At 2 am I was awoken by severe teeth, jaw and head pain, a telltale sign that I was grinding my teeth again in my sleep. I've had 2 or 3 such attacks in the middle of the night in the past week. A couple of weeks ago it was just in the morning when I would try to eat my cereal with cold milk. These pain attacks in the middle of the night bring me to my knees. I have never had a migraine, but this has to come close to what a migraine feels like. In addition to the entire left side of my head being in pain, I feel nauseous as well. The 15 minutes it takes for the ibuprofen (only 400mg) to take effect is excruciating. Doc had me on the 800 mg for 4 days, but he told me to reduce the dose after that. The 400 mg works, just takes a few minutes longer. I haven't had a lot of pain in my life, but I have had pain in other areas- ear infections, ear surgeries, sprained ankles and knees from sports, etc. Nothing compares to tooth pain. I don't know if there are more nerves in the jaw and head or what, but it is the kind of pain that would make one jump off a bridge if it wasn't for ibuprofen.
While waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in, I got on the computer, and squinting my eyes at the bright screen managed to do a google search on how to stop tooth grinding. It says it is caused by stress and anxiety, but is made worse by lack of exercise, caffeine, and alcohol. Bingo!! I've always been a tooth grinder, so I don't think that I necessarily have more stress/anxiety in my life now than I did a year ago, but the difference is the caffeine and reduced exercise. About 6-8 weeks ago I said the heck with the decaf coffee and went back to regular. Only 1 cup in the morning, with the very rare second cup in the afternoon (like maybe twice per week). I started out doing a lot of exercise in May and June, but since early July, I've become a slacker and have only done my one Zumba class per week, and maybe a couple of walks in the evening. I haven't done yoga since May, which was a major stress reducer. I also had a glass of wine last night. I asked my dentist about the caffeine a week ago and he didn't say it was the reason my nerves are flared up. Darn dentist. I had a feeling all along.
So today begins the process to wean myself off of caffeine again. I've had a half of cup to prevent a headache, and I'm going to toss the rest of it down the drain. Exercise will need to increase as well, not only to prevent the grinding, but to lose the 10 pounds that I was going to lose a few months ago - I made no progress, in fact I gained 4 pounds.
All I know is that the tooth pain has to stop before my DE cycle because I will not survive being pregnant and not be able to take the ibuprofen. Tylenol takes forever to work and it is useless when it comes to the migraine like tooth pain attacks. I seriously would rather die than suffer 9 months with nightly tooth pain attacks.
Okay sorry for such a complainer post.
6 comments:
Oh, man...no fun. I hope that cutting back on caffeine and getting some exercise do the trick for you.
yuck. Tooth-grinding sucks! And I say that from my own experiences. And I wish you much luck with weaning yourself off the caffeine!
i've long been a terrible tooth grinder and have the crumbling teeth to show for it.
It's nasty and so frustrating as you can do little about it.
I used to wear rubber (or plastic) tooth guards to protect my teeth - I wonder if that would help with the pain?
For the record, i think i do it less now. Could be a reduction in stress or caffeine. Anyway, you might find that's the case when (not if) your DE cycle works. xx
Ouch. I was a tooth grinder as a kid - I wore a plastic mouth guard for a while and it helped. I hope you get it figured out.
I suffer from TMJ due to a bad bite and other issues. Cole can testify, that I'm a tooth grinder. I actually wake him up, he says my jaw sounds like a creaking door. I usually tend to grind more during times of stress, which in turns make my TMJ worse. Not fun! Sometimes I even dream that my teeth are falling out or crumbling apart, which means that I'm grinding while I'm dreaming that.
Anyways, I really hope it gets better and that the coffee weaning helps.
Hey, did you know that some drug stores carry night guards for grinding and they are like $30 instead of the $1000 that a dentist charges? It will help with the pain and protect your teeth.
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