TMJ : my story

Hi DanielCalif,
You sound like you have taken a good step with the appointment with the TMJ dentist. TMJ can come on extremely suddenly. It did for me. You may be grinding or clenching your teeth while sleeping and/or your bite might not be perfectly balanced. It could be because you are in front of a computer monitor for longer lengths of time and your posture is poor. Your body just decided to tell you it is out-of-whack and wants you to fix it.

What have you been doing to help relieve the pain symptoms? Following are some important basic self-help information that I usually recommend:

Use lots of moist heat and/o*****.

Get enough sleep and good sleep. Keep relaxed from the head down to your toes. Go to nismat.org.ptcor/tmj so you can see a picture of how not to hold your head and body. Hold your mouth relaxed, lips together (or slightly apart), teeth apart (never to touch) and tongue resting on the roof of your mouth. I'll come back to this again.

Use ibuprofen, if you can, for pain and to reduce any swelling. Use up to 800 mg if you feel the need. Do not take motrin/ibuprofen on an empty stomach and even though I don't know the exact amount, I wouldn't take more than 1600 mg a day.

Certain supplements are also very beneficial. Chelated magnesium (or just the regular stuff) can be very helpful if you are clenching and/or grinding your teeth at night. Up to 1200 mg a day. Super Vitamin B Complex is another great one. You might even try glucosamine, fish oil, calcium and vitamin D.

If you are a stressful person or full of anxiety, these are your enemy. Anti-depressants can be very helpful for TMJ pain. It sounds crazy, but it does. If you don't want to take a prescription anti-d, you might try St. John's Wort. It's supposed to be a "natural" anti-d.

Always check with your doctor about any vitamins and supplements that you plan on trying before you start taking them.

Tension. Stress. Bad Posture. These are TMJ's biggest enemies. Please believe me. I've gone through this for 27 years and rejected the stress and posture theories when I first heard about them. What a transformation when I finally made the changes. Even with all the damage done to my joints, the pain is now very manageable. Seriously!! Use any method to de-stress or relax that you can - hot tub, exercises, Yoga, massage therapy, etc.

*** Be very selective with what you eat. When you are going through a bad phase - only liquid or softer foods for a few weeks (or months). A good idea for the next several months or years - no gum chewing, hard, crunchy, chewy or gooey foods. Treat your mouth like it has been sprained (like a knee). Baby it. Rest it and that does mean to talk as little as possible. Believe me, I understand the enormous inconvenience of TMJ.

More - be careful about opening your mouth wide for a long period of time and try to never pop your jaw as it came cause damage to the joints.

I have to go back to posture as this is so very important with the computer age now. Evaluate how you are sitting in front of a computer or desk. Your back should be reasonably straight, shoulders back and down, neck and head over body with the chin down (not too far down). Be very careful to not thrust your neck/head/chin up or out towards the computer to see the screen better (or any other reason). No slouching. Go back to the nismat.org (tmj pt) website again for more directions on proper posture and good basic info on tmj.

TMJ can cause tinnitus and hearing loss. Thankfully I didn't notice a hearing loss until I was almost 50 and even later developed tinnitus. The younger you are the easier your body can repair itself with your help. Become as knowledgeable as possible about TMJ and ears. Now, relax. You are on the right track.

Please let us know how the appointment goes. And sorry for the length.

God bless...
Carol

Thank you very much for your support.

My current job has me infront of the computer 10-13 hours a day (Yeah i work my butt off) maybe that could be adding to the pain/hearing loss?

I haven't really done much to help with the pain besides some tylonal here and there. I've always had depression, I recently stopped taking the meds seeming I felt secure, but now that you mention it it may help with the TMJ. I've been taking the medications for over 9 years.

Also, from what I'm hearing from friends and doctors is the swelling is causing the hearing loss, so once the swelling goes down my hearing should be normal

Another thing I was curious about was, and from what I previously said was in question although It might not have sounded like it:

Is the swelling permanent?

It shouldn't be, but it's impossible to really answer. Try and use ice wrapped in a towel for 15 minutes several times during the day. The ibuprofen/motin/advil will definitely help with any swelling.

Again, I can't stress enough about your posture in front of the computer monitor, especially now that I know you spend so many hours on one. The posture that is often seen now strains the muscles and ligaments and even attempts to pull the meniscus out of its jaw joint causing spasms and pain. You really need to address this issue AND stress.

Please take care and God bless you,
Carol

swelling isnt permanent. you can controll it with ibuprophen etc and will go away when you get the problem solved.which you will. I agree with what carol said. Sorry I wasnt on sooner. Im currently without a computer of my own so i depend on and hour and a half at the library. but im house sitting this week with a computer so I should be on more. if you need me pm me or email me at anytime.

That sounds good, I'll have to get away from the computer a bit. My health is more important then my job.

Also, are there any vitamins/foods i should take daily to help heal my jaw?.
I seem to be yawning alot, i try my best to keep my mouth closed but some times its just to hard!

I'm really Interested in what the X-rays show, should find out on Thursday.
Honestly I'm thinking it has something to do with my teeth being so crowded, they were really hurting bad prior to this flare in TMJ, infact they kinda just pushed themselves between the other teeth. The Dentist who had taken X-Rays for my Root Canal tried to tell me that the teeth had come in all the way, but if that was true then why are my teeth shifting more and are impacted in my gums?.

Such a mess I have to deal with, and how amazing it is all of you share the same problems.

dont be suprized if the x rays are inconclusive. you may not see anything wrong. if you have an mri keep in mind that it is only 20%accurate. keep your chin up and keep us informed.

Another question I had that maybe some of you might have the answer to would be: Does TMJ cause your heart beat to be a little to fast (im not anxious right now). My fingers seem to be some what numb, and they are absoluetley freezing, stiff. Also it seems that my Head gets really hot for a few minutes then goes back to normal.

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it but I'm sweating a bit, neck is really stiff, my heart beat some times skips sending some what kind of a shock up to my head. Also been having higher then normal blood pressure.

Ive been doing this a long time and to my knowlege this is not caused by tmd-----you need to go get checked out by your doctor asap. In fact I wouldnt have taken the time to post and wait for an answer---Im worried. go to the doc please.

Things are calm.

My pains last night turned out to be just fine,

I went to see the doctor today, he took pictures and impressions. In the process he had a machine connected to my joints giving electric pulses, it really helped. I have a temporary bite guard that really seems to be helping, kind of like a crutch. i'm hoping this will solve the problem with the swelling behind my ears. From what he told me today was that it's not my bone thats giving me the problem, only the tissue inflamed because my bite is restless searching for a comfortable place to rest.

this is good news. I assume that you are going to a neuromuscular dentist from the fact that you were tensed. You have made an exellent choice. bravo. you should be good in no time.


So last night went ok for you too?

Yes! I saw the Neuro doctor, well he does Dentist work too!

This temp mouth piece has my mouth a bit sore, but it should calm. I feel a change in my ears a little bit, not to much. I'm thinking good things so far, I can't wait to see what happens in a few days after wearing this piece.

Out of your guys years of Exp with TMJ, what do you feel will happen? Do you think the swelling will go down now that this piece is resting my jaw?

It should Daniel, but you also probably need to take some anti-inflammatories (advil) for a while. Just don't take it on a empty stomach. Also, treat your jaw like it is sprained - be very gentle, talking little, eating only softer foods, no yawning, etc. And use ice for 15 minutes at a time a few times a day. Did you return to taking your anti-d? What kind is it? SSRI anti-d's can cause night-time bruxism but since they help so much, don't stop taking them. Add perhaps 7.5 mg of Buspar with the anti-d. It somehow counteracts the problem.

Did your dentist have you make follow-up appointments to have the bite splint adjusted? Usually adjustments are necessary for a while at first and should be included in with the cost of the bite splint.

I truly hope and pray that all will work out for you.
God bless...
Carol

carol is right. however you need to give your jaw time to adjust to the orthotic. dont give up on it in just a couple days. sometimes it takes a while to get it fine tuned just right.

swelling should go down. you wont be grinding with the orthotic in because it is in there to prevent that as well. the only thing you really need to worry about is clenching. there is no way to controll that except for to relax and train yourself not to do it.

any adjustments and follow ups are included with the orthotic so usually your quote is the whole amount you will have to pay--unless you are like me and tend to be a little difficult which i know you arent.

so keep us updated.