the neck and shoulders. She could not open her mouth very wide and her jaw deviated to the right when she opened. She had seen already seen a neurologist, an ear , nose and throat specialist, who had placed tubes in her ears to treat her symptoms, and a chiropractor without resolution.

Hi jennifer. You look great how are you feeling. I was hoping that she had gotten some relief from the orthtic. Her answer was loud and clear, "I feel great". She told me she had had only one or two headaches in the past two weeks but all the soreness on her shoulder and neck were almost all gone. Sure enough, checking all the muscles that were so painful before were now almost pain free. Her whole attitude had changed . She was happy and smiled a lot. I went on to TENS her and adjust her appliance. I let her know that I was overjoyed with the initial results we'd gotten but there was a lot of work still to be done.

My team let Jennifer know how happy we all were for her. We all felt wonderful that we
had been able to finally give Jennifer the relief she'd been looking for.
A wonderful way to end a hard day.