Tmrw type pain in jaw

[HelloDolly]

Hi! I started this thread in another area, hoping this might get seen more or have more answers. I have Tmj type of pain in jaw. Not in joint itself. Had xray that was okay. Splint made that did not help. Saw PCP & ENT who ordered MRI which was normal. They don't seem to know what is going on. Has anyone else ever experienced this? I am on month 2 with a daily headache );

 

[nascarmike]

Sorry not much help with that one. Is there a trigger that you are aware of or is it just one of those wonderful fibro things that just visits when it wants?

 

[dorann]

I think that I responded to you in the other thread where you had brought this up. I really do think that the best thing that you can do is to find a doctor that deals with orofacial pain and see if they are able to offer any answers to you.

Just because the bone is right doesn't necessarily mean that everything is right with your jaw as I learned in my own situation. In addition to that, you could be experiencing pain in your jaw if you have anything going on with your sinuses or if you are going through an unusually high amount of stress right now.

 

[1sweed]

I remember years ago being diagnosised with this and it had started one day while I was visiting a friend and talking and eating lunch. I got this sudden stabbing pain in my jaw and right cheek that made me stop chewing. I then ate in tiny bites and found when I went to speak the pain was terrible. So I spoke slowly and wondered what is wrong now? The dentist told me it was TMJ and adviced me to talk slowly and carefully out of the left side of my mouth and to apply a warm heating pad or water bottle on the right cheek and jaw area. After a couple of weeks the pain lessened, but I had to be very careful when I yawned. Since then I have a constant clicking in the right jaw joint. Sometimes it is so loud it drives me crazy when eating because I am worried everyone in the room can hear it too.

Hope this helps you in some small way.

 

[Trellum]

So sorry to hear you are going thru this, Holly! It must be so frustrating not having the right answers, but sadly this happens very often when you suffer from fibro. As usual a normal MRI means nothing to someone with fibro, if I were you I'd find a doctor specializing in orofacial pain and fibro in general, it might not be easy, but is definitely worth the try! Are you taking any medication to treat this?

 

[HelloDolly]

Thanks everyone! I'm feeling so defeated at the moment. I had a recheck w/ ENT to go over MRI & symptoms. He was no help at all. He completely made me feel as if I was making this up & was fishing for narcotics ); He told me to see my neurologist. Luckily I have an appt. next month and I see my rheumy in May. I see specialists at a teaching hospital & it is extremely hard to get an appointment. Currently I'm only taking Advil & flexeril that was rx'd by rheumy a year ago to help with sleep. So far in this fibro journey I've been able to work thru my pain on little meds. They offered Lyrica when I was first diagnosed but I was too afraid to try. I'm hoping that this is only a flare & will pass. I have been under a lot of stress & our winter here has been brutal!

 

[Siderea]

I know this type of pain! The past two weeks have been absolutely terrible for my jaw, but it's been bothering me for years. I get that same "clicking" sound that 1sweed mentioned, and my jaw has swollen up so much at times that it looks like I just had my wisdom teeth removed. I often feel like I've been stuck smiling nonstop for days, where my muscles get so tight and contracted and I can't seem to do anything to relax them.

The only thing that's given me relief has been a combination of treatments. First, I get a massage. I know that sounds scary to any one who has fibromyalgia, but it helps A LOT. I've found that I have one spot under my right shoulder blade on my back that knots up easily. Whenever my jaw is at its worst, that knot is at its largest. So I have that knot worked out. Then I go for a chiropractic adjustment (I go 3 times a month anyway to keep up progress.) After adjusting the rest of my body he'll adjust my jaw. He's found that it's been slightly out of alignment several times, where the right side is "firing" a half second behind the left side. He doesn't "crack" my jaw like he "cracks" my back, but uses a little pen-like tool on the correct spots on my jaw to stimulate the muscles that hold the jaw in place. It does help. Then, I go for acupuncture. I have needles placed in the appropriate places in jaw. This often helps so much that I don't notice my jaw pain at all for a couple of days, but after those couple of days are up the pain can come roaring back if I don't get the massage and see the chiropractor.

Even after all this my jaw isn't ever 100% normal feeling, just tolerable enough that I'm not thinking about the pain in my jaw 24/7.

My doctor wants me using a mouth guard at night, but a specific kind that only covers the front teeth. The idea is that when we have something on our molars, our reflexes tell us to bite down. So mouth guards that cover all our teeth actually stress jaw muscles even more, even if they protect our teeth. When something is on our front teeth, our reflexes tell us to open our mouths, not bite down. So this guard is supposed to keep my mouth open and relaxed all night. It does do that very well! However, I find that it turns me into a mouth breather and causes dry mouth and sore throats in the morning. It's a catch-22 for me on using it.

 

[HelloDolly]

Thanks Siderea! I have started to go for massage. Chiropractic helped some but not as much as massage. I wills see acupuncturist soon. I am wanting to manage this the best I can with out meds. It is a huge relief knowing others know what I am going through. I get so discouraged when doctors have no clue and we have to figure this out on our own. I will report back after I have acupuncture in April. Thanks to everyone for your help!

 

[1sweed]

I was reading an old article the other day that talked about how doctors used to treat TMJ, with a type of implant that was suppose to stop the pain. But it seemed that these implants had a bad habit of splintering and breaking into tiny pieces and it was those tiny pieces that could not be retrived with more surgery that caused the sufferer addition horrible pain. Plus the implants had some sort of toxic metal in them that caused more health problems to the point that patients were sorry they ever had the implant put in. It seems it took years for the doctors to stop using these bad toxic implants because they did not believe that the fragments of implants actually caused that extreme pain. In other words they did not belive their own patients and so many others suffered with defective TMJ implants for years, even after the orginal implants were removed from the market trade.

So not only did TMJ patients suffer from doctors who did not believe the pain of their condition, that is so true of what we go through in telling others how fibro and it's related conditions affects us. It was so sad reading that old article from the 1970's.