Do I have the symptoms of TMJ?

Question

So, my jaw had been popping a lot lately, i meant to to a painful extent, but enough for it to bother me, and sometimes it's kinda hard to open my mouth because of the popping, and i was wondering if the symptoms I'm having are from tmj, these are the symptoms:

Popping of my jaw,

dizziness,

light headaches, nothing too big but think their from stress,

my neck and shoulder pain often, and maybe that just from stress too,

also,

intense shoulder pain when I'm exercising, like running and things of that nature.

can anyone clue me on on if this could be from some other illness or if it's all in my head?

Answer 1

Yes, this sounds very much like TMJ. Not too long before I was first diagnosed, I noticed an annoying popping that would give me a quick pain every once in a while, but for the most part was painless. Do you grind your teeth at all? If so, this could be the cause of the headache. Because TMJ is located in the jaw, it can often cause headaches itself, but usually grinding is accompanied. I also became dizzy quite frequently. Neck and shoulder pain can have a lot of related causes, like you said, stress is an example, over exertion, etc. Neck pain is common with TMJ as it radiates away from the jaw. I don't think it is all in your head. I would recommed going to a dentist and at the very least having your jaw looked at. There are a lot of things they can do to tell for sure if TMJ is the cause. If one dentist says no and you have insurance, get a different opinion before looking at other options. Hope this helps.