COULD TMJ BE CAUSING YOUR PAIN?

WHAT IS TMJ?

TMJ or Temporamandibular Joint disorder can be a very painful and very elusive condition. You may experience a terrible pain in your ear, teeth, jaw or neck. It may move from one place to another or it might develop into a migraine headache. Often it goes undiagnosed and some doctors may tell you that you are imagining the pain.

The temporamandibular joints are on each side of the head connecting your upper and lower jaws together and to your skull. They allow your jaws to open, close, rotate and move back and forth. If they are not aligned properly they can cause extreme pain in the jaw, head and neck.

Causes of this malady may be a malformation from birth, unconsciously grinding your teeth, or clenching your jaw muscles when stressed. Other causes are teeth not meeting correctly, a blow to the jaw that damages the joint, poor posture of the neck and shoulders, or arthritis in the joints.

NATURAL WAYS TO DEAL WITH TMJ

Depending on the cause the treatment can be as simple as stress management, counseling or psychotherapy or as complicated as braces or a special devise installed by a dentist to prevent grinding your teeth at night.

I would suggest trying these simple remedies first to see how severe the problem is or if this is even the problem before resorting to the more complicated remedies above.

• Try applying ice or heat to the TMJ area to relieve pain. One may work better for than the other.

• Use aspirin or acetaminophen to relieve minor pain.

• Learn to relax you jaw and limit its movements. You can put your fist under your jaw to block a yawn.

• Eat a soft diet and avoid chewy foods, such as bagels, when your symptoms are bad. Massage the TMJ area.

• Avoid chewing gum

Even though TMJ may be hard to pinpoint and difficult to diagnose, do not let anyone dismiss your pain until you have explored the possibility of TMJ.

Healthy Griefing

I have a friend that recently lost her husband. When I last talked to her she said she thought she was having a nervous breakdown. Since I lost my spouse a few years ago I know a little about what she’s going through. After the funeral when everyone went home and I was alone I started having such a gambit of feelings, I literally thought I was going crazy. When I finally learned that it was typical of grieving to have these thoughts I was very relieved. Only then did I really begin to heal.

Grieving is a very personal thing, but we all have to go through the same process. On a different timetable to be sure, but none of us can get around the basic steps of grief. And how long it takes for you to do this depends on a number of things.

The Stages of Grief

There are five basic stages that will be experienced by most grieving people. There is no set order to these stages and some may be repeated more that once. But it is important to know that these stages are normal and necessary to coming to terms with the changes that take place when a loved one is removed from our lives, or in other words, the process of grieving.

1. Shock
The first stage commonly experienced is shock. The numbness that shock provides is welcome and your mind will only accept what it is capable of handling at this stage. Shock will help you get through the bad news and all the decisions that have to be made in the first days following a death.

2. Sighing
The sighing stage is similar to deep breathing exercises used to handle stress. When you grief you are highly stressed, which makes your breathing shallow and doesn’t allow enough oxygen to your brain. Good healthy sighs can relieve this symptom.

3. Crying
Crying is essential to healing your grieving heart. Some experts believe that there are chemicals in tears that relieve stress in the body. So by all means cry when you need to.

4. Anger
Angry feelings arrive shortly after the death of a loved one. Anger at the person who died for being reckless, or thoughtless, anger at God for letting this happen, or anger at a third party who may have caused the death are all common thoughts. As we work through it the anger should disappear.

5. Depression
Depression is the feeling that there is no joy left in life and is a normal feeling to the grieving person. Insomnia, loss of appetite, constant crying are all signs of depression. Usually we promote our depression with negative thoughts like: Why me? I can’t do that. Or, I feel awful. As long as you are having negative thoughts you will remain depressed.

The Road Back To Happiness

There is no set time limit to how long grief will last because it is different for everyone. The loss of a baby is completely different from the loss of a parent. The loss of a teenager differs greatly from that of a spouse. But no matter what the loss has been it takes time and heart wrenching work for the wound to heal. There are some things that will help though.

• Sleep. Experiment with ways to fall asleep and stay asleep such as natural sleep inducers like melatonin or chamomile tea. Take a nap in the afternoon to get enough rest if necessary.

• Support. Seek out a grief support group. This is a place where you can talk freely and be understood. There will be exercises designed to help you get back to laughter.

• Laughter has a positive effect on your nature just as the negative thoughts do. It will help you feel better when you laugh.

• Pamper Yourself. Treat yourself with kid gloves. Give yourself a break and allow yourself to do some things you love to do.

Just as an open wound takes time to heal so will the grief you feel after losing a loved one. That same loved one would want you to move on to live a happy and productive life. So do the work required to grief, and in time the sun will shine again.