TMJ Forum - Confused And Looking For Some Help

My story is so long I do not know where to begin. I pray that someone has the patience to read this and help me out. Doctors don’t seem to. All I know is this has been the worst year & a half of my life. I will try to keep it short but I would like help in determining if this is indeed TMJ or something resembling it like Tic Dolourex. It seems that we the sufferers are more experienced then the doctors.

2 years ago I had a car accident. I came out with barely a scratch. No problems, I continued to work out and play racquetball. I have always been very healthy.

Approximately 1 year later, after a game of racquetball, I had some pressure in the back of my head (left side). No biggie I thought. Later that night after dinner, I am sitting there watching tv and all of a sudden the most excruciating pain I have ever felt hit me on the left side of my face, left jaw area, left head, and left neck. It felt like something had “popped” and then "locked up". I was in immense pain for about 3 hours. The hospital found nothing wrong and sent me home with an injection for the pain.

Afterwards I went to my doc whom said it was a cervical strain. He gave me muscle relaxers and an anti inflammatory, plus sent me to physical therapy. After the meds and PT, I felt the same, if not worse. Next came an MRI of my brain to rule out a tumor. Highly acclaimed neuro in my area looked at the results and found nothing wrong with me. He suggested I see a dentist to rule out problems with my teeth. Dentist says I have an impacted wisdom tooth on the lower left side almost hitting my jaw nerve. I then get all 4 wisdom teeth removed at once. Still feel the same afterwards. Went back to my doctor who prescribed Xanax and a trip to a psychologist. I started to get addicted to the Xanax so I threw it away. The psychologist said all the pain and symptoms are in my head. After 3 months with her she suggested a psychiatrist. Psychiatrist put me on Lexapro, which helped bring up my mood a bit, but killed my sexual ability (I am male), and didn’t resolve my symptoms. I got off of Lexapro convinced I was mentally fine (I was having anxiety attacks though due to the anxiety of my symptoms).

Later on my Doctor put me on a Merdyol pack (Steroids). That helped a bit but not much. Next they said it was sinus problems. They put me on Singulair and Nasonex. That helped with my sinuses but not the real problem. Still, I went and saw a ENT whom did a CT and said I have a deviated septum and that was my problem. My ears and throat are fine. They did a procedure on me that reduced my tubinaries. I can breathe excellent now, but again, not really where my problems are. Last thing my doc tried was putting me on Topamax, an anti seizure drug, which did nothing but make my hands tingle like crazy. They also did an MRI of my neck which found nothing wrong.

I then took it upon myself to visit a maxofillius guy (Oral surgeon) whom said I had some inflammation in my jaw and recommended I have a bite plate made. He said that 3 months of wearing this thing at night would get rid of my symptoms… not really. Although I do feel a bit relieved when wearing it.

So here I am, after all that and I am still jumping from doctor to doctor, feeling hopeless and confused. Now they want me to do an allergy test.

Here are my symptoms. Some of them confuse me and lead me to believe they may be non TMJ related, I don’t know.

Always Dizzy, or feeling “off kilter”. Not enough to make me fall, but enough to make me clumsy. Left ear always feels full or like there is an infection. When I talk, chew, or swallow, I hear clicks in my left and right ear. When I open my mouth, my jaw goes straight down and then sharply torwards the left side. When I turn my head to the right, as I turn back to looking forward I hear a click in my left ear. If I place my fingers against the sides of my face and open my mouth, I can feel my jaw on the right hand side pushing outwards. On the left side I can feel a bump just in front of the ear, like a bone sticking out. The right side though it is flat. My face hurts all the time. Mainly across my brow and my cheeks feel swollen. When I am in the car, (This symptom confuses me) if I have the cold AC blowing on my face, my cheeks start to “prickle” and hurt. Like my face is filling with cement and retracting on too its self. The left side of my face, Jaw area, temple, side of head, and back of head, is very sensitive to the touch. If I scratch any of that area, pain will resonate through out my face. Also my eyes are always tired and the sockets of my eyes hurt. Also my neck is very tight, tense.

Needless to say, this is affecting my very livelihood as I am finding it hard to even work like this. I can barely concentrate, carry on long conversations, or even enjoy a relaxing meal at a restaurant. At times, it feels like someone has taken a belt, wrapped it around my head, and tightened it as much as possible. I have forgotten what it was like to not feel this way…

The only relief comes from laying down, with low lighting, some soft music, and sleep. Stress definitely aggravates it, but I am certainly not making this up. If I wanted to inflict pain on myself I would have never dreamed up this kind of suffering…I have taken up every kind of relaxation technique in the book. (Meditation, massage, tai chi, exercise, reading, etc)

I am so sorry that this is so long, believe me, I too am tired of this. Some days I feel like my spirit is trapped in a body riddled with pain and I start thinking of “last option” type stuff. I would never purposely harm myself though. I used to love life, I could find happiness and a silver lining in even the darkest of times, but this seems to have beaten me into hopelessness and exhaustion. I even broke up with my GF because I just don’t have the ability to commit to a relationship, and my sex drive is pretty much on the floor due to all this worrying and mental exhaustion of trying to figure out this riddle.

My next step is to try a Neuromusclular dentist.

Can anyone offer any advice or insight?

I truly wish all of you the best. That is one thing at least that has not changed about me, despite how bad I feel, I always wish the best for everyone, it is no ones fault I feel this way, but I do wish for some answers. No one deserves to go through this type of agony.

Thank you in advance and god speed.