Aa
Four months of random pain and now it's insomnia... is it all because of my jaw?
I'm going to post the full story here. I went to the quacks at my clinic multiple times and they did absolutely nothing for me. I practically begged for a diagnosis and they gave me nothing. Perhaps the internet will be more useful. Here goes.
This whole thing started in late December. I had spent most of 2014 being stressed and around mid November, my stress levels started spiking to where I would get anxiety attacks that were near impossible to kill without propranolol (which does work nicely). Around the last week of the year, I started feeling random tingling in my face, usually near my mouth. I dismissed it as my imagination or hyperfocus and hypochondria, but part of me knew there was something more sinister going on.
Things truly kicked off in mid January when I started feeling pain in my hands. It would be in one place at a time. Sometimes it would be the right or left hand. Sometimes it would be the thumb and index, sometimes it would be the outer edge of the hand and the pinky. Again, I dismissed it as just me putting too much weight on my hand, but it continued and persisted and it was clear it was something more.
It persisted several days and by mid-week I was starting to Google answers... always a terrible idea. Rheumatoid arthritis was the first outlandish possibility, and then the more acceptable carpal tunnel syndrome came up as an option, which makes sense since I work at a computer. I went to the doctor and he was of minimal help. He asked me some questions and examined my hands to conclude it was not arthritis, and he tapped on the bottom of my wrist to conclude it wasn't carpal tunnel. Except he did not go on to figure out just what it was. No scientific tests were undertaken. No technology was used.
The weekend went by and I still had no answers. By now I was noticing I would feel pain in my wrists and even elsewhere. The wheels were turning and I was realizing the tingling I felt in late December was related to this because my fingers did not always hurt; sometimes they tingled, and my face tingling spread back toward my jawline. I'd feel pain in my elbows (especially when I rested them on my desk) and in my ankles, knees, and random other places predominantly in my limbs.
I should note that around this time, I experimented with cyclobenzaprine but it did nothing for the condition other than temporarily masking symptoms.
By late in the week, I was getting perturbed, simply because I was beginning to worry that this could be something nasty, like MS. Remember, I'm prone to outlandish worst-case scenarios. Wondering if it was autoimmune in nature, I tried fasting for a couple of days. During the fast, the face tingling actually intensified and I felt it in my tongue and the side of my jaw. I also noticed that a relatively small spot on my left jaw was tender and hurt if I applied pressure to it.
The fast did not accomplish anything related to the condition. The day I broke it, I felt a twitch in my eyes when I tried to sleep, although after the anxiety wore off, I slept fine. I went to the doctor again, this time a different person at the same clinic. I asked about the possibility of MS and she poked my fingers and toes with a toothpick and did a few other not-very-scientific tests and concluded I didn't seem to have MS. Once again, no attempt was made to figure out what it WAS. She was perfectly content to let me leave without a diagnosis or even a list of possible diagnoses other than the noncommittal "maybe it's just stress".
A few days later, I got a massage from my regular massage guy. He's good, and very "brutal". The massage goes deep. I had him focus on my hands because that's where most of the pain was, but he also hit other areas like my neck and back of my head and chest. Afterward, I noticed that the symptoms were almost but not quite gone. There was only the occasional tingling in my fingers. On a few rare occasions over the next several days I'd feel that tingling or a twitch right of my right eye when stressed, but nothing bad. Also, the tenderness in my left jawbone was gone. I figured that problem was just tight muscles after all, and laughed at how silly and panicked I was over nothing.
Then about 5-6 days later, it was back.
At this point, I was frustrated with the condition, but because massage helped, I was at least no longer worried it was a neurodegenerative disorder. It was February by this point, and I more or less continued on with my life as normal. Unfortunately, an unrelated issue created all sorts of complications. I have a slow-growing wisdom tooth that occasionally causes my gum to get inflamed which can last a week or so.
During this time, I changed the way I bit down to favor the gum. Over the course of more than a week, I continued to compulsively bite down even though it hurt, mainly because I was annoyed at the gum for impeding my ability to chew. After some time, I noticed that my hand coordination and balance were messed up, as was my vision. Rapidly scrolling objects on screen were hard to follow. Needless to say this was scary and re-introduced the concept of MS, but after some time, I realized it was only after I spent time biting down in this way that I experienced those symptoms. I did my best to avoid biting. Corroborating the jaw/bite theory was the fact that I now had a tenderness in my right temple that felt like my left jaw pain from January.
With time, the gum swelling finally went away although by this time my bite was off because of the way I'd been habitually favoring the gum. This has happened before but it wasn't a big deal. It had no other consequences previously. As the jaw slowly returned to its normal spot, I noticed the ataxia and blurred vision were leaving, although the greater condition itself was unchanged. Various parts of my body still felt the same random tingles and pains I'd been feeling for some time.
If I recall, I returned to the doctor during this time with renewed concerns of MS and she again dismissed my concerns while not making any attempt to further diagnose.
By the end of February, the state of the condition included the original hand and joint pains, occasional face tingling, and a jaw that was only very slowly resetting and not quite getting to its right place. March was still young when I felt mild back spasms. The condition had gotten better in only two ways. The blur and ataxia were seemingly gone and so too was the right temple tenderness. I began formulating a plan that I figured might work, but I feared for a number of reasons.
I had begun to wonder if this was a very deep-seated muscle spasm at work that even massage could not take care of. In 2010, I had bad insomnia preceded by a palpable abdominal spasm that lasted weeks before going away seemingly, only to manifest as insomnia a week later. It was the kind I'd never experienced before - I'm a pro sleeper - where I'd put my head on the pillow and feel absolutely no drowsiness. It wasn't the kind caused by racing thoughts or overt stress. It lasted almost a month before someone gave me some cyclobenzaprine pills which I took for a few days and the condition disappeared.
I did have some fears that something could go very wrong with this course of treatment. I am not sure what the fears were founded on, but they were there. Thus I procrastinated on it for several weeks. But in mid-March, with my bite not having quite returned to normal and in an awkward and annoying position where the outer edges of my left teeth bumped up against each other preventing true closure. When I manually placed my jaw into the right position and closed it, I'd get that same blurry vision and ataxia. I decided it was time to try.
That's when everything went to hell. Message continued (8000 character limit)
This whole thing started in late December. I had spent most of 2014 being stressed and around mid November, my stress levels started spiking to where I would get anxiety attacks that were near impossible to kill without propranolol (which does work nicely). Around the last week of the year, I started feeling random tingling in my face, usually near my mouth. I dismissed it as my imagination or hyperfocus and hypochondria, but part of me knew there was something more sinister going on.
Things truly kicked off in mid January when I started feeling pain in my hands. It would be in one place at a time. Sometimes it would be the right or left hand. Sometimes it would be the thumb and index, sometimes it would be the outer edge of the hand and the pinky. Again, I dismissed it as just me putting too much weight on my hand, but it continued and persisted and it was clear it was something more.
It persisted several days and by mid-week I was starting to Google answers... always a terrible idea. Rheumatoid arthritis was the first outlandish possibility, and then the more acceptable carpal tunnel syndrome came up as an option, which makes sense since I work at a computer. I went to the doctor and he was of minimal help. He asked me some questions and examined my hands to conclude it was not arthritis, and he tapped on the bottom of my wrist to conclude it wasn't carpal tunnel. Except he did not go on to figure out just what it was. No scientific tests were undertaken. No technology was used.
The weekend went by and I still had no answers. By now I was noticing I would feel pain in my wrists and even elsewhere. The wheels were turning and I was realizing the tingling I felt in late December was related to this because my fingers did not always hurt; sometimes they tingled, and my face tingling spread back toward my jawline. I'd feel pain in my elbows (especially when I rested them on my desk) and in my ankles, knees, and random other places predominantly in my limbs.
I should note that around this time, I experimented with cyclobenzaprine but it did nothing for the condition other than temporarily masking symptoms.
By late in the week, I was getting perturbed, simply because I was beginning to worry that this could be something nasty, like MS. Remember, I'm prone to outlandish worst-case scenarios. Wondering if it was autoimmune in nature, I tried fasting for a couple of days. During the fast, the face tingling actually intensified and I felt it in my tongue and the side of my jaw. I also noticed that a relatively small spot on my left jaw was tender and hurt if I applied pressure to it.
The fast did not accomplish anything related to the condition. The day I broke it, I felt a twitch in my eyes when I tried to sleep, although after the anxiety wore off, I slept fine. I went to the doctor again, this time a different person at the same clinic. I asked about the possibility of MS and she poked my fingers and toes with a toothpick and did a few other not-very-scientific tests and concluded I didn't seem to have MS. Once again, no attempt was made to figure out what it WAS. She was perfectly content to let me leave without a diagnosis or even a list of possible diagnoses other than the noncommittal "maybe it's just stress".
A few days later, I got a massage from my regular massage guy. He's good, and very "brutal". The massage goes deep. I had him focus on my hands because that's where most of the pain was, but he also hit other areas like my neck and back of my head and chest. Afterward, I noticed that the symptoms were almost but not quite gone. There was only the occasional tingling in my fingers. On a few rare occasions over the next several days I'd feel that tingling or a twitch right of my right eye when stressed, but nothing bad. Also, the tenderness in my left jawbone was gone. I figured that problem was just tight muscles after all, and laughed at how silly and panicked I was over nothing.
Then about 5-6 days later, it was back.
At this point, I was frustrated with the condition, but because massage helped, I was at least no longer worried it was a neurodegenerative disorder. It was February by this point, and I more or less continued on with my life as normal. Unfortunately, an unrelated issue created all sorts of complications. I have a slow-growing wisdom tooth that occasionally causes my gum to get inflamed which can last a week or so.
During this time, I changed the way I bit down to favor the gum. Over the course of more than a week, I continued to compulsively bite down even though it hurt, mainly because I was annoyed at the gum for impeding my ability to chew. After some time, I noticed that my hand coordination and balance were messed up, as was my vision. Rapidly scrolling objects on screen were hard to follow. Needless to say this was scary and re-introduced the concept of MS, but after some time, I realized it was only after I spent time biting down in this way that I experienced those symptoms. I did my best to avoid biting. Corroborating the jaw/bite theory was the fact that I now had a tenderness in my right temple that felt like my left jaw pain from January.
With time, the gum swelling finally went away although by this time my bite was off because of the way I'd been habitually favoring the gum. This has happened before but it wasn't a big deal. It had no other consequences previously. As the jaw slowly returned to its normal spot, I noticed the ataxia and blurred vision were leaving, although the greater condition itself was unchanged. Various parts of my body still felt the same random tingles and pains I'd been feeling for some time.
If I recall, I returned to the doctor during this time with renewed concerns of MS and she again dismissed my concerns while not making any attempt to further diagnose.
By the end of February, the state of the condition included the original hand and joint pains, occasional face tingling, and a jaw that was only very slowly resetting and not quite getting to its right place. March was still young when I felt mild back spasms. The condition had gotten better in only two ways. The blur and ataxia were seemingly gone and so too was the right temple tenderness. I began formulating a plan that I figured might work, but I feared for a number of reasons.
I had begun to wonder if this was a very deep-seated muscle spasm at work that even massage could not take care of. In 2010, I had bad insomnia preceded by a palpable abdominal spasm that lasted weeks before going away seemingly, only to manifest as insomnia a week later. It was the kind I'd never experienced before - I'm a pro sleeper - where I'd put my head on the pillow and feel absolutely no drowsiness. It wasn't the kind caused by racing thoughts or overt stress. It lasted almost a month before someone gave me some cyclobenzaprine pills which I took for a few days and the condition disappeared.
I did have some fears that something could go very wrong with this course of treatment. I am not sure what the fears were founded on, but they were there. Thus I procrastinated on it for several weeks. But in mid-March, with my bite not having quite returned to normal and in an awkward and annoying position where the outer edges of my left teeth bumped up against each other preventing true closure. When I manually placed my jaw into the right position and closed it, I'd get that same blurry vision and ataxia. I decided it was time to try.
That's when everything went to hell. Message continued (8000 character limit)
It is now Saturday and my vision is still a little blurry. My jaw MAY be a little more properly positioned now. On Friday night, I experimented with soaking my jaw in epsom salt (what a sight that must have been) for 20 minutes and opening my mouth very wide for several minutes to stretch and unclench it. What made Friday night so awful was that I was hyper aware of something none of us should ever have to think about. I was afraid to bite down too hard, but therefore I was consciously holding my jaw open. The night only got a little better when I started getting rebellious and bit down anyway without clenching.
As it stands, I'm HOPING that this whole thing was and is just a case of magnesium deficiency and the jaw symptoms are just taking a little longer to recover than my hands and joints and eyes. But... chicken or egg? Did magnesium deficiency cause my jaw to start misbehaving in December which resulted in nerve disruptions to my hands? Is the magnesium supplementation helping but not curing a problem that is only curable with physical intervention?
I had a massage on Thursday including the part where they put fingers under my tongue and that didn't seem to accomplish too much although apparently the pain is partly because my jaw was so tight.
Just a few days ago I thought I was basically cured but now I'm wondering, am I no closer to the exit from hell? Or is it just going to take a little longer? I'm fairly certain my jaw is the direct culprit in all of this, but what caused it to be problematic in the first place? If magnesium deficiency is not the ultimate cause, why did it fix so many problems?
The doctors I saw are too incompetent to help, apparently. But maybe someone here can point me in the right direction. The fact that I'm posting here should be a clue to how desperate I feel.
As it stands, I'm HOPING that this whole thing was and is just a case of magnesium deficiency and the jaw symptoms are just taking a little longer to recover than my hands and joints and eyes. But... chicken or egg? Did magnesium deficiency cause my jaw to start misbehaving in December which resulted in nerve disruptions to my hands? Is the magnesium supplementation helping but not curing a problem that is only curable with physical intervention?
I had a massage on Thursday including the part where they put fingers under my tongue and that didn't seem to accomplish too much although apparently the pain is partly because my jaw was so tight.
Just a few days ago I thought I was basically cured but now I'm wondering, am I no closer to the exit from hell? Or is it just going to take a little longer? I'm fairly certain my jaw is the direct culprit in all of this, but what caused it to be problematic in the first place? If magnesium deficiency is not the ultimate cause, why did it fix so many problems?
The doctors I saw are too incompetent to help, apparently. But maybe someone here can point me in the right direction. The fact that I'm posting here should be a clue to how desperate I feel.
The first night I took a cyclo (10 mg), my sleep was off. I fell asleep but it was a light and fitful sleep where I never quite felt like I was fully asleep even though I was dreaming. The second night was similar but I feel the sleep was poorer and shorter. By the third night, it took me over an hour of tossing and turning and cursing to get to sleep. By now I was mixing alcohol with the cyclo because I figured it would help me sleep. The reason I continued the drug was because I did noticed a change in my joint and digit symptoms even when the drug was out of my system. My bite was changing again, although something wasn't quite right.
By Thursday night, I could not sleep at all. I tossed and turned and cursed and swore and drank, but not a wink was had. I called into the doctor for a last-minute appointment and it was yet a third one. I told her that I had a new job starting next week and I would absolutely have to be sleeping again. This doctor had only seen me twice and she mad the ludicrous conclusion that because the first time she saw me last year, I was placid and this time I was agitated, that I must have bipolar disorder. She gave me some .5 mg klonopin pills for the short term but tried to push the bipolar diagnosis. The only other productive thing to happen at this appointment was she took a blood sample for thyroid conditions.
I still felt absolutely miserable on Friday, with extreme chest tightness, and I stumbled over words and I even felt my voice was weaker.
I went another sleepless night on Friday, but by Saturday morning, I at least felt slightly better. I wondered if this was a bad reaction to the medicine even though I'd never had a problem on it (even when mixing with alcohol) before and there's no literature that suggests these side effects. On Sunday the doctor called me to tell me my thyroid readings were all normal and very healthy. A relief, but of course she had not gotten me any closer to a real diagnosis. I scheduled another appointment for my main doctor on Tuesday.
I did manage to get some sleep the night before work started thanks to the klonopin, but because I had to be up early, it wasn't a full 8 hours and anyway I may have woken up early.
When I saw the doctor, he also tried to push the bipolar diagnosis based on anecdotes and a very crude questionnaire (of which I only answered yes to two of the more than 10 questions). It was not based on any sort of EEG signature or other scientific process. Keep in mind, this doctor always gave me a quacky vibe. The first time I came in was the past summer with some anxiety concerns. He tried to push SSRIs on me even though I made it very clear I would never take such a drug due to its side effects and also tried to push trazodone even though I told him its risks made it unacceptable. He refused to respect my limits. This time, he was pushing lithium and Seroquel/quetiapine on me even though I had done the research and found the side effects unacceptable as well. In other words, this appointment was totally unproductive and the doctor was so blinded by his misdiagnosis he refused to consider anything else.
I did, however, feeling the anxiety brought on by the previous week starting to subside and my sleep at least seemed to be regularizing. I was able to sleep somewhat fitfully but without any chemicals on Monday night. Tuesday night was another story. I became anxious and started drinking, but while alcohol is usually a surefire way to relax me and put me to sleep, this time I managed to get quite inebriated without any sleep. It was only when I took a cannabidiol extract pill that I fell asleep for a few hours. Again, I woke up before the alarm and felt absolutely wretched.
That night, I casually mentioned my symptoms to a person at the health supplement store which they quickly attributed to magnesium deficiency. I took a look at the vitamin I usually buy and noticed that it had almost no magnesium and my diet is apparently lacking in the metal. So I purchased a bottle of magnesium citrate and started taking 400mg a day.
The rest of the week saw only modest improvement. I was getting only 3-4 hours of real sleep per night, even on Friday night when I had unlimited time to sleep. I went out on Saturday night and perhaps as a result of having a good time, I slept without any alcohol or substances other than perhaps some melatonin (once the insomnia began I upped my dose from 5 to 10 mg). I woke up the next morning with maybe 5-6 hours of sleep. When I finally got up, though, I felt suddenly wrong. Just drained and not as refreshed as I should have. As the day wore on, I started getting an increasing feel of evil and dread until in the evening, it turned into a full-on panic attack. This would be the worst I'd feel in the whole time to date despite the previous night and morning being some of the best since the insomnia began.
Then things started to change. While the cyclobenzaprine temporarily stopped some of the symptoms while I was taking it, they returned. But on Monday, I noticed that my hands no longer felt tight. I could open and close them without a problem, as well my jaw. Both had become cramped over the preceding months. I attributed this to the magnesium as nothing else had changed. I also noticed that my right eye no longer twitched when I closed them hard. The pain in my hands occasionally resurfaced but was greatly reduced I began to feel it would be a matter of time until all the other symptoms were gone.
As the week went on, I started to relax. My sleep was still not very good, but I was optimistic. Even so, later in the week I started getting inexplicable physical anxiety not linked to anything in particular for several days, although even this started to pass. I still attribute this to my nervous system recalibrating to the presence of a mineral it had been lacking. My sleep was still poor, and my chest still tight, but then on Saturday night, easter Eve, I went to bed and tossed and turned and cursed and swore for an hour before passing out and sleeping 10 amazing hours. I'm not religious, but it felt like I had risen from the dead after being crucified. Needless to say I felt alive.
I also noticed that my bite seemed fully recovered so I spent a lot of the day biting down. That night, I again had poor sleep. I worried that Saturday night was a fluke. Monday night, I took a klonopin and passed out, and again slept a full night. By now I was starting to think everything was on the way to recovery. Tuesday night, I slept without any serious chemicals (I was awoken by a noise after some hours and took a glass of wine and Nyquil to ensure quick return to sleep).
As Wednesday went on, I probably was compulsively biting down thinking that there was still something off about my bite and jaw alignment; my jaw seemed too high, too close to my top teeth. I started to feel some discomfort and tightness in my chest. I bit down even more that evening, and then I found that I could not sleep Wednesday night. I also couldn't sleep Thursday night, although this was partially due to me foolishly taking caffeine too late in the day and running out of melatonin which I probably had a dependency on at this point.
This past Friday night, I was pretty distraught because I was beginning to realize my bite just wasn't right and that I could not comfortably bite down without it causing my stress and adrenaline levels to spike. I could actually feel it radiate down my chest and neck. I found that my voice was a little weak and my speech stumbling or slurred. After having had several of the best days since the insomnia began, I had had my worst day. The one consolation was that I did sleep quite easily, although I woke a few times. I slept without any chemicals at all.
(continued)
By Thursday night, I could not sleep at all. I tossed and turned and cursed and swore and drank, but not a wink was had. I called into the doctor for a last-minute appointment and it was yet a third one. I told her that I had a new job starting next week and I would absolutely have to be sleeping again. This doctor had only seen me twice and she mad the ludicrous conclusion that because the first time she saw me last year, I was placid and this time I was agitated, that I must have bipolar disorder. She gave me some .5 mg klonopin pills for the short term but tried to push the bipolar diagnosis. The only other productive thing to happen at this appointment was she took a blood sample for thyroid conditions.
I still felt absolutely miserable on Friday, with extreme chest tightness, and I stumbled over words and I even felt my voice was weaker.
I went another sleepless night on Friday, but by Saturday morning, I at least felt slightly better. I wondered if this was a bad reaction to the medicine even though I'd never had a problem on it (even when mixing with alcohol) before and there's no literature that suggests these side effects. On Sunday the doctor called me to tell me my thyroid readings were all normal and very healthy. A relief, but of course she had not gotten me any closer to a real diagnosis. I scheduled another appointment for my main doctor on Tuesday.
I did manage to get some sleep the night before work started thanks to the klonopin, but because I had to be up early, it wasn't a full 8 hours and anyway I may have woken up early.
When I saw the doctor, he also tried to push the bipolar diagnosis based on anecdotes and a very crude questionnaire (of which I only answered yes to two of the more than 10 questions). It was not based on any sort of EEG signature or other scientific process. Keep in mind, this doctor always gave me a quacky vibe. The first time I came in was the past summer with some anxiety concerns. He tried to push SSRIs on me even though I made it very clear I would never take such a drug due to its side effects and also tried to push trazodone even though I told him its risks made it unacceptable. He refused to respect my limits. This time, he was pushing lithium and Seroquel/quetiapine on me even though I had done the research and found the side effects unacceptable as well. In other words, this appointment was totally unproductive and the doctor was so blinded by his misdiagnosis he refused to consider anything else.
I did, however, feeling the anxiety brought on by the previous week starting to subside and my sleep at least seemed to be regularizing. I was able to sleep somewhat fitfully but without any chemicals on Monday night. Tuesday night was another story. I became anxious and started drinking, but while alcohol is usually a surefire way to relax me and put me to sleep, this time I managed to get quite inebriated without any sleep. It was only when I took a cannabidiol extract pill that I fell asleep for a few hours. Again, I woke up before the alarm and felt absolutely wretched.
That night, I casually mentioned my symptoms to a person at the health supplement store which they quickly attributed to magnesium deficiency. I took a look at the vitamin I usually buy and noticed that it had almost no magnesium and my diet is apparently lacking in the metal. So I purchased a bottle of magnesium citrate and started taking 400mg a day.
The rest of the week saw only modest improvement. I was getting only 3-4 hours of real sleep per night, even on Friday night when I had unlimited time to sleep. I went out on Saturday night and perhaps as a result of having a good time, I slept without any alcohol or substances other than perhaps some melatonin (once the insomnia began I upped my dose from 5 to 10 mg). I woke up the next morning with maybe 5-6 hours of sleep. When I finally got up, though, I felt suddenly wrong. Just drained and not as refreshed as I should have. As the day wore on, I started getting an increasing feel of evil and dread until in the evening, it turned into a full-on panic attack. This would be the worst I'd feel in the whole time to date despite the previous night and morning being some of the best since the insomnia began.
Then things started to change. While the cyclobenzaprine temporarily stopped some of the symptoms while I was taking it, they returned. But on Monday, I noticed that my hands no longer felt tight. I could open and close them without a problem, as well my jaw. Both had become cramped over the preceding months. I attributed this to the magnesium as nothing else had changed. I also noticed that my right eye no longer twitched when I closed them hard. The pain in my hands occasionally resurfaced but was greatly reduced I began to feel it would be a matter of time until all the other symptoms were gone.
As the week went on, I started to relax. My sleep was still not very good, but I was optimistic. Even so, later in the week I started getting inexplicable physical anxiety not linked to anything in particular for several days, although even this started to pass. I still attribute this to my nervous system recalibrating to the presence of a mineral it had been lacking. My sleep was still poor, and my chest still tight, but then on Saturday night, easter Eve, I went to bed and tossed and turned and cursed and swore for an hour before passing out and sleeping 10 amazing hours. I'm not religious, but it felt like I had risen from the dead after being crucified. Needless to say I felt alive.
I also noticed that my bite seemed fully recovered so I spent a lot of the day biting down. That night, I again had poor sleep. I worried that Saturday night was a fluke. Monday night, I took a klonopin and passed out, and again slept a full night. By now I was starting to think everything was on the way to recovery. Tuesday night, I slept without any serious chemicals (I was awoken by a noise after some hours and took a glass of wine and Nyquil to ensure quick return to sleep).
As Wednesday went on, I probably was compulsively biting down thinking that there was still something off about my bite and jaw alignment; my jaw seemed too high, too close to my top teeth. I started to feel some discomfort and tightness in my chest. I bit down even more that evening, and then I found that I could not sleep Wednesday night. I also couldn't sleep Thursday night, although this was partially due to me foolishly taking caffeine too late in the day and running out of melatonin which I probably had a dependency on at this point.
This past Friday night, I was pretty distraught because I was beginning to realize my bite just wasn't right and that I could not comfortably bite down without it causing my stress and adrenaline levels to spike. I could actually feel it radiate down my chest and neck. I found that my voice was a little weak and my speech stumbling or slurred. After having had several of the best days since the insomnia began, I had had my worst day. The one consolation was that I did sleep quite easily, although I woke a few times. I slept without any chemicals at all.
(continued)
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Neurology Community
Top Neurology Answerers
Allentown, PA
ON
Queensland, Australia
Queen Creek, AZ
Find out how beta-blocker eye drops show promising results for acute migraine relief.
In this special Missouri Medicine report, doctors examine advances in diagnosis and treatment of this devastating and costly neurodegenerative disease.
Here are 12 simple – and fun! – ways to boost your brainpower.
Discover some of the causes of dizziness and how to treat it.
Discover the common causes of headaches and how to treat headache pain.
Two of the largest studies on Alzheimer’s have yielded new clues about the disease
