This is Tina.....I just wanted to see how people who have had tmj for a long time manage their lives. This is my second bout with this flare up and I am doing better now. But I just need to know what you are doing out there to keep symptoms at bay....I have heard yoga is good and exercise, etc.,...is this something you have to do everyday for the rest of your life? I was doing so great until few months ago...its like I was reliving tmj horror all over again...I was very overweight,,,have since lost alot of weight ...I am trying to eat better and do yoga at night and exercises too everyday. I just want to hear from others on any other tips that might help me. I have 2 children and that keeps me busy enough. I stopped working when I got down again and not sure to go back to work or not yet. I know tmj is tricky and affects everyone differently...I am just trying to beat this thing and try to have a normal life somehow. I am only 39 and want to do all I can to stay in shape and keep tmj symptoms in control/or away . Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. THANKS TO ALL! Tina
I am a veteran sufferer, but I have yet to be able to get my symptoms under control. I have been suffering every day for the last 2 years. I do, however, see a pain management DMD to keep my pain as well managed as possible. The best thing I can do for myself is to keep on living my life. I cannot let TMJ rule my life. For the first year of this living he**, it did just about wreck my life, my marriage, my family, but then I found my doc and he helped get my pain under control. From there on, I decided that I was not going to let this run my life. I think alot of it is an attitude. I had to adjust my attitude, stop worrying so much. Stress affects TMJ so much. I think most of us will agree with that. So number one is to keep stress to a minimum. That meant learning to let things slide more. Not to get so uptight about the house not being spotless, going easier on myself about things that used to upset me or stress me out.
Obviously, eating soft foods, I completely stay away from all meats, except the occassional hamburger, like a meatloaf or otherwise prepared to be soft enough to eat. Otherwise no meat, like steak, pork, chicken.
Get a good nights sleep. Sleep is essential for stress reduction and my ability to manage my day. If I am overtired, things bother me more. I have less patience and get stressed out more easily.
I wish I could say I exercize, but I am not there yet. I cannot due any strenuous work outs. I do want to start a yoga program when I get motivated, lol.
I think just generally taking care of yourself, sometimes being selfish and putting yourself first. Pamper yourself, do nice things for yourself. These are the things I do for me to help me.
I have been suffering with TMJ symptoms on and off since 1998, after some dental work. I think that, combined with a bad bite along with some stress and postural issues, all contibuted to my problems. I try to not worry so much any more and at least realize when I do feel really bad, is that it is TMJ related and to calm down and try to get through it. Unfortunately, the TMJ worries themselves create even more stress and depression. I do believe that most everyone can be helped to some degree. I think seeing someone who can make a detailed and accurate assessment of your mouth and jaw condition, your stress situation and also, which I feel is important, your muscular and postural condition. If you have the time, and you probably already have done this, look on the internet under neuromuscular dentists. What I am reading lately is that those folks seem to know what is going on and they really understand the relationship between, the jaw, head, body, and spine etc.. I have a feeling that this time around, I will have to have a splint, some serious muscle therapy and stress reduction. I am looking into going to A Dr. Ron Rotem in central New Jersey. He is a cosmetic dentist, but heavily trained in neuromuscular dentistry. Unfortunately, none of it will be covered. To be honest though, if I could get help by splint therapy and then some building up and redesign of my teeth to fix my condition, I would do it and just try to either take out a loan, or somehow finance it and pay it all off over a long time. Having my health and feeling great again would be well worth it. One more thing, i saw a post on here about using magnesium supplements to help with the TMJ problem. I am going to give it a shot. I was looking at some old literature I was given by a TMJ dentist back in 2001, and it also states that taking 800-1000mg of magnesium a day is very helpful, howver it also says it takes several weeks to take effect. It seems like the magnesium helps with the muscl portion of the TMJ problem. Please don;t take my word for it, or even the amount I listed above. I am just passing on something I read.
Last edited by newjerseyguy; 11-17-2005 at 09:30 AM.
Hello,
Thanks for your replies. I just received my new splint and had to have adjustments made....today..so far so good. Lets hope! I have also read many times about the benefits of magnesium...so I do take a supplement everyday...its vitamin C and magnesium with Vit D...so you are right about that one. After giving it alot of thought I have also realized that when I was most stressed out or upset about an event in my life..thats when my tmj was the absolute worst...so I believe in the stress factor. I am the type of person who is very laid back, positive, friendly to all, BUT have a tendency to get "all excited" or "tore up" about certain issues that may come up....and I have strong pms symptoms too. joy joy...I do yoga and stretches everynight that my physical therapist gave me and they are helping so much right now. I just wish there was more awareness about this..I may need to start a new thread.....because...I dont know about you all out there...but I have never ever heard about tmj on any show...today show...DR. Phil.....etc...or even the evening news' medical news section....I never heard of tmj myself until I had it 2 years ago. Are any of you with me? I have been seriously thinking about writing to Dr. Phil...please dont laugh...I just dont know what else to do. I tried contacting the local newstation here and local newspapers and they would not give me the time of day. I just want to raise awareness. I do know that if a famous newsanchor got it then it would get top billing..oh well..I am rambling on here. Thanks again to all and have a great day!!! Tina
You are right, I never really see anything about it. Pretty rare. One thing I do recall is years ago, I saw Burt Reynolds (the actor guy), on Johnny Carson (I am dating myself now!) and he told a story about how he was almost suicidal because of pain, headches, jaw problems. Believe it or not, he said his problems were related to TMD and that it took a LONG time to finally be diagnosed correctly. I believe he also had some splint therapy and whatever else he needed. He said that the diagnosis of TMD saved his life. That was the first time I ever heard of TMJ. Funny thing, back in 2000 when my TMJ problems really went into high gear, and I finally got diagnosed correctly in 2001 (TMJ), I thought back to that interview I saw with Burt and realized just how bad it must have been, because I was now going through the same thing.
Last edited by newjerseyguy; 11-17-2005 at 02:54 PM.
. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. THANKS TO ALL! Tina
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