Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Roseville, CA
I Really Hope You Folks Can Help Me... Posted: 01-30-07 12:32pm
Hi. I'm new to these forums and could
really use some advice. I did a search
but was kinda overwhelmed by the results,
and could not dig up my exact situation,
so I thought i'd just post.
I have had regular headaches since the 5th
grade (i'm now 33). Male by the way. I
have tried everything, and I mean
everything to try and get to the bottom of
them. As i've grown older, they have
gotten worse and more frequent, but I also
believe I may have narrowed down my
problem. I recently went in for
accupuncture, which provided some relief,
but no cure. What it did do, however,
was make me very aware of the epicenter of
my pain, which is in my jaw/face, though
i'm not sure I have tmj...
My headaches are now very often triggered
simply by sleeping on my side, with my
face on a pillow. My right side is much
worse than my left, but sleeping on either
side often causes me to wake up with a
pounding headache, and on occasion a
migraine. I try and sleep on my back,
and it does provide a lot of relief, but
it is uncomfortable and I sleep
restlessly. If I press against the side
of my face with my hand and open/close my
mouth, I can feel a dull ache as the joint
goes through its range of motion and
pushes back against my fingers. I should
say I am prone to other headaches too,
with the usual food and stress triggers,
but the ones that originate in my jaw are
by far the worst of the bunch.
I have no clicking in the jaw, and my
dentist has told me I do not have a tmj
problem, but I am still very suspicious.
I don't grind my teeth, or clench as far
as I know, but I do know I have a habit of
forcing my jaw forward unconsciously, and
I try and correct it when I catch myself.
I believe this action to be some kind of
byproduct of orthodontic work I went
through in my youth (yes, around the 5th
grade), because of the years spent with
headgears and retainers, etc.
My doctors have prescribed any and every
drug under the sun to prevent my headaches
(which they have treated as migraines),
none of which work. I am to the point
where I take a couple ibuprofen every day,
and imitrex when I get a full blown
migraine a couple of times a week. I
hate doing this. I can't remember the
last time I went a week without taking
some kind of painkiller, and I know that
it can't be good for my body, as benign as
ibuprofen and imitrex might be.
Do you folks have any suggestions at all?
Any supplements I could possibly try that
might help me out? I really apologize
for the long-winded post, but I wanted to
get out all the details I could in the
hope that one of you nice people might
recognize my dilemma. This is the first
time I have posted so extensively on any
forum, and i'm hoping somebody out there
can at least tell me what the problem is,
and ideally tell me how I can go about
correcting it. Thanks so much for taking
the time to read this.
|
catswolds
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 28 May 2006 Posts: 62 Location: Michigan
Posted: 01-30-07 16:31pm
Hi joannisds,
tmj is much more complicated than I
believe many dentists are aware. You do
not have to have a popping jaw or clicking
to have tmj (or tmd or tmjd). Did your
dentist do an mri or any other x-rays,
etc.? Though, even if nothing shows up
on any tests you could still have tmj
symptoms. Because of your braces, your
case is not a simple one either to
diagnose.
It sounds like you are overusing or
overextending the muscles that make up the
jaw system. Or, you might have
trigeminal neuralgia. I can't address
the tn here as I am not knowledgeable
enough, but you should check it out.
I would be willing to bet (and i'm not a
betting person) that you probably do
clench or grind your teeth at night.
Your teeth bite has been artificially
positioned with the use of braces. They
might not have "balanced" your bite. By
balance, I mean with the muscles and teeth
coming together. I truly believe the
cause of tmj is an imbalance of the jaw
joint and muscles. Of course it is much
more complicated than just saying that
though. You may be forcing your muscles
to work contrary to what they want to do.
This will almost be like having
tendinitis all the time. Pain!
There are so many possibilities in my head
that it's impossible to write them all
out. Suggestions to try:
1. Moist heat to relax the jaw. Place
directly on the jaw and neck muscles.
2. Look at your posture. Are you
overextending your neck and chin/jaw in a
forward position while sitting at the
computer (and slouch)? Your back needs
to be reasonably straight (even slightly
going back) with the head over the back.
Shoulders should be back, down and
relaxed. Be careful - shoulders like to
ride up very easily. Chin should be down
slightly (not pushing out to see the
screen better). Jaw should be relaxed
with the teeth apart, lips together (or
very slightly apart) relaxed, and tongue
resting on top of mouth. Teeth should
never come together except when chewing
(and there's a debate there also). Check
out nismat.Org, the tmj physical therapy
page for good basic info.
3. Rest your jaw as much as possible for
the next several weeks by eating only
softer or liquid foods and reduce your
talking. Maybe even have your doctor
prescribe valium or zanax for night-time
use the same time you are being gentle
with your jaw. Don't force your jaw to
pop and don't open mouth wide (even to
yawn, I know, hard).
4. Try taking lots of vitamin b super
complex every day and magnesium at night.
I don't know the amount of magnesium that
is best yet. I'm still researching
that.
5. Use every relaxation method you can
think of - yoga, hot tub, massage therapy,
hard exercise, etc.
6. Ask your dentist, or go to another
dental person, and have a bite splint made
to wear while sleeping.
There is more, but I have to go. Start
here and see if any of this helps. Also
keep researching on the internet.
Knowledge does help. Please take care
and let me know how you are doing.
God bless...
Carol
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ioannisds
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Roseville, CA
Posted: 01-30-07 19:51pm
Thank you so much for your reply carol.
I do also have a tn suspicion as you
mentioned, but I need to look into it some
more. I am having a hard time finding a
doctor who will really listen to what I am
trying to tell them. They are all so
quick to yank out their prescription
pads... Anyway, thanks again for all of
your suggestions. I will take them to
heart.
if you are interested in trying magnesium.
Get some magnesium glycinate or a hot
mag drink called `natural calm'. 400 mg
is the rda but you can take up to 1200 mg
initially to see if it helps. You may
get diarrhea at first but back off and
build up the dose. You cannot od by oral
supplementing magnesium the body will dump
the excess.
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