Hi every one, Ok I’ve been on topamax for a while and it helping me with my memory ect…
When I was frequenting the MDds site years ago , there was a girl there that found out she had MAV not MDds.
She was seeing a Neurologist that also had MAV himself; I can’t remember his name fro sure, so I wont go there.
But he suggested she do as he does, in conjunction with her meds he prescribed her a special mouth guard, that are made by an orthodontist, he said TMJ, can contribute to migraine in many patients.
And had seen it in his practice often.
And found it beneficial in his own recovery.
It’s to be worn in bed at night, it stop bruxing and in turn will lessen the chances of the tringminal nerves being affected.
here is an article on TMJ.
I’m not suggesting you have TMJ, but anyone taking anti depressants for MAV can have bruxing as a SE.
so it might end up being an added problem down the line
thanks :mrgreen:
That’s so weird you have put this post on! On Friday I booked an appointment with my dentist as I have been suffering with a ‘clicking’ and painful jaw for years now and just started to wonder if it was linked to the MAV (I have been going through every conceivable possibility of what may be causing it). I wonder if it possible for TMJ to cause MAV as well as migraine headaches?
I am going in a couple of weeks so it will be interesting to see what they say!
That’s so weird you have put this post on! On Friday I booked an appointment with my dentist as I have been suffering with a ‘clicking’ and painful jaw for years now and just started to wonder if it was linked to the MAV (I have been going through every conceivable possibility of what may be causing it). I wonder if it possible for TMJ to cause MAV as well as migraine headaches?
I am going in a couple of weeks so it will be interesting to see what they say!
Becky
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Well, according to the link almost all migraines are caused by TMJ… I’m very sceptical, though.
I’ve read that all migraines are because of TMJ, all migraines are because of diet/sleep, all migraines are because of blood sugar problems, all migraines are because of chemical sensitivities, all migraines are because of thyroid problems… They can’t all be right! In fact, I don’t think ANY of them are right - I don’t think there’s one root cause of all migraines.
Needless to say, though, I do think that all of the above can, in some people, cause migraines! While, in others, the cause is simply genetic and impossible to change/avoid, with only option being to treat the migraine itself.
Tran, you are right, TMJ does not cause migraine anymore than a bad diet causes migraine. Just look at the ppt slides, we all know a lot more about what causes migraine.
But in the case of TMJ, you’re hitting that trigeminal nerve and irritating it, so that’s even worse than a bad diet. That’s not the same thing as saying it causes a migraine, it just irritates an already super-irritated (allodynia) trigeminal nerve. And i have personal experience with this.
When i was at my very worst, a year ago, i had a month’s worth of trigeminal neuralgia and TMJ. I got shocks of nerve pain in my teeth and face so bad i couldn’t eat, could barely brush my teeth with a baby tooth brush and wouldn’t dare floss. I also had TMJ. It was incredible. It came on slowly, built to a climax and then slowly went away over the course of say six weeks and during this time my MAV symptoms were also at their most horrendous. So I’ve always wondered what the link was and I THANK YOU JENNY for this post. My husband tried to get me to use my mouthguard back then, but i was having so much trouble sleeping anyway, i said forget it.
My sleeping is much better now, i’m cleaning it out and using it tonight.
I have a tooth guard and a brux so bad that the nerve that Julie talks about is still swollen and inflamed. Not to the point that Julie said she was at but pretty close about a year ago. I just recently found out that my bruxing is made worse by the Depakote I take, and I have been spending a year with the doctors trying to find something that will relax those nerves.
I would just hate to imagine the state I would be in without my tooth guard.
Is it necessary to have a mouthgard made specifically by a dental professional? I’m just wondering, I’ve seen them sold in the drugstore. I imagine it would be better to have one made specifically for your mouth yes?
I wake up sometimes when I’m clenching my teeth down so hard, and the pain is terrible. I’ve never spoken to the dentist about it though, it only happens occasionally, and I never really thought much about it until now.
Is it necessary to have a mouthgard made specifically by a dental professional? I’m just wondering, I’ve seen them sold in the drugstore. I imagine it would be better to have one made specifically for your mouth yes?
I wake up sometimes when I’m clenching my teeth down so hard, and the pain is terrible. I’ve never spoken to the dentist about it though, it only happens occasionally, and I never really thought much about it until now.
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Yes, the guards made by the dentist are better, they are accrilic and allow your teeth to slide across it instead of grinding. The ones you by in the store are OK for “get me by’s” but they are rather like chewing gum, and my neice has been known to actually chew threw those.
Yes, i’m told it needs to be a specially made tooth guard and my brother-in-law is a dentist so he wouldn’t lie just to get a job.
If you find yourself clenching when you awaken, there’s a chance that you may be bruxing while asleep. When we fall asleep many systems shut down but for some reason the ability to chew does not. Only God knows why. So you could be chewing all night and not know it.
If you have a dentist you trust, and trust is key here, because dentists love to make these devices, they’ll be able to tell if you have signs of bruxing.
Other signs of bruxing are pain, like you had during the clenching, clenching during the day should make one suspicious of bruxing at night and also this: pain in teeth during the day - this could be due to bruxing at night.
I had my toothguard made years ago during my divorce when I was indeed bruxing and had tooth pain during the day. ten years before that i had the same tooth pain after my sister was killed. Again i had this horrific trigeminal neuralgia during my big crash and i was clenching and caught myself chewing on my teeth when I would wake up at night.
Since I’ve become a walking talking Klonopin pill, i find myself doing only slight clenching during the day, my husband hasn’t caught me bruxing, but i’m not taking any chances, i’m wearing the toothguard.
Brian, you wear a tooth guard and still get pain! When i researched this last year the treatment for true trigeminal neuralgia, which is a pulsing of the trigeminal nerve as it branches off up in the brain, is an SSRI. your nerve is swollen at the level of the jaw, right? i’m going to PM you something.
Since I’ve become a walking talking Klonopin pill, sooo funny :mrgreen:
My DR said , even being on antiD’s is enough reason to have one of these mouth guards fitted ,
because eventauly bruxing ,will where down our teeth anyhow.
then I asked my dentist who confirmed it.
And Julie, yes I 've read about that as well , the trigminal nerve is the very nerve that’s involve in ALL migraines.
Not just trigminal nuralgia of the jaw and face.
it’s the very nerve that travels through the brain and branches out over the brain sending pain signals ect.
good on you Dear Sherlock.
that DOSNT mean that every ones migraine starts with bruxing!!!
I saw a TMJ specialist and he took x-rays and said the joint looked fine. He couldn’t figure out why I was getting popping (sometimes) and ringing when I chew food. He prescribed a mouth gaurd but I haven’t used it yet. Looking back, I believe that migraine is the cause of my “TMJ” problems, and not the other way around.
Besides, while TMJ can cause headaches how would it explain the other neurological symptoms, if those are present? I don’t know though, for many it’s the chicken or the egg theory. :?
Don’t know what any of this means but: When I open my mouth wide to yawn the high fequency tinnitus I’ve developed gets worse. Also, when I chew hard on the left side I hear a sharp increase in the tinnitus in my right ear each time I bite down and visa versa when I chew on the right side. In my case I’m sure the tinnitus is related to the dizziness 'cus it all developed at the same time.
A little googling also turned up some interesting facts. It sounds like TMD can potentially trigger migraine but one of the symptoms of TMD is dizziness and vertigo INDEPENDENT of migraine. Also both bruxing and TMD can apparently be caused by sleep apnea - which of course I’m being treated for.
I saw a TMJ specialist and he took x-rays and said the joint looked fine. He couldn’t figure out why I was getting popping (sometimes) and ringing when I chew food. He prescribed a mouth gaurd but I haven’t used it yet. Looking back, I believe that migraine is the cause of my “TMJ” problems, and not the other way around.
Besides, while TMJ can cause headaches how would it explain the other neurological symptoms, if those are present? I don’t know though, for many it’s the chicken or the egg theory. :?
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I don’t think anybody here has said that TMJ causes any other neurologic symptoms, have they?
in my last post I pointed out that we were not speaking of dizzy symptoms.