Aging Problems …

TMJ disorders

The Wall Street Journal had ever carried an article that says a lot about the medical establishment.  The article dealt with 25,000 victims of a very stupid type of surgery. 

“This isn’t my face,” says one of the victims. “I used to be real pretty.”   She’s now had eight operations that have left her disfigured,  without jaw joints,  her mouth permanently hanging open.

They had their jaw joints replaced with an artificial jaw that doesn’t work.  The manufacturer has now gone out of business and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has seized all its products.

Alone that night,  says the Wall Street Journal,  she can hardly bear the muscle spasms and the pain.  “It never goes away,  it’s God-awful pain,” says the woman.

The 25,000 people who submitted to this surgery suffered from something called TMJ syndrome.  TMJ stands for your lower jaw joint,  called the temporo-mandibular joint.

It is an incredibly delicate,  complicated living thing.  It lets you move your lower jaw up and down,  and side to side as you speak,  bite, chew, swallow, smile, laugh, or frown.

If you’ve never suffered from TMJ syndrome,  it’s hard to imagine the pain.  It’s as intense as a migraine headache.   

For many people something goes terribly wrong with their TMJ.  The muscle goes into spasms,  the bones grind against one another.  The victim can suffer from unbelievable headaches, earaches, jaw, and facial pain.   So it’s no wonder those 25,000 people were willing to try surgery.

There’s just one problem:   TMJ syndrome is caused by stress.  It happens to people who are so anxious, worried, and unhappy they grind their teeth in their sleep.   There’s nothing wrong with their jaws.  There’s something wrong with their lives.

It’s also often called the “yuppie disease”  because it usually happens to overworked,  stressed-out young professionals.  It’s caused by the way we live. 

New research in the Netherlands suggests that the best treatment for TMJ may be none at all,  because most TMJ disorders abate in a few years.

But you can do better than that.  Relaxation techniques  and  a good massage therapist  can help to abate TMJ disorders.   In a couple of weeks,  you can control the problem yourself  and  you’ll be on your way to recovery.   No drugs,  no surgery.

More likely,  your doctor will prescribe “muscle relaxants”  or some other drugs.  You might feel better for a few weeks,  but it won’t work long-term.  Your body will continue to deteriorate.  The drugs will actually speed up the overall deterioration of your health.  Next thing you know the doctor’ll be talking about surgery!

You might wonder how 25,000 people could be implanted with an artificial joint that dosen’t work.  Aren’t these things carefully tested?     When it comes to surgical procedures,  the answer is often  no !   

No studies prove that procedures like prostate surgery,  coronary bypass,  balloon angioplasty,  or radical mastectomy  (breast removal)  actually work.    There are studies that show  they don’t work.

Healthy aging …    <>