My jaw hurts

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For about 10 years I've had jaw problems. Simply put, sometimes when I eat, I can feel the right side of my jaw pop out of place. This happened to me yesterday when I was eating and it felt like someone was ripping my jaw right out of my mouth.

Today it's swollen and I can't even close it down all the way, the two sides just don't line up properly, and it's also making my right ear hurt.

Can anyone relate?

Yes, I can. I had a real problem with this when I was a teen. At times my jaw dislocates or wants to pop in or out. Once it gets into this cycle, it will do it for the smallest reasons, and I can barely eat, talk, function, or sleep at night. Not fun.

My jaw also tends to tire and fatigue easily and it is hard/tiring for me to open my mouth up widely or for long periods of time, which makes for difficulties primarily in the dentist's office and bedroom.

We have a poll running at AFF about whether or not aspies are more likely to experience problems with our joints being loose, and there seemed to be quite a few of us who do, not only dislocating jaws, but also hips, knees, fingers/toes, etc. It might be informative to start a similar poll here.

I would be interested in that poll as I am starting to have a lot of problems with these issues. In fact I am having to go in for a second MRI to try to find out why my right side has decided to go on a break.

Y

I have a problem with my jaw. I have ground my teeth all my life. I mean REALLY grinding. I wear an acrylic mouth gaurd at night which I still grind on. I have done it so much that I have flattened the ball portion of the joint so my jaw dislocates sometimes. When I am going through a particularily rough grinding time my jaw hurts all day and causes headaches and earaches. Right now we are discussing surgery to rebuild the joint but that scares me. I have read that jaw surgery can cause more harm than good.

Wait. My jaw isn't supposed to be able to dislocate itself? Cause i can relax and pull it out and shift it around and stuff and put it back in without any pain most of the time.

Have a look at this:
http://www.headache.com.au/hachehtm/jawprbs/jawtmj.html

I was wrongly told I might have this problem instead of TN,but it seems very similar to what you describe.

Hmmmmm. Makes sense.

I've noticed that when I'm stressed, one of the things I do is grind my teeth together.

I just came from the oralfascial pain clinic today. The doctor I saw was very knowledgeable and explained in depth why I had so much pain in my jaw, he also stated that the ckicking isn't associated with the pain, which I didn't know. He went on to say that clenching, grinding and other pains referred from other parts of my body all led up to this (myofascial pain) he prescribed some muscle relaxants and a strict adherance to an 8 hour sleep period every night. (My biggest problem). To sum everything up he went on to say that whatever may have started the pain, whether it was the grinding or clenching or trauma, my muscles need time off as they are now in a constant pain mode. He brought up some good points; when one's body is in a heightened state of alert, whether it be from past problems, Sensory impairments etc, it releases cortisol and adrenalin which actually physiologically makes our heads sit in a more forward position, this causes stress in our neck muscles and eventually moves into us clenching our teeth and tightening those muscles.
I am going to make an appointment for my son who is an avid grinder/clencher.. It was well worth the visit.
I hope this information is of some help

Relating aside - don't you think it might need medical attention?

I'll second KindomOfRats's thought that it could be TMJ. Have a look at this, then see someone.

My jaw went weird a few years back. It's not as bad as it once was but it's not quite normal...

Grinding of the teeth is a sign of energy in your body that is stuck.

Energy is supposed to flow around your body in a particular way. The pathway is supposed to be smooth and unobstructed. For many reasons the pathways can be blocked. That energy wants to flow up and around your head but it cannot do it properly. Your head is most likely misaligned.

Do you have a bony head? One that is thinnish or narrowish? People's heads are supposed to be fattish sort of like Asian peoples or Hispanic peoples heads. They should look pumpkin like, not bird like.

Maybe. You ever pay attention when you look in the mirror? When you do, are your shoulders even? If they are not, how do they look? Which shoulder is forward, backward, sideways, upwards, downwards?

I used to have pain in my jaw and subsequent headaches from stress. When my stress level goes down, as it has recently, the pain and discomfort stop.