Eagle’s Syndrome

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This is a rare syndrome that often mimics many other problems such as TMJ. Eagle’s syndrome: A group of symptoms caused by calcification of the stylohyoid ligament and an abnormally long styloid process. The styloid process is a bone at the base of the skull which is attached to muscles and ligaments connected to the throat and tongue. If this bone is too long then actions such as swallowing and turning the head can cause pain and discomfort. The cause of the condition is unknown but trauma and inflammation may be the cause in some cases.

Doctor Showing Me the Door

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So today I received a letter in the mail with a letter from the headache specialist I have been seeing in the area for over the past year. The letter explained how he no longer could continue to treat me after February. He listed many other doctors in the area as well a more known doctor, Todd Rozen, and Michigan Head and Neck Institute. I’m not quite sure why he decided to send the letter. Likely due to me not being as compliant as he would like and having negative side effects to nearly every  medication given. On another note, I recently received the book Acute and Chronic Headache : A Guide for the Primary Physician and the Headache Specialist written by James H. Francis, M.D. I just starting reading the book and it seems to have a lot of … Read more

A word of Caution for neuragia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis (NICO)

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I came across an interesting discussiong on a syndrome known as neuragia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis (NICO). One such doctor who advocates the syndrome has recently lost his dental license. In 2007, Wesley R. Shankland, II, D.D.S., who operates the Central Ohio Center for Facial Pain in Columbus, Ohio, settled charges against him by entering into a consent under which (a) his dental license will be suspended for six months; (b) he must complete 300 hours of continuing dental education that includes at least 40 hours in ethics, (c) he must not utilize any “alternative” dental or medical treatment without informing the patient that the procedure is nonstandard, (d) his ability to prescribe narcotics and psychiatric drugs will be restricted during 2008, and (e) his records must be available for review and monitoring by a physician or dentist who is experienced in the … Read more

Sources of Headache Pain

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I found an interesting read yesterday on some sources of headaches written Andrea Trescott, M.D. More than 20 million people in the US suffer from severe headaches, and the annual prevalence has increased nearly 60% since 1980. Nearly 80 percent of these patients report headache-related disability that may result in missed work. In fact, nearly 50 percent of headache sufferers are moderately or severely disabled by a headache attack or “migraine” and lose an estimated 13 workdays and 8 leisure days each year.1 “Migraine” is a term of much confusion in the lay public’s mind. Physicians use the term migraine to mean a specific intracranial vascular headache. Patients usually use the term to mean a “sick headache” or a throbbing headache. Pain management doctors treating headache patients are beginning to realize that the symptomatic diagnosis of migraines (unilateral throbbing headache … Read more

Stand Up for Your Rights

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So I just came across a site called DoctorsAreIdiots. Excerpts from the site…. “My wife, Betty Nelson Schuld, died on May 8 at a Portland medical center. Her abdominal cramps started in November 2004. She went to the emergency room and was diagnosed with bowel obstruction and pneumonia. After many doctor’s appointments and visits to the emergency rooms, she went in for a three-hour bowel blockage surgery. Then we were told there was nothing that could be done and she would die in a few hours. We sat in intensive care for six hours and watched her die. “I didn’t find out that she died of intenstinal ischemia until the next day. In her last six months, she was seen by 12 different doctors. None of them came up with the correct diagnosis. She never received a correct diagnosis or … Read more