Pill Cam Yesterday, Now I can eat but

[dahlfacepoet]

I have awful, just awful jaw pain. It feels like a migraine in my jaw. I had the same pain yesterday at about 4pm but it went away. The pain came back around the same time today, but hasn't gone away. I can't eat. It is way too painful to chew.

On the other hand, I asked my GI for pain killers (was really nervous to do this) and complained about my joint pains. He thinks I should see a rheumy too.

I am very angry at this disease. So frustrated with it.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Dahlface, that sounds awful. I know that Stargirrrrl was going through something similar recently with pain in her jaw & face, but it sounded like that was some sort of virus or infection. It sounds like you're having other joint pains though, so it might be something like arthritis? I've got arthritis in my hip, but I haven't had any facial or jaw pain. I hope you can figure it out and get some relief from it soon! Did your GI give you painkillers, and if so are they at least helping?

 

[Carrie630]

dahlface, I have terrible TMD/TMJ. I'm fairly certain I can blame my illness and all this darn pain. I didn't realize I had an issue for years. I thought it was earaches but someone said something that made me think about TMJ. The doctor or dentist can do a few easy checks to see if they think it's TMJ.

Anyway, I would have your jaw pain evaluated for TMJ. When we're in pain, straining, nauseous, we may hold our heads (and jaws) in a clenched position. this can pinch and inflame the joint which is where the pain comes from. TMJ can cause some of the worst migraines I've ever experienced.

edit to add: the checks involve pressing on the joint areas in your face.

put your fingers just under your cheekbones where the jaw hinge is. open your jaw as far as you can. when you got really wide did the jaw feel like it moved out of place under your fingers? do you feel it move out of place when you open wide normally?

press just in front of your ear lobes for tenderness. just behind your ears.

open your mouth and press on the joint that moved out.

for extra credit stick a finger in your mouth and press up into the jaw along your gumline and back of the cheek (along the jaw bone)

any pain or tenderness in any of these spots?

I also feel like I have a hump in one of my ear canals, and it can hurt if I bother it with a q-tip. thats because it's particularly bad on that side though.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Carrie, I did those tests and my jaw did move away from my fingers, and I've got a bit of tenderness in a few of those areas too! I know that I'm a teeth clencher and grinder, but didn't think it could be TMJ. I will definitely ask my dentist about this at my next appointment! Back when I was in college and right out of college, I had a few winters where my jaw would actually lock or pop out of joint, at least that's what it felt like. I'd have to manipulate it to get it to unlock or pop back into place. It was pretty painful at times. This was years before my gut illness hit (although I've had "lesser" symptoms for most of my life, like anal fissures and a "sensitive stomach" so I may have had latent IBD for much longer than I've had acute symptoms). The popping/locking jaw stuff eventually went away on its own (it only ever seemed to happen on the coldest days of winter, so I figured that was the culprit) and I never got it checked out. But I will definitely ask my dentist about TMJ! Last time I was there, they tried to get me to buy a nighttime mouth guard thing to stop the grinding, but it was like $250 even with my dental insurance, so I said no. Perhaps I should start saving my pennies for that mouth guard after all...

 

[Carrie630]

I have a mouth guard, I think it was around $350 for mine, but its two pieces.

 

[IslandArts]

I had a chiro and my ortho. guy work on my jaw pain in the past. The chiro helped with the alignment. The ortho. did give me an injection one time at it helped alot. I couldn't open my mouth and it was going on for days before I finally went in.
I was grinding teeth but since I started my amitriptyline (for my fibro) I'm knocked out at night so that's eased up alot and my jaw pain hasn't been a problem for ages. Maybe an ortho. could help you too.