severe TMJ- my jaw is locked shut tight this a.m, wont budge

does anyone here have severe TMJ? its one of my problems I have. Almost every morning when I wake up, my right jaw is locked shut and it has to slowly loosen up and finally it will POP loudly and then a series of loud cracks for another 10 mins...then its fine til next morning again. Well today, Ive been up for over an hour and half and it STILL WONT BUDGE! Im getting panicky here! Im freaking out that it wont ever open back up ever again this time! I hate this! Does anyone else have this problem and what do you do for it? Ive been sipping water (I can get my mouth open a very small distance- enough to drink but not to eat, and even took some robitussin cough syrup because sometimes that seems to "lube it up") but so far nothing is working! Thank god my n ose isnt super stuffy this a.m. (it often is plugged up ) or I'd REALLY be freaking- it'd be very hard to breathe this way!

[flower12345]

Yes, I have TMJ disorder! I am technically considered "locked" and have been for months... I've had it since I was a teenager. I just saw a specialist at a university hospital. I have been told (by two other surgeons) that I have to have surgery because I have displaced disks. I have had an MRI and I have an effusion and displaced disks.The specialist gave me exercises to do and said then I can get surgery if they don't work, but he was not pushy. I get migraines from my jaw.

Okay. Enough about my history...just wanna let you know that I understand.

My question is--How locked are you? I can open almost 25 mm., but that is still considered locked. Since you are locked to the point where you can't eat, I would call the doctor and make an appointment. You can try heat...I microwave moist wash rags and put them on my jaw, but you have to be extremely careful because they get VERY hot.

Other than that, I would call the doctor. You need to be able to eat. Do you have pain? I'm not a doctor (obviously, lol)...just my opinion.

Flower

[Tuckamore]

Goodness!! I am so sorry to hear you are "locked." I would be freaking a bit too. You must be frightened.

If it is not moving by now you should call your treating medical provider, a physician or dentist whoever it is that treats your condition. Do you have muscle relaxers to take when this occurs? If you do try to get it down if you can do so safely.

Thankfully I do not have TMJ. I am so sorry that you have it. Maybe one of our members can offer you better information. I'll do a little reading and see if I can come up with a better suggestion. But I really think you need o contact our provider if it is still locked.

Hang in there!

~Tuck

[flower12345]

One more thing...just re-read your post. You should definitely go to the doctor today because if you do get a cold or something, you need to be able to breathe out of  your mouth!

[Tuckamore]

I found this response by a dentist on the Internet. This person had been "locked" for over 24 hours.....the suggestions was as follows...

"As for the immediate concerns, you should use ice followed by heat to break the muscle spasm and go in to see your dentist in the morning."

I cannot tell you if this is accurate but it does follow what flower had to offer. I doubt it could hurt.

~Tuck

[dontundertand]

I really don't have any advice because I have never experienced that but I just wanted to say I hope you get it unlocked soon.

[troubleinohio]

well after about 3 hours, my stupid jaw finally came unlocked!! I put a hot washcloth on it, layed down on the couch on my left side and wiggled my jaw as hard as I could. Gravity apparently helped pull it back down into the correct position. It popped loudly and then cracked for a good hour afterwards. Its fine now aside from sore face muscles from all the wiggling I did, lol. I sure hope it doesnt lock that bad again, that was scary! Thanks for all the tips and advice (and comforting!! I was really starting to panic!)  PS Im glad I had my kids liquid advil here to take cuz I couldnt even swallow a pill at that point. I took some of that to help with inflammtion about an hour before it unlocked, so maybe that helped some too. I felt like a weirdo sucking down like 8 tsps of grape kidding medicine LOL

[troubleinohio]

**kiddie medicine****  NOT "kidding medicine", geez I should re-read what I type before hitting send, sorry for the tyopos!

[Tuckamore]

I am so glad that your jaw is unstuck. What a releif.

I bet you were frightened. Ouch it must have hurt terribly when it finally came lose.

I am so sorry that this happened and I hope that it does not reoccur.

[harplady55]

I answered one of your posts a long time ago and feel like I need to again.  Everytime I read your posts I get the feeling that you have what I have which is Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.  It is a rare genetic disorder that affects your collagen.  There are many symptoms and some of them are loose joints that may dislocate, all over chronic muscle and joint pain, TMJ is a huge problem with EDS people, plantar faciitus, fatigue and many more.  I encourage you to look at ednf.org for the rest of the symptoms.

Most family doctors will not recognize it.  Some rheumatologists will know about it and usually a geneticist will recognize it.  I see a pain specialist to manage all my problems from it.  The doctor will ask if you can pull your thumb down to touch your forearm, bend over and touch the floor with the palms of you hands and a few other things.  There is no test to see if you have it for sure.  It is genetic, so if you have children they have a 50% chance of having it too.  It's important that you get diagnosed so that if your children have it they can begin treatment early and not suffer so much when they are older.

I hope this helps, I just have a strong feeling that you might have it.  Good luck in your search.

[Jaybay]

Hey trouble!  My husband has had TMJ forever.  He's had the same "lockjaw" experiences too and they're darn scary.  Do you use a night guard of some sort?  That really helped stop the lockjaw episodes.  He's a major teeth clencher and jaw grinder at night which is why he'd wake up stuck in the morning.  Actually, it was kinda nice for me with him being quiet for a while.  LOL!

[avisg]

TIO when your jaw locks like that you need to go to the er ..they need an MRI of it .I am having the first part of my surgery aug 19 th ..then when that hear  they will saw my jaw in two and put it in the right place and screw it back in (not everyone with tmj has to have that part done ) then they will repair the disks .If  its at the point its locking trust me when i say putting it off is not wise .I should have gotten my fixed 3 years ago there's alot more damage now.

[namnam46]

I just wanted to throw my SUPPORT to you!! I'm so very sorry that you have this TERRIBLE and FRIGHTENING type of Pain.  

Trouble, I can't think of ANYTHING that would be more FRIGHTENING than what you are EXPERIENCING!!

My Dear, I can't even IMAGINE what it must be like to have to "lube" your jaw up to get it to open (WHEN it works)!!

How long has this been happening to you? What is YOUR Doctor recommending?
have to undergo the surgery! I hope that you will let us know how it goes after it's done on Aug. 19th. I PROMISE you that we will AL be waiting for an UPDATE as quickly as you can!! PLEASE know that ALL of our Thoughts and Prayers will be going out to you for a SPEEDY recovery!!

I just hope that EVERYONE with TMJ gets the RELIEF that they DESERVE!!....Sherry

[flower12345]

Hi. How is your jaw today?

Flower

[Londres70]

I would post in the TMJ Forum as well if you have not already.

[troubleinohio]

thx everyone- it was "fine" the rest of the day after that. It still locks up every night/morning but havent had any bad episodes like that one since then. All the recent mornings it was just locked for about 10 mins or less before it loosed up again which is normal for me.

harplady- I do seem to have quite a lot of those symptoms- gosh I hope I dont have that~!! I dont have medical (or dental) insurance, havent for years now so I cant go to any kind of specialist right now. Im still awaiting approval/denial for coverage right now to see if I can get my back operated on to fix my discs! That is priority 1- all my other secondary conditions will have to wait. I also need my teeth all pulled and dentures put in too. So I pray I get the coverage approved. Its been months yet again that Im waiting to find out. Ive been denied in the past too which I dont understand why,  I have no money, no steady income, etc. Im living with family that helps support me and do proofreading/editing for an author but that income is very erratic and low paying at best. I still have to wait months before his next book is ready to be worked on. I sell on ebay a little bit but havent lately (dont have anything worth a dime to sell anymore, lol). ANyways I'll keep you guys posted when I hear anything!

[harplady55]

I didn't mean to alarm you, I meant to give you hope.  I see a pain specialist and I live a pretty normal life since he helps keep the pain under control.

My daughter has TMJ and the doctor gave her a muscle relaxer for it which seems to be helping.  I went to a EDS conference a couple of weeks ago and a girl there had horrible TMJ for years.  She had her dentist put braces on her back teeth, top and bottom, then stretch rubber bands between the top and bottom.  She hasn't had TMJ for 3 years.  Interesting way to deal with it, but it worked for her.

I live in Arizona and don't know about doctors in your area.  However, there was a doctor at the conference from Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center who specializes in EDS, he is a geneticist. His name is Brad Tinkle (funny name, but really nice, friendly doctor).  It might be worth it to give him a call or email, I'm sure you can look him up on the internet under the hospital directory.  He may be able to give you some suggestions.

As for joint and muscle pain, heat and rest helps. I get injections for my plantar faciitus.  Thery really stress taking vitamin D and magnesium. You need to pace yourself so you don't overdo it.  I am on disability, I got it on the first attempt after 3 months.  So they recognize this as a disorder that makes it difficult to be employed.

I hope this helps, good luck.

harplady

I understand the dental issues.  I have spent thousands on my teeth and now they want $6,000 more do fix my upper teeth.  I'm lookin into dental implants.