Chelsea Liebowitz PharmD MSCR - TMJ is Ruining My Life: Managing Jaw Pain so You Can Eat Normally

Copyright 2020 Chelsea Liebowitz, PharmD, MSCR

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ISBN: 978-19-5-036785-6

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Contents

Chapter 1:

I see you, reader. I see you struggling with uncontrollable jaw pain. A constant throb so strong, you can hear it. Shooting pains so severe, you see stars. This pain is ruining your life. You cant eat, you cant think. You feel lost. Maybe youve tried an oral appliance or other technique to try and reduce your jaw pain, but it didnt work.

Youve gone to your regular doctor and they didnt know how to handle the jaw, so they sent you to a specialist. But do they send you to an ear, nose, throat (ENT) physician or a dentist? Neither of those specifically scream jaw help . An orthopedic physician, who might focus on bones and joints, doesnt really mess with the jaw its too risky. So, where do you go?

Each person is different. Its likely that the cause of your jaw pain is not the same as the cause of my jaw pain, but we both experience it nonetheless. Precision medicine is gaining speed, with a lot of it focusing on genetic factors. But there is more to a person than genetics. Certainly, genetics can play a huge role in a persons health. For example, a weakness in my genetics led to an accumulation of copper in my own body, something Ive since had to detox from. But its not just genetics. Its also environment.

Lets not even get started on how chaotic, stressful, and out of control your life is. Even if your life looks like its under control, maybe you feel it is spiraling. Maybe you have someone in your life who you would really like to say a choice couple of words to, but you grit your teeth each time theyre around because, lets be honest, gritting your teeth is easier than a confrontation. All a confrontation does is give you more aggravation and probably more teeth gritting.

Maybe you have kids. Enough said! Disciplining kids with a sore jaw is difficult. It is difficult to discipline your child when talking louder than a whisper is painful. I know, I taught an after-school karate class with my jaw wired shut for a couple of the sessions. In an environment that encourages being loud, I definitely had my work cut out for me trying to maintain order with twelve kids between the ages of six and eleven without being able to open my mouth. Its frustrating.

Maybe you have a knee injury for which you overcompensated, and now the way you walk is sending more pressure up through your back and to your jaw. Dont believe me? Check out chapter 6 to see how posture can indirectly affect your jaw.

Are you really tired recently, or cant seem to get enough sleep? Like, you get enough sleep, but you never wake up rested. Maybe you have an obstruction affecting your airway. The body will do what it needs to do to get air, since not getting enough air is literally life and death . Your body will adjust its posture so it can breathe the easiest, even if it is painful. Crazy, right? Well talk more about this when we discuss indirect causes in chapter 8, including how to tell if you might have this problem. It happened to me I had a narrow airway and part of my jaw problem was I was always clenching to try and keep my airway open.

Maybe you are happy with your life currently. But maybe there is something from the past that is eating you up. Maybe just a little, or maybe a lot more than youre willing to admit. Its scary to face your past. Something happened to you that you dont want to talk about, or maybe you did something to someone that you dont want to talk about. Unfortunately, if you believe your life is great right now, but you are still having chronic jaw pain, there is likely something from your past boiling up, begging to be talked about. We discuss how emotions can affect the body in chapter 8 and what to do about it in chapter 9.

Because of any or all of these reasons, you are struggling to eat. I see you struggling to eat, having to shop in the baby food section. When I had to eat baby food, I stood in the aisle for five minutes staring off into space before I was able to bring myself to look at my choicesof baby food. You are missing out on social gatherings because the fear of having to eat in front of people is too great. Its not fun to awkwardly try and fit a spoon in your mouth and then to walk around with a stain on your shirt when you inevitably spill a little. What happens when they only have sandwiches? There is no chance my jaw is opening far enough to eat a sandwich. Or a cheeseburger or hot dog for that matter, so that gets rid of BBQs. When you turn down the host and say, no thanks, I already ate but then your stomach gives you away by grumblingits easier to avoid all that, stay home, and avoid the discomfort.

At one point, I couldnt even fit a spoon into my mouth. A spoon. Im sure you already know how much food is available when you cant open your mouth. Its a short list. You can only eat (drink?) so many milkshakes, soups, stews, chilis, pasta, and mashed potatoes before your jaw starts begging for something to chew, until you give in to that first bite and you see stars.

Halloween pretty much sucks. All the delicious candy is chewy. Starburst, Skittles, Twizzlers. Whoppers and chocolate bars are nice, if its a low pain day and I can open enough to bite it. Apples are out, especially if they arent cut. Even then, its too hard to bite with just the front teeth. Bananas need to be smashed. Any other fruit has to be blended. Raw vegetables are out, way too hard. But you can eat ice cream all the time! is only fun for at most the first month. Even if you arent lactose intolerant, thats a lot of dairy.

Hopefully you bring a hungry date with you to weddings, because how else do you RSVP yes to a wedding that is going to cost fifty dollars per meal knowing youll eat the potatoes and maybe some cake? What do you even say on a first date when your date orders an appetizer that requires you to play with your food, so to speak?

Fifteen years ago, when I first started dealing with my TMJ dysfunction, there wasnt much out there in terms of help. There still isnt. The top three books on Amazon when you type in TMJ books are from 2010, 1999, and 2000. But there is new information. An amazing massage therapy/trigger point book teaches what I had to learn through trial-and-error. Sometimes, its the muscle that needs attention, and sometimes a jaw massage is the best way to take care of it. Its definitely the most hands-on approach.

So, dear reader, I write this for you. The ones who are in so much pain they cant eat, they cant think, they cant breathe. They just want some help. Some reassurance yes, this too can pass. I see you. I hear you. I want to help you. I want to tag along on your journey to TMJ pain management and normal eating habits. I want to help you face any demons you may have to face, any triggers, struggles, or obstacles. I want to help you face them and remove them.