TMJ Headache
One of the many symptoms that TMJ disorder sufferers have to… suffer… is a TMJ headache. These headaches can be constant and dull reminders that something is not right. In extreme cases quite often these headaches end up being migraines. The worst part about TMJ headaches is that they can’t be relieved by your typical headache medication and pain reliever. What causes one of these headaches and what can be done to stop them?
As you probably know if you suffer from this syndrome the temporomandibular joint controls how your jaw opens and closes. In TMJ syndrome sufferers this joint does not work properly, resulting in inflamed muscles and muscle spasms. When your jaw muscles spasm it radiates into the neighboring muscles like your neck, face, and shoulders. Often these muscles get tight and very painful. The end result is a whopper of a headache and a good deal of neck pain.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only kind of headache TMJ sufferers have. Have you ever had a shooting pain that starts from your jaw and rips through your skull in a sudden burst of agony? Then you could be a proud owner of a faulty TM joint. See, the nerves around your TM joint and your ear canal are often exposed or rubbed since the bones aren’t aligned properly. This causes shooting pain through your ears and into your head. While these are the most common kinds of headaches from TMJ, they are the difficult to cure because it’s sporadic and nerve related.
I have found that ibuprofen or another anti inflammatory medicine can work quite well to reduce the swelling and take down the pain. However, as a long time sufferer of TMJ, I have taken these pills most of my life, and they have lost their effectiveness. Really, the best way to manage the pain is to prevent it from happening in the first place by not eating chewy food, not overworking your jaw, and not grinding your teeth.
You can’t always prevent this from happening though, and when it does here’s a few steps that have helped me: Apply a cold pack to the joint for 10 minutes every hour. After a few hours shift to a hot pack for 10 minutes every hour. Cold helps the muscles, heat helps promote blood to the bones. Relax your jaw, don’t smile or do anything to stress it. A gentle massage of the muscles on the face, temples, jaw, and neck will also loosen up some of the stress.
Once you are better, a long term solution to the pain is to get some TMJ exercises from your dentist. These will help strengthen the muscles and prevent them from getting overworked as easily and letting your jaw slip out of place. Be sure to get your symptoms checked out by a certified doctor, it may be that your headaches aren’t related to your jaw at all. Many eye disorders cause migraine headaches and you might want to look into some natural eye care in that case.
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