Hi All!!

Haven't been here in quite a while. Never thought I ever would have to be here again, I am THAT phobic, but on a fortunate note, I do have a phobia dentist.

Haven't been to him in a while though. Because, even though I have a very very good compassionate phobia dentist (one of the best in NYC), it doesn't take away the fact that I am a dental phobic and as I age (I'm in my 60's) my anxieties seem to be getting worse (as far as dental fear is concerned).

Even in the age of the Wand and caring and compassionate dental staff, I still have great fear.

Well!! about 10 days ago, I started having a slight back tooth problem. Now let me tell you a story about my back tooth (not a wisdom tooth by the way),

Fifteen years ago, I had a deep cavity in this tooth, and my former dentist said "melody, it's a deep cavity, it's right near the nerve so don't be afraid if, when you bite down hard, you may wince or something"

Never forgot that. So I really never bit down hard on that back tooth. I just ate normally. BUT!!! when the weather changed or barometric pressure or WHATEVER, I found myself back in the chair telling the doctor "pull this tooth". He would take an x-ray and say "melody, there's nothing wrong with the tooth, you might have inflammation, or it's your TMJ (didn't have bad tmj symptoms back then). I used to grind my teeth as a kid (all my family member used to tell me "oh my god, you grind your teeth at night". Never knew this myself.

So over the years (maybe 3 times), the throbbing would happen. One time I demanded that he give me an antibiotic and maybe it's all in my head, but the pain would subside in about a week or so.

So now it's 10 years later, and 10 days ago, my back tooth started to ache. I could eat on it, I could bite on it, I could whack it with my finger, (it WAS sensitive to hot foods), but I could eat on it.

Then I put my finger in the hinge of my jar (you know, when you are checking the TMJ thing). Oh my god, the soreness was horrible. I said "oh my god, it's my TMJ??"

Then the headache came. On the right side of my head (over the TMJ thing)

Not in the front of my head, or the left side of my head, or the back of my head. Just the place over where the TMJ is.

I did research and I saw an animated thing on TMJ and it showed where the muscles are over and under the nerves, and it explained how nerve pain can translate into tooth ache.

I also did a google on Barometric pressure and headaches, and barometric pressure on toothaches. (never knew this could occur, but it CAN).

Oh, just to FYI you, right before the headache hit, we had an experience with our son (who lives out of state and is a compulsive gamer and is extremely toxic to my health), and so I have been able to distance myself mentaly but once in a while we do correspond, WELL!!! we had an incident with him and my headache hit so bad I thought I would die.

This was about 7 days ago. So I tried Aleve, IT DID NOTHING. Followed instructions, two gel caps the first day, and one every 12 hours after that. Did nothing for my headache.

So I iced it, my jaw killed me, my TMJ thing killed me. I tried calling my doctor on Friday morning for some pain meds but they were closing early and his staff would not let me come in.

So I called my phobia dentist and the office was closed for the July 4th Weekend.

I swear to god, friday morning found me walking the streets trying to find a dentist to pull this tooth. Went to five offices, no one was open.

Came home and went to bed.

My head was coming off of my shoulders and my back tooth throbbed and my tmj thing was SORE. when I opened and closed my mouth the popping was audible (it always is) but I have NEVER experienced anything like this.

So I went and bought Excedrine for Migraines.
In 2 days, my headache went away. The TMJ soreness thing is better, but my back tooth is still achy at times. It's not KILLING me, it's annoying.

So this morning I phoned the Phobia dentist and his sister (who works in the office) answered. She remembered me. I am still in their files. It's been several years but she remembered me.

I explained the whole thing.

She said "You are having a TMJ flareup", Are you taking advil? I said 'no, I'm taking Excedrine for Migraines and it got rid of the headache by I don't know what's going on with my back tooth". She said "A bad TMJ flare up can give you a toothache". "Can you eat on it, bite down"?" I said 'yeah, I'm fine with touching it, eating on it (I've been eating on it every single day just to make sure it's not the tooth). I did tell her it's a bit sensitive to heat.

She said "I really think it's the TMJ flareup, we don't have any openings so go to your primary care and get an anti-inflammatory"

Oh, FYI, my whole body has been inflamed ever since my son did what he did. It ALL corresponds to his contacting me.

My husband had to email him with a cease and desist request. Can you imagine doing this? Can you imagine getting headaches and stuff because of one's son?

This is so new to me (all this pain), I can't begin to tell you.

She has an opening on July 15 so I grabbed it.

I'll get a cleaning and a set of x-rays and I'll find out what's up with the back tooth. But if it's any indication of what happened in the past, I'm all inflamed.

I never eat any chips, sugar, anything. I'm a person who takes good care of my mouth, I floss, I brush with sonicare, etc.

I check my gums. I don't want any problems.

But this TMJ thing, well, I saw a video of someone on youtube with Trigemical Neuralgia and it gave me the willies. I said 'oh my god," not that I think I have this. But oh my god, the pain in my head last week after my son contacted us, well I NEVER want that pain on the right side of my head again. And the soreness of the TMJ joint or whatever those nerves are doing.

My dentist's sister says she sees this all the time, when TMJ manifests as tooth pain. She explained that the nerves affect the mouth in various ways.

I have iced it, and the soreness is just about gone, but the tooth is achy. I eat on it, I bite on it. Yesterday I applied some ambesol and it was much better.

Today, I'm accompanying Alan to see Dr. Fred and I'll tell Dr. Fred that I tried to see him on Friday and his staff would not let me. I can just see his expression. He doesn't go for that.

I'll get a prescription for some anti-inflammatory pain thing.

I have not taken so much as an aspirin in 10 years. But this time, I obviously need something. Just to tide me over until July 15.

I'll only take it if I need to.

Pain meds are NOT my thing.

But if I could survive that headache last week, I could survive anything.

If anyone has had this happen to them, I'd sure love to hear about it.

I've buried my head in the sand with my dental fear for over 60 years.

It all started when I was 5 and my mother made me go with her when she had all her teeth extracted at one time. I remember sitting on a brown bench in Callahan and Cooley in Brooklyn, NY, and my Aunt Lucy was there and my mother came out and she was banging on the walls. She didn't say a word, she just banged on the walls. That image is so vivid in my mind. Almost 60 years later.

I told this to the dentist once (my phobia guy), and he said "oh my god, she made you see this???" "No wonder it did a number on your head".

See?? He understood why I became phobic.

Melody

Just wanted to update you on what Dr. Fred gave me today. He gave me samples of an anti-inflammatory called Arthrotec and he gave me samples of AMRIX.

He says the AMRIX will relax all the muscles where the TMJ is.

I told him what else I take for sleep and could I take this too and he said "yeah".

I'm not so sure.

He explained TMJ to me and I understand. It's very frustrating.

I also saw a video on youtube of someone with Trigeminal Neuralgia.

I will NEVER complain about anything again.

Oh my god, what some people have to go through.

So I just took my first arthrotec (after dinner) and we'll see how this goes.

I don't like meds but when you need them, you need them

Melody

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

Hi.

I know exactly what you are talking about because I read that years ago (about being sensitive to heat).

But I also have TMJ (clicking popping), and the feeling of an ice-pick being driven in my ear (haven't had that in a while) but I'll NEVER forget that. I think I've experienced that 3 or 4 times in about 15 years.

I have my mouth open for something or other, I close my mouth, my joint on the right side of my face is sore and at the same time I close my mouth I get that HORRIBLE ice-pick being driven in my ear. It feels wet.

Haven't had this happen in a LONG time.

My primary care doc told me "your dentist will take an x-ray of your TMJ" .

I know he's taking x-rays of my mouth after I get my cleaning. I didn't know they take x-rays of the TMJ.

Today (and I'm not on anything right now), I feel much better. It's like a cloud has been lifted off of my head.

It's also 15 degrees cooler than it was yesterday and the previous days.

We had a bad heat wave.

I wish I was not a dental phobic. That's the one thing in my life I wish I could change.

Fear rules me. Fear of the dentist.

The fear and anticipation is worse than the visit.

Phobias are horrible.

I could go for blood tests, I could go for injections on my body. In fact a long time ago I had a bad left shoulder. The doctor told me "melody I'm giving you a cortisone shot and you'll be able to move your shoulder and left arm much better, but just hold still, I'll be careful not to hurt you".

Alan was with me.

I said to my doctor "just shoot me, I'm okay" He was holding this 8 inch needle in his hand and was about to inject me (into wherever they inject you in the shoulder). I laughed when I saw the needle.

The doctor looked at me and said "How the hell can you laugh, people go crazy when they see this needle".

I said "you don't understand, I'm a dental phobic, I don't care if you go anyplace else".

He injected me, I didn't move, I didn't care, I was just fine.

He said: "I have NEVER seen anyone take an injection like you".

I said "Now if I could only go to the dentist and act like this".

It's a real shame that at my age, I still have this phobia.

And I have a GOOD phobia dentist.

Want to hear something really strange?

When I had my gallbladder surgery, (the first one), I had continued to bleed internally. As they began to roll me back into the operating room 2 days after the first surgery, I was left alone for 5 minutes right outside of the operating room.

Want to know what I said out loud: "well, Melody, at least they are not going into your mouth".

Can you imagine??

Melody