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Conditions and Diseases > TMJ Forum > Please Help! - Tmj?
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Q: Please Help! - Tmj?
asked by: PMiddle on October 17th, 2007
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I need help so badly! I'm hoping someone out there knows what i am talking about. About 9 months ago i had a really agressive and long dental session - so severe i couldn't brush my teeth for 2 days because my mouth and gums hurt so bad. On the 3rd day i got a pain in my ear so brutal it stopped me in my tracks - it literally felt like someone had stuck a pen in my ear. After that, this ache began about 1-2" behind my left ear on my scalp. I assumed it was an ear infection. It wasn't. Went back to the dentist thinking it was an absess. It wasn't. They thought TMJ. Then it started to settle down after about 2 months. Well then i hit my head very hard and ended up with a concussion - which resulted in whiplash as i hit a metal pole with my head which caused the head to be forced back. All in all i have felt awful for the better part of the last year. The Docotor sent me to an oral surgeon who recc. muscle relaxants - which do work as long as i take them faithfully - but if i stop the pain comes back. I have also seen a chiropractor and had a cat scan to rule out mastoiditis and a tumor. When it settle down, it never completely seems to go away, just subsides. Just a few wew weeks ago i got a bad head cold and this seems to have really kicked it into high gear. The pain behind my ear is awful. As well as inside my ear at times. I ended up in a walk in clinic last week and the advice was to take 3 motrin 3 times a day till it settles again. Sometimes i feel shakey and "uneven" not dizzy, but almost how you feel when you get off a boat for a long time and you are trying to find your legs. I also have ringing in my ears, but no jaw click or soreness in my jaw that i can pinpoint. It is mostly this pain behind my ear. Sometimes it keeps me up at night. I have yet to have a pinpointed diagnosis. The doctors say that between the dental vist and the concussion / whiplash there are too many overlapping symptoms to really nail it down. I am a mother of 2 and every single day i think i have a tumor. The stress is dissolving my happiness, joy and day to day living. It is straning my marriage. Please, is this TMJ? Should i just keep on with the muscle relaxants? Or should i push for further tumor/disease testing? Any help would be so incredibly appreciated.
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TMJWorld
replied on October 17th, 2007
Extremely eHealthy
im doubting that there is a tumor. that would not be caused by what you have described. do keep up the muscle relaxants. see if you cant get a pain killer. I dont think you have too many symptoms--they just dont know what they are talking about. you should use some heat on the ear. i sleep with a hot pad under my head. it usually releives my ear pain . I have a suggestion for you and its something that i think would really help you. this helped me alot. I think that your dentist caused what problems you are haveing. often you wont have poping and clicking or the classic symptoms. there is a thing called referred pain it will send the pain to a different part of the body(like the ear)

keep up hope. if it makes you feel better to know for sure that you dont have a tumor---go ahead with the testing. sometimes the results saying that you dont have a tumor or what not are very helpful and up lifting.

If you ever need anything let me know--pm me or email me at any time.
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catswold
replied on October 18th, 2007
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My opinion is that you do have a type of TMJ. TMJ or TMD actually encompasses a wide range of issues related directly to a trauma to the jaw joints (right in front of your ears). Whiplash and dental procedures are probably the two biggest causes of TMJ. Some TMJers never have popping or jaw pain directly. You might want to consider getting ahold of the book "Taking Control of TMJ" by Robert Uppgaard. I think you should keep taking the muscle relaxants until you can find some answers. Seek out Functional Joint Orthotics or Neuromuscular dentists.

Sorry to be so short. I hope and pray that you will find the help you need. Please feel free to post more questions or just vent.

God bless...
Carol
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