March 23 – 2007
Questions and comments for this issue:
+ Postnatal depression.
+ Trigeminal neuralgia.
+ Bipolar disorder.
Hello,
Just let me put my machete down for a minute so
I can tell you about a new study on healing and
men.
That’s right I said men, manly men.
Are you listening to me Pilgrim?
‘Males typically defined as masculine – strong,
capable of endurance and tough – were seen to have
an improved recovery rate,’ says Professor Glen
Good of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
‘It has long been assumed that men are not as
concerned and don’t take as good of care of their
health, but what we’re seeing here is that the
same ideas that led to their injuries may actually
encourage their recovery.’
So that’s it for me. Out with the pink loafers
and the angora sweaters and in with the DKNY
combat fatigues and the Gucci backpacks. It’s
rugged hard living for me from now on.
That’s right I’m drinking tap water and hiking
to the coffee shop.
So let’s saddle up and have a look see at the mailbag.
***QUESTION***
Dear John,
I really enjoy your newsletters. I have been
getting them for quite a while now but have never
asked you anything before, so here goes.
A woman called me the other day to ask if cranio
could help with postnatal depression. I said yes
and set up an appointment to see her next week.
I have never treated postnatal depression before
so I read up on it. Nothing is jumping out as a
possible cranio sacral link. I will ‘treat what I
find’ when I see her but was just wondered if you
had any experience of it.
Thanking you in advance.
JL
London.
PS. I downloaded your book and it is excellent.
Should be a bestseller.
MY COMMENTS:
Thank you for the kind words.
I have found that postnatal depression is a
condition that responds really well to cranio
sacral.
The root cause is often as a result of the
birth process. The main causes being one or a
combination of the following – Labor, forceps,
ventouse, caesarean section and epidural.
The birth process can leave the mother’s pelvic
floor full of restrictions. This in turn
pulls the dural tube inferiorly which in turn
translates into the intracranial membranes and
affects the sphenoid which in turn leads to
depression.
I have seen this pattern in 95% of the women I
have treated for postnatal depression.
It usually resolves pretty quickly. 6 or 7
weeks. The initial treatments focus on getting
the pelvic floor to come into harmony and release.
Then once that happens it’s a matter of following
that work up the dural tube into the head until
the sphenoid settles.
I have treated women who have suffered with
postnatal depression for up to 10 years. After
that length of time they are nearly always on
medication and their second or third
psychologist/counsellor.
It is fantastic and at the same time sad that
it takes so little to get rid of the symptoms and
how much heartache that could be avoided if they
had treatment earlier.
***QUESTION***
Dear John,
I am a Cranio Sacral Therapist. I studied with The
Upledger Institute and have been a Therapist for
nearly 2years. I truly am amazed at what this
therapy can achieve. The reason I am writing to
you is because I have recently been introduced to
Trigeminal Neuralgia which I had never heard of
until now. I just wanted to inquire when you treat
this problem what areas do you treat for success.
I would appreciate any feed back on this you may
give me.
Thank you so very much.
H.I.
Australia.
MY COMMENTS:
To get an understanding of trigeminal neuralgia
you need to study the structure of the trigeminal
nerve.
I’ll run through it briefly here.
The Trigeminal nerve is the largest in diameter
of the cranial nerves. It is predominantly a
sensory nerve receiving sensory input from the
face and scalp. It also provides some motor
supply to the mylohyoid and the anterior belly of
the digastric.
The two trigeminal nerves leave the pons and
travel anteriorly for about two centimetres under
the tentorium. The trigeminal then forms a
ganglion out of which it branches into the 3
divisions.
OPHTHALMIC DIVISION
The ophthalmic division receives sensation from
the eye balls, the lacrimal glands and the skin of
the forehead, eyelid and nose. It enters the
orbit through the superior orbital fissure.
Just before it enters the superior orbital
fissure, it sends some sensory fibres to the
tentorium. That’s why pain behind the eyes can be
an indication of tentorial tension.
MAXILLARY DIVISION
This division is entirely sensory and receives
sensation from the skin of the middle portion of
the face, lower eye lid, side of the nose, upper
lip, roof of the mouth, gums and teeth.
The Maxillary branch exits the cranium through
the foramen rotundum which is formed in the
sphenoid.
MANDIBULAR DIVISION
This is the largest of the three branches of
the trigeminal.
It receives sensation from the lower lip, lower
face, inner cheek, tongue, lower teeth and gums
and the temporomandibular joint.
It also has a motor aspect supplying the
temporalis, the masseter, pterygoid, mylohyoid and
the anterior digastric.
It exits the cranium through the foramen ovale
which is also located in the sphenoid.
So that is the rough geography.
If you are treating someone with trigeminal
neuralgia trace the pathway of the trigeminal
nerve with your intention.
Pay particular attention to the areas of
vulnerability which are for the ophthalmic
division,
- the superior orbital fissure.
For the maxillary division,
- the foramen rotundum,
- the maxilla,
- palatine,
- sphenoid
- and zygomae.
And for the mandibular branch,
the foramen ovale,
- the TMJ area.
***QUESTION***
Hi John
It is a long time since I have written to you, but
thanks for all the newsletters – I look forward to
receiving them.
I want to ask your help today. I have some friends
in Cape Town who have a son approx 40 years old
who has suffered from Bi Polar since he was about
15 yrs old.
They have tried every possible treatment, but have
had no success. I would like to advise them about
the condition and ‘Cranio’ and then to advise them
to seek help CranioSacrally
Please advise ASAP
Kind regards
John Rosen
Johannesburg SA
MY COMMENTS:
I treated a woman before I left Brisbane who
had Bipolar for thirty five years. She had been
institutionalised a couple of times and had been
given shock treatment at the start of the 90’s and
again in 2000.
When she came to see me she was in the process
of weening herself off her medication. The
pattern of her symptoms was two months of feeling
very high followed by two moths of feeling very
low and so on. When she came to see me she was in
a low.
Taking her case history was very intense
because she was obviously in a lot of emotional
pain and couldn’t stop crying. We got through it
and she lay on the table and I assessed her.
It turned out that the root cause of her
symptoms was – physical. Her sphenoid was
restricted.
In the course of taking her case history it had
come out that she was a forceps delivery. As you
know, the sphenoid isn’t ossified when you are a
new born. This woman’s right greater wing was
torsioned in relation to the body of the sphenoid.
The right greater wing was also side bending in
relation to the body, meaning the right wing was
much more anterior than the left wing when the
sphenoid was in neutral.
It always feels to me that the patterns of
restriction in the sphenoid act as indicators of
the deeper restrictions in the membranes. Bone
doesn’t move on it’s own. Trauma is nearly always
held most strongly in the membranes.
The other thing I’ve found with depression and
the sphenoid is that it’s not the sphenoid that
brings on depression but rather the effect the
pattern of restriction has on the pituitary gland
which is sitting atop the sphenoid in the sellae
turcica. Particularly as the infundibulum of the
pituitary perforates the diaphragma sellae.
The restriction pattern in this woman’s
sphenoid was like this. Deep patterns of
restriction held in the tent and surrounding
membranes since birth. Her pituitary was also
under pressure at its infundibulum.
She saw me for six treatments at the end of
which she was neutral. Not high, not low. She
couldn’t remember ever feeling like that for more
than a day or so when she was in transition from
high to low or visa versa.
I was in email contact with her about two
months later and she was still symptom free.
35 years of symptoms sorted out in six weeks.
Who’s glad they’re a cranio sacral therapist!
Hands in the air! Come on, you at the back, hands
in the air!
Not all people with bipolar will respond as
well as this woman. Not all bipolar is caused by
restrictions in the cranio sacral system. I would
encourage your friends to get their son assessed
by a good cranio sacral therapist. It will all
help.
So that’s it for this issue.
Cheerio for now John.
Till the next time.
Your Mate,
John D.