Yuku free message boards

Mark,
I did read your report yesterday and checked out your films this morning. It's kind of hard to tell much about the films being so small and transferred to the page. I'm sure Dr. Schames will be able to pinpoint exactly what is showing up there.
I can pick out or see the disc location on original films sometimes. I've seen many. The report is a little confusing. Sometimes I can understand "what" they're trying to say.

I was doing pretty good picturing where the disc were, in the first part of the report, talking about posterior placement.
The end of the report threw me with a mention of "anterior".

Also, they mentioned comparing the T2 weight to a previous film, but didn't elaborate if there had been any changes.

Did these people tell you anything or did you get this done for your Doc. to explain with your next visit?
I would absolutely get 2 different opinions. Regular Doc. and possibly Dr. Schames will add his thoughts.

It does look like on the films, to me, the disc is to the back or posterior a little. The T2 weight changes will sometimes tell if the disc has moved or has more weight to one side. That's what I was told this means. The fluid in the disc or material that makes up the disc gets unevenly distributed.
(in your back/spine, if the T2 weight is off, it means the disc is heavier on one side and tends to not stay in the middle of the vertibrae and cushion properly. I have a couple that are not herniated, but tend to stay off to the left a little)

In the TM joint, it would make sense, with any degree of dislocation, the T2 weight would be off a little.
Your report mentioned limited opening. I thought in the past, your opening was pretty good. Has that changed? (Maybe I'm confused on this)

I'm doing a lot of guessing here. I'm definitely not an expert. If I could see the big films, I could compare them to mine (with no disc) and probably tell more about where the disc is situated. I was given a study film of healthy disc and I have definitely "studied" and compared.

When you get some information from the Doc's, I would certainly like to know what they say, if you don't mind.

You know me well enough to know, I don't agree many times with their thoughts on TM joint or neck (muscle) problems and Tinnitus.

The TM joint may not look bad enough to cause T, to them. My question is, what are the muscles doing in reacting to the TM joint. The facial, head, neck muscles and the "SCM's". I think a lot of them miss this aspect, completely.

I was (finally) told by one of the best neurotologist, that mine was TMJ related and with that, there was hope. He said get the TMJ under control, the muscles calmed and the T absolutely would get better, maybe go away completely.
(It was strange that my T hit with a bang and jet roar, 20 years into TMJ treatment and surgeries. 3 years after my last one. They have no idea why this happened after so long and so much long-term damage. My belief is, the muscles did a repositional thing and affected the tiny muscles to my ears. There is no other explanation)

I can't tell that I'm having any spasms at all now, compared to before. I'm still having continued minor improvements. I still have T occasionally, it's very tolerable compared to the last 4 years. I believe the smaller muscles to the ear are still compressed somewhat and will evenually not be. I believe once this happens, the T will be gone completely.
The improvement now is, "feeling" slowly returning to areas of long-term numbness. As this happens, the low degree of T continues to fade.
The muscles are still doing a slow passive type repositioning, decompressing nerves, feeling is returning and the T is almost nothing most of the time.
I can tense up my face or clench really hard and cause the T to buzz. If I do it long enough, the T gets louder until I stop and it starts to fade.

I know everyone's T problems are not muscular. I think for a lot of us, more than the Doc's realize, it is TM joint related muscle problems. Many of them just can't make that connection.
After, what I've just experienced personally, going from a jet roar to a faint buzz occasionally, some of them really seem a little dense to me about it.
I was told when mine first started, by about 7 Doc's,(including my last TMJ Surgeons) it's not related to the TM joint, learn to live with it, it aint going away. It never goes away.

They were so very wrong.

I know I haven't helped much. Please keep us informed. I am very interested in the interpretation of the report & films by a good Doc.

Cymy

(I hope my explanation of the T2 weight is correct. This is what I was told by a neurosurgeon, among others.)