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Jane
Jane, a 33 year old civil servant, transferred to
working with the CSA - a high stress job, with Jane
being regularly subjected to aggressive clients.
The aggression was focused down the telephone -
Jane never met any of the clients. Normally, relaxed
and easy going with an exemplary sickness record,
Jane began to go home with a headache which she
described as being like "someone had put a
tight band around my head". Over the next three
months Jane's headaches increased in severity, lasted
for longer and began to cause problems in her marriage.
Her partner insisted that she should go to the doctor.
Ever the professional civil servant, Jane insisted
that things would settle down when she had got into
the swing of her new job. She treated herself with
Ibuprofen - an over the counter pain killer, but
found that she was needing to take more pain relief
as each week went by. Her work began to suffer and
instead of arriving home looking forward to her
evening, Jane began to look forward to a large glass
of wine to mask the pain she was in. Jane did consult
her doctor who prescribed a more powerful pain killer.
One of Jane's work colleagues told her about tooth
related headaches - she had read a leaflet in one
of our member's waiting rooms. Jane was examined
and a small plastic deprogrammer made for her to
wear at home or in the car. All of Jane's pain went
in 30 minutes but came back over a few hours when
she took the deprogrammer out. The diagnosis having
been confirmed, a special plastic block was prescribed
which the patient could wear at work, home or when
driving. Four months later, minute changes were
made into how Jane's teeth fitted and slid against
each other. This procedure was painless and required
no injections. Jane has not had any headaches since
1996.
Comment:
Jane was clearly living within her normal
limitations in her previous job. The addition of
significant stress from her new job was the factor
which pushed Jane into developing her headaches.
Jane had three choices. Either change job, have
occlusal treatment or both. Jobs don't grow on trees
any more so treatment was appropriate and sensible.
The final outcome was a happy patient who has since
recommended several of her colleagues to our member. |
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