TMJ Forum - Does This Happen to Anyone Else?

No one who has tmj is a wimp in my books. I told some people recently that I believe tmjers have to be the strongest people in the world. What we have to put up with from the medical field, family, friends and the unbelievable pain gives us the right to say that.

I must say I have never heard of anyone having their jaw manipulated in any way including yours. I may be wrong, but I don't feel comfortable with that. The reason why is because I have a very bad habit of "cracking" my jaw sometimes. It's something I can't control even after all these years. If the jaw cracks too much, the pain get much worse, unbearably worse. By the way, my ears to get feeling bad if the cracking continues, especially the fullness feeling. I try and force myself to stop but amazingly I can't unless I feel the jaw joint "goes back into place." at that point, all my muscles just relax, but the soreness lasts for hours, days. If a headache started in the middle of all this, which it does frequently, it does not go away. I honestly do not know if that is what is happening with my jaw (going in and out of joint). Something happens though that hurts and then all of a sudden doesn't hurt. But I do not believe that this cracking or popping is good because I know that inflamation is happening and bones or cartilage or something is rubbing and I don't think that's good.

When I think of manipulation, I am thinking that something is being crack. Is that what is happening with you when the doc does he part? It reminds me of a chiropractor. I did see a chiropractor after I had been in excruciating pain for 3 years. At that time, I was afraid of them so a friend tricked me into seeing a chiro friend of his and it turned out good because I finally had some break from the pain. All he did was crack my neck and massage for about a minute inside my mouth back near the joint. I went to him for several years before moving to another city. One interesting thing did happen. My neck actually became more and more achy the longer I saw him. Even after moving away, I had neck aches all the time. True, I might have had the problem anyway, but I do wonder because later when I tried to find a chiropractor in the new city, the one I went to insisted upon cracking my back even though I said no. I stopped going to this guy when my back started aching. I never had an achy back before and thankfully it did go away. So, it sounds to me like cracking is not good.

I will admit to wondering what it would be like to have someone manipulate my jaw, but no physical therapist, tmj doctor or massage therapist ever mentioned it me and I didn't to them.

I'm not surprised to hear that you are sleeping well. That is one reason docs prescribe the valium. Good sleep is extremely important for tmj sufferers. I don't know if I can explain this very well, but it has something to do with needing to go into rem sleep so we will have a time when our bodies totally and completely relaxes and doesn't grind or clench. Unfortunately, valium is something we can't take for long times because our body gets used to it and it loses the effectiveness. I think if you take it for a month, then off for a month and then back on for a month, etc., it is effective, but I never told my doctor my theory so I haven't tried it. I now ask my doc for valium only when i'm going through a really rough time and it won't go away.

Regarding zoloft or anti-depressants - yes, I think you should try it. You can always stop if you don't like how it makes you feel. I have tried zoloft and it did not help me. I couldn't feel or notice anything. Later I tried prozac and then I noticed something. It helped my tmj pain lessen a great deal. When I first started taking it, I think I took 20 mg a day and I had a side effect - I didn't care about anything what so ever and I mean nothing. You might think that sounds great if you're depressed, but it actually heightened the depression symptoms. So we reduced the dosage to 10 mg. And that was perfect. I have now taken it for years and have been very happy with it until recently. Sadly I have now started having another side effect and that is grinding teeth. A big no-no for a tmjer. We raised it to 60 mg. To see if it would help, and no. So, next month we are going to reduce the prozac and start a different kind of anti-depressant that supposed to stop clenching. Hmm, we will see.

I do recommend prozac to you. I haven't heard too many tmjer say anything very positive about zoloft (it did nothing), but prozac - you either love it or hate it. If you decide to go on it - take it at bedtime even though the instructions say morning. It makes me sleepier. Give yourself at least a month to get used to the drowsiness and to feel the positive effects.

Also, you should stop taking valium after a week or two or then only take valium occasionally after that. Supposedly valium and anti-depressant shouldn't be taken together, but in cases of chronic pain, as long as your doctor monitors you, you should be just fine (just sleep very well at night).

I hope this helps you. I enjoy writing to you. It actually helps me remember what I have done and maybe should again or try something new, etc. So, it helps us both very strong tmjers. :)

i'm excited about a new therapy I started yesterday. I lost my long-time massage therapist about a year ago to retirement and haven't been able to find a replacement yet. I need to have a massage so bad because my shoulders and neck just ache like crazy and I can't relax, which is bad for my tmj. Anyway, I told my new pain doctor that I needed to find someone educated in myofascial release or tmj or pressure point and he recommended a place for me. They are actually a physical therapy place, but I decided to try them anyway. I went last night and told my abbreviated story and she evaluated me and I was very impressed. We are actually on the same page in thinking about what causes my tmj to flare up and what will help it, etc. This is the first medical person in 25 years that I could say that about. She is going to work on retraining my neck muscles and work on "releasing" other areas with massage, etc. I am really psyched up for this right now. She only gave me a short massage last night so I don't know how the massages are going to feel yet, but I have a good feeling.

Well, i've gotta go because I wrote too much for both of us tonight. I hope you continue feeling better and sleep well. I don't really know what to advise about the adjusting that your doc does. I think the first question to ask yourself is does it help you feel better? If it does, you should keep doing it.

Bye for now...
Carol

p.S. No proof-reading tonight, so I hope no biggie mistakes.