TMD-injured voice-actor can only articulate after taking Ambien, seeks medical help

Jeffrey sez, "Tom Rohe is a professional voice actor. He had a tooth extracted in 2009 and was then diagnosed with TMD, which left him unable to speak properly, and therefore unable work. Curiously, when he takes Ambien, his speech returns. Tom made this video (and another one) to try and get some help. He's not looking for a handout, he's looking for a referral to a specialist. At the very least, this is one of the WEIRDEST things..."

It is absolutely bizarre -- it's hard to believe that the same guy is speaking before and after. I can only imagine that if this was my mouth (and livelihood), I'd be out of my mind trying to find someone who could figure out what the hell was going on.

Thomas Rohe Ambien Effect BEFORE & AFTER (Thanks, Jeffrey!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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misty matonis

Not necessarily weird. I’ve had TMJ since having my braces removed… back in 1986, when they didn’t know what it was yet. Nowadays, they take molds and build a sleep plate that can help when you’ve chronic TMJ like guys has. It may help, but generally, relaxation exercises one learns in V&M classes can really help a lot.
- Snig
  
  Voice and mastication classes? Viola and mandolin? Vodkas and martinis are also relaxing, but you don’t really need a class for that. What are V&M classes?
  - Josh Freeman
    
    I think Voice and Movement. It’s a standard workshop class in actor training.
    - Snig
      
      Thanks!
      - THOMAS ROHE
        
        If I could control the tongue movement it’d be a different story. THat’s why speech therapy doesnt work. The tongue is bouncing around on its own.
http://twitter.com/SarahWW Sarah Wells

A possible mechanism … an overstimulated nerve calms down. Here is an anecdote - http://www.sleepnet.com/insomnia10/messages/513.html
http://chipandre.com Chip

This is probably related (some how) to ambien’s ability to wake up patients who are in a persistent vegetative state. It’s pretty incredible, and nobody has any idea how it works, but in most cases, it does seem to work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/sep/12/health.healthandwellbeing
- Roach McKrackin
  
  Has there been any follow-up to this since 2006?
  - http://chipandre.com Chip
    
    Here’s an article from a few weeks ago:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/magazine/can-ambien-wake-minimally-conscious.html?pagewanted=all
    
    It’s still being studied, but the effects are so erratic that nobody is quite sure how to proceed. Some respond better than others, but most seem to respond at least a little. A few of the early trial patients are conscious full-time now, though with some mental impairment. Others see declining results over time until the drug has little to no effect.
Matan Rochlitz

Legalize it!

Oh wait…
http://twitter.com/inkhead ck

I know this doesn’t exactly explain why, but THIS EXACT SAME thing happens to someone I know. They use something similar since the medication is for ‘hypnotic’ they use a xanax or valium or ativan to do the same thing. Can you ask him to try a xanax and see if it has the same effect? If he’s a regular xanax user he will need to take a bigh dose or switch to a benzo that he hasn’t used recently. He has a slight brain disorder (probably all his life) and $50 says he had benzo withdraw at the time his tooth was extracted.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  Nope nothing else works and I’ve tried a lot. They relax me, but not the speech ability.
wolcotte

Massage is very effective for TMJ, he just has to find someone who does medical massage. The jaw muscles are very, very powerful (and complex) and if they are in spasm the mouth doesn’t work correctly. It’s fairly simple, but unfortunately we as a culture go for drugs before simple methods like stretching and massage.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  I have a physical therapy team who have done very well at just that. I’m going to be seeing them again soon once insurance returns.
brerrabbit23

TMJ is the joint, TMD is the (array of) disorder.

Ambien is a GABA interceptor that works like (but isn’t) a benzo.

Most everything we compel ourselves to do is run through lots and lots of cyclical doublechecks within the brain which verify that our original intent is being manifested. So…

I’m guessing (wildly), but my first thought is that something about his tooth extraction created a “fake” nerve impulse that his brain has trouble parsing. Again guessing, my first thought is that Ambien is maybe getting lucky and interfering with the receptors responsible for the “noise on the line”, cleaning up the feedback loops and verifying for Tom’s brain that the instruction he’s sending to his mouth in order to speak is being carried out cleanly.

I’m not a doctor, or an expert, but my first guess would be to go speak to a neurologist.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  I’m seeing another Neuro next week. Fingers crossed.
  - elix
    
    Good luck, and I hope you beat this, sir. It sounds awful.
  - brerrabbit23
    
    Good luck, man.
    
    I wish I could just reach through the screen and tweak it better for you.
http://www.joannao.blogspot.com JoannaOC

I had severe TMJ pain from grinding my teeth in my sleep, but a dentist corrected my bite (how the surfaces of the teeth matched), and I was able to ditch the night-time mouthguard (horrible) and have had no pain since. He should at least have that checked out, but that doesn’t explain the effect of the Ambien.
http://tendentious.org/author/mdorman/ Michael Alan Dorman

This reminds me of nothing so much as the story of the creation of the “Alexander technique”—a professional orator finds himself experiencing loss of the ability to vocalize during performance, with no discernable organic cause. Over years of self-study, he was able to remove the habituated patterns of tension that were apparently the root of the problem.
Snig

TMJ is frequently a problem associated with a cluster of muscles associated with masitication/speech/swallowing. For the jaw to do everything it does, it has to do a bit of a trapeze act, and when spasm/tightness/dyscoordination occurs in one or more of the muscle groups pain and dysfunction occur. I (chiropractor) work on it, some PT’s and osteopaths do as well, but not all chiros, PT’s or osteos do. My bias is to go with someone who will do deep tissue work/exercise and stretching, then if that isn’t working, try mobilization. The dental/oral surgery route is often mouthpiece, meds and then surgery. Night mouthpiece will help some. Some dentists also do the manual therapy approach, but certainly not most. Surgery is sometimes suggested, but this is significantly more invasive then the other approaches mentioned. I really wouldn’t try it unless you’ve exhausted noninvasive approaches. Other medical approaches would be trigger point injections with lidocaine or possibly botox.

Some folks with spasmodic dysphonia (similar problem, likely different muscles) get good results with botox (see Diane Rehm) My guess would be the Ambien’s reducing the spasm in a few muscles, wouldn’t guess which without an exam. I’d guess he can’t stay awake and be on that 24/7, but if meds help, a low dose muscle relaxer might be a good stopgap treatment.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  MUscle relaxers help over all but don’t seem to allow the muscles controlling speech to proceed favorably. The only thing work is the Ambien. Sometimes it’s miraculous as in the video and others it’s partial and I can speak somewhat clearly still with the tongue moving incorrectly and neck extended.
Ashen Victor

As a voice actor myself I have to say that losing the ability to correctly articulate words is like a violinist losing his hands.
Snig

The most common question I get on TMJ (yes TMD is correct, but patients never say “I have TMD”) is “My jaw cracks, does that mean I have TMJ?”. In general, noise without pain or dysfunction is just a good party trick, don’t worry about it, if it hurts, it’s worth looking at. Also applies to knees, spines and shoulders. Also, if you have TMJ problems, don’t chew gum.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  I’m still suffering from TMD issues, but it had improved with physical therapy and internal manipulation. The jaw forwarding appliance just made things massively worse.
BunnyShank

If he does want to pursue the muscle over activation route, with botox or other interventions to decrease jaw opening, Dr. Arnold E Aronsen is one of The experts in treatment of non-volitional intermittent vocal fold opening (Spastic Dysphonia), I think he’s at the Mayo Clinic now, or he may still be in Orange County.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  I’m holding off on the botox and I may be ignorant about but it is…botox. Im hoping other therapies can bring some relief before I do that.
Will Evans

I’m a speech-language pathologist. I’m sending this video around to some colleagues and will report back.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  Thanks Will!
  - Will Evans
    
    Hi Thomas. I showed this to my team at lunch. Thanks for posting more of the back-story below.
    
    I’m just going to give you some of our impressions, as current medical practices do not allow for medial diagnoses in blog posts (and would be way above my pay grade regardless):
    
    The general consensus was that what you’re demonstrating is NOT what we would expect see if it resulted from direct cranial nerve damage (trigeminal or otherwise) during your wisdom teeth removal.
    
    Something else is clearly going on, which is why I’m glad to hear you’ve had imaging to rule out stroke/TIA. The discussion relating to dystonia is probably a much better explanation of what is going on. That is what your presentation looks like in the first part of your video, at least. The problem is that as a field, we don’t know as much about dystonias as we would like. Many are idopathic.
    
    That’s where that comment about ‘conversion disorder’ comes in. *Sometimes* (but definitely not always) there is an emotional/cognitive element present in dystonias. It doesn’t make it any less of a medical condition (since *everything* happens in the brain), but when present it shifts the etiology and the potential avenues for treatment (such as stress reduction and dealing with a precipitating emotional event).
    …
    
    Now this part WAY outside my scope of practice, but GABAergic agents like Ambien are sometimes prescribed to treat dystonias. That could potentially explain what you experienced:
    http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/dystonias/detail_dystonias.htm#187943257
    
    Finally, as a minor terminology note for the comments below, you’re presenting with a dysarthria, not a dysphonia (but you probably already knew that).
    
    Best of luck with your diagnosis and treatment. I’m glad you’re seeing another neurologist.
    
    -Will
Amanda Stoffer

Before becoming a professional lay-about, I was trained and worked for a short time as a massage therapist. I quit, in small part, because the real benefits of the treatment were vastly overshadowed by the amount of wack-a-doodle alt-med and questionable merchandising I was expected to sell along with the therapy. That being said, I did get some experience working with patients suffering from TMJ. A couple were the result of direct nerve or muscle injury after an accident, and one was because of a tooth extraction. (It’s been several years, though, so take this all with a grain of salt since, like I said, I’m not a Dr. and I’ve slept since then.) Ambien and other hypnotic meds like it work because they help relax voluntary muscles. When a nerve is damaged, it can cause a muscle to go into involuntary spasm, or stiffening. The jaw is essentially a powerful hinge, so if you can imagine the jaw muscles being rubber bands, nerve damage can cause the bands to go rigid. If the muscle itself is damaged, it can go into what’s called “muscle guarding” – the equivalent of your muscle going, “Ow, back off, don’t f**k with me!” In the case of muscle guarding, some people find relief by “retraining” the injured muscle(s) not to be so gun-shy using manual manipulation – massaging the muscle until it “learns” to relax again. It can be kind of invasive, as it may involve someone sticking their finger into your mouth to get better access to the O/I points, but for some people, I understand that the treatment can be successful. The results, like any type of physical therapy, aren’t instant. (Some of my cohorts swore by a technique called “Cranial-Sacral Therapy”, which is in the same vein although I can’t vouch for its efficacy directly.) Some people may still need to supplement their condition with a prescription drug. It all depends on the type and extent of the injury or illness. If I could give advice directly, it would be to find a Physical Therapy specialist, or, in the event he can’t get to/afford one, a **reputable** Chiro (as their massage therapists tend to be licensed and have more experience with site-specific therapy as opposed to the general relaxation massage you find in salons or resorts). They have their place, but long term use of hypnotics, and the other powerful drugs that are often prescribed in tandem as supplementary boosters/pain relievers, can have really nasty side and withdraw effects if they aren’t managed correctly. There is nothing worse than seeing an honest man, wrecked by long-term suffering, destroyed because of addiction to the very pills designed to cure him.
- EH
  
  Is there some Google Filter for “TMJ” that brings out all the anti-drugs massage people or something?
  - Joshua Ochs
    
    If you’re in a situation where time is not of the essence and you can try several therapies, start with the least invasive and move on from there – you have little to lose but time, and may find simpler solutions. Where I take a dim view of “alternative” medicine is when it’s trying to treat something that requires urgent care or especially where no epidemiological link can be found between treatment and the illness. That’s not the case here – the hypothesis that this is muscle spasm related appears sound, and massage is commonly effective for that – so this seems like a reasonable approach.
    
    I’m from a western medical background, and while I’ll be the first to advise drugs where they’re needed, that doesn’t mean we should use them for everything – especially when there’s a high incidence of side effects, physical or psychological addiction, or tolerance. Ambien is a long way from popping a couple Advil.
    - Snig
      
      Agree. I’m an “alt med” practitioner, but don’t discourage med use as long as someone isn’t obviously overdosing themselves. With a patient like this I’d likely give them a months trial of treatment, but have them get an appointment with a physiatrist (neurologist isn’t bad either, physiatrists were the first around my area to begin use of botox for this kind of problem), if they’re not seeing any improvement after two weeks treatment.
      
      I mentioned botox, but the side effect of paralyzing a muscle of the jaw for 3-6 months may be undesirable for anyone, especially someone in his line of work.
      
      Amanda did say meds have their place, and I’d agree. Ambien isn’t for long term use. I’m sorry if the suggestion of massage aggravates your imagined scientific sensibilities but “it feels funny so try rubbing it” is a pretty hardwired response in critters for a good reason. Massage certainly helps many.
      - THOMAS ROHE
        
        Massage is part of my physical therapy regimen both inside the mouth and around the head, neck and shoulders. It brings short time relief, but does make things better in the long run with less muscle cramping and reduced tongue movement.
    - http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
      
      I think if you live in the US you have to legally be on a prescription drug at all times.
      - Joshua Ochs
        
        And… the signal to noise ratio on the internet drops a little more.
  - Amanda Stoffer
    
    Nope. And I’ve certainly never been accused of being “anti-drug” before – in fact, I am not ashamed to say I fully support the movement against marijuana prohibition, which is a far different animal than many of the uber-potent mainstream drugs currently offered. Like I said in the post, these kinds of chemicals, such as Ambien, have their place – short term. It’s the long-term and/or multi-drug use that can become a serious problem, especially in people with chronic or idiopathic conditions. Do all people who use prescriptions long term develop complications? Of course not. Do all of them become pill popping street addicts? Again, no. But many of the drugs that are used for muscular-skeletal injuries, such as hypnotics and narcotics, individually carry a high risk of tolerance/dependence, and when they are combined with drugs that compliment and boost those effects, the risk becomes much greater. For example, for a short time I had the unsettling yet rewarding experience of working with work-comp and low-income patients that had sustained long-lasting, sometimes debilitating injuries. Many of them had been on multi-drug cocktails for quite some time, and their doses had to be raised over and over again because they had built up a tolerance. When the insurance ran out, or they were cut off for whatever reason, many of them then had to go through the experience of detoxing by themselves, on top of managing their already-unmanageable symptoms . Most of these patients were not people who popped pills just to get high. There were patients that did everything they could – physical therapy, massage, chiro, meds, diet, mainstream, alt-med, you name it, to get a break from sheer agony just so they could go back to work, or pick up their kids, cook a meal, or even walk without assistance. It was heartbreaking. Years later, when my husband came back from deployment with a half-pack of kidney stones on either side, I found out the hard way that sometimes the military’s idea of treatment is a switch rotation of pain killers and a hope that you don’t get hooked. He didn’t, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have to sweat it out a bit when he had to go cold turkey while waiting for Uncle Sam to pencil him for surgery back here in the States. In either case, if there was a chance that a non-narcotic solution could have worked instead, I’d have jumped at the chance to offer it, and that is why I made the suggestion of manual therapy – although a specialist, such as a Physical Therapist, should always be a first option after your primary if you can afford it. Some people can’t. (And for the record, no, it just so happens I frequent boingboing quite often, and am familiar with Mr. Doctorow’s work from other geek culture sites as well. I just don’t participate much because my vice is verbosity – a trait not synonymous with successful ‘net interaction.)
    - THOMAS ROHE
      
      I have an excellent physical therapy team at Cornerstone Physical Therapy in the Asheville area. They’ve done some pretty amazing work on me. What sucks is insurance has run out for the year. I can pick back up in January.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  Great points Amanda thanks!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VOYB46DAHOFEZV64LAVXQFQMVU Cool K

In 2005 I had three wisdoms removed, and within a month I was extremely sick and in the hospital. After the extraction I got sick for a day or two, but got better. About a week later, I had a dry socket (which was pretty freakin’ painful). After that, my jaw started tightening up. For about two weeks I worked (as a chef) not being able to eat because my jaw closing more and more each day. I got by with protein shakes. Eventually I went to the hospital, where the shit hit the fan. I became very ill while there. I had lockjaw and 104 fever. I was on vancomycin and it had no effect. After a week, I had jaw surgery to clean out any infection. There was none. When I was put under, my jaw dropped open. As soon as I woke up, it tightened. I was discharged and after PT my jaw was fully open about 3 months later. They never figured out what caused it. The body does some pretty weird shit sometimes.
http://twitter.com/ablestmage ablestmage

There is a similar uncertainty between the use of high blood pressure medications like Inderal/Propranolol, that ease sufferers of Essential Tremors who have no high blood pressure symptoms, but the tremors settle down significantly (but lowers pulse as a consequence). .
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  I take HBP medications, but seem to work just on the BP issue.
jackbird

Is this at all similar to what Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams experienced? I recall something about him having to retrain himself to speak for mysterious reasons, but a quick Wikipedia check either softened that claim or medicalized it from what I remember.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  It is similar in theory to what Adams experienced I for the term for it. I just read about it yesterday, but is different.
- Snig
  
  Possibly similar mechanism/process, different region.
  He had spasmodic dysphonia.
  http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-08/ff_adams?currentPage=all
SomeGuyNamedMark

The brain does as much suppression of signaling as it does promoting them. Many neurological issues stem from uncontrolled neural firing. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Ambien was allowing these suppression neurons to function properly.
helpfuldoc

It’s most likely a task-specific focal dystonia. Injury and frequent use can be triggers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_dystonia
- EH
  
  Sounds like Diane Rehm territory
  - THOMAS ROHE
    
    It’s not in the larynx though. It’s more muscular throughout the tongue, mouth muscles and shoulders.
- THOMAS ROHE
  
  I was fine prior to the extraction. No problems at all.
Guest

This is the same Ambien that “caused” at least two members of congress to do extraordinaily weird things that cause one to question their electability? See: David Wu and Patrick Kennedy.
Svenski

I think he needs to see a neurologist. This looks almost exactly like what happened to me. I had what is called Oralmandibular Dystonia. It is a neurological condition where the brain sends too many signals to the nerves in the jaw muscles. I had to get Botox injections every three months in order to talk or eat. Then, it just went away and I haven’t needed the injections since.

I went to Dr. Chung in the neurological dept. at Kaiser on Sunset in Hollywood.
http://twitter.com/MBeau MBeau

I am surprised no one suggests marijuana.

I remember vividly the first time I saw an MS patient smoke marijuana. And the first time I spoke with someone who frequently had epilepsy who took marijuana pills with high CBD (marijuana has THC which is the psychoactive part and CBD which is the muscle and pain relaxer) and there were drastic visible effects.

I would suggest trying high CBD marijuana…even in pills or liquid form (you don’t get any THC high) Can’t hurt….honestly.

PS. For those interested http://youtu.be/eM96D55AchI 3:30 into the documentary by David Suzuki.
THOMAS ROHE

Hey I know that guy in that video! ;-) Thanks Jeffrey for posting this up. I want to give a little more background about me and the condition. If you count getting in to radio in 1978, I’ve been making a living with my voice for 33 (good lord!) years. I became a full-time freelance voice actor around 1986 and became very successful at doing things with my voice that used to get me in trouble in school. To say I’ve been blessed in an understatement. I was never a major player in the top markets, but thankfully worked a bunch and had some national accounts like Circuit City (when they were in biz), Nissan, Lenscrafters and others. I generally did 5-20 spots a day. When I had a falling out with a studio that repped me for many years, I started my own company, SunSpots Productions (http://www.sunspotsproductions.com/ ) and with a lot of help, it’s become a major supplier of voice talent and audio production worldwide. But for me, my true love is/was voicing. Yeah I complained when copy was too long or felt misdirected, but it’s still my baby.

I’m a very creative person and being a voice talent was ME. Running a business was never my thing and thanks to my business partner, Janet Walton, she makes sure we’re doing the best work we can, instead of sitting around eating cookies and watching Maury during biz hours if I was at the helm. My point is, I was a voice talent. I was the kid playing with a tape recorder doing voices and imitations, I did the high school announcements, I got in to radio soon after high school (when I learned that selling shoes was not my life’s dream).

So that’s my “yeah I was REALLY in to voicing” background.

On November 30, 2009 I decided to get a wisdom tooth removed that had been catching food under a little bit of skin around it and was being troublesome. Since that time of year was generally slow for me I thought I could get it yanked and wouldn’t miss too much voice work. I was doing sessions right up to the day the tooth was removed. I even have a Youtube video to prove (yeah there’s been doubters) that I was in fine health and speaking clearly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaxuYMbk8Ss&feature=g-upl

What I remember from the tooth extraction was the sound of broken glass being ground, my mouth being forced way too wide open and lots and lots of pulling. I remember being surprised at how violent it was. A friend drove me home and I recovered. Soon I was voicing again, but I noticed the numbed, novocaine feeling was still there and still is today. There’s a spot on my lower lip towards the front left that still feels numb and even on tongue in the rear left. The wisdom tooth was in the far rear left.

Within a few weeks I noticed a click developing and I found it increasingly difficult to say certain words especially those with L’s in them. I noticed my bite was a little different too. I thought all this would go away. In Spring of 2010 I went to see my doctor complaining about the click and my weird speaking. She didn’t know what to think. A little while later I returned to her and she made a video of me because my speech was really starting to slur. She sent me to a neurologist who didn’t know what to think, but suspected (I’ve read his notes) that possibly the trigeminal nerve was damaged during the extraction. I had MRI and CT scans with contrast done to check for any stroke or possible TIA. Nothing negative was found, however the MRI did show TMJ displacement or TMD.

She sent to me a TMJ specialist who made a jaw forward positioning appliance. IT was terrible. It didn’t help and my speech continued to deteriorate. I went to see chiropractors, I’ve seen an acupuncturist, speech therapists, more tmj specialists, an EN&T doc (who said you’ve got nerve damage see the Neuro), I’ve seen two neurologists (one thinks this is conversion disorder…she’s not used to “theatrical/actor type” people I think) and am seeing my original neurologist next week to try to get referred to a teaching hospital like Shands, Duke or Mayo. I’ve seen a psychiatrist who on the second visit said he’s plenty of patients where traditional medicine tells the patient they don’t know what it is so it’s “your” fault. Thankfully he laughed about it, gave me something for depression and said let’s see each other in six month. It thought it was neuro based also.

From the time I wake my tongue starts to move on its own. It slightly protrudes or moves inside the mouth almost constantly. My lips slightly quiver also. Chewing is difficult. I’m in almost constant pain from the shoulders to above my eyebrows. I’ve had some luck, very temporary, with an excellent physical therapist I see. He works the interior mouth muscles. It hurts like a mofo, but I do get some temporary relief from the spasms at least. I still can’t speak clearly, but there’s diminished pain.

In addition to traditional med, I’m looking in to getting Needling Therapy, which I’ve had done once and produced instant albeit very temporary results lasting just a few minutes.

I’ve written too much, but I wanted to people to know I didn’t just wake up this way. There was a physical action taken (the tooth removal) and soon after I progressively lost my ability to speak. It’s been devastating emotionally and financially. Thankfully I’m in the “acceptance” phase of grief. Now, 6 months ago I’d be crying on the keyboard. Shite happens. The lesson is how we deal with it. The whole experience has been an amazing life lesson of humility, recognizing what is truly valuable in life, it’s not my Jag or mulitple houses (trying to sell all), but it’s simply down to relationships with friends and family and even online friendships. We’re all connected to each other more than we ever realized.

The Ambien effect, by the way, was just a surprise benefit one night. I had taken it and stayed up late. I said something to my girlfriend and could not believe I could speak. It was a very positive shock!

That’s my exciting action packed tale of woe..though I prefer WHOA what a story. If you think you or know someone who can help I’m located both in the Asheville, NC area and Orlando, FL area, that’s where SunSpots studios are. Drop me an email at tom(at)mysunspots.com.

I tell ya, when this thing gets fixed, man, we are going to throw one helluva party and you’re invited!

Thanks for caring and listening.
Tom
Thomas Rohe aka Tom Cassidy
Here’s Tom Cassidy demo page at SunSpots: http://www.sunspotsproductions.com/Voice_talent_detail.cfm?id=2
- http://www.facebook.com/RhiLx Rhiannon RhingaLinge Linge-Bro
  
  good luck to you! as an artist I cannot imagine what you are experiencing. I really hope someone out there can help. I know it sounds silly, But have you thought of contacting one of those tv doctor shows? In the very least it would help to get you “out there.” Once again, best of luck, and I hope you are soon back to doing what you love! :)
regondi

I have musician’s focal dystonia. There are a lot of interesting ideas floating around in the musican’s FD community. It seems TMD is perhaps related to FD(?) I wonder if there is anyone else with either TMD or FD who takes Zolpidem with any effect. I will post this question on some of the FD discussion boards.
Lane Yarbrough

He’s half asleep. There’s a disconnect that happens, some mild and some severe, I experienced both.

I took Ambien/Zolpidem for many months. I now have amnesia; entire blocks of memory have been either erased or temporarily forgotten, including $30, 000 worth of college education.

Finding out things can be fun too. I discovered I know how to refinish furniture, cook and bake, repair just about anything. When I came out of the fog, I wrote out my entire life, trying to remember who I was. I created different Google calendars and maps and recreated my movements through life.

I’m still discovering things I like, which is nice. But my photo album scares me. I don’t remember countries I’ve visited. I don’t remember that sailing trip, where I’m happily showing off a caught barracuda. Where am I?

However, I write a lot, more than I ever have. My “fantasies” become easy fiction. My mind seems to be more open to ideas and possibilities, I can write just about anything. My dream world is amazing too. I really don’t consider myself “sleeping” anymore. I simply visit other places and worlds. I remember everything when I “return to reality”, but rested.
I’m angry about the loss of my education, but equally happy about my expanded and easily accessible imagination.
Dr. Bill Costaras

Tom, I’m a dentist in the Midwest treating dozens of TMD patients every month and have seen symptoms similar to yours. The uncontrollable movement is known as tardive dyskinesia, which is an extreme complication of TMD. I treat TMD using a neuromuscular technique to reposition the mandible (lower jaw) but not necessarily in a forward position. Moving the jaw forward without proper management will exacerbate TMD pain and symptoms. You might seek out a local dentist who is associated with professional academies dedicated to TMD treatment, like the Academy of Craniofacial Pain (aacfp.org) or the Academy of Orofacial Pain (aaop.org).

Dr. Bill Costaras
juepucta

Best of luck beating this Mr.Rohe!
cdh1971

I’m late to the party…too bad….great discussion. Here is a link to a Pub-Med article about Ambien being used for tardive dyskinesia – mentioned above by Dr. Costaras. It discusses the effect on the molecular level:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17513028

Best wishes Mr. Rohe!
ohbejoyful

In 2005 I woke up with a frozen jaw – no triggering incident of any kind. I simply suddenly could not open my mouth any wider than about half an inch. The head of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at OHSU first prescribed a muscle relaxant, but when that had no effect, he injected Botox in 3 parts of the jaw muscle. Instant relief! And it hasn’t come back.

Best of luck to you, Tom.