Lockjaw!

[OperaMBA]

I was driving in to work this morning, eating a breakfast bar and my jaw stopped chewing!  It wouldn't move side to side, nor would it open more than 3/4 of an inch for about 5 minutes.   I tried to force it open and it wouldn't budge much.

I know that tetanus causes a lot of neurological symptoms, so I have been looking at that this morning.

Has anyone had this happen to them?

Richard
The artist formerly known as OperaMBA

[Quixotic1]

Okay, a funny story on me.  I generally have a fairly good vocabulary. In medical school when we were learning physical exam skill, we brought our shiny new stethoscopes to the class (small groups).  The mentor talked a little and during the break I asked,"Well, when do we start oscillating?"

An arrogant, sexist classmate (surgeon to be) looked at me leeringly and said, "Anytime you want.  Anytime you want."

I meant oscultating.  Oscillating means kissing.

Oh, well...

Quix

[OperaMBA]

My ring finger on my left hand does this when I am woodworking - stiff as a board.

Crazy stuff we all have.

[OperaMBA]

Thanks to all of you guys for brightening me up!   I have had a poo-poo-y day for a variety of reasons and this really helps.

Thanks for the good info from several of you that I'm not losing my mind!   I have noticed the jaw clinching at night Sunny, but that only started during this episode.   So, is in neurological, or is it Memorex?  Hard to tell.  :-)   Older folks like me, explain it to the younger ones....  :-)

Also, I had thought that things were going bad previously, but NOW DubV (doublevision1) wants to send me to the vet!    They'll have the muzzle on me before the weekend!

Okay, all seriousness aside, my jaw feels sort of funky and my eyes are definitely not right, but they are not as bad as Saturday.   I am going for a vision field test tomorrow, so, hopefully that will yield some tangible results.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks for all of the support, again!

Richard
OperaMBA

[doublevision1]

I've never experienced it but something like that actually happened to one of my beloved standard poodles.  It did not resolve on its own so I took him to the vet, who diagnosed him (after I did all the internet research....guess its the same deal for canine patients as it is for us humans) with masticatory muscle myositis.  He was put on oral prednisone and it eventually resolved.  he's been fine for years now, no more occurrences of this problem.  His head feels very bony in parts, where the muscle tissue atrophied.

[biowham]

Quix, I wish you could tell some of those stories to the antivax people in the autism world. How quickly they forget.

MBA, this has never happened to me. But my fingers lock up on me all the time when I'm using them for something tense, like flossing my teeth. It is REALLY annoying. I just have to sit there and wait for them to "unlock."

Bio

[jensequitur]

I get a sore jaw quite often, and sometimes my jaw will do a weird little twist and I'll end up biting the underside of my tongue!  How is that possible?  I dunno, but it's quite painful.

I'm with Quix - I think you experienced a spasm of the jaw muscles.  Maybe you shouldn't be driving and masticating?  Sounds hazardous... ;-)