Hi. I'm new to these forums and could really use some advice. I did a search but was kinda overwhelmed by the results, and could not dig up my exact situation, so I thought i'd just post.
I have had regular headaches since the 5th grade (i'm now 33). Male by the way. I have tried everything, and I mean everything to try and get to the bottom of them. As i've grown older, they have gotten worse and more frequent, but I also believe I may have narrowed down my problem. I recently went in for accupuncture, which provided some relief, but no cure. What it did do, however, was make me very aware of the epicenter of my pain, which is in my jaw/face, though i'm not sure I have tmj...
My headaches are now very often triggered simply by sleeping on my side, with my face on a pillow. My right side is much worse than my left, but sleeping on either side often causes me to wake up with a pounding headache, and on occasion a migraine. I try and sleep on my back, and it does provide a lot of relief, but it is uncomfortable and I sleep restlessly. If I press against the side of my face with my hand and open/close my mouth, I can feel a dull ache as the joint goes through its range of motion and pushes back against my fingers. I should say I am prone to other headaches too, with the usual food and stress triggers, but the ones that originate in my jaw are by far the worst of the bunch.
I have no clicking in the jaw, and my dentist has told me I do not have a tmj problem, but I am still very suspicious. I don't grind my teeth, or clench as far as I know, but I do know I have a habit of forcing my jaw forward unconsciously, and I try and correct it when I catch myself. I believe this action to be some kind of byproduct of orthodontic work I went through in my youth (yes, around the 5th grade), because of the years spent with headgears and retainers, etc.
My doctors have prescribed any and every drug under the sun to prevent my headaches (which they have treated as migraines), none of which work. I am to the point where I take a couple ibuprofen every day, and imitrex when I get a full blown migraine a couple of times a week. I hate doing this. I can't remember the last time I went a week without taking some kind of painkiller, and I know that it can't be good for my body, as benign as ibuprofen and imitrex might be.
Do you folks have any suggestions at all? Any supplements I could possibly try that might help me out? I really apologize for the long-winded post, but I wanted to get out all the details I could in the hope that one of you nice people might recognize my dilemma. This is the first time I have posted so extensively on any forum, and i'm hoping somebody out there can at least tell me what the problem is, and ideally tell me how I can go about correcting it. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.
