The Glade 4.0

Yeah, so I recently joined the ranks of the Temporal Mandibular Joint "issue" club. yay?

I tottal thought the pain I had this morning was just a cavity ach, and what do ye know, it flared into a TMJ my lower jaw SUCKS issue. I popped my Naproxin, but I dont think I got it fast enough.

Now here's the thing. My doctor, the one who diagnosed TMJ in the space of 5 minutes and began with the phrase "Oh my God! I only get one or two of these a year!" before telling me it was TMJ. I was too stupid exhausted from dealing with the pain for 3 days to ask him jack squat about it, so I left with no clue what was wrong, a feeling that it could end up involving surgery, and a prescription. It was a great day.

Well at my follow up I was a LOT more coherant and pain free and we got to do some back and forth. He told me the pain would definitly recur and I needed to see a Temporal Mandibular Specialist. He recomended his dentist for the job. When I called his dentist, they said they dont handle TMJ (fantastic) but here's a phone number for a specialist!

Hot damn! Progress! So I call the number the DENTIST gave me and end up at a Chiropractor? Apperently she is a Chiropractor AND TM specialist??

I'm a bit leary of seeing a Chiropractor for my jaw, but hey, what do I know? Nuthin'! Thats what!

So how about you guys? Anybody here sufer the joys of TMJ? Who do you see and what do they recomend?

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I do, and aside from the popping of my jaw that I get when I eat and stuff, and an occasional dislocation of said jaw... it doesn't bother me too much.

Chiropractors specalize in joints and bones and those sorts of things, and I've known a few in my time. Hopefully you won't require surgery.

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Holy shitsnacks!

*raises hand*

I has it. I had to stop my trombone playing in high school cuz it got too bad

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now, it sounds like there are a bunch of different kinds of TMJ to choose from, going by my doctor's less than helpfull stream of info.

A co-worker called it lock jaw, a friend said lock jaw is actualy something else, the doc said I might need an appliance to wear at night for the "rest of my life" or surgery, my boss said surgery wasnt necesary (not that I listen to him for squat at this point) and the Chiropractor who consulted with me said. . . .

hmmm. . . something to the tune of my skull parts being out of alignment and that screwing up all kinds of things including my hips and lower back. hence my skepticism. Additionaly she WANTS to see me for a half hour 2 times a week, which would be $200 out of pocket weekly. We talked her down to 15 minutes at a time once a week, which my insurance covers with a $40 copay per visit, STILL costing me $80 per paycheck, which is still pretty fooking steep.

Did you guys end up needing continual doc appointments? Is there an end in sight?

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Chiropractic is kinda controversial with mainstream medicine. Most insurances consider chiropractic "alternative medicine", because mainstream medicine says that some basic tenets of chiropractic medicine are not sound science.

That sounds like a typical chiropractic course of treatment. Keep in mind, chiropractors like to use "adjustments" to maintain alignments in order to relieve pain. They don't do surgery or prescribe medications. I've never tried chiropractic care myself, but I've heard it described as being possibly very helpful...so long as you don't have a greedy crook trying to give you treatment. See if it helps, if not, try to find yourself a mainstream medicine doc or dentist that treats TMJ.

Mainstream medicine does have a somewhat similar school of medicine to chiropractic--osteopathy. But very few US DOs still do joint manipulations, most practice medicine practically indistinguishably from MDs here in the US.

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I go to a chiropractor regularly. I believe it helps my back problems immensely.

I don't have TMJ though, so I can't speak to that.

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Blow Jobs cure TMJ.

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An Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman walk into a bar.
The bartender looks at them and says "What is this - some kind of joke?"

Yeah, John (my guy) tried to tell me that too, I told him the doctor told me that those cause TMJ

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Just kiddin btw...no offense meant. Ibuprofen helps a lot, but watch how much you take. Moist heat may work too. My friend used the heating pads you soak and it helped.

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understood and appreciated

The doc prescribed Neproxin for me, told me it was basicly anti-inflamatories on crack.

I'm supposed to take 1 twice a day, but I dont like taking them when I dont have any sign of pain. . . . wondering if maybe I should since it flaired up today and I didnt medicate in time to save myself the pain

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Tym, you are confusing the purpose of the prescription. Your doc's intention was to be proactive with the Naproxen, and basically try to prevent the pain by reducing the inflammation so that the pain doesn't occur as often.

By taking the meds only when you experience pain, you are being reactive to the pain. In a chronic condition such as TMJ, this can be a bit counterproductive, since there's little or nothing trying to keep the inflammation in check. This means you may experience symptomatic pain more often.

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I was worried about something like that *sigh* so I guess I actualy have to take this stuff every day then huh?

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Only if you want to be free of TMJ pain.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Well, what does the label on your med bottle say? If it says "take one tab twice a day", then you need to take the medication twice a day. If it says "Take one tab twice a day as needed", then you only need to take the medication when you feel pain.

Follow the directions on the bottle. Give that a shot for at least a week, if it doesn't seem to help, then its time to go back to your doc for something else.

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Diagnosis
Here's some more helpful info

You likely need to see an oral surgeon trained in TMJ. Physical exam, then xrays/CT/MRI as needed to diagnose further. Take the Naproxen as directed if you can tolerate it to reduce the inflamation. That way you will know if there is any improvement. Since all anti-inflamatory drugs are harsh on the stomach lining, take with food so as not to get an ulcer

Hopefully it's just inflamed and some theraputic methods with drugs will get it under control. Surgery would stink........

best of luck!

FYI - Naproxen sodium = Aleve. Some insurance companies will cover NAP, some won't. Mine (medco) doesn't, so I go to Costco and buy the large Kirkland NAP bottle on the cheap. It's the same stuff, just lower amount/tab (220mg/tab vs. prescription ~500mg/tab).

Just an fyi.

I don't understand the resistance to taking meds that reduce pain/inflammation.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Sometimes when you 'pop' a joint, the lining swells a little. This can cause the joint to 'pop' and hurt more. Antiinflammatories (both non-steroidal like Naprosyn and steroidal like medrol) can reduce the swelling. Reducing the swelling makes the joint less likely to 'pop' and may let everything settle down and go away.

This is why people are put on a scheduled non-steroidal antiinflammatory; to let the swelling go down. NSAIDs also temporaily relieve pain. Therefore if you only take it long enough to get the temporary pain relief, but not long enough to get the swelling down, you may not get better.

There are a few Oral surgeons and dentists who specialize in treating TMJ. If TMJ is chronic and does not get better with NSAIDs, sometime a special mouth brace is needed.

I have not heard of Chiropractors treating this.

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Teh problem was that the doc didnt fully explain this thing to me - When he originaly saw me he diagnosed TMJ and prescribed me step-down doses of Prednazone. The pain went away pretty quikly with that stuff, but was returning by the time my follow-up appointment came around. I was under the impression that he gave me this scrip (the Naproxin) just as a stronger option for an anti-inflamatory to handle things on a very casual basis untill I could see a specialist.

He talked it down to the point where it didnt seem all that important once the pain was gone. I had no idea it was the swelling causing the pain, I thought it was the TMJ causing the pain which was causing the swelling, in which case, taking the scrip only when I felt a problem arrising made sense. It did not make sense to me to continue taking the meds once the pain was gone because I had no idea they were going to prevent the pain in the first place. If I'm prescribed anti-biotics I finish the scrip, but glorified Aleve I was able to take for granted.

This is why I post this crap to you guys lol I was suffering under some very mis-understood instructions and impressions of what this whole dang thing was involving. I was expecting the specialist to be able to explain everyhting, but she is very holistic etc in her approach and I got nuthin' outa that appointment. Now that I have more info I will be taking the scrip as directed rather than as needed.

Thanks guys and by all means, keep the advice coming!

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I have TMJ and its not too bad. I do have extremely bad days and sometimes my jaw does feel like it dislocates.

Massaging the muscles around the bend of my jaw helps and where it attaches. Trying to stretch my jaw in whatever ways I can helps too.

My mom, when she was alive, went to a chiropractor who gave her several exercises. Her TMJ was worse than mine and she said that so long as she did the exercises, she didn't have it. She never shared with me what those were though.

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The Dude abides.

My TMJ is not bad as well....

my dad however... he's had to have his jaw pushes back into place on multiple occasions...

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