Headaches and Fybromyalgia

Mike Wiegenstein: Welcome to very special edition of Medical News Network, your trusted source for the medical and dental information you need to know. I am Mike Wiegenstein thanks for joining us. We brought our cameras to Palm Desert to the offices of Dr. Leonard Feld, a doctor we first interviewed in studio few years ago to find the latest in TMJ therapy and treatment. Dr. Feld, thank you for joining us. Dr. Leonard Feld: Thank Mike. Mike Wiegenstein: Since I talked to you few years ago, you had offices in LA, you had offices in Tuscan in Northern California, and you had now opened but I must say it’s a very beautiful office here in Palm Desert, California. Why Palm Desert? Dr. Leonard Feld: It been in the desert and the valley for about Mike Wiegenstein: You want a home here as to my understanding Dr. Leonard Feld: About 28 years. And so I have been here for a long long time Mike Wiegenstein: Let’s get into actually TMJ. What is it, again how does it work, how does it affect people and you and I have had this discussion when I first talked to you, you remember I first talked to you in studio, you pointed out that one of the assistants there you often looked at her and said she has got this problem this problem this problem or jaw dropped and I kind of looked at you funny because I will tell you it sounded like and we heard other circus magic as you don’t give anybody any drugs, you don’t medicate any thing what is it about this joint that can cause fibromyalgia, migraines, back pain, neck pain, dizziness, vertigo, vomiting and the key point -- and everybody is going to get to me last time we only had time for one interview, today we are going to get to meet a variety of people that I have talked to you over the last two years following what you are doing that if had a multitude of symptoms. Every one of them says the same thing, everyone of them says everybody told them now can we as no medication, they don’t stick you with anything, they don’t give you anything, how could it work. So, a take a minute and explain what it is that this joint can do and how it does it that causes this to happen. Dr. Leonard Feld: What’s an interesting fact that there is a large amount of blood vessels and nerves that come that travel behind the jaw joint or behind the jaw or the part of the head that goes up and down and sideways that you chew with and these nerves and vessels not only travels back but they go right to the brain, they communicate intimately with the brain and they only have to go short distance to get to the brain from here obviously and we know now that the brain really controls everything and if there is something wrong with some of the nerves that go to the brain they affect different areas of the body. So, we have these different symptoms and one of the things that makes the signs very, very difficult for a lot of the doctors is that there is a plethora or a lot of different signs and symptoms associated with this and not everybody has the same. Mike Wiegenstein: So, one size doesn’t fit off, somebody may have numb fingers. In fact I met a young lady and time to talk to her but she came in here, and her hands I just happened to be here to talk you, her hands were ice cold, her feet were ice cold, her husband was here, they were joking about it, you started treatment on her and I met her yesterday here when we came to -- her hands were warm, her feet were warm, or you tell me that that can be cured, feet colder, fingers normally. Dr. Leonard Feld: But we are dealing with the brain and we are dealing with the part of the brain that reacts to keep you alive and that’s called the sympathetic system, its your survival mode and if the brain is not getting enough oxygen or there is what we call internal derangement of the jaw, in other words there is some problem here, the disc is dislocated, the jaws moving too far back, its pinching off arteries, kind of like a hose, a garden hose when you step on a garden hose how it doesn’t throughput right and in fact you sometimes you are washing the car, Mike Wiegenstein: With that in mind, you told me not to bring in subtle but I know you -- begin some research on whether this joint can affect blood pressure because you told me that when the vein gets compressed or shut off like a garden hose and the blood can’t get through when the brain needs oxygen. Dr. Leonard Feld: All it gets, its kind to get Mike Wiegenstein: It just turns up the pump valve. Dr. Leonard Feld: Exactly. Mike Wiegenstein: And then what happens is normally people go to and they will get a medicine to artificially turn the valve down which has other side effects and you started research to find out if this joint can actually putting this lower the blood pressure because you open that artery back but I think Dr. Leonard Feld: We found that just by doing the treatment we do, we lower the blood pressure. We can lower the blood pressure, we can help people with depression, we can help people that are having anxiety problems. Angeli: I have been to probably 35 doctors and that have been over the course of may be four years and I noted that I had after jaw surgery I had some health issues, I have been really, really healthy and I was at the end of college I was rowing crew, I have been in athlete the entire time and I have this surgery and I have been on liquid diets for two months which probably explains the instant of how severe the surgery was. I knew something had changed that next year I could feel it and then it progressively just turned worse and worse to the point where I was noxious I was had severe head aches, the worst pain was the entire body aches constantly, I was at a time I go to the hospital to the ER asking for pain meds, they give pain meds, they would do nothing for me and then the -- was for doctor after doctor after doctor and I kept progressively getting more worst. So I couldn’t work and I kind of became a little bit hopeless in some aspects because doctor say okay, we can try and figure it out and then nothing would help and so basically I have gone into a pharmacy for pain meds, sat down with a gentleman and he listened and I told them that it had to deal with my jaw, that was my initial instinct but I had told doctors that time and time again but no body has listened to what I had to say so he did a thermography which showed something coming from my mouth into my stomach which I had by that point lost 25 pounds, I could barely eat soup, I was so sick. Dr. Leonard Feld: And couldn’t keep it even down. Angeli: I couldn’t keep anything down and you know it kind of also led to some emotional issues because it is just the fear of that all, I dint know exactly what to do and hoped and hoped and hoped and prayed that was where I was at and I knew I had turned pale, my thyroid was having issues and that’s where I was when pharmacist suggested I see doctor Feld, I was suspicious at first when I went simply because I have been told by so many people I can help you and something that really spoke to me was he did some neurological testing on me and it just showed me that there was something wrong with the jaw, he just pushed uncertain but my arm told me that the whole day it showed black in front of my face and I could tell that there is a difference. So, because of that and just as compassion. Dr. Leonard Feld: I saw someone that had got to a point where she about given up hope and her mother appealed to me and said you know can you help her, can you help her and at the point where she was I really didn’t know, I knew what the problem was but I didn’t know if I could help her but if I told her that that wouldn’t have worked. So, I tell her that you know I think we can help you, we helped other people, may be not in the same situation as she was at because it was a physical problem and she had all structural damage that was done and for being so young having all these problems, it was a little bit scary for me. Usually you see someone the shape that she was in probably 75 years old. Angeli: Dr. Feld to me has represented a doctor with compassion who listened to the patients and he will tell you whether he can help you or not. I don’t believe he gives false promises of any kind which appreciate it because I felt that I had met so many doctors who just literally were like sure I can help you and they don’t really know if they could help. So with Dr. Feld I have really felt like it is a personal connection, I could connect with him and it’s really time when I was thinking I remember even the first month when I have been so bad and it took a lot for this to actually take effect and that’s all I could think. Well, its not going to happen overnight because its taking you years to get to this point and it started to help after that and there was still times like I said that he had to look at me and hold my hand and be like, okay, Angeli we are getting through this.