TMJ the troublemaker

You will need a cup of tea for this one…

A few years ago, some clever Ear Nose and Throat doctor, discovered that my ear pain was actually my jaw screaming for help.

I was sent to a dentist and found out that I had TMJ. You see, the “temporomandibular” is a hinge that connects your skull to your jaw and from nighttime teeth grinding, my hinge was cringing. Underlying everything was stress, the real cause of the grinding.

Apparently, your brain weighs a hell of a lot (I think we all know mine would be extra heavy) and it needs to sit atop a well-aligned jaw/skeletal system otherwise there can be problems. My problems list is long (as you know), but with TMJ, I usually suffer in silence. It’s just too boring to talk about. UNTIL NOW.

Healing my TMJ, what I have tried:

Custom made dental splint to reduce nighttime teeth grinding

Chiropractic work

Physio

Myofascial release

Sonar therapy

Botox (in my jaw)

Acupuncture

Complaining to TSH and my mum

Healing my TMJ, what I haven’t tried:

Reducing stress in any way shape or form, instead, I decided to increase it

Dietary/lifestyle change that is not related directly to my food allergies

Any type of sustained physical activity

Complaining to all my friends, often

2018

Towards the rocky end of 2017, I just couldn’t take it anymore. All year I’d not tried to do anything about my TMJ and just plodded along. I increased my stress levels to see if it would help. My body, which had been whispering messages for me to take better care of myself, now started to scream.

I had chronic ear/jaw/left shoulder pain which was really affecting me, I was wilting away and was getting consumed by it both, physically and mentally. Wilting.

I googled, ‘TMJ Stockholm HELP”.

And help has arrived.

PART 2: Read on for full reporting