Note: Herein, I will refer to “TMJ” (temporomandibular joint) as “TMD” (temporomandibular disorder). TMJ is the actual joint, while TMD is the umbrella of conditions that affect your jaw. When people say TMJ they usually mean TMD.

Around Nov 2018, I started having

On March 2020, I posted about the beginning of my TMD journey. A year later, I followed up on this forum. Here we are now, Dec 2023, just three months shy of the 4 year mark.

Starting recap: Pain flares started Nov 2018. Got terrible by end of Dec, warranting Christmas ER trip. Misdiagnosed sinus infection. 3 months of antibiotics and steroids did not help, just resulted in IBS. Fast forward numerous doctors, finally realized TMJ was cause of pain. Diagnosed with bilateral TMD. A few muscle relaxants and a nightguard later, pain went from insufferable to tolerable.

Mid recap: TMJ Pain Specialist provided a splint which greatly reduced pain and supported healing of the TMJ. However, it resulted in a near full-tooth rear slide of my lower jaw, creating an unstable bite and re-exasperating issues.

End/post recap: Saw an Orthodontist to repair bite. Referred to Maxillofacial Surgeon (out of network). Cost was 50K+ for surgery, plus coin flip for positive results. Decided to get second opinion and defer surgery while pushing for Invisalign to correct bite. Surgeon did perform bilateral arthrocentsis with PRP, which alleviated some pain. Second opinion Maxillofacial Surgeon stated that the surgery will do nothing in my case and that I need to continue with normal bite correction, then manage pain as is. My gut told me to request bands, so I did Invisalign for a year and a half with a band on my left side. Miraculously, I recovered nearly 90% of my bite and my alignment is fantastic. The ortho was stumped – he said he has only seen a few of these cases in his very long career.

Recap note: Throughout all of this, I did Physical Therapy, which barely helped. Changes in mattress, pillow, diet, lifestyle, chair, and workplace made small dents. Acupuncture provided the most relief from holistic treatments. Ibuprofen 600mg + Acetaminophen 1000mg are lifeblood for flareups. Stress proves to be the biggest trigger by far, still working on figure out how much of that is during sleep but have not found causation to be accurate.

Present day diagnosis: Visited a private doctor who is very keen on TMJ-related issues. Bunch of additional scans revealed no structural issues. Currently experimenting with Myofascial Release specialist while doing meloxicam 7.5mg and methocarbamol 500mg. The latter has little impact, the former I believe has benefits.

Present day condition: Pain is usually very manageable except during extremely high stress. As I worked OT doing two functions at my job, finished Master’s, and established a new lifestyle, I burned out. Flares came back, resulting in roughly 5/10 pain at its worst. Mangable with medication. Drastic temperature changes seem to have the most impact. I had COVID in Sept 2022 and I believe it set me back, in addition to now causing vision issues in my left eye. I think this ocular element is further aggravating my TMD – 4 months of vision therapy {which I think its B.S. tbh} did not support this. Instead, resting my eyes, Fish Oil supplement, and destressing/sleeping have helped. That in turn has reduced my TMJ pains. I struggle with working out – had a great 8 month run from Jan to Aug, and then for some reason the pain flared up too much so I’ve had to effectively stop. I managed to do a lot in the summer; the pain was so low that I went weeks without anything. Even managed a few light beers as I wasn’t medicated.

Future prospectus: I remain hopeful. I’m going to try a Sleep Number bed with a flex head so I can raise myself more comfortably, thus reducing any airway issues (which sleep study found no apnea) or GERD discomfort. Wedge pillows just don’t cut it for me. I’ve drastically reduced my workloads, finished my degree, and increased light physical activity. If there’s no improvement towards mid 2024, I will try trigger point injections.

Thanks to everyone who has checked in, I appreciate all of the support you’ve given me.