I am a 28 year old princess with fibromyalgia. I am trying to manage my disease, find a job that I can do from home, & retain my general awesome-ness. Read about how I pay my bills writing articles. You can also look into where I write.

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Fibro & TMJ update

My TMJ has really been holding steady the last few years. I don’t really notice it unless I yawn. I’ve just grown accustomed to not opening my mouth all the way or my jaw will pop. I haven’t been able to find a direct connection between fibro & TMJ but it seems like a lot of people have both. Plus, it would make sense because the rest of my muscles are constantly tense, why would my jaw be any different?

I wasn’t exactly sure what doctor to see about TMJ. I went to my orthodontist & got fitted for a custom night guard a few years ago. The downside was that I couldn’t wear it all night because of my retainer. At some point I bit through the night guard. It was expensive & wasn’t helping so I just never got a new one made. I could sense that my teeth were shifting slightly, even while having a permanent lower retainer in. I had visions of having to redo thousands of dollars of orthodontic work. While everyone else my age is worrying about sexy lingerie I’m worrying about what fibro will screw up next.

The orthodontist ended up telling me that I have “a beautiful smile” & that my teeth aren’t bad for as long as I’ve been without braces. That’s good news. He’s also going to fit me for this new fangled retainer/night guard. I’ve been thinking for years that they need to invent this & I guess they just did. I’m hopeful that most of my TMJ symptoms will go away if I’m diligent enough about wearing it. I have no medical evidence to support this, it would just be really nice to have one less health problem.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Home Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Responses to “Fibro & TMJ update”

  1. Chrystal K. (1 comments.) Says:
    March 24th, 2009 at 10:06 pm

    I hope your symptoms do go away. I’ve never experienced it, but I know that TMJ can be very painful.

  2. Liz (0 comments.) Says:
    March 25th, 2009 at 1:08 am

    I used to have bad TMJ, but then I mentioned it to my chiropractor and turns out she had a trick for it. Two things she did helped: 1. pressing firmly up on my hard palate and 2. rubbing and stretching the area back behind my back teeth where the jaw connects (inside my mouth). I don’t know how it works, but every time she’s worked on it, it was relieved almost immediately — and stayed away for a while, too. Now, I do it myself whenever things start tensing up.

  3. singlesnet dating review (1 comments.) Says:
    April 1st, 2009 at 8:14 am

    Oh my god..hope they will find a solution for this symptoms.

  4. Merchant Cash Advance (1 comments.) Says:
    February 5th, 2010 at 10:11 pm

    I’ve had similar symptoms after my car accident…i hope you get better

  5. Small Business Man (1 comments.) Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 9:53 am

    I can feel for you. I got a cavity filled the other day and by the time I was done my jaws locked so a couldn’t even close my mouth!!

  6. Calgary Orthodontist (1 comments.) Says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    Listen to your orthodontist – they usually have the best insight into these problems.

    As well, ask if there are any exercises with biting how your mouth works – sometimes these can be even more helpful in avoiding problems like these.

    - Larry