Insane TMJ pain😭😭

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

I’ve had really bad anxiety for about 6 weeks and have obviously clenched my teeth non stop. The pain is unbearable😭

I’ve been to the dentist for a splint. All the muscles are swollen, hard and hurt to touch. Can’t even massage them. Living on fluids.

Current meds, amitryptiline, dihydracodeione, paracetamol and ibuprofen gel ( can’t take anti inflammatories) . Hot bag permanently strapped to face.

The pain is just unbearable. I don’t know what to do. Head, eye, ear, cheek, jaw all hurt. Teeth in agony. Crying and nauseous with pain. What do l do?😭.

[Nogodsnomasters]

Oh my god that sounds awful. I have no experience with this sorry but when did you go to the dentist? If it's been a few days and there is no improvement at all I would call them again and let them know you are still in agony.

[Hawkmoth]

Try a physio that does ultrasound therapy.

[wewillmeetagain]

I get this, nothing really stops it completely. I find usually codiene and a hot water bottle helps! If nothing else the codiene makes me fall asleep.

[wewillmeetagain]

Have you tried asking the doctor for Valium? It's a muscle relaxer, so may help?

[MasksGlovesSoapScrubs]

Do you mean they done a guard to help with your TMJ?
Look up ways to massage your cheek area.

[tinselvestsparklepants]

Chiropractor who also does acupuncture if you can. I had / have tmj and it's the only treatment I've had that helps. Try a local chiropractic school as they are cheaper, ask if there is a tutor who specialises in jaw/ neck. Got to be worth a try. It's miserable, you have my sympathy.

[smileannie]

Came on to say the same as tinsel. A chiropractor fixed this for me in one treatment.

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

Massaging makes it worse. I’ll look up a chiropractor or physio.

Lying on a heated rabbit toy as l type😭

[tinselvestsparklepants]

Roughly where in the country are you in case PP and I can recommend people who helped us?

[throwaway100000]

I was diagnosed with TMD a few years ago and have been under the care of the TMD department of a dental hospital after my dentist referred me. At my worst, I didn’t feel nauseous but rather my jaw would lock shut for periods of time due to muscle fatigue. I eventually had Botox.

I have spoken to a fair few senior consultants and I think they would all say that eye/cheek pain and nausea are very unusual symptoms for TMD. Your teeth shouldn’t really be in agony after clenching as the pain is usually from muscular fatigue. Your muscles shouldn’t be impossible to massage. I think part of your symptoms stem from your anxiety or something else.

Ibuprofen gel is still an anti inflammatory. It is useful if you can still use it. But otherwise wear your splint, eat soft foods for a couple of weeks, massage the masseters, no chewing gum/chewy foods, maintain good posture and keep your teeth apart at all times. General stress relief will help too.

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

I’m wondering if l have something called temporal tendinitis.

Anyway, I’ve made an appointment with a jaw physio. So I’ll see what she says.

[MarinPrime]

Sorry you're going through this OP.
Nerve pain from TMJ dysfunction can affect the whole side of the face if the inflamed joint puts pressure on the main facial nerve (trigeminal nerve).
When I had tmj the worst bit was the pain and pressure above my ear, and in my teeth and gums. Pain killers didn't help so I stopped taking them.
The only thing that gave me some relief was forcing myself to carry on taking my dogs out for long walks every day. After I'd been out for a while I started to feel better.
Perhaps being upright and moving helped to reduce the inflammation and relax the jaw.
The pain was always worse when I was sitting or lying down trying to sleep.

[mushroom3]

I found a normal mouth guard didn't work for me but this one from eBay did as it covers both top and bottom teeth and keeps them slightly apart.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLUE-MOUTH-GUARD-GUM-SHIELD-TRAY-FOR-BRUXISM-TEETH-GRINDING-FAST-DELIVER-W5E/233682686464?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l46252

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

Marinprime, I recognise all this.

Painkillers don’t work very well, and it’s the pain in the teeth and gums which is the worst!!

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

But it gets worse outside. Even if l wrap up, it’s always been ultra sensitive to cold😞

[MarinPrime]

I found that an ice pack worked better to numb the pain, rather than heat. I suppose everyone's TMJ pain is different.

[baroqueandblue]

OP, you have all the sympathy I have left after I've had enough for myself! My TMD is making me so miserable I half-wish I was dead. Was diagnosed last year after months of daily unrelenting pain, then it seemed to go away for a few months. Except, to be fair, I fractured my spine during that period and I think the TMD had to get in the queue! Anyway, it has been back for about 3 months (at least) and day by day has been driving me more insane and making me more and more depressed. Dentist has referred me back to oral medicine but they've only sent me a telephone appointment for the 5th of November - what good is that, I want them to x-ray me or something and make sure nothing's broken this time. I've stopped taking amitriptyline because I was getting all the side effects and none of the benfits. Co-codamol is my go-to but that hasn't helped much recently either. For some reason Tramadol isn't reliable for this - helps some days, but other days I might as well have taken a Smartie. So after I got home from a very subdued and downhearted trip round Lidl and Tesco earlier I took diazepam 2mg. They were prescribed to me for something else a while back and I still have a fair few left. Anyway, it has helped a fair bit but only taking the edge off realistically - the pain is still lurking under the surface.

My mouth gets very sore: back teeth, gums but also the soft tissue down in the corner between my back teeth and my tongue. Does yours hurt there too? Sometimes my tongue even feels like it's got cramp.

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

Diazepam? Hmmm.

It hurts all over. Head, eye, cheeks, joint, gums (especially gums) ear, jaw, neck. No soft tissue action joining in though. Grateful for small mercies.

It IS depressing. Just drags on unremittingly.

[MarinPrime]

I found this exercise helped with the pain I had directly over the TMJ joint.

Also another exercise my dentist told me about.
You need to be alone to do this as it looks weird - slowly stick your tongue out as far as you can aiming it down, as if trying to reach the bottom of your chin.
Then point the tongue upwards along top lip towards tip of the nose.
It really hurt when I moved my tongue so I was very cautious with this at first.
These exercises should strengthen underused muscles that help support jaw function.
Also I found they helped my jaw to relax.

[baroqueandblue]

Thank you very much MarinPrime, I've tried them both tonight and you've given me hope! 😃 Will do the pdf exercise religiously for the next few weeks, it definitely helps.

[Starrr123]

@MarinPrime how are u now,
My teeth and and ears keeps hurring! Im sure its nerve! They keep saying tmj! I dont jnow what to do :( xx

[baroqueandblue]

Hi @Starrr123 I'm sorry to hear you're in so much pain and feeling lost because of the diagnosis that has been given (but seems not to be helping you ). I think you might've sent me a private message at some point and I didn't reply, so apologies. It's just that I have different forms of chronic pain and don't seem to get on the right side of any of them for very long, so I don't feel wise in these matters I'm afraid.

However, I do have one suggestion which, if you have a sympathetic GP, might help you. Two years ago I had an ear infection and A&E prescribed a spray called Otomize. If you haven't heard of it, the spray contains an antibiotic and a steroid. I noticed shortly after starting on it that not only was it helping my ear, but the longstanding facial pain/toothache/headache (which happened to be on the same side as the infected ear - funny that ) disappeared.

Now, unfortunately for me, steroid use is very risky because I have severe osteoporosis. And Otomize shouldn't be used daily for long periods anyway. However, I've recently had a nightmare with a big upper back tooth that showed some decay on the x-ray, was very painful leading to facial pain and chronic neuralgia, and had to be extracted. Since the extraction the pain got worse and I was at my wits end until one day I remembered I had an unopened bottle of Otomize. I took one spurt of the spray in the ear that's on the same side as the tooth that was pulled, along with 10mg of Amitriptyline. The severe pain disappeared by morning and that lasted for just over a week. As I say, I can't risk using it too often but a lot of people wouldn't have the same risk level as me. You could conceivably try it and see if it helps, and if it does, discuss things with your GP and decide if it might be possible to use it in small doses to alleviate your facial pain.

Sadly for me, it looks as though they didn't get the whole root of the tooth they pulled, which will mean going to an outpatient oral surgery appointment. I'll find out tomorrow if that's the case. So I apologise again for not replying to posts/messages, but I also have an ongoing spinal edema situation which is extremely painful and difficult to manage, so I don't often feel like posting. Anyway, enough about me. I hope my suggestion is something you feel you can bring up with your GP, or consultant if you're under the hospital. It's definitely worth a try. For what it's worth, I think the amitriptyline helped me sleep better that night, but it was the steroid in the Otomize that worked the magic on the orafacial/neuralgia pain.

[Starrr123]

@baroqueandblue i tried that before for like a week! Then u binned it! The gp wont give me anything else because my ears dont look infected or red inside.
Ive been referred to ent! God knows how long it will take!
I tried amitriptyline but that didnt help much with the pain. They hve now given me gabapentine but i will see how i go!
Its been a year now!
Its draining xx

[baroqueandblue]

Oh @Starrr123 that's too bad Well, fingers crossed for the gabapentine. Some people do really well on it. I couldn't take it because of my bones but I've wondered if it might've made a big difference to my pain levels, as it does for a lot of people. Takes a while to get going, I believe. Keep us updated, I'm rooting for you

[Starrr123]

@baroqueandblue oo does it effect your bones?
Thankyou❤️ Ill see how i go! Im sooo fed up! Im due back to work from having a baby! And im still the same! Also not sure if its all coming from my neck! Xx