i was diagnosed with chronic temporal mandibal joint disorder which has now lead to traumatic arthuritis about 5 months ago. i was suffering everything you suffered, dizziness (fainting at work), ringing in the ears, loss of vision when eating, tired after eating, numbness of hands and sheer frustration. the dizziness is caused because your mandibal joint is right near very important nerves and tissue that effect balance and vision sometimes pinched or the swelling is pressing againt the nerves.
i have been suffering from it since i was 17 (now 23) and went to doctor after doctor and they told me they didnt no what was wrong. i remeber swearing at one doctor what the f**** wrong then!
being frustrated i saw my dentist who refered me to a magnificent proffessor who deals with tmj disorders in melbourne. he writes for the australian medical journal which are the guidelines for australian doctors to follow in their practise.
After having an MRI scan done (which is the only way to pick anything up with tmj) they found that the cartilage between my jaw joints had worn away and my joints were now just bone on bone.
i now have a mouth splint i sleep with which has to be modified once a month due to me putting holes in it with my teeth from chronic clenching.
when i was about 19 i had my wisdom teeth romoved which the surgeon had to dislocate my jaw to operate inside my mouth because my mouth was too small, which the proffessor believes has worsened my condition and he has seen alot of patients with tmj worsened because of wisdom teeth extraction. and funny enough i am about the third patient with a worsened condition from the same surgeon! pure negligence. tmj can also be caused from a blow to the jaw.
not allowed to eat anything big or hard like hamburgers or nuts, very annoying cos i love these! what frustrates me the most with having tmj is that people cannot sympathise or sometimes believe the pain you are suffering because u appear to look fine and that nothing is wrong with you. which has made it difficult for me to take time off work when i cant open my mouth or have terrible pain or headaches.
the proffesor i am seeing said that there are oinly about 4 people (including himself) in australia who specify only in this field. here are a few things that may help you...
-try not to sleep on your side, sleep on your back if possible make sure your neck is supported.
-do not widen your mouth further then pain lets you
-do not sway your bottom jaw from side to side
-when yawning place your hand under your chin to restrain your jaw from moving
-when suffering from a spasm, bad pain or stiffness in your jaw place fingers on mandibal joints which you feel just infront of your ears. put some pressure and veryslowly drag your fingers down to the base of your jaw always placeing pressure.
-if seeing a doctor about tmj query about the drug paxam. its a relaxant that the prof gave and has helped me relax my jaw before going to bed.
something else you may not know is that ppl with this disorder may find that somewhere in there family may of been a case of "fibromyalgia". my mum has had this since she was little and tmj can be apart of this illness. and one of the symp[tons which goes along with fibro... is sensitivity to loud noises, bright lights and smell. which i experience with the tmj.
the proffessor i am seeing goes back and forth to america for conferences on tmj so any new news i can get out of my consutations i will post on here cos i know how dam frustrating this menace of an illness is and is!
