TMJ

I had to go to the dentist right before Christmas as I thought I had an abscessed tooth. Thankfully I didn't. But I did and still do have a bad problem. I have TMJ. TMJ is the abbreviation for a long word that means 'pain in the jaw'. I have had TMJ in my right jaw for about 6 years that I know of. My jaw pops when I open it wide and close it. And even worse it will sometimes lock up. I mean it locks to where I can't even get it open. And it usually does this when I have a bite of something in my mouth. It's not fun. When it locks it is painful and takes several minutes of my messaging my jaw to make it open. There have been times when I was terrified it wouldn't relax so that I could open it and spit out or swallow what ever I was chewing. But usually if I am careful there isn't a problem. That was on the left side. I didn't even realize that I had TMJ in my right jaw, until the denest told me I did. And he says it is from grinding my teeth in my sleep. Also from clenching my jaw. I knew I did a lot of clenching my jaw and it was making my mouth ache a bit, but this is a horrible pain like I have a really bad tooth. He said there is nothing wrong with my teeth, according to the xrays he took, but he said my teeth show lots of sign that I grind them in my sleep. He said most people don't know if they grind there teeth in their sleep. Like snoring you can't tell because your asleep. Unlike snoring he said that someone else in the same room may not hear you grinding your teeth.
I take lots of pain killers for other pains like my scolorous in my back, foot pain, and sciatia in my hips and legs, and for my migranes. This pain in my jaw was like having a migrane in my jaw and, like migranes, the pain killers don't seem to do much good.
I looked this problem up on the internet at www.webmd.com and found it is very common. It seems it is caused by stress more than anything else. There doesn't seem to be any way to stop it except by stopping the stress. Ha Ha. It this life, I don't think so. You have to learn to not clinch your jaw and not grind your teeth when sleeping. There is some sort of devise you can sleep in that can help with that. The dentist said about $300 dollars.
More Stress.
So for now I am taking more pain killers and trying not to clinch my jaw, which I have descovered I do even when I am doing simple, mundane things like washing dishes, taking a shower, or playing with the cats, dogs, and horses.
I have to figure out how to stop some of the stress.
I'm not laughing. It hurts my jaw.