Hello,
I have another post on here and getting no help. I suffered badly 2 years ago from tmj...and after one year of doing great..only wearing my splint at night..am having some kind of rebout with this...I have badly overused my muscles by sweeping out a house we are building...going to physcial therapy to get pain relief..etc...my question is this...can overuse of neck/back muscles make my tmj throb, hurt, or cause pain in my head again?? I need answers. I cannot do absolutely anything with my hands or arms..like housework...without pain going down my arms and up into my head...and my tmj throbs some....I am also wearing a tens unit on my back and neck for pain relief..I am just so scared this tmj will come back to haunt me....Does anyone know the long term history on how tmj can affect your life as far as what you are and are not able to do?? I know I over did it and am now paying for it...any advice and responses are greatly appreciated!! Thanks Tina
Hi Tina. I've been suffering with this disorder longer than I haven't (I'm 35, so you know it's been awhile). I find that it has affected every aspect of my life for as long as I can remember. My back, neck, jaw, head or face can start hurting if I overdo it. And, which areas hurt depend on what I did. If I eat a big hoagie sandwich, I can barely open my mouth the next day. If I ride a roller coaster, my jaw, neck and back are achey. Almost everyone is different. I have extra muscle relaxers left over from when I had my jaw surgery, so I take one of those if I'm in excrutiating pain (and it takes a lot for that to happen). I wear a splint at night, still do my exercises from physical therapy, and try to get through it. I hope you start to feel better soon. Have you gone through all the normal avenues with this? Have you been to a doctor since you did this? If not, maybe you should. Good luck!
Tina, I can feel your pain. A VERY IMPORTANT thing to remember is streching. Learn how to strech those muscles in your neck & back & arms that bother you. All those muscles are connected to the muscles in your jaw so yes if you over do it that pain will come back. I strech every night to help this, I also see a massage therapist at a facial pain clinic on a regular basis. You have to become very aware of everything that you do - how you stand - how you sit - how you chew - how you drive - everything has an effect on it.
Hello,
Thank you so much for your replies!! I truly believe what you say. I believe thats what I have done..simply overdid it and now am hurting again. I have been doing a little better since going to physical therapy and watching what I do..I cannot drive right now..makes neck and head hurt. I have been sooo busy with everything and just got caught up in things and "forgot" I had tmjd.
I went to a local dentist for help...who made me an NTI...said it would help..well it did not...I had to put my splint back in...Should I just give this time and the pain will go away?? The only time my jaw hurts is when I either chew for awhile or talk for a long time...like on the phone...but when I stop eating or talking the pain subsides... Also, Did any of you have permanent work done when your jaw was balanced....like braces or crowns?? I fear I am coming to the point where I am going to have to do it. Get this...the dentist who treated my tmj won't see me now becuase I went to UK here in Kentucky for a second opinion. My dentist wanted to crown all of my teeth for $20,000 to help correct my problem. So, naturally I went to get another opinion...I am in Kentucky and really need to know who a very good tmjd might be. I am so scared to have any work done anyway. My trouble all got started when I had a wisdom tooth pulled. Just please let me know if I can overcome this setback ,
it is so very frustrating as I am sure you all know! Thanks again for talking to me about this! Tina
I have tried several differant kinds of Chiropractic techniques, but have recently been getting good results (so far) with the break-away table technique. My Chiro tells me that not all Chiros who use the break-away ajustment do so on the jaw. If you decide to try this, find out for sure if the DC you go to uses the table in thier jaw adjustment. For me it's made a big differance.
Tina, I can feel your pain. A VERY IMPORTANT thing to remember is streching. Learn how to strech those muscles in your neck & back & arms that bother you. All those muscles are connected to the muscles in your jaw so yes if you over do it that pain will come back. I strech every night to help this, I also see a massage therapist at a facial pain clinic on a regular basis. You have to become very aware of everything that you do - how you stand - how you sit - how you chew - how you drive - everything has an effect on it.
Thanx so much for this post. I have kept it in my head for the last two days. I am trying to be *aware* and stretching like the massage therapist showed me every chance I get. I've noticed that I do the "goose neck" when using the PC (and so do ALL my students! - I made them all sit properly today!) and have been pushing my chin in. Also trying to think positive. Finally refusing to search for "brain tumours" has helped a lot with my anxiety too
