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TMJ+ IT band syndrome

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[quote][i]Originally posted by PKB[/i]
[br]Hi everyone,

This is my first time on this site. It seems like an awesome community. I am a 25 year old male that has been struggling with TMJ problems for about 8 years now. At first my jaw would just become really tight and wouldn't open wide at all, which made speaking very difficult. I became very conscious of my speech, which just made matters worse. Soon I began having bad head and neck pain along with the jaw tension.

I went to many specialists who couldn't find anything wrong, including a TMJ specialist who did an MRI and said the joint was ok, but told me the muscle tension could damage it over time if it didn't get better. He prescribed me muscle relaxants and sent me to physical therapy. The physical therapy only had a temporary effect in controlling symptoms and the PT told me to see an orthodontist, which led to an unsuccesful course of braces (not cool as a 19 year old in college). I have been living on muscle relaxants and advil on and off ever since.

Recently the jaw tension got a lot worse  to the point where my jaw will sometimes snap shut or to the right/left because of a spasm. I also recently started having pain in my right joint when i chew. And feel my right joint while chewing, I can feel something popping. The left joint doesn't do that.

I just read Mind Body Prescription and it was very comforting. But I'm having a hard time getting the idea out of my head that I damaged my right jaw joint some how, like that one specialist said might happen years ago. I keep having this thought that I might have damaged some cartilage and cartilage doesn't heal. I don't know how to beat that thought. I'm also going to be entering medical school soon and have a lot of medical background, so it's hard for me to "reject the structural diagnosis." I don't want to go to a doctor to have my joint checked out, because they might find some benign degeneration that they will make a big deal of. And that will make things worse for me. I really want to beat this before I go to med school because that stress could make my symptoms worse too. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
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T O P I C R E V I E W
PKB	Posted - 06/28/2011 : 02:45:48 Hi everyone, This is my first time on this site. It seems like an awesome community. I am a 25 year old male that has been struggling with TMJ problems for about 8 years now. At first my jaw would just become really tight and wouldn't open wide at all, which made speaking very difficult. I became very conscious of my speech, which just made matters worse. Soon I began having bad head and neck pain along with the jaw tension. I went to many specialists who couldn't find anything wrong, including a TMJ specialist who did an MRI and said the joint was ok, but told me the muscle tension could damage it over time if it didn't get better. He prescribed me muscle relaxants and sent me to physical therapy. The physical therapy only had a temporary effect in controlling symptoms and the PT told me to see an orthodontist, which led to an unsuccesful course of braces (not cool as a 19 year old in college). I have been living on muscle relaxants and advil on and off ever since. Recently the jaw tension got a lot worse to the point where my jaw will sometimes snap shut or to the right/left because of a spasm. I also recently started having pain in my right joint when i chew. And feel my right joint while chewing, I can feel something popping. The left joint doesn't do that. I just read Mind Body Prescription and it was very comforting. But I'm having a hard time getting the idea out of my head that I damaged my right jaw joint some how, like that one specialist said might happen years ago. I keep having this thought that I might have damaged some cartilage and cartilage doesn't heal. I don't know how to beat that thought. I'm also going to be entering medical school soon and have a lot of medical background, so it's hard for me to "reject the structural diagnosis." I don't want to go to a doctor to have my joint checked out, because they might find some benign degeneration that they will make a big deal of. And that will make things worse for me. I really want to beat this before I go to med school because that stress could make my symptoms worse too. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
tennis tom	Posted - 07/01/2011 : 08:27:56 PKB, Good going, hopefully you'll be added to the forums list of TMS doctors after med school. The two docs who were active at this board went by the web names of "mk6283" and "drziggles", one was a neuro. If you do a "Search" here all their posts should come up. Good luck. Cheers (Caveat: I'm not a real tennis player, I just stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night). DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dKBFwGR0g TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ : http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Jiddu Krishnamurti
PKB	Posted - 07/01/2011 : 01:35:57 Thanks to all of you for your responses and advice. I greatly appreciate it. I haven't done the stretching and have been telling myself that there is nothing wrong with my it band. We'll see what happens when I play ball again next week. The jaw pain and tension has gotten a little better since I started telling my self that there is nothing wrong there. But still a long way to go. I'm going to start working on journaling my emotions and stresses and see what benefits I can reap from that. Thanks again to you all!
Uma	Posted - 06/30/2011 : 22:00:08 Hi PKB, I just wanted to say hi, I haven't "beat" TMS yet but I am making progress. I have had major jaw tension and pain for a couple decades.. ground some teeth down, cracked some fillings, had specialized nightguards, daily headaches, etc. etc. And I can at least say this: it is definitely related to anger (for me anyway). I have had some periods of relief from it when I am working with the TMS and it seems to respond to the strategy similarly to all my other symptoms -- and seems to flare up the more emotional repression is going on. Anyway just wanted to say that for me I'm believing more and more that the jaw issue is TMS. Good luck!
tennis tom	Posted - 06/30/2011 : 09:49:57 quote: Originally posted by PKB Ok, no help for TMJ it seems. ...an ortho and said it was it band syndrome and gave me a bunch of stretches and exercises to do. Should I do them? Do a "SEARCH" and you will find 11 pages of threads with the word "jaw". If your leg muscle pain is due to TMS then don't do stretching for it. Stretching to fix TMS is in opposition to the Good Doctor's Theory. Don't get the braces if it's TMS, you've been found to have nothing structurally wrong so you'd be wasting your time and money--muscle "tension" is TMS. Though a lot of older people are getting braces late in life and it's becoming cool to have them in the nursing home. The fact that you think they are "uncool" belies some psychological issues. TMS is all about psychology. Read about all the different psychology types like "perfectionist", "goodist", etc, and determine which traits you have that cause your TMS. The universal inferiority complex is a big one, but don't feel bad as most humans have this except for politicians, but I'm not sure if you can categorize them as human. We have had a med student here from time to time and a young doctor, if you want I could figure out who they were so you can see what your peers are saying. I'm sure being a med student would be highly TMS full. DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dKBFwGR0g TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ : http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Jiddu Krishnamurti
Javizy	Posted - 06/30/2011 : 04:01:54 Jaw tension is a pretty common part of the stress response, I'd say. Whenever I drop something valuable like my phone or think of something horribly unpleasant, I instinctively hunch forward, while closing my eyes and jut my jaw out. This happens to different degrees, of course, and it may not be noticeable if I'm around other people, but the muscle tension will occur. If you've habituated a stress response with more jaw tension than usual, it's likely the muscle tone has changed to accommodate it. Your brain's sense of a normal resting position for your jaw would feel extremely tense for a brain that hadn't been trained to maintain such a state. I don't think you need to worry about anything "structural". Even if your joints have undergone increased wear and tear, they'll recover if they're allowed to return to proper alignment. What you need to focus on is removing the tension and the source of the tension itself. One big step towards that is to stop worrying about it! If you get stuck in a cycle of stressing out about being stressed, your problems are just going to escalate. You'll probably start finding you have digestive problems, skin complaints, hair loss, and all sorts of other unnecessary ailments. Learn about the effects of stress on your body (if you haven't studied them already), learn to be aware of when you feel stress, and start to treat it like poison. You wouldn't allow someone to put mercury in your food, so why do you allow yourself to be anxious all the time? Following Sarno's advice may help you explore reasons behind your disposition and your problem and lead to a solution, so chill out and start experimenting!
PKB	Posted - 06/30/2011 : 03:00:50 Ok, no help for TMJ it seems. Well, I play basketball once a week. And for the past 2 weeks I've been having bad lateral knee pain while playing. One of the players is an ortho and said it was it band syndrome and gave me a bunch of stretches and exercises to do. Should I do them?
PKB	Posted - 06/28/2011 : 02:47:55 Also has anyone had a popping or a feeling like something was lose in their jaw joint that went away after they beat their TMS?

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