I read one story of a guy on here that said he was told he had to take a muscle relaxer for life possibly...I don't want this to happen to me...I need to get off all drugs completely to heal my brain from damage induced by 3 years of the SSRIS and 2 months of risperdal to regain back my libido...I hate muscle relaxers b/c the are anti-cholinergenic and decline your gaba over time which is bad for sex and the CNS...

Was the last surgery you had arthroscopy (the aggressive one) I'm thinking i might need that... I too got my wisdom teeth out last summer but that was before i discovered my jaw was dislocated...I even told the surgeon i had headaches all the time but he said its probably from something else and it was just a routine wisdom tooth surgery recommended by a dentist..
Few months later i discovered the truth...

I hope to get to your level of pain abatement very soon as i am learning a lot from mostly you and this is the best tmj forum on the internet by far as the rest ive been too don't have a good format and a moderator that really knows her stuff...Plus things get answered so quickly thanx to you..

I think i read your story on your profile page...But also i read other topics on here where you mentioned things about what you take or did take and do and some of those things aren't mentioned on your profile.

When you say you started spasming you mean the nerves and joint right around the ear area (TMJ area)? Thats my problem the most...I feel like there is pinching there and the muscle relaxer helps a lot but not completely.. I started to combine neurontin very low dose with 1mg ativan it keeps my skin very rubbery and loose allowing the tension in that area to get better but obviously the only cure is an NMD like you said or surgery for this unless somehow it magically heals...

what i meant by spasaming was that the muscles themselves start twitching and contracting--like haveing a charlie horse. I dont think that you should be on a muscle relaxer for life---If that is the case than the doctor is probably at a loss what to do. Ive only been on the muscle relaxer briefly for 2 different periods of time. I mainly manage it with heat and the tens.

I really appreciat everything that you said about me and the forum--Its good to know that I can and do make a difference.

the last surgery i had was very agressive. I did not have an arthroscopy. This isnt the most agressive surgery possible. I had 3 surgeries in one.

1. I had an arthroplasty--this is where they open the joint entirely(arthroscopy is when they make a small insision and insert a camera)

2. I had bilateral coronoidectomies. the bone next to the condyle was removed. on both sides--i now have a littl dimple on each side where the bones used to be.

3. Last but not least --I had a maxillary osteotomy Le Fort I proceedure--they took a saw and cut out my top teeth and lowered them so that all my teeth would touch and so that it was in the correct neuromuscular position.

tmd can cause headachs--did you say that you used a chiropractor? if not it might be a good idea to see one. This helped me immensly with my headaches. It also helped a lot with the jaw.

Ill see if i can find time to re write my story in full and send it to you. Hang in there. There is hope

hey dyan,

wow thats a lot of things done were most unecessary or do you think all of them were necessary?

I just have a pinched nerve and i can feel it emanate to my left eye its very weird...I have to shift my ear upwards it never stays and i can never get it perfect and the pinching is always 24/7...Only spasming i have is in my left eye and the blood vessels in my joint...as well as mentioned before my stomach...I read tmj can have far reaching effects..

"There is no doubt that TMJ dysfunction can have far-reaching effects, even to the point of involving peripheral circulation and paresthesias. S. D. Smith reported a case where major improvement in leg circulation directly corresponded to balancing a left TMJ compression through jaw repositioning."

http://www.chiro.org/rc_schafer/Monograph_ 13.shtml


This condition is crazy stuff so many nerves and blood vessel connections...I have a book on repositioning the body right now my body alignment is fairly straight b/c i do specific reposition exercises myself wth a do it yourself book...I may try a chiropractor too...A month ago i looked terrible tho since doing aligment exercises in a book on it i'm way better..My shoulders don't hurt anymore and i'm no longer leaning to my right...My dad even said my posture is very good now i actually unpopped my shoulder blade muscles and everything it was crazy when i did the exercises each day and gradually improved in about 2 weeks...I'm still trying to take care of the pinching cracking and snapping which is probably why this is still f'n me up with 24/7 pain...MSM and glucosimine are doing something in the joint where the snapping is louder and feels like cartilage is partially being rebuilt..I may try shark cartilage and that ointment you recommended to me...and still gonna try that NMD...

I always tell it like it is and you need to know you are definitely one of the greatest mods in every possible way and probably you don't always get the props you deserve...much respect to you...

I think that all that was done was necessary in finding something that would work. My file is actually used to help others. You know you should also try some massage and some craniosacral therapy. I know others have had success with it and felt much better.

As for the money--dont worry about it. It will be there in some way when you need it. For instance--I asked my church for benefactors--I got all the money for the first surgery that way. There are people out there that are willing to help. JUst dont ask over the internet--most of them are scams. dont give anyone money to send you money and certainly dont wire money to any one. (ive done this befor--never fell for the scam but ive busted tons of scams and gotten a tone of fake checks in the mail.) you can also go to your court house and ask about financial aid for health care. they will help you out.

you should also try some omega 3 (fish oil--cod liver oil etc) this will help as well--if you eat a salad use olive oil--i found that when i was in france--i did a lot better cause everything i ate was drowned in olive oil.

yes i too take omega-3 it is good for blood circulation and helping to rebuild cartilage...I believe my pain is neuropathic due to partial cartilage degeneration and nerves not being protected like they should be...I'm attempting to regenerate the cartilage with the ointment you recommended and shark cartilage added to my supplement regimen as well as a bunch of other things i just ordered...I have not yet gone to the NMD b/c i believe this can be solved myself again...things are changing after doing a few modifications recently by using the TDP device, epsom salt baths, and 20-25 minutes of ice a day for the past 3 days symptoms are fairly reduced to a somewhat large degree...It was enough for me to reconsider the NMD for the time being only b/c i believe i can fix this myself...i still have a fairly a lot of pain but maybe reduced it about 20-30% more...I also have a pretty even bite since cracking it back and don't use a night guard b/c it is pointless...I get shocks of pain its in the nerves themselves which is why i have the muscle spasms other places like the stomach...It is clearly nueropathic as i can feel shocks in the right ear emanating throughout parts of my body its very crazy sh*t...I still need to pop the jaw a lot but once the cartilage is strong enough i think it will stay...the pain is 24/7 i need to reduce it much further which is my goal and why i am here obviously..If i don't keep improving in the next month i will definitley go to the NMD...

let me know how that goes for you.

right now i managed to lower the pain even more with the ointment you suggested dyan...It actually makes the skin and muscle real lose when i put it on and it will hopefully regenerate and repair the bone and cartilage...I also added chelated magnesium and the stomach spasms have gone down about 70-80% but are still somewhat present...i'm still not pain free but hopefully in a month i will be..Im never taking shark cartilage again that was just plain disgusting btw...i still may need ativan but much has improved compared to before at least...

good good good! see if you look hard enough you come up with somthing that works. Oh gosh i know what you mean about the shark cartilage--i wont take any of the fish stuff cause its nasty. id rather just eat fish lol

i really really want to stop taking ativan but the problem is the pain gets so bad sometimes i have to take it at least once a day...i think once i regenerate enough cartilage i will be able to stop using it...i can't breathe well without ativan for some reason and my stomach is screwed up without it...Also it kills all the pain like nothing else...I started taking yoga classes too so maybe that will have a culmalative effect as well....i can't do school without ativan but i'm going to supplement with l-cartinine so it doesn't damage my brain too much...The supplements i have i think should really start working in the next few weeks more and more..ice and heat helped but now its time for the cartilage to be rebuilt so i don't have to rely on anything anymore...I hope the collagen2 and the hyaluronic acid help me out on this too..and god of course lol...

today i was diagnosed with atypical trigenminal neuralgia...I have no facial muscle pain which i guess what tmj is..No problems biting down on anything i want none of that stuff i just have chronic nerve pain 24/7 from the compression of the trigeminal nerve and the cracking and popping just exacerbates pressures...I was taking ativan and neurontin to cope with it...I was given a script for Nortriptyline an old TCA but i don't want to take that crap due to its terrible side effect profile on sex drive...It even can cause gynacamestia i read...So i'm probably gonna try to fight this with capzasin, low dose nuerontin and klonapan for now till i figure out how else to desensitize the nerve utilizing P-factor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nortriptyline
Another drug im gonna try out is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milnacipran
which i will probably order from overseas...That drug has no sexual side effects and looks like it will help. Thats all from me right now will update you more later...

serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are basically the main thing for neuralgic pain...Serotonin by itself does not work efficiently enough according to my research..Cymbalta is similar to this drug but this one has a much safer profile in my opinion even tho it is no yet fda approved. Hopefully i get tremendous relief soon...With the neurontin ativan and capzasin the pain is very very much reduced now i feel almost normal just want to ease of the GABA for a while and optimize the other receptors for a more long term solution with Milncaipran if that works..Might even combine that with low dose selegiline for a nootropic effect.

so they misdiagnosed you? that is good news. in a way. so what is the plan now

btw--its good to hear from you ---i was about to pop off a pm to see if you were still alive.

how about AMANDA are BRITTANY!!

i don't really know if its really a misdiagnosis pursae...I thought tmj or tmd just means you have problem with the area near the tmj not just the surrounding areas or both....According to wikipedia if you look up TMJ it says

"analgesic pain killers such as paracetamol (acetaminophen) or NSAIDs provide initial relief for some sufferers, the pain is often more neuralgic in nature, which often does not respond well to these drugs.An alternative approach is for pain modification, for which off-label use of low-doses of Tricyclic antidepressant that have anti-muscarinic properties (e.g. Amitriptyline or the less sedative Nortriptyline) generally prove more effective.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporomandib ular_joint_disorder

I never had a problem chewing or biting down ever and was just messed up from the pressure on the trigeminal nerve when it was or still kind of is dislocated...Now i have long standing neuralgic pain which is basically why i was diagnosed with the atypical neuralgia as it is constant 24/7 sharp pain... I think if the pressure was releived from that area it would be fine again but i have degenenerative arthritis i think and there will always be pressure against it...microvascular decompression surgery i guess could possibly help but i heard it is extremely risky and usually doesn't help atypical neuralgic pain.

o yeah the plan now is to desensitize the nerve fibers in the tmj utilizing gaba and other p-factor regulation...that is my own personal plan so i can eventually get off drugs or take very low doses.

yeah i read wikipedia the first time i searched tmd. i dont exactly agree with it but thats life.

the plan sounds good. let us know how it goes

you don't agree with what part of the wikipedia article? I don't really know what tmj truly is defined? If you can chew fine just have sharp pains directly in the joint and pressure in the joint im guessing its neuralgic in nature and should be classified as trigeminal neuralgia atypical of course..TMJ people typically have chewing problems which was never even an issue for me when my jaw was totally dislocated maybe b/c of my underbite. Pressure is the main thing and nueralgic pain is what i have directly at the region of the trigeminal nerve in the ear area.

its missing a lot. i think that if you are going to define someting it should contain all possible essences of the thing. if its neuralgic you dont really have tmd. you have a nerve problem. i think the definition is too vague. if i was someone that was looking at this for the first time id walk out as clueless as when i went in. webmd had a better definition.

i don't really know its still tmd in my opinion and the surgeon just probably doesn't want to deal with the delicate situation i am in...Basically i can snap the tmj with the top and bottom of my face loud loud snap especially after using ice and supplements and part of the pressure goes away from the trigeminal nerve and feel slightly better...The reason ativan works imo is b/c it smoothes out all the nerves near that region inhibits p-factor and sedates all other muscles as trigeminal neuralgia causes one to go to sympathetic mode from parasynthetic mode...I think I should get surgery for this to fix the bone pressing the nerve and to fix the snapping but i also read its can be dangerous...I have some scructural damage to the joint i bet...I'm thinking i just need to fix some bone in that area from pressing so i snap it in and its more extended and remove probably scar tissue in that area as well..AS far as facial muscles hurting when biting down none never not even when my whole mouth was crooked i can open it wide as i want no pain either...Its just a stabbing in my trigeminal nerve from the bone now...This is all from nerves and pressure the whole time as a result of extension and bone problems hitting vessels...Its centered right in the tmj area now tho...