Hello andwoo,
what a complete and utter bummer about
your headaches. When I get headaches,
they are totally disabling so I really
feel for you.
You mentioned that you were -
"diagnosed with a very rare headache
disorder, new daily persistent headache,
of which they know very little about, know
next to nothing about why it suddenly
starts in people for no reason."
yes, tmj causes nasty headaches and
nausea, but I would be more concerned
about what the neurologist says is wrong
with you and how he/she is going to treat
these headaches.
Tmj headaches tend to mimic migraines in
that the pain can be focused on one side
of the head in the temple region. My
family doctor was so positive that my
headaches were migraines and tried
treating them as such, but nothing worked.
I knew that most were tmj headaches
because if and when my tmj relaxed, I
could feel the headache go away. Yes!
Once my tmj became more manageable, the
headaches went away except for those
irritating monthly female ones.
I would get more information from your
neurologist if I were you. Get a name or
something and then start researching over
the internet if he can't give you info.
With your jaw clicking, you probably do
have a case of tmj. It wouldn't hurt to
treat your jaw like it does and see what
happens. By that I mean - be gentle with
your jaw by eating only softer foods, no
gum or ice chewing, particularly don't eat
anything chewy or hard. Baby your jaw by
not opening it wide. Try talking less.
Look at how you hold the phone when on it.
Don't hold the phone with your shoulder.
Bad. Use lots of moist heat directly
on the jaw joints. Try and relax the
tension in your shoulders. Keep your
teeth apart with the tongue resting on the
roof and the lips either together or
slightly apart. Teeth should never come
together (except maybe to eat). Posture
is another area where you should seriously
evaluate what you are doing. Check out
the tmj physical therapy page at
nismat.Org for basic info, pictures,
etc.
Some anti-seizure medications do help tmj
so if it is helping - great! Medications
for tmj is an interesting subject and
since people are so different, the meds
all seem to work differently, so patients
do a lot of experimenting (always doctor
supervised though).
Take care. I hope you'll keep us
informed as to how you are doing. I hope
and pray that the docs will be able to
help you.
God bless...
Carol
