November is jaw joints awareness month. You may be asking yourself, is Ms. Peebody just adding random posts to her blog? What does TMJ have to do with IC? TMJ is pain in the jaw and interstitial cystitis is pain in the bladder, how are the two related? Directly, the two are not related. Indirectly, they are. TMJ is one of eight overlapping medical conditions that often occur with these medical conditions: Â chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic headache or migraine, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis, irritable bowel syndrome and vulvodynia. Although research is ongoing, we still do not have an answer as to why any combination of these eight conditions often effect a person.Personally, I suffer from IC, IBS, migraines and TMJ.
I had adult braces because I never liked my jack-o-lantern smile. I’ve had them off for less than a year and love my smile. I chose to get adult braces simply from a vanity standpoint but I have noticed that I have fewer “temple headaches” now. “Temple headaches” is what I call my headaches when the pain feels like my temple will explode. It’s my unprofessional phrase but you can borrow it 🙂 . The decrease in headaches after I had braces was just a bonus. I knew going into it that it would not cure TMJ. In fact, the good people at  TMJ.org, do not recommend surgical treatment as there isn’t enough research to support the effectiveness of those procedures.
For those of you just passing through who are fortunate enough not to suffer from TMJ or perhaps do not know the signs of it, here they are:
- pain in the jaw muscles
- pain in the neck and shoulders
- chronic headaches
- jaw muscle stiffness
- limited movement or locking of the jaw
- ear pain, pressure
- painful clicking, popping or grating in the jaw joint when opening or closing the mouth
- a bite that feels “off”
I’ve had TMJ flare ups that were so bad I could barely open my mouth. Although those closest to me thought this was a wonderful side effect, I had to go to urgent care to get anti inflammatory medication. For years, my mother has had the painful clicking, popping or grating that is described above. It can be entertaining to sit at the dinner table with her when there are new people around because as she’s chewing, they’re looking around trying to figure out where that awful noise is coming from. The noise is loud.Â
There are many possible causes for TMJ including arthritis, injury to the jaw, infections and autoimmune disease. The one possible cause that interests me the most is autoimmune disease because that’s the only thing that links TMJ with IC. I wonder if one day scientist will discover that the eight overlapping autoimmune diseases are actually one larger disease. I already have four of the eight autoimmune diseases and I’m only 38. The chances of developing any or all of the other four diseases in this overlapping condition group is likely, according to the research I’ve done. I hope and pray researchers are using their funds well and that we will see a better diagnosis or perhaps even a cure for these autoimmune diseases in our lifetime.
Ms. Peebody 