Welcome to these week’s round-up! Here’s the latest health & TMJ disorder related news:
Is there a relationship between signs & symptoms of TMJ disorder and mouth opening, gender, joint pain, and hearing loss? This study looked at 464 Greek students and evaluated what signs & symptoms of TMJD were present. They found that more women had TMJ disorder than men, that the number of ear related symptoms were associated with how severe the TMJ disorder was, as well as how much the patient could open his or her mouth. TMJ pain, ankylosis, bruxism, and ear itching were also found more often in TMJ disorder patients than patients without TMJD. Some of this sounds basic to us as patients (ok…most of it sounds pretty basic 😉 ), but I suppose it’s good to get statistics and understand who develops these issues. Source
Women: Painful periods increase sensitivity to pain throughout the month – a study done at Oxford University showed that women who have painful periods are more sensitive to pain even during non-period times. The brain imaging data also showed that these women had changes in their brain that are also known to be the same changes involved in chronic pain patient’s brains. Dr. Katy Vincent, an author of the paper, said, ‘Many of the features of chronic pain conditions are present in women with painful periods, even though the pain is experienced for just a few days every month.” Researchers urge patients to talk about these issues with their doctors and seek treatment for painful periods. Source.
Natural product shows pain relieving properties – a rare product made from the bark of a plant has been shown to contain pain relieving properties that could be an alternative to opioid pain killers. The substance, called conolidine, not only may be as effective as morphine, but also appears to have less side effects. More studies are being done to see exactly how potent it is, and how it may be used in humans. Source.
Don’t understand what your doctor is asking you to do? Unsure of the meaning of words in your prescription or post-surgery instructions? Please ask for help – your life could depend on it! – In a story at Kevin MD, Dr. Kreisberg discusses how studies have linked poor health literacy to higher rates of hospital readmission and complications (even death). The agency that accredits hospitals is requiring them to change their materials and handouts so they are easier to understand. This way, words like “myocardial infarction” will be replaced with “heart attack,” and “hyperlipidemia” with high cholesterol. The bottom line is that if you don’t understand something, please ask! After all, it is your health, and no one will care about your health as much as you do. Source.
What do you have planned for the weekend? For those of you in the US, do you have anything planned for the holiday? As for me – I hope to catch up on some much needed sleep after Hope (the puppy) has worn me out all week! 🙂