Head Pressure

Hi stu,
i hate to tell you this, but there is a good possibility that it is your tmj. This is coming from a 25 years tmj sufferer. The tmj can greatly affect your muscles from your back to the top of your head, some even say the whole body. You do not have to have pain directly at the joint to have tmj. That's one of the reasons that doctors and patients have such a difficult time diagnosing tmj. It's also hard to believe that tmj causes all those other symptoms.

I started out differently by having pain directly at my joint. Over the years, the other symptoms kept popping up and still do. My whole head, left neck and shoulders hurt and ache almost all the time. I get funny feelings, prickly, heavy head, light-headed, etc., frequently. The tmj area is extremely close to your ears so that causes a whole bunch of wonderful feelings (sarcastic here, sorry) that involve your ears. Tinnitus, dizziness, itchy ears, full, stuffy ears, crackly popping ears, etc. The tmj is also very, very close to some major nerves in the head that even affects your moods. Tmj and suicide are spoken together far too much.

For some reason, people seem to have trouble believing and accepting that something so small and seemingly insignificant could do so much harm. No one can see that you have tmj and won't believe you when you say you are in excruciating pain. Most medical personnel have no idea how to treat tmj patients. The lack of support is almost as bad as the pain.

I'm so sorry to have to tell all of the to you. Once you accept that tmj just might be the culprit here, find a dentist, orthodontist, or oral surgeon who specializes in tmj. Really specializes in tmj. Many will say they do but have only been to one seminar about tmj. Don't let anyone do anything drastic to you - no surgery, no braces, no filing down your teeth. Start conservatively. Control pain with ibuprofen, valium at night for a few weeks, moist heat and/or ice, muscle relaxants (only works for some people, sometimes), physical or massage therapy, a good bite splint made by a good splint maker, etc.

I highly stress the physical/massage therapy at least weekly. Find someone who works deep massage, pressure point, releasing pain, etc. If you don't like the first one, try more. Also a good tmj dentist and a bite splint are essential. The bite splints will have to be experimented only probably until you find the right kind. And it will take time. Don't expect the bite splint to cure you within one week.

That's for starters. I'm sorry to have written so much. I really hope and pray that you get the proper kind of help. Yes, I might be totally wrong about the tmj, but i've seen it just too many times to not inform you.

God bless...
Carol

Hi, I have been having the exact same symptoms for over 8 months and doctors have diagnosed it as anxiety. My worst symptoms at the moment are throbbing head, (no pain) pain in the left arm, tight muscles in the neck and base of the head, and I have also noticed that I have nightblindness, also probably to do with my anxiety. I have had blood tests, an ekg, ct scan and everything was fine. I do not have tmj, it is all just from anxiety, which is horribe may I add :cry:

hope this helps,

james

Hi,

this is my first posting.

I have no answers but just wanted to say that I have had the heavy head (doctors keep calling my problem "headaches", but I only have actual pain once in awhile, it is pressure in my head, not pain, most of the time), dizziness (like a very mild version of the spins), post nasal drip, crackling in my ears when I swallow, and ear pain since march (9 months now). I think it literally is a heavy head problem because I do yoga, and I really can no longer hold my head up in some of the positions that I used to be able to, in which my head is tilted back, because either my head is heavier (or my neck is weaker, but I can't see that my neck would get weaker because I exercise it (via yoga) on a regular basis).

Some days are better, some are worse (i'm actually taking a sick day today), but my heavy head doesn't go away.

I have been tested for allergies (negative), taken drugs for a sinus infection (no improvement), tried steroid nasal spray (no improvement), had a screening ct scan (nothing abnormal seen), and am now getting acupuncture treatments (just started, no change for the better yet).

I haven't tried tmj work yet, but I am keeping track of progress of a woman I work with, who is currently getting tmj treatment from a specialist in the area.

I just wanted to say to stu (and everyone else out there living a half life because of this type of problem), I too feel like i'm living with a disability. Nobody can see it (not even doctors), and I can only assume that my friends, co-workers, and family (and doctors) are tired of hearing about it, and so I keep on getting up and muddling through, meanwhile getting more and more withdrawn and depressed because I feel so crappy all the time.

If I ever do find a cure, i'll come back to post my miracle. I wish everyone the best of luck in getting better or somehow learning to come to peace with this.

Amy

I am 16 years old and have been living miserably for two years now. Starting when I was about 11, I began cracking or popping my neck several times per day and continued this for a few years. When I was 14, I began to get stiffness and pain in my neck along with headaches that seemed to be at the base of my skull. Eventually I had pain and headaches for every waking hour and could not concentrate at school. My neck is very stiff in the morning but the pain continues throughout the day, near the base of the skull. The heavy head feeling used to be very bad, it is somewhat better now, but is still aggravating at times. I also have a constant feeling of carsickness and dizziness, and this happens a lot when doing schoolwork. I don't pop my neck anymore for about a year and have gone through physical therapy. This helped somewhat but I am still suffering every minute of the day and the headaches and stiffness persist. I think I have messed up something bad, but an mri and x-ray showed nothing. Please, if anybody knows anything about this, please reply, as I am a very sad person to be experiencing this so early on in life especially since I am healthy otherwise. I hope this info provides some insight on the problem.

Hi.
Same symptoms as you for 4 long years...24 docs later after being told it was stress, tmj, etc.....It was a c-1 dislocation at the tip of the spine. C-1 literally keeps ur head on straight. If it is off, as mine was (very hard to see on regular x-rays and mri) the symptoms u discribe will follow becoming unbearable over time! It will throw ur whole body off as if ur crooked, hence ur bite will be off causing the symptoms of tmj! Worth checking out. Find a chiro in ur area who deals with upper cervical adjustments. Have him take 3 dimensional x rays to see if your atlas (c-1) is out at all. Good luck!

Thanks for the info. I'll get checked for that. Good luck to you as well.

Hi,

stu's description of the symptoms I am experiencing are the closest anyone has come to describing this until now. I have had these symptoms for years but they have been getting consistently worse and more consistent over the years. In short:

- general sense of dizziness and very slight disconnectedness through senses. Pressure on head. "numbness at different points on head, jaws and behind ears. No pain at all. Please tmj people read this last bit as I tired of doctors hearing pressure and writing headache.

All of the above are intermittent but have become much more consistent as time as gone on to the point that they are now pretty6 much constant. With effort I seem pretty much ok to everyone but the effort it takes to think clearly, follow conversations and be spontaneous can be huge and occasional not possible at all (day off work required)

acupuncture, massage, osteopathy, ct scan, mri, physiotherapy. You name it, i've tried it. My family think i'm imagining it because I seem fine to them. But to give in to it is unthinkable.

I've been diagnosed with neck and shoulder muscular damage, sent to a counsellor for stress\anxiety, etc.. As above but nothing has resolved this.

Lately (last 5 months) i've also had pressure and intermittent crackling of the ears which is also checking out negative on tests but i'm hardly imagining that!

Anyway, if this stuff sounds familiar please respond if nothing else to compare exactly how similar and what works and doesn't.

In particular note the no pain thing. I do not get intermittent pain and I never get acute pain - the occasional headache like the rest of the world. As I understand it, tmj and bunch of other ailments have pain of some sort as "definite" symptoms. I do not have any of these ailments.

That's my rant :)

I suffered very much for a long time. After a handsom amount of money invested in doctors and medicines. I get a herbal book, that cure my problems in natural way. Now i'm totally fit and healthy. Any one can get totally fit and health by herbal solution. Herbal solution is simple home remedies way to solve a problem related health.

You need to be aggressive with your medical care. DOCS do have a tendency when faced with lack of technical verification to deduce the unknown to stress. My uncle went through years of agony with such symptoms gradually getting worse and more and more frequent but all of his tests were negative. The diagnoses was the same from several DOCs including a neurologist - STRESS.

Many years later he was finally diagnosed with MS when one of his MRIs finally showed a brain lesion. There may have been one presenting in an earlier MRI but possibly missed; make sure you know who's reading these things. Many of the symptoms here are much like MS. I was diagnosed with MS early in life and didn't go through nearly the anguish my uncle did in getting to the root cause of his troubles.

Of course the other issue is that DOCs sometimes are naturally dismissive because there are a whole legion of patients out there that complain of various symptoms that present no actual evidence of anything. Some of these folks just like being sick and actually get their own MRI/Scans and interrupt the results themselves. I suppose that could be referred to as a form of Munchhausen's syndrome. So you can maybe see why some docs do brush people aside but you need to be very aggressive in your own care.

OMG! It was like someone was inside of my body and felt the same way that I did! Even though this is horrible to say I was glad that someone else was going through the same thing that I am. I have been having head pressure, tingling in scalp, dizziness, jaw popping and so on forever now it seems. I never mentioned that it may be TMJ to my doc but he did find that I was having muscle spasms in my neck and shoulder. This may be the cause for my possible TMJ. Now that I have read this I am going to make a new appointment with him and see if he can do anything or refer me to a dentist. Well I wish good luck to all of my fellow sufferers of this horrible condition.

hi im 18 now, and all your symptoms are exactly like mine. ive felt so alone for the past 2 years now. juts about 2 years ago i started getting this pressure and tension in head all over. like someone was pressin down on my head constantly. it caused frequent dizziness and nausea sometiems. icouldnt get comfortbale ever. sometmes laying down was worse , sometimes it was better. but the pressure is horrible. doctors diagnosed me with migraines and im on many prescriptions. all do nothing. my family is convinced its headaches as well. but i refuse to agree. its not pain. its extreme pressure that prevents me from doing anything. PLEASE, help. if you know anything. .... im so sorry for everyone o nthis page. i know what your feeling.

Hi Skippy
I just found this discussion and saw that your post went up very recently. I have almost identical symptoms and had a neck injury about 19 years ago which was never fully resolved. A physio recently told me I have a rotated vertebrae in my neck and a misaligned jaw. I have yet to have treatment and find out whether it is that that has been causing my heavy headedness, fuzzy thinking etc. Please let me know how it goes with you as I'd be very interested. I've been told over the last 5 years that it's everything from stress and anxiety to chronic fatigue to a virus. Hmmmm!!!! None of it quite rings true - but I think I could be getting somewhere with the neck thing.
Good luck

Jill - seeing a neuro this tuesday, i'll post his comments and any revelations he comes up with - there is an MRI scan he can look at ( which was apparently normal ) that was done in march by a different neuro chap who dismissed it as stress and tension headaches ( lol )so maybe i'll get a quick answer, im hoping its some kind of injury thats making my nerves play up as at least they are usually fairly easy to deal with using surgery depending on location.

Check out "malformation type 1" - this virtually nails my symptoms to the letter, major op required and they dont guarantee removal of symptoms fully just prevent it getting any worse. Its grim really, live in hope it will just fade away or the boffins can find the source i suppose.

p.s. - Vertigo comes into play as well with these symptoms.

[quote="Stu"]I'm new to this forum (just joined today) so first of all hello to everyone.

Hello Stu. I read your entry and some of the replies. I agree that it MAY be your TMJ, but a trip to the neurologist would probably be a good idea.

There are neurologists who specialize in headache treatment. If you can't find one in your area you may get you primary care provider to refer you to an appropriate neurologist. Some insurance requires a referral anyway.

I know that in my experience with headaches, a lot of it was related to stress and depression, and an antidepressant was prescribed for me. Also I had a lot of food allergies that were triggers for my headaches. I started to avoid those foods. The neurologist also prescribed a bloodpressure medication that helped with the feeling of pressure in my head; although my bloodpressure was excellent. In that case they just kept a check on my bloodpressure to make sure it did not fall too much. I never had a problem with my bloodpressure while being on the medication.

I would say that today, I live pretty much free of headaches. I no longer see the neurologist that specialized in headaches and am able to control them on my own. I avoid the trigger foods and continue to take the bloodpressure medication and the antidepressant which is prescribed by my general practitioner.

Anyway, I hope you have some good luck getting you headaches under control. seriously consider seeing the neurologist. Hope you are feeling better soon!

The neuro reckons i have a migraine which has lasted constantly since november last year and that i might or may not have a neck injury, he's sending me for physio and wants me to take amatryptiline ( a migraine beta blocker ) , when these dont work i can then go back and spend more of bupas money on another consultation and he might consider the impossible that its more serious than a migraine that hasnt let up for nine months ! Why did i bother going ?