Chronic pain, anxiety and depression create enormous suffering, destroy families and cost hundreds billions of dollars in treatment costs and lost productivity. The Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block has been called the “Migraine Miracle” treatment. Side effects include decreased anxiety, depression and blood pressure.
If we have a computer that isn’t working right we reboot it to correct the programing. Our brain is our own personal computer and when bad data comes in it can cause it to run incorrectly.
Chronic pain is associated with autonomic changes and changes called brain plasticity which are actually changes in how the brain accepts new information and processes it. The input to the brain is via nerves that release neurotransmitters in the brain. This is true everywhere except in the Trigeminal Nervous System where proprioceptive information is transferred by direct electrical connection on nerves in the Mesencephalic Nucleus of the Trigeminal Nervous System. The reason Neuromuscular Dentistry ( https://www.sleepandhealth.com/node/671) is extremely effective in eliminating migraines and other headaches is the correction is done at the level of the Mesencephalic Nucleus preventing noxious input causing release of neurotransmitters.
The Trigeminal Nerve controls the blood flow to the brain thru the Trigemino-Vascular system andf the trigeminal cervical complex.
When physicians and scientists talk about chemical imbalances in the brain they are actually talking about the neurotransmitters produced by nerves at their synapses with other nerves. Nerves communicate with these chemical messages.
Migraines, Chronic Daily headaches and almost every other type of chronic headache are mediated by these neurotransmitters such as CGRP (Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide) . Other neurotransmitters such as Serotonin and Norepinephrine are involved in anxiety and depression. These neurotransmitters are all the chemical messengers released at synapses.
The nervous system is actually divided into the Somatic Nervous System or Voluntary nervous system and the Autonomic or non-voluntary nervous system The Autonomic nervous system is divided into the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic portions.
Regulation of the body’s unconscious actions is controlled by the Autonomic system.. The body’s fight-or-flight response is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system and is it’s primary purpose. The Sympathetics are constantly active at a basic level to maintain homeostasis. The sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system which stimulates the body to “rest-and-digest” or “feed and breed” are complementary.
The nervous system is incredibly fascinating but it sometimes goes haywire. If you think about short circuits, viruses, malware affecting a computer or the simple computer adage “Garbage in -Garbage out” you begin to understand how are nervous system works.
We can attempt to correct the computer by adding new codes, in the human body this would be psychoactive drugs, antidepressants, pain meds, muscle relaxers etc. Sometimes the easiest approach is to just rebot the computer.
There are several methods to reset the brain but only one is quick, easy safe, effective with minimal side effects. The Sphenopalatine Ganglion (SPG) also called the PterygoPalatine Ganglion, Meckel’s Ganglion and the Nasal Ganglion is the largest Parasympathetic Ganglion in the head but also has sympathetic nerves passing through it. Ganglions consist of the cell bodies of the nerves.
The sensory nerves to the SPG are Trigeminal from the maxillary division. There is also Sympathetic innervation from the superior cervical ganglion. The Sphenopalatine ganglion nerves innervate the lacrimal gland (tear ducts), paranasal sinuses, the glands of the mucosa of the nasal cavity and pharynx, the gingiva, and the mucous membrane and glands of the hard palate.
Parasympathetic fibers from the greater petrosal branch of the facial nerve synapse with neurons that are distributed with the deep branches of the trigeminal nerve to the mucous membrane of the nose, soft palate, tonsils, uvula, roof of the mouth, upper lip and gums, and upper part of the pharynx. The parasympathetic fibers to the lacrimal nerve branch of the Ophthalmic nerve (part of the trigeminal nerve)
The nasal glands are innervated by the SPG as are the palatine glands thru the nasopalatine nerve. The greater palatine nerve and lesser palatine nerves are also fed by the SPG and their foramen are one route of blocking the ganglion. The pharyngeal nerve innervates pharyngeal glands with fibers from the SPG.
I recently gave a hands on lecture at ICCMO, the International College of CranioMandibular Orthopedics (www.ICCMO.org) to Neuromuscular Dentists on techniques for doing Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks. A women dentist with a severe migraine had 100% relief within minutes and stated it was the best she could remember feeling.
There are numerous approaches for doing SPG Blocks, an intra-oral injection thru the greater palatine foramen is frequently utilized during oral surgery procedures. The Extra-oral injection is done either thru the masseter muscle but the preferred method is from above (and behind) the zygomatic arch. Is is sometimes done under fluoroscopy but is actually very easy without, especially for dentists who are the experts in this area of anatomy and the Trigeminal nervous system.
The third approach is thru the nose, and there are three different instruments designed to deliver anaesthetic to the ganglion thru the nasal mucosa. This is basically a “squit gun” technique. The devices are the Sphenocath, The TX360 and Allevio. The Sphenocath was utilized at my hands-on instruction at the ICCMO meeting.
The last method of delivering the SPG Block is with hollow cotton tipped applicators. This is an extremely inexpensive method that patients can learn to self administer at home and can be safely repeated as needed. These can dramatically change the quality of life overnight especially when utilized in conjunction with a diagnostic neuromuscular orthotic to remove noxious input to the Trigeminal Nerve.
Please view the following Patient testimonials specifically coccerning Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks. The book “Miracles on Park Avenue” was published in the late 1980’s and discusses a wide variety of other problems successfully treated with Sphenoplaatine Ganglion blocks including Fibromyalgia.
http://thinkbetterlife.com/patient-testimonials/
Find out more at www.ThinkBetterLife.com
www.delanydentalcare.com
www.ihateheadaches.org
https://www.sleepandhealth.com/node/663
http://thinkbetterlife.com/crps-chicago-complex-regional-pain-syndrome-can-respond-spg-blocks/
Miracles om Park Avenue is available as a free download at:
http://www.ectechnano.com/miracles-on-park-avenue.html