Reading your post reminds me of when I had a deeply filled back molar turn nasty and slowly die. It didn't show up on Xrays, and eventually I had an episode of locked jaw...which lasted 2 weeks.

I went to several specialists, and TMJ guy said, in his opinion it was not TMJ. (I had xrays of the jaw joint from him) Finally I had it fixed... root canal and crown. It took about 6mos to settle down. It is fine now.
The last tip off was a routine cleaning, which sent me almost out of the chair. But I had no abscess or other visual signs. Vibration and cold from driving the car finally became very painful too. I did get several sinus infections from this tooth, as they all stopped when it was fixed. (it was an upper back molar)

Mel, you are diabetic. If you have some smoldering infection brewing there, eventually it will affect your blood sugar which will go up.

If I were you, I'd get another opinion. It took 3 specialists to finally decide to get the root canal. Even then it was a toss up.
Any further swelling or worsening should be a sign for you to get more aggressive with this situation.

That is just my opinion based on my nightmare years with that tooth!

This IS TMJ because the joint, hinge, whatever it's called, was so sore last week, I could barely touch it. No swelling, no pain upon touch or eating or using my teeth.

This has been going on for 15 years. off and on.

But last week (well, you know what's going on with my son), THAT'S WHEN the headache hit, besides the TMJ thing going on. If I had an infection, I'd have some other symptoms, like fever, body aches, chills, (30 years ago I had an absess so I remember what it was like, and my face was swollen out to there. I had to go on antibiotics and finally they pulled my tooth.

I have had this checked by 4 dentists, the very last one being my phobia dentist some time ago and when he took the x-rays (he's a state of the art dentist in NYC, ) he took all the digital x-rays and told me "there's nothing wrong with that tooth, it could be inflammation"

I didn't go to him for that tooth, I went to him because I had a chipped tooth on the other side of my mouth and before they work on you, you have to have a cleaning.

I have had 3 cleanings since then with NO sensitivity or jumping out of any chair. Can you imagine me jumping out of a chair? I'd probably go nuts.

I have had this thing with muscle spasms ALL MY LIFE.

I am now taking arthrotec. never heard of this, but Dr. Fred said "It's a good anti-inflammatory.

He also gave me AMRIX, but when I looked it up and saw what people say about it, I got scared out of my skin.

So I didn't take this last night.

I did however wake up with calf spasms. I've been having this ever since my son contacted me last week.

This always happens. My body reacts to him (with headaches, spasming).

And it's 100 degrees here in Brooklyn. Not great for headaches.

I am surviving though.

There is no one else for me to go to. My dentist is top of the line, he's very well written up on websites.

He uses the WAND.

And I'm not scared to death of him.

To me, it's a no brainer.

If I need a root canal and a crown, he'll find this out. I'm sure of it.

I shall update you.

Oh, by the way, what do you think of Arthrotec? Would you ever take it with alprazolam at night before bedtime. I didn't do this.

I wouldn't mix the meds.

Thanks Much

Melody

Arthrotec is just Voltaren (an RX NSAID like ibuprofen) mixed with a PGE1 drug that help prevent stomach erosions.

Amrix is long acting Flexeril, and that is a good muscle relaxant.
I use Flexeril myself occasionally. It find it quite sedating, but others deal with it well. You may find additive sedation with Xanax, and may not even need the Xanax while on Amrix. But if you take Xanax every single day, you cannot stop it suddenly.
Flexeril comes in an immediate release form, which you can split in half to reduce side effects. You can request this type so you can take it more safely with your Xanax.

Nothing spooky in either. Long term use of Arthrotec may affect the liver, but short term use is not a big deal.

Mrs. D.

The Arthrotek did absolutely NOTHING for me. I tried heat (like Dr. Fred suggested). Did nothing either. Yesterday it was around 99 here in Brooklyn, with no humidity. I took my alprazolam and one melatonin and drifted off to sleep just fine. No pain, no nothing.

I never did take the AMRIX, because I googled AMRIX, and a message board forum came up with EVERYBODY posting how they would NEVER take this drug because it causes suicidal thoughts, hallucinations, one girl took a knife to her husband, one girl started cutting herself, etc. Absolutely everyone HATED this med.

And oddly enough, I made sure to ask my doctor, "you know that I take xanax to sleep, can I add the Amrix to this?" and he said "no problem".

Now how can this be? I'm so afraid to wind up loopy, hallucinations, etc, I just have these samples of Amrix in front of me. Alan has been having some back spasms and the doctor said "Alan, half of these samples are for you, take one before bedtime".

When I showed Alan what everyone was writing about the Amrix he put them in the closet.

And because absolutely everyone I spoke to about the TMJ pain said to me: 'Take Advil", I went out this morning and bought Advil liquigels.

I don't mix meds. I will only take one pain med at a time. I tried Aleve 10 days ago, did nothing, I tried Excedrin Migraine (that got rid of my headache) but the ache in the tooth comes and goes.

After having a GOOD night's sleep last night, I woke up and there was the TMJ thing going on. I pressed under the jaw (on both sides of my face), and it's tender. The right side is more inflamed than the left, but the other day when I was walking home with Alan the left joint (mandibular) of my face started to throb. I said "oh lordy, now the other side is doing it. When I take my finger and press both sides, it's sore.

But I'll never forget the last time a MAJOR pain happened. I happened to open and close my mouth and it was like an icepick into my ear. I screamed. This was some time ago. I immediately put hot compresses on it, and after a while all was well.

This is the oddest condition. I know my whole body is filled with arthritis. But when you eat the way I do, and not put anything in your mouth that is not supposed to go in your mouth. And I don't do any recreational drugs, nor do I drink, well, you have to wonder. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON.?

I know I changed my lifestyle, but we can't change our musculoskeletal system. The structure of our bones and joints.

I was thinking this last night. All the years of grinding my teeth when I was a kid, well it must have worn down SOMETHING.

And when the weather changes like it is doing right now. Good Lord.

It must have dropped 10 degrees, and the humidity is through the roof now.

Yesterday it was 99 degrees with humidity of 15 percent.
Right now it's 81 degrees with humidity of 67 percent and that is going to rise.

I read on the internet where people went to Arizona to visit (they had bad headaches), and when they landed in Arizona, they found out that they had NO more headaches. They finished their visit, came home, packed up everything and moved to Arizona.

Weather can affect a person's body that much??

Melody
P.S. I have a question. If I don't take a xanax tonight, and I do take one of the Amrix, what do you think will happen? Thanks much

Amrix is a long acting form of cyclobenzaprine. It is used long term for people with fibromyalgia or have chronic back pain.

It is a weak SSRI also, and that is what you are seeing in some patients to take it for many months and even years!

Short term use should not result in any of the horror stories like you read on the net, and probably won't happen to you. It is rather sedating however, and one half tablet of regular form for me lasts 2 days! But I am very sensitive to many drugs anyway, and I may be the exception rather than the rule.

If you take benzos like Xanax every day, you may be habituated to them, and if you skip a dose, you may have withdrawal.

I'd try an ice pack on your jaw. Ice is better for arthritis pain than heat. No more than 20 minutes at a time. If your pain is infection however, heat would be preferable. Heat in general will activate nerves and make more pain in most situations.

Watch your blood sugars carefully, and if they go up that is a sign of infection.

Hi.

watching my blood sugar. One day it was 97, next day it was 111. So I'm okay. You know me. I WATCH EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth.

It's so hot here in Brooklyn, I don't want to look a food. I eat my sprouts and some grilled chicken or tuna. That's enough for me.

My face is not swollen. I just had breakfast, chewed on my tooth (been doing this for 2 weeks), touching my tooth, banging my tooth, tapping my tooth, NO REACTION.

But when I put my two fingers underneath the jaw area, I winced. Touching jaw does not hurt, hitting jaw does not hurt. Touching side of face by mandibles, well it's sore (not sore like last week when my head was coming off of my shoulders) but a bit sore.

I just went on youtube and looked up "oil pulling".

Never heard of this.

Hey, it if works, I'll try it. You have to do it 3 times a day on an empty stomach and, well, WHO KNOWS??

I have organic coconut oil in my house. Will try right before lunch time.

MANY videos on "oil pulling".

Bet you've never heard of this, right?

Melody

Hi Melody L.

I thought I read in one of your posts here that you stated your tooth was ok to chew on but was sensitive to hot temperature?? When a nerve is dying in a tooth, one of the initial symptoms is sensitivity to hot temperature. This can occur at the early onset of the nerve dying which may or may not show up as pathology on a routine dental radiograph. Another symptom of an inflammed lower tooth is pain under the jawline, could be in the area of the glands. The soreness or pain will eventually radiate or become referred pain to the musculature area of the face including the TMJ area.

When a tooth is inflammed, the ligament holding it in the jawbone is also inflammed which causes a lower tooth to elevate up slightly. Just enough to cause the person to (unbeknowingly) clench down on the tooth just like you would press down on a sore spot on your arm or hand for example. This clenching can trigger spasms in the muscular/ligament area on both sides of the head near or around the TMJ from both inside the mouth and outside of head.

I have known many thousands of cases like this.... not saying this is your particular problem ....... but the tooth may be having some issues that are not yet being seen on the radiographs.

Bryanna