Jaw Pain in Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Yep, got that, too.

I’ve been threatening to go back to my chiropractor this week as it has gotten bad. I haven’t been in a while since normally I can take care of things myself and money is tight. She has this thing she does that works GREAT. She presses and rubs the roof of my mouth and also rubs and stretches the hinge muscles behind the back of my teeth. The clicks disappear and it all feels better again – at least for a while.

I had a viral infection12 yrs ago with ongoing problems variously diagnosed as “CFS” Fibromyalgia etc. One common thing in this disease is muscle pain. There is no current cure for the chronic problems some of the specific acute occurrances, like TMJ, can be treated by a doctor therapist knowledgeable in trigger point therapy. This year I was treated for TMJ (excruciating pain in my left jaw) which is now completely resolved. Trigger point therapy is conventional medicine based on release of adhesions that occur in injured muscle tissue. My neurologist, Dr. Gerwin, is an expert in this area. There is also an excellent self help book “The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook” by Clair Davies available for about 16 bucks.

Check it out and avoid unnecessary surgery in many cases involving joint or muscle pain. Dentists treat TMJ from their backgound of pain caused by misaligned teeth
and the treatments are often intrusive and tramatic.

Trigger Points have nothing to do with either tender points (FM diagnostic) or pressure points as reference to pressure point massage and similiar deep tissue massage therapies.

I submit this recommendation as it has worked well for me and I dont find this therapy to be well known in our patient community.

Kind regards,
G.

I’ve had awful jaw pain, but for me, it turned out to be due to one of the medicines (Protonix) I was taking in order to cope with the effects of weight gain due to inactivity: heartburn. Unless a medicine causes me to have some extremely unusual or observable condition as a result (and more transparently related in body region to the medicine–e.g., dizziness from an anti-depressant), I find I have been overly trusting in believing that the side effects do not come from the medicine, so it took me quite a while to notice this correlation.

Incidentally, one of the generalized pains I felt (which I sometimes linked to my jaw (probably as a reaction to the tension), other times to my skin, and other times attributed to post-chemo neuropathy) was actually, I am now confident, due to daily use of some component of energy drinks (it also led to some chest tightness and an underactivity of automatic breathing). I thought it was ginseng, but I also seem to get it after a while of taking Red Bull. (I rarely actually drink a whole energy drink, so it’s not like I was doing something extreme; also, despite my observations here, I still find energy drinks very useful in light amounts and early enough in the day.)

With all the medicine we end up taking or at least trying (not to mention supplements), and all of the variables introduced, I think it is well worth questioning more often whether the remedy may be sometimes worse than the “cure”.

I have had CFS and TMJ Disorder for about 20 years. About 6 months ago my GP (who also specialises in cosmetic treatments) suggested I have some botox injections in my tight jaw muscles. After ONE session he fixed my jaw pain and swelling!! It lasted for 6 months and I have just had my second session.
Botox is used to relax muscles – which minimises the appearance of wrinkles.
IT WORKS on TMJ – please try it if you suffer from jaw pain and swelling. It has been my LIFE SAVER after years of chronic pain and misery.
;o)

I just bought a $290 mouth splint (bottom jaw) for grinding. I got the hard plastic this time because I literally chewed a small hole through the back of my soft splint that I got about a year ago for $250.

Right before I got the new mouth splint, I was having pain in my ears and where I thought my one lymphnode was, just under my jawline. The doctor did an exam and the pain was sharpest just under the jaw, near the ear (rather than at a lymphnode).

I also take Protonix, and will look into this. I used to grind while on Nexium as well, tho. I wonder if acid reflux itself has something to do with grinding rather than the pill but I will check side-effects.

The dentist was simply astounded that I could chew a hole so quickly through my old mouth splint, PARTICULARLY because I take 2 1/2 (350mg pills) of Soma, a muscle relaxant, per night.

Stress is high at work right now and has been for a long time (things that have also caused stress in my co-workers — it’s really NORMAL to have stress, sometimes despite what doctors say! I’m trying to mangage it, tho!)

I will look into some of the suggestions here. I’m glad to have other options.

I agree with G. Burge — get The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook. That book has helped me with some different pains that the doctors dismissed as FMS/CFS but that were actually trigger points. In one case, I had horrible pain in the back of my knee which got so bad I could hardly walk. The first doc pretty much told me that it was a cyst and I should wait a year and see if it goes away, and if it didn’t they’d do surgery. So, I suffered through a year and then some until I had a second teacher X-ray it. She found nothing. So then I heard about the book. Using the book, I had almost instant relief and it was cleared up totally in days. It occasionally starts creeping back, but I can take 5 minutes, do the stuff in the book, and it goes away.

It would be interesting to know whether TMJ is higher for those with Fibromyalgia than it is for the regular population. A friend of mine has TMJ and juvenile diabetes so determining whether the condition is common amongst those with immune disorders would be useful knowledge.

My daughter went to a TMJ specialist back in May who deals only in TMJ and pain management. He is a specialized dentist. He explained that she was still not sleeping soundly or she would not be still grinding her teeth. She now has a top mouth guard (because she has a permanent retainer on her bottom teeth). He gave her medicine to help her sleep more soundly for about a month and change her meds to something not as strong. She is sleeping better and her jaw doesn’t hurt.

I have had TMJ pain for years. I also “grind” my teeth at night. Years ago my dentist had a “night guard” (Plastic mouthpiece). I have to use it every single night or I suffer great jaw pain. Even with nightly use, I still have some pain at times. I am getting tired of all this pain.

I’ve been diagnosed with TMJ as well, and wore the dumb mouth guard the dentist gave me that the insurance company wouldn’t cover for a year straight. My symptoms didn’t improve. I strongly believe that I don’t grind my teeth at night (my husband can even vouch for me) and the night guards are a waste of money. True that TMJ is a disorder that is strongly linked to Fibro and CFS, I oppose the idea that the symptoms are caused by teeth grinding.

I am more inclined to believe that the problem is more directly linked to the development of the bones of the jaw and how they are formed. (I have very strange bone deformities in my family- for example one of my cousins was born without part of her skull.) Only three of my wisdom teeth grew in. My bottom jaw where only one wisdom tooth grew in, I had double the amount of roots! Very strange! I believe my TMJ is somehow connected to all of that.

Guide Response: TMJ has numerous causes, including teeth grinding and bone deformities. While the end result is similar, the treatment method needs to be different. -Adrienne

I have had TMD since 1998 and the pain got so bad that it went into my ears and I had lumps on my jaw line and my teeth were really sore. I had several applinaces made and I was told I was grinding at night and that “it was stress.” I later went to a TMJ specialist (there is only 1 here in ottawa) very expensive and wasn’t happy with his payment plan or his guarantee. Went to a dental surgeon who said that it wasn’t bad enough to break the jaw so went to several diff. denists and finally had one who does ortho. treat me. I felt relief after a few months but we have been doing ortho for 7 years now with diif. appliances. If u go the dentist root I strongly urge an ortho. not a general dentist. I have also been going to a head and neck physiotherapist who does trigger points. After 1 visit she shows u how to release yourself and gives u exercises. Believe it or not but it might be connected to neck problems (as mine is and that is why the dentist says that it is taking so long to fix. I have a bulged disc in my neck and it causes me alot of problems with my jaw, neck and shoulders. My brother also suffers terribly from this condition so it may be inherited and it may be anatomical. The night guards might help for mild TMD but I would look for more long term solutions. Make sure there is nothing wrong with your neck and then find a good physio. who can help you release. A few years later I went back to that oral surgeons office for something diff. and the surgeon I saw that time said he would have broken my jaw. Although it sounds extreme and painful it would have only taken approx. 6 mos. to recover. I spent a lot of time and $$$ (so far approx. $10000 trying to find the best solution. Research, research………….get second opinions. Hope this helps.

I have so much jaw pain I hardly eat any more. I lost 45 lbs due to fibro pain and TMJ. My chiropractor cuased this when he adjusted my neck.

I went to an oral surgeon who sent me to PT and I got a custom mouth appliance made that cost $700.

It does help with sleeping which I do a lot of with the chronic fatigue.

Now I get massages and she works on my jaw but it is a chronic ongoing painful problem for me.

Please visit The TMJ Association’s web site, http://www.tmj.org, for more information on TMJ disorders. The information on our site should help provide you with the guidance you need to make more informed health care decisions.

The TMJ Association is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of health care and lives of everyone affected by temporomandibular joint and muscle disorders (TMJDs).

so yes

So,

Here I go…… Thank god for the actual flare up of full blown pain and finding out I have FM. I have spent YEARS trying to be treated for depression. I have lost many things along the way, myself and pieces of those around me. I have spent 5 consecutive years on cocktails from psychologists and on two different occasions spent time in a mental facility trying to be treated with depression. So basically I spent five years stoned on drugs that would not and COULD not ever help me with, what I think was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome all along and latent Fibromyalgia lurking, waiting for a trigger. I spent so many years “depressed” of being chronically fatigued and not being able to tell the difference between CFS and depression. Because, I think, of the CFS I didn’t really care about or notice some of the strange things happening to my body. Honestly I felt close to suicide many, many times. It makes sense now, why i can’t wear my glasses. People never understood when I said that the weight of them hurt my face. Also I couldn’t blow up a balloon without severe jaw pain. The one good thing about being in this much pain, is knowing that I’m not crazy. There IS a reason why I never felt good, or alert or rested. The only bad thing is I can’t function now…. I’m in a lot of pain daily. My ears “roar” other people describe it as a ringing in their ears but, I feel a pressure change when i blink or close my eyes and my eyeballs move back and forth in the socket. The jaw pain feels like I’m blowing up a balloon every minute of the day. The fibrofog has to be the worst thing though. That is the symptom keeping me from my job, not the pain. When I’m having a bad episode I get a feeling of paralysis, most times my face will go completely numb. My left foot continually twitches and my head wobbles slightly like a bobble head! I slur my words and often can’t find the word for what I want to say. I had a very physical job in a hospital laundry. But as the pain and ‘Fog’ worsen I find myself walking into walls, banging funny bones on dryer doors and sounding like a complete idiot when I try to interact with others. Also my muscles love to hate me and spasm most often in my upper body. It is hard to lift and move in a job setting. I don’t know I only found this out like 2 mths ago. Just looking for some help or to let off some steam hoping people may have suggestions for me.

I had tmj about 17 years ago. I recall I also had a lot of irritable bowel at that time too. After a couple of years both of them seemed to fade around the same time. I think it is caused by some kind of bacterial infection. It certainly felt like an infection on both sides of my jaw. I wish they would do research instead of having people waste money on physiotherapy and other unhelpful procedures. I guess we are all different but that is my belief.