Jaw tendonitis!

So this is my third post on this forum, the last one being about my knee pain and the first one about my back pain almost 10 years ago! Throughout these years I've been so grateful to know about TMS because it solves perhaps 80% of any pains I have. Isn't that crazy?

Anyway, before Christmas I developed what I thought was jaw tendonitis on my right side, from chewing a lot of gum. I've always chewed a ton of gum but I really went overboard I must admit. It just helps me focus. It started with light clicking to strong clicking whenever I'd chew something hard or chewy, and especially if I chewed on my left side (why I don't know given that the right side hurts).

I gave up on gum for a few weeks and it went away so I started chewing gum again and... it came back worse. The funniest thing is I was able to eat very hard food but a bit of chewing gum was enough to set it off. I gave it up again but it just got worse and worse. It got better a few weeks ago somehow and I was really craving some gum so I went screw it, I'm gonna have some. I don't care about this dumb jaw. And I finally realized that when I'm actually chewing, the clicking goes away. It was just like my back pain - more exercise made it go away WHILE I was doing said exercise but came back when I stopped.

There's no pain, just clicking and worry that I'll develop a chronic condition. Maybe that's why I didn't clock that it was TMS - because isn't there supposed to be pain involved? I'm tired of eating just soft food, just on my right side, and avoiding gum. It's even better today just because I realized this might be TMS.

So I'm hoping it IS TMS and I can fix this fairly quickly. I'm an anxious person and I get why my body just throws random issues at me every few years

 

It sounds like TMS but it is hard to predict how fast it could be fixed. Our brains would play tricks too when they know that we want to fix things quickly. Christmas, holiday, maybe some stress? Why chewing a lot of gums? Sometimes a craving may be a distraction for something. Then the gum issue consumes your attention, another distraction? The longer it drags, the more fearful and consumed a person gets, then worrying about "being chronic", another layer of distraction?

 

I'm constantly stressed haha, and 2024 was one of the worst years for it. The gum is nicotine gum which helps with focus (I don't smoke or anything), I've always struggled with focus. I used to chew it like crazy and never had jaw issues. I definitely worried more about my jaw over christmas and it got very bad without me even chewing, I was on a liquid diet for a bit, I'd even just brush my teeth and my jaw would be clicking for hours after.

 

That's 10000% Tms. I went through a very similar thing with my teeth and I even had fake TMJ symptoms when I started taking care of my Mom and broke up with my GF at the same time...
I chew 50 pieces of gum a day...yeah, I know. It's a lot, but it keeps me from smoking and eating too much.
You really need to go back to chewing it and focusing on what you might be angry about but aren't aware of yet....that's how I always 'chase away' new conditioning that sneaks in.

 

That's relieving to hear. What were your teeth symptoms? The gum keeps me from eating too much too.

I'm angry about a lot of stuff, but I think I'm aware of most of it! Before I'd just suppress my anger but now I live alone I'm free to be as angry as I wish lmao - however I feel that's caused more issues than it's solved as it kind of encourages my anger. I need to do some journaling maybe.

Over the past few days my jaw has gone from better to how it was before, back to better... it keeps switching up. It feels like when I chew it becomes better like I'm greasing a creaky door or something, but an injury shouldn't work that way.

 

Whatever we are aware of is almost always a fraction. Sarno compared it to an iceberg. If awareness of being angry was sufficient I know a LOT of people who never would have gotten TMS who do have it.

correct. It would get worse.

I invariably get symptoms when I am 'relaxing', or at least trying to.

Nerve Pain in teeth that didn't have any nerves left....phantom pain.

 

That would explain why my jaw clicks most at night then...

Potentially an area that used to have pain then? I still get pains in my foot that I injured 20 years ago that definitely healed long ago haha

 

I also have Jaw clicking, but it's never been more than an embarassment . I don't chew on that side in public, but it's never been painful.

My hips used to make a Godawful clicking noise whenever I did a situp. Sarno said to not worry about it, so I stopped worrying about it...and it eventually went away? It too was never painful...just concerning

 

My jaw now feels healed in the mornings. Sometimes in the afternoons and I noticed I kinda miss the clicking haha. I guess it became a habit. It still clicks during the day and worries me but it's not getting worse as it would in the past.