TMJ Tired of the pain - TMJ Disorder -TemporoMandibular Joint Message Board

joann23 · 05-05-2009, 07:45 PM

Hello, I have been suffering for more than 10 years with extreme pain. I had no idea that all the pain I was in was due to TMJ untill 5 years ago when my Dr told me I wasn't having Migrains. I have been to a specailist and wore a Orthotic Splint, it didn't help at all/ As a matter of fact when I would say anything about it not helping it seemed that they realy didn't care. Finely I after over $3,000.00 I decided to no longer go see that "Specailist". I live with pain in my jaw, neck, headaches, blurred vission, sholder pain, teeth, gums, clicking, night teeth grinding, nausea, and more. I am at my whits end. I don't want to hurt any more, but there seems that the way to get eny reliefe is to travel far. I live in North East Arkansas and I guess there is no one close to here that has helped any one. If any one has any advice, I am all ears. I am to the point that I want to rip my jaw off, cause if it isn't there it can't hurt me any more!

StillHope · 05-05-2009, 10:38 PM

Hi,
I certainly understand your situation and all your symptoms and feelings!

As I read on some med/dental sites migraines are in 90+% cases from TMJ, and TMJ's are in 90+% cases from bite problems.
So here we are!
Your symptoms suggest to me that you might have a low VDO (vertical dimension of occlusion) which means that your teeth do not meet when the jaw would want them to meet. Did you have any dental work done lately or better to ask -- before the pain started?
Did they place crowns? Could they be lower than what you had before that?

If this is the cause, unfortunately there is nothing else than to restore the VDO which is not as easy sometimes as it seems. In the process they can mess the bite even more as happened in my case.
Meanwhile I can only repeat what I wrote in other posts: focus on your posture!! For your shoulder/neck and other pains it's crucial. Get few good massages from experienced specialists in shiatsu, myo-fascial, or deep tissue. Tell them to focus on the body/spine alignment and elongation of the spine.
You can also find a few easy to do exercises for the spine to achieve the same as I mentioned.
Use heat on the stiff muscles before you do stretching and the rest.
Another important hint is to focus on "keeping the head over your shoulders". I am not joking- it's one of the most important "treatments " for TMJ (from dental/tmj sites and from my experience!)
Ask a body worker/masseuse to show to you how one should properly keep the head on the shoulders.
Basically it should be a relaxed comfy and effortless position. I am sure it is not in your case! And the head is falling forward. Am I right?

So there ARE things you can effectively do yourself to minimize or maybe eliminate most or all your symptoms. BTW, my daughter has a very low VDO and used to have lots of pains but then she learned on her own what to do not to have them. It was way before I knew anything about tmj's, vdo and what to do with it.

Hope it helps.

Thelma-Louise · 05-06-2009, 11:00 AM

Have you tired perhaps instead of dental treatments at this point other forms of alternative treatments such as applied kineisiology, osteopathic or chiropractic therapies, acupunture, physical therapy focusing on the head, neck and spine, eastern treatments like riki and tai chi (sp?). Sometimes tmj dysfunction or extreme bite issues can advance to the point that the entire musculoskeletal structure is affected and this in turn induces more symptoms and pain. In lieu of or until you can find find proper dental treatment, seeking other forms of therapy and treatment may help re-establish your body's natural alignment which in turn may reduce the severity of your symptoms - this is not a cure but a way of perhaps being able to help your body better deal with the real problem - it may buy you some time while you search for other dentists or specialists who may be able to determine what exactly is wrong with your bite or jaw function.

Have you had an mri of both jaws done?

I certainly can relate to your last statement - I have often said if they could just remove my entire head I would be fine and could go about my business quite happily - as I once was.

joann23 · 05-07-2009, 07:09 PM

Thank you so much for your sugestions. It is worth a try. I get in touch with a P.T. and chiropractor. I believe mu dentist wants to put me in braces. We'll see... I have a bite issue. I lost an adult tooth when I was 6 and all my teeth shifted. Also I have a canine that never grew in. So I think he wants to try to fix those and see if it helps my bite.

sunshine123 · 05-07-2009, 08:42 PM

Acupuncture is the best thing I've done for myself. It relieves my headaches and is very relaxing. I also had a screwed up bite and wore braces after several rounds of splint therapy with various dentists/so-called TMJ specialists.