Patient Story – Deb

Deb

My name is Deb and I live in Topeka, Kansas. I am a single mom and a survivor of domestic abuse. I was diagnosed with TMD at the age of 47. I wore a night guard for many years to help protect my teeth from the wear and tear I was inflicting by clenching my teeth at night. I also suffered from ear pain, stuffiness, tinnitus and severe neck pain for more than 10 years. Doctors attributed this to the many blows to my head and a stressful life.

After the tragic death of my father in 1998, I started having severe migraine headaches. The first one I ever experienced landed me in the hospital not knowing what had just happened to me. I had numbness on the left side of my face and slurred speech. I had no control of my left arm and my vision was so blurred I could not drive. The doctors said that I could have possibly had a mini stroke or was suffering from migraine headaches. I was put on many different medications and began to suffer 2 to 3 migraines a month. Some so severe that I could not stop vomiting and had to be admitted to the hospital. For 6 years I continued to take medication and pray that one day they would just go away.

In 2004 my mother died very unexpectedly and I suffered one of the worst migraines I had ever had. I was taken to the hospital and medicated and released. When I got home I collapsed and was unresponsive to emergency technicians. Come to find out I had been over medicated and was near death. It was then that my jaw started locking shut and I could no longer open my mouth to eat or even brush my teeth. The popping and grinding in my jaw was unbearable and embarrassing. I visited my dentist, orthodontist and chiropractor. They all told me that I had TMJ. The chiropractor suggested treatment with acupuncture and my dentist and orthodontist offered to make me another night guard. They both recommended that I see a specialist. I decided that I needed to get to the root of the problem if I wanted to improve the quality of my life.

No one seemed to know of a doctor in my area so I took to the internet. I put all of my symptoms in the search engine and up came Dr. Raman’s website. As I began to read I soon discovered that I was not alone and the majority of the symptoms I was experiencing were related to TMD. The next day I called and made an appointment to see Dr. Raman. After the initial testing, Dr. Raman assured me that he could help me. I was soon fitted with a fixed orthotic on my bottom teeth and within a week or so I began to feel 80% better. I started seeing an Atlas Orthogonal Chiropractor in Topeka and over the next four to five months I remained migraine free and the jaw and ear pain started to decrease.