Jaw spasms

Hey guys and dolls,

I'm wondering if anyone knows the how and why of spasms in your jaw, if i hold open my mouth my lower Jaw now goes into spasm within a few seconds. I can easily see my lower lip tremoring, the jaw is moving and if i lock my jaw trying to stop it moving, the right side of my neck starts to tremor too. It sounds like i'd have to be straining to do this but i'm not.

I have a small head (what a strange thing to say, it is in proportion to the rest of me ROFL), so naturally i only have a small space when i open my mouth, not much more than an inch and a 1/2 gap. To open my mouth any wider than that isn't possible unless i'm unhinging my jaw but to hold my mouth open for any period of time is painful in my right cheek and jaw hinge part (the bit below your ear), the dentist says its like working on a small child. With my right cheek/eye, tongue and eye lid tremors, all muscle related problems, I'm not that suprised when the right side of my jaw aches when i've eaten something that requires a bit more work.

Last night eating steak that was over cooked by hubby on the bbq, didn't produce speach and swollowing difficulty which has happened the last 2 times when i'm in what i think of as an episode but it did make my jaw ache like it does after being at the dentist. My jaw had had a work out (sorry hubby but it was hard to chew) so whilst trying to iron the ache out of my jaw i noticed the tremor was more prominant than usual.

I'm wondering if all the spasms I have in the right side of my face are connected to some particular part in my head or brain, and if it is which part. I do have a numb tingly nose when my right eye tingly thing is happening, most of the time but not necessarily all the time but none of these sensations on the left side of my face at all, it seems to all stop at the centre line of my face.

Any ideas???

Cheers..........JJ    

[Lulu54]

Hi JJ,
I have not a clue about this one but can commiserate with the steak - that's why I don't let my DH cook ours.  It always is overdone!

-L

[jensequitur]

I've had jaw fatigue before.  This was problematic last Christmas, but seems to have gotten better.  

The trigeminal nerve innervates the muscles of the jaw.  If you're having facial paresthesia, your trigeminal nerve has been irritated/injured.  Sounds like it's your right trigeminal nerve.

[supermum_ms]

Hmmmm steak again, though this time it was not cooked to the point of making shoes lol yum but i only ate about an 8th of it before my jaw gave me the signs to give up, oh well such is life. Must find some other high in iron foods, apart from red meat that doesn't seem to be worth the effort at the moment. Broccoli salad anyone? lol

I was wondering if it was the trigemenial nerve, holy moly i looked it up on wiki [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigeminal_nerve] and my heads still going round and round, I got it but sheesh no way could i express an understanding that didn't sound off the wall. I did find the conclusion interesting after all the techno speak, though not sure if i'm seeing logic there because i got a little brain freeze somewhere in the middle. ha ha

"A stroke usually affects only one side of the body. If a stroke causes loss of sensation, the deficit will be lateralized to the right side or the left side of the body. The only exceptions to this rule are certain spinal cord lesions and the medullary syndromes, of which Wallenberg syndrome is the most famous example. In Wallenberg syndrome, a stroke causes loss of pain/temperature sensation from one side of the face and the other side of the body."

Not saying i've had a stroke but the cross over is interesting, as is 'spinal cord lesions' got to love those peski little beggers. The majority of my sx are on my left side and its only the right side of my face that plays up. It was this that really confused me, it would of made more sense to me if it was the left side of my face, being the right it just left me wondering if it could be from say my teeth or just another sensory sx to include with the rest of them.

You live and learn! Open one aspect to find another thing interesting that needs exploration, now i need to look up 'Wallenberg syndrome' to see whats that all about. Did curiosity really kill the cat? ROFL

Cheers........JJ