I have been diagnosed with tmj for almost
5 months , I have a new symptom , does
anyone feel like they have something stuck
in their throat when they swallow and
constantly swallow to try and clear it
sometimes its only on one side :cry: also
very dry mouth at night time !!
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catswold
Supporter
Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 404 Location: Flint, Michigan
Posted: 05-05-06 10:14am
Hi karen,
swallowing difficulties is a very
unfortunate problem of tmj. I recently
went through a bad spell of not being able
to swallow even my own saliva. I
thankfully got over this problem by making
some changes. I made so many changes
that i'm not sure which one or ones solved
the problem though.
I think the main one, though, was changing
my posture. As I sit here at the
computer, I have to be very careful to
keep my back reasonably straight,
shoulders back and down, head held up
straight and definitely do not thrust the
chin forward to the computer monitor.
It's almost like being pulled up.
The other thing that might have helped is
by keeping my lower jaw relaxed as much as
possible, tongue kept on roof of my mouth
(i can't keep it in my deep palate part so
I hope between the deep palate and teeth
is considered correct), and lips together
(relaxed though).
When I was having swallowing problems, if
I couldn't swallow I would purposely put
my head back and chin down and then be
able to swallow. I think after
practicing my better habits above, my
swallowing problems finally just went
away. I can make it come back though if
I thrust my chin forward.
Check these points out if you are
interested and see if they help.
The dry mouth tends to be from breathing
through the mouth when sleeping or else a
medication. I've not found a "fix" for
dry mouth except water and a saliva spray
(not as gross as it sounds).
