Open Source Cranio

Tag: Trigeminal Neuralgia

  • Cranio Sacral Therapist and Student Newsletter 22

    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.

  • Cranio Sacral Therapist and Student Newsletter 37

    January 4 -2009

    Questions and comments for this issue:

    + Bring someone international to your practice
    – from Nica in Berlin.
    + Follow on comment on Shunts from Malcolm Hiort,
    Director, Australian Craniofascial Therapy School
    + Follow on comment on Shunts from Al Pelowski in Durban.
    + Question about self doubt.
    + Question about unwinding from Nellian Bekker.
    + Question on Death and ReBirth from Ingrid Hoffman in Ireland.

    Hello,

    It may only be 5 days old but so far 2009 is shaping
    up to be a great year. I start back into my practice
    tomorrow after 10 glorious days of rest and excess.
    My batteries are charged and I’m ready to go.

    Here are the latest additions to Open Source Cranio. . . .

    I finally finished updating the list of cranio
    sacral therapy schools around the world.  I know
    it’s not exhaustive so if I haven’t listed your favorite
    school let me know and I will include it.
    Cranio sacral therapy schools

    Speaking of listings I am in the process of updating
    the therapists listings. I want to set them up so that
    you can access and update your own listing and I want
    to link the listings to some sort of google map so that
    it will be easier for people to find therapists near them.

    So if any of you are computer whizzes and would like
    to help please get in touch.

    You will notice that I have changed the design of
    the site.  Hopefully it is now easier to read and
    works better as a learning resource.
    Let me know what you think.

    Forum.
    Here are some of the topics being discussed on
    the Open Source Cranio Forum. . . .

    There is a nice post from Xavia in South Africa
    about a 4 year old girl who has Angleman’s syndrome.

    Another good post from Thespeni Calogero-Allen
    in South Affrica about a 2 year old releasing a burn trauma.

    There was a question about insurance from Sara.

    And a discussion about depression.

    Masterclass DVD Series.
    I have been busy preparing my DVD masterclass series.
    This will be about 8 hours of video taken from a post
    graduate seminar I did in Cape Town.  It’s looking
    like it will be an 8 or 9 DVD set. I will let you
    know more about it when it is closer to completion.

    Another cranio newsletter. . .
    James Nemec, a cranio sacral therapist from America
    has started a cranio sacral therapy newsletter.
    I think it is worth checking out as it’s always
    good to get different perspectives.
    http://www.craniocean.com/

    I came across this article about a girl with
    vacterl syndrome, it’s alright I didn’t know what
    it was either,  it’s a series of birth defects that
    affected a number of internal organs including her
    heart, esophagus and stomach, as well as caused
    irregularities with her spine and anus.

    She also had a severe scoliosis.  She is getting
    great results with cranio sacral therapy but her
    insurance company won’t cover it.  Local town did
    fund raising to help her continue with her treatment.
    Personally I find the cost of her treatment high
    but that could be just me.
    What do you think?

    And finally the other thing I have been up to is
    making goofy videos about learning to use my all
    -terrain roller skates, ominously called Doomwheels,
    in conjunction with my Kitewing, which is a cross
    between a hang-glider and a windsurfing sale.

    You can see my shenanigans, if that’s the sort
    of thing that interests you, here . .

    Anyhu, let’s get on with the mailbag.

    ***INVITATION FROM NICA IN BERLIN***

    Dear john,
    How are you doing?

    I am wondering if there would be any possibility,
    that I could spend a few weeks, working in another
    practice as an idea of exchanging experiences?

    Maybe there are people who would love to have –
    for a limited period, – another craniosacral-therapist
    from abroad in his/her place to be able to grow
    together,etc.?

    What are your thoughts?

    Lovely greetings out of berlin! Aswell to your wife!
    Nica

    Nica Berndt – Caccivio
    Berlin

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    nicaI met up with Nica and her husband in Berlin,
    when I was there last year.

    She would bring a lot to any practice
    or exchange program.

    ***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM MALCOLM HIORT***

    Hi John,
    Re Odile’s email/your reply:
    My experience of clients with shunts is that their
    cranial rhythms are compromised.
    Specifically, I notice that maximal expansion/flexion
    is never reached.
    The end-point of movement has a ‘rebound’ quality
    to it, without the ‘tapering’ effect normally palpated.
    I have felt this characteristic diminished amplitude
    throughout the body.

    Another consequence of a shunt is that inducing a
    still point cannot be achieved, at least in my
    experience.
    It seems that when CSF back-pressure begins to
    build within the ventricles, it is vented by the
    shunt.
    Again, this is a bodywide occurrence, no matter
    where the technique is applied.

    I would be interested to get any feedback on my
    remarks at info@craniofascial.com
    www.craniosacralart.com was interesting.

    cheers John, keep up the good work.

    Malcolm Hiort, Director,
    Australian Craniofascial Therapy School

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Thanks for that Malcolm.
    Shunts certainly compromise the fluid dynamics of the system.

    ***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM AL PELOWSKI***

    There’s a good description and pics of shunts in
    the Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations,
    V.1, the Nervous System, Part II -Neurologic and
    Neuromuscular Disorders.

    In there you’ll see that shunts can be set to
    drain into the peritoneal space rather than the jugular v.

    Peritoneal drainage is often preferred in babes
    and kids because the longer tube allows for growth.

    But, either way, shunting tubes have to penetrate
    several layers of membrane, muscle and fascia.
    This can, and often does lead to chronic infections
    and irritation.

    Another problem is the silting up of the valve and
    the thin cannula–CSF is loaded with salts (electolytes)
    that can crystallise out of solution in the margins
    of turbulent flows and eddies in the apparatus.

    Shunting therefore can require frequent reinsertions
    + drugs (e.g. antibiotics and steroids)

    Some of the risk factors are covered in
    Toru Fukuhara et al, “Risk factors for Failure of
    Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy for Obstructive
    Hydrocephalus,” in the journal Neurosurgery, V.46,
    No. 5, May 2000, where you will also find
    some 40 references.

    It might also be useful to see*
    *CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS SYNDROMES by **J. Cary Moorhead,
    MD, in Grand Round Archives June 24, 1993.

    I’ve worked cranially with maybe a dozen babies
    and kids with shunts.
    It’s vital to know the history of it and to be
    aware that tubal irritation and immune suppression
    will distort and disempower the child’s responses.
    There are loads of cautions in this work, but no
    firm contraindications I can think of.
    Other practitioners seeing cases of craniosynostosis?
    Please get in touch.

    I believe it’s a mushrooming problem worldwide.

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Thanks for that Al.

    For those of you that don’t know, Craniosynostosis,
    is a condition where some or all of the sutures in the
    skull of an infant or child become fused.

    I have treated a few children with it in Australia.
    The cranium felt like it was made of marble.
    Hardly any movement.  In all cases it felt like
    a blueprint problem to me.  It felt like the
    developmental process of the system was accelerated.
    It felt like the sutures had met each other with such
    force that they fused in a solid way that no adult would.

    In all the children I saw, the condition had got to
    the point where they needed surgery to separate the
    sutures. My sense was that if I had seen them earlier
    we could have avoided the surgery.

    What have your experiences with Craniosynostosis
    been like?

    ***QUESTION***

    Thank you for creating such a helpful website!

    I am writing to you in relation to Trigeminal Neuralgia.

    I read your response to a fellow CS therapist
    and applied these principles to my treatment
    of a patient with this diagnosis.

    I have seen her for 6 sessions and she tells me
    that she experiences 1 or 2days relief from symptoms.
    Her response was to make a longer gap between sessions
    (3 weeks).

    I wish I had contacted you earlier for feedback
    as I am seeing her again tomorrow, but well……
    my query is about if no big results after 6 sessions
    are you being ineffective?

    I doubt my ability as a CS therapist…..frequently…
    …but have had some patients with great results
    from treatment.

    I will say to her tomorrow that it is best to
    make the sessions weekly for a few weeks and
    work from there, if she is willing to try this.

    It is difficult when working with self-doubt
    and a general lack of patients (slow pace of clients).

    I have been in practice for 2 years and studied
    at Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust in
    London with Ged Sumner and Michael Kern.

    Any feedback on my dilemma would be gratefully received.

    Thanks

    R.A.
    Gloucester, U.K.

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    To answer your query, ‘if there are no big
    results after 6 sessions are you being ineffective?’
    I would need to know how far apart the sessions were.
    If your patient was getting 1-2 days relief with
    sessions 3 weeks apart, then she would probably
    get better results if you saw her every week.

    The thing is, it would have saved you both some
    grief if you persuaded her to do that from the
    beginning.  Now you have both lost confidence
    in the process.

    I always encourage people to come every week
    at the beginning of the treatment program.
    I explain it in this way: –
    (Feel free to borrow it.)

    ‘Your system is in the habit of being restricted.
    When you come for treatment your system begins to
    release those restrictions and it starts to ‘remember’
    the way it was before it became restricted.
    Over the course of the week the habitual pattern
    of restriction starts to reassert itself.
    Because of this it is very important to come
    for treatment every week, particularly at the
    beginning of the your treatment program, to help
    your system get some momentum.’

    With regard to your self-doubt let me refer
    you to these previous letters.

    Do patients need to believe?

    Am I making it up?

    ***QUESTION***

    Hi John,

    I am not sure wether this would be a case for your
    fantastic Newsletter…….

    I have been working on this young man (17) since
    October 2006- originally came for sinusitis,
    which healed.

    He has never been in an accident, but had a fall
    at school which his parents were not told about??
    He scored the highest in 7 out of his 8 subjects
    in Grade 12 this year (German), and the matric
    exams is a joke for him. He wants to become a doctor.
    He was always sickly as a child.
    His mother was  in labour for 12 hours before he
    was born by emergency caesarian because his heart
    had stopped beating.

    He had bad scoliosis which is a lot better.
    The lesion in his lower thoracic Level T8, his scapula
    positions, kifosis and lordosis are some of the
    things that I am working on, as well as his
    ‘pinched’ face.  It does not matter where I touch him,
    he starts unwinding, pulling into all sorts of positions,
    and the body sometimes pulls straight up from the bed
    with only his head and feet touching, then he would flip,
    feet over his head, and then be relaxed and exhausted,
    leaving me half dead as well.

    His dad is also a client of mine.  I got the impression
    that they do not have a great relationship.
    He has a younger sister.

    Any insights from your side that can help both of us PLEASE?

    I know that you are the best!

    Enjoy your day!

    Nellian Bekker
    Cape Town

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Hello Nellian,
    I think you need to reassert your authority
    in the situation.  From what you are describing
    it sounds like his system is like a bucking bronco
    and you are trying to hang on.   It is an easy
    enough mistake to make in unwinding as we can
    become so focused on following the persons
    system we can cross the line into being pulled
    along by it.

    The trick is to stop it before it becomes a
    problem.  You do this at the beginning of the
    unwinding.  Right at the point where you have
    done the articulation and you have taken up a
    contact in readiness to begin the unwinding.
    When you are at that point, do the following…

    WAIT.

    Don’t don anything.  Don’t allow the persons
    system to move you. Simply hold it and . . .

    Wait.

    If you don’t wait you will just get pulled
    along and it’s very hard to effect any substantial
    releases that way.

    Waiting conveys your authority in the situation
    because the communication from your system to
    theirs, while you are holding and waiting is,
    ‘I choose to follow.’

    In that choice lies your authority and once
    you establish it the persons system will feel
    much more secure with you and reveal very
    delicate restrictions because it knows you
    can support it through them.

    Specifically regarding your patient,
    if he continually goes into vigorous unwinding
    and you get the feeling that it isn’t productive
    then I suggest you direct the energy of his
    unwinding back into his system.  Basically
    this requires you to hold his system and not
    let it move around too much while at the
    same time using your intention to direct
    what releases that are occurring back into
    his system.  This has an implosive rather
    than an explosive quality.

    Because his system is used to moving
    around a lot it may be difficult in the
    beginning but if you persevere you will
    find that you will get to deeper levels
    of release.

    ***QUESTION***

    Death and Rebirth:

    Dear John

    Winter will soon bring our energies inwards
    and with the Winter Solstice approaching,
    here in the North, I find that many of my
    clients are suffering with melancholy and
    soul loss.

    How can CST help?

    Ingrid Hoffman.
    Rathfeigh Tara Ireland

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Hello Ingrid,

    Don’t get me started on the winters in
    Ireland.  They are SOOO depressing.
    Getting up in the morning in darkness,
    going to work in darkness, coming home
    in darkness and in between, grayness
    – if you’re lucky!
    If you’re not lucky it will be raining
    gray sheets of liquid concrete.

    No wonder the pagans used to throw a
    big party at the winter solstice.
    Can you blame them?
    Even though they knew they were in for
    another couple of months of depressing
    weather, just the knowledge that the
    days were getting a little longer,
    even if it was only by a couple of
    minutes each day, was cause enough
    for celebration.

    Having said all that I have found
    that while the weather can get a person
    down, it won’t cause depression.

    Now before you start quoting me all
    the statistics on SAD’s,  [Seasonally
    Affected Depression] I’m not saying
    it doesn’t exist or that it isn’t
    linked to the weather.  What I am
    saying is that I haven’t found the
    weather to be the root cause.

    When I used to live in Australia
    I treated just as many people for
    depression and they were up to their
    armpits in sunshine.

    The sense of being a ‘lost soul’
    is something that goes deeper and
    will surface regardless of the
    environment.

    It is where a person feels like
    their life has lost its meaning.
    Where the joy has gone and they
    are ‘off track’. Day to day feels
    like just going through the motions
    and nothing has any real meaning.

    They feel their life doesn’t represent
    them at all. It is often described to
    me as waking up one morning and realizing
    that they are not living the life they
    thought they would or know they should.
    If you’re feeling like that and the
    weather is awful it will amplify the
    feeling for sure but as I said it’s
    not the cause.

    Cranio sacral work is particularly good
    at helping with this kind of lost soul
    feeling because it works with the deeper
    disharmonies that lead to this kind of
    condition.

    So that’s it for this issue.

    Let me wish you all the very best for 2009.

    Till the next time.

    Your Mate,

    John D.