I have had myofascial pain syndrome for over 4 years now. I have pain in throughout my body, weakened strength, muscle spasms, nystagmus and tinnitus. I have seen well over 20 doctors, had multiple visits to the hospital and paid out of pocket in excess of 14 thousand dollars and spent much more than that with insurance. I have had periods where I also had intense nausea. I have tried supplements such as magnesium and vitamins and physical therapy for trigger points. I have been researching my symptoms for years now and discovering more possible causes and treatments. I have avoided trigger point injections because I do not believe them to address the cause and I believe them to be harmful. I have also not had any prescriptions except for a week or two after visiting the hospital to help with severe symptoms using ativan (I believe) though it didn’t really help much. I notice often my muscles will be firing off and spasming at random times during the day and my muscles feel very stiff. I also have pain in the face, electric like shocks in the face and weakened jaw from chewing. I have had a splint made for my jaw to re-allign it from a neuromuscular dentist, but this has only helped the jaw slightly and not addressed the pain in other parts of the body or other symptoms. Recently I have been feeling that I want some relief from the pain or thinking that my problem my need to be addressed internally or at the cellular level rather than purely externally through manipulation. I have done lots of research over the years and recently came upon a drug called Marinol that people seem to say helps with fibromialgia (a similar condition to MPS) as well as muscle spasms I also believe it is a vasodilator so it should help bring more oxygen into the tissue. It appears that lack of oxygen is a central problem that causes trigger points to form. I’m very much apposed to NSAI drugs because of their harm to the liver and because they can cause tinnitus as well as opiates and other drugs because of the harm they do. However I read about Marinol and learned it is a cannabinoid, which is a very safe drug compared to almost all other drugs available. What I want to know is 1. Do you think Marinol would provide relief from my pain and be less harmful than these other alternatives 2. Is there any process you would recommend when looking for a doctor that would help me using a method of treatment that I am conformable with who works well with chronic pain? The problem I’ve had is that every physical therapist or doctor has some physical therapy or diagnostic scan idea they want me to try and it keeps draining my money and it never gives me any relief. Would an osteopath be a good idea, or a chronic pain specialist or what would you recommend so I can try this approach to treating my trigger points and myofascial pain?

Thank you.
Added details: I have seen a neurologist and he said he didn’t think it was Multiple sclerosis or trigeminal neuralgia. Though I do have the symptoms of TN because the trigger points are making the muscles in my face spasm and pinch my trigeminal nerve. I also get numbness and tingling in my lips and face. As far as Marinol, it was approved for off label use in the 90’s. All of the text I’ve seen on MPS seem to say that trigger points are caused by ischema, which means lack of oxygen in the tissue. Thats why I think a drug that can function as a vascodialator and stop muscle spasms would be so helpful.

Filed under: Tinnitus Treatment

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