Jaw joint pain

[eija]

 For a few days/couple of weeks now I've had intermittent pain in the left joint of my jaw. Like aching, but also some pain when pressing it (that might be from fibromyalgia though). Today I felt exhausted chewing my food and later in the evening I got severe pain in the joint. At one point it was like having dislocated the joint, I couldn't close my mouth properly - the back teeth didn't get together. After a while that went away but the pain is still there.

Wondering, have I developed osteoarthritis in my jaw? Or something else? Is there anything to do to manage with it?

Also, if I need a doctor, is it a GP or a dentist I should see?

[SunshineDaydream]

A TMJ disorder isn't necessarily Sjogren's related. It could be from grinding or clenching teeth (often stress related) which some people do while sleeping. Some TMJ disorders can be treated with massage, anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxer and/or a bite plate. I'd have a dentist check it out.  Good luck whatever you decide to do and keep us posted.

[araminta]

I had this type of pain a year or so ago and it was horrible.   But I found various TMJ exercises online which seemed to help, you could try them.   I also cut back on the chewing gum for a bit, as that obviously wasn't helping.   I hope you find some relief soon.

[cccourt1942]

Hi Eija,
    This is an aggravation which claims your life.  About 2 years prior to my SjS dx, when I was already laden with the dry mouth, burning tongue, etc, one day my jaw hurt so intensely I couldn't open my mouth without excruciating pain.  I started out seeing my dentist>sent me to endodontist> ENT, and nothing they said or provided helped.  I googled (of course) and nothing I looked up helped me.  I ate soups, puddings, jello...and soft foods...could open my teeth about an inch without pain.  I lost weight...but then ended up eating fattening puddings. Yum.  I would hold my jaw closed as much as I could when I yawned. 

This lasted 4 or 5 months.  I was still working part time...and it was tough.  Anyway, one night I was going to bed, and I yawned without holding my jaw ...and I heard a pop...a loud pop.  All of a sudden I realized my jaw wasn't "painful".  I touched it and it felt bruised...not a stabbing pain.  I went back to google and searched for out of socket jaw.  And there it was. 

After the "self correction", I began to inquire...and eventually (after SjS dx) I asked the rheumatologist about some of the questions you brought up.  I was told just like other "joints" in the body, they get loose as we age.  You, well..., you are a youngster.  This happened to me when I was in my late 60s. 

I don't think this is what has happened to you..or you would describe worse pain---unless...and I am not a dental professional---unless it's getting misplaced in the socket and falling back into place.  It's a far fetched hypothesis, but none of those specialists with whom I consulted caught it, suggest it, or poke around/ask me to open my mouth, etc.  They ALL zeroed in on TMJ.  Sort of like dxing all aches as fibromyalgia.  Just not so.

Try a warm compress just to be more comfortable for whatever it is.  And Tylenol! 

c3

[eija]

Thank you ladies!

I still haven't seen a doctor about this (I'm terrible at making appointments, avoiding it at all cost). The problem comes and goes. From what I've read I'm partial to the disc getting dislocated at time (that's when I can't close my mouth properly until I get it to "slip" back to its place) and in addition to that either osteoarthritis or some kind of a disc problem in the joint. Sometimes it hurts a lot to chew my food, sometimes everything is just fine.

I read that connective tissue diseases (like SJS is, too) can effect on jaw joints, too. Not surprised about that. But I do have osteoarthritis at least in my knee, so why not in my jaw joint?

I seem to be in some kind of a flare in general. But as always, I'm not sure which one of my dx's to blame for that

[irish]

Have you ever taken Aleve or Ibuprofen for pain and inflammation? You might want to take one of these if you tolerate them. This might reduce inflammation and help with the pain. Applying heat alternating with cold packs might also help. Just suggestions cause sometimes these things help with inflammation. Sometimes also, it isn't what we are doing for a treatment but just that we are doin something. Good luck. Irish

[eija]

Thank you Irish,


I don't know what Aleve is (I'm in Finland) but I'm avoiding NSAID's because I've been having pretty bad stomach problems from them. I even try to manage my migraine with Panadol (Paracetamol) only, but when I'm forced to go for Ibuprophen, I take Ezomeprazol first to manage with my stomach.

I think mostly Cymbalta takes care of my pain pretty well, if only my thyroid meds and vit D are on proper levels. However, lately I've been struggling with various pains, probably my fibro flaring or my Sjs progressing

Heat packs are out of question, too. Any treatment with heat makes me nauseous and like badly drunk. Can't even do the very Finnish thing called sauna Even taking a shower after someone went to sauna is too much (because the shower room is too hot), as well as just a hot shower.

It's crazy with these illnesses, how it's not only them causing us trouble but also various treatments can be so much trouble and impossible to use and finding anything usable is very difficult!

[alwaysimproving]

I had this exact problem when I first began having sjogren' symptoms. It was quite bad.... but it ended in me having no sjogren's symptoms or TMJ symptoms for 3 months... how long have you had this?

[Liz D.]

Me too!  Other than teeth issues, my first symptom of Sjogrens was my jaw pain.  Excruciating to the point of wanting to give up! It went on for two years.  Once I got diagnosed with Sjogrens and started with meds, it did seem to calm down.  But I feel your pain and my heart goes out to you.

Look up on the internet the term, "trigeminal neuralgia" and see if that sounds like what you have.  I often wonder if that is what I had.

Hope you can get some answers.

Liz D.

[Nymph]

I have had TMJ syndrome all my life. Sometimes the pain is quite distracting. Here is what I do:

Wear a night guard while I sleep, always.

Avoid eating anything that requires a lot of chewing. When it's really bad I stick to soft foods.

Gentle stretches. Open my mouth until it meets resistance, then hold with my fingers against my lower teeth for 30 seconds. I do this a lot in the car, for some reason.

Hot rice pack on my jaw and NSAIDs, both of which you say you can't have, but they do help me.

I've always been able to manage it, but it is just another thing, and probably my most constant pain source. I did notice that LDN helped for the short time I was on that.

[irish]

I am wondering if placing a cold wet cloth on your jaw ling might help. The cold helps to decrease inflammation. Might try it and see if it helps. The Tylenol might help also as the feeling is these days that acetaminophen(Tylenol) does reduce inflammation a little bit. Good luck. Irish

[eija]

alwaysimproving
I think I've had it occasionally I don't know how long. It has not been so bad or persistent that I would've paid real attention to it. However, during this spring it has gotten rather bad - at least enough to be bothering me significantly. Sjögren's symptoms are notorious of coming and going. I too had a time I even questioned if I even have Sjs or not, despite the very clear blood test results etc. But later I have faced the reality of suffering this stupid illness.


Liz D. thank you. I haven't been on any meds for Sjs for... I don't know, two, three years? I quit Oxiklorin (=Plaquenil) because it messed up my stomach big time. I'm familiar with trigeminal neuralgia because my dad had a bad case of it years ago and the other side of my face sometimes feel a bit towards that direction. This problem, however, does not feel like nerve pain but very similar to my knee which has been MRI'd to be affected by osteoarthritis. I think it's weird that nowhere (at least I haven't found) jaw joint isn't mentioned in context with Sjs, just RA. But I did find a mention that jaw joint can be affected by a connective tissue disorder, so that says to me that it can very well be because of Sjs. And you too are saying you had it at the time of dx and it eased up when you got treatment. Maybe I should finally find myself a new rheumy... sigh

Nymph I really don't think I'm grinding my teeth during sleep. The dentist has never seen any evidence of it and my jaw is never sore in the morning. Then again, this week my neck has been very stiff and my head has been hurting every day - but I'm still blaming other issues for that... anyway, I don't have a night guard. When the joint is acting up, it's kind of automatic to choose what to eat and what not. It's not fun chewing a lot or anything hard when your jaw joint is sore Stretches - interesting. Need to try that. When I tried it, the sore joint actually felt a bit "loose" and the other one resisted more? Thanks for the tips!

Irish thank you.

I need to try the cold pack on it. Today it's been rather bad again (the pain even burns all the way in my ear and the entire side of my head feels swollen) but I caved and took ibuprophen despite all no-no's because I had such a nasty headache. I'm a bad girl and now just worrying I'll wake up at night with horrible stomach cramps again I looked up Tylenol, it seems we have the same under the name Panadol. That's what I've been using lately as my go-to-when-can't-live-without but even that aggravated my stomach Today I've taken both 1000 mg of paracetamol and later (because Panadol didn't help) 1600 mg ibuprophen because I couldn't stand the pain. So I'm nervous about the consequences, despite the PPI's I've been taking regularly for a few days now