I am almost finished with my 9 physical therapy treatments and I am feeling worse. My jaw is almost constantly sore and my shoulders/neck are still sore. I've also been getting headaches everyday. My TMJ symptoms were doing pretty good and then started hurting again and now they are worse. I thought I'd have to get worse before it got better but since the treatment is almost finished I thought I'd be feeling better by now. Has anyone else gotten worse with physical therapy? Thank god for Advil, that's the only thing that seems to help so far. My TMJ doctor's office is closed today, I left a message for them. But since it's the weekend I just wondered if this happened to anyone else.

I had posted before that I have had TMJ since I was about 12, I'm 34 now. After all that I went through in high school and early college I've been feeling really good besides the occasional headaches. I was in a car accident (totally not my fault) last year and now have my TMJ symptoms back. I started seeing a TMJ specialist and I have a splint that I wear at night now. For 3 months I wore it all the time. It helped alot for the first 7-8 months and now the symptoms come and go. Will I be going through periods like this the rest of my life? I am soo bummed that this was all brought back on by a car accident. I will go see my TMJ specialist again as soon as I can get in.
One more question, what is the best way to put heat on my jaw. I've been putting a wash cloth in the microwave but it doesn't stay hot for long. I'm sure there's something out there, I just haven't been to the store.
Thanks!
Marianne