Anyone here ever had "Lock Jaw"?

[Curval]

This past Monday my jaw muscle on the right side started to hurt.  As the week went on I could open my jaws less and less until on Thursday I was having to cut food up really small and kind of shove it between my teeth.  It really hurt.

Apparently it results from stress.  Without even consciously knowing it, I have been clenching my jaw...particularly at night when I was sleeping.  Over an extended period the jaw muscles go into "spasam" and they litterally lock your jaw shut.

It must have been related to my son getting ill, because I am not under any undue work related stress, which is somewhat unusual.

Anyone else have this happen...how long did it last?

I took some muscle relaxants last night and this morning it is a bit better.  I hope it is better by Monday night...I am schmoosing a laywer here who has promised to send enough business my way as to warrent the formation of a new subsidiary company in our group.  The reason I want to be over this lock jaw thing isn't what you are thinking   ....I just want to be able to eat without bits of food that I can't fit between my teeth dropping all over the place.

[NUKE]

Have you been to a doctor? I thought Tetanus was commonly known as lockjaw, and it's not good thing if you have it.

hope you get well whatever it is Curval.

[Dowding]

My jaw clicks when I eat sometimes and it has felt like it was going to seize up several times. But I don't think it's serious.

Lock-jaw is a symptom of the advanced stages of tetanus. I'd suggest keeping away from sheep pens in future. That rusty barbed wire is nasty stuff with all sorts of stuff growing on it.

[Tuomio]

If you regularly grind your teeth during your sleep, you should see dentist asap. Its quite common "disease" and will destroy (literally) your teeth in few years if its left unattended.

If you have stiff jaws in the morning it might be because of the grinding. Anyways, face muscles dont just lock up without proper reason, visit your doctor.

[Mini D]

I had the same thing happen Curval.  Go to the doc and he'll give you a muscle relaxant that should help you out.

Its not Lock Jaw... but its not much fun.

MiniD

[hazed-]

Terrible thing to have happen , very painfull ive heard.

It can also be caused by slight blood poisoning, sometimes things like rust from a nail at a building site can cause lockjaw.Apparently if you cut the skin between your thumb and forefinger (tendon cut) it also causes lockjaw!.Not sure if that one is a urban myth though

A particularly good drug for muscle spasm is diazipan.This is however quite an addictive drug and when used over prolonged periods(months) the withdrawal of the drug has been known to cause depression.
I have used this drug recently after having an operation on my back and im suffering from spasm of the lower muscles.Diazipan is very good for those times where you need to sleep but are in too much pain.It not only relaxes your muscles it also makes you feel sleepy.

basically I would recommend using it only when you are in severe pain. Basically you take very small 2mg tablets (3 a day) for maybe a day or two then stop.It not the sort of drug you want to be taking regularly but its perfect for that extra 'hit' of pain killing when things are bad and you need sleep.

As usual only take a painkiller/relaxant your doctor recomends but maybe mention diazipan to him if you are having trouble sleeping.

Drink plenty of water too as this helps remove toxins from your muscles which can cause muscle spasms. Spasms can be caused by all sorts of things though from injuries to stress.

[Bluefish]

I was told by my dentist that I had been grinding my teeth at night (I think the dentists call it "bruxing"), even though neither I nor my GF had ever noticed it.  It can result in severe pain in the jaw, your jaws coming out of alignment, tremendous wear on your teeth and all kinds of unpleasant stuff. Fortunately the dentist can make a small insert to wear at night that stops the teeth from actually contacting each other (I don't know if it actually stops the grinding motion but my jaw has felt better since I started using it).

There is another nasty thing called TMJ (I think it stands for tri-mandibular joint or something like that) which is much more serious (it restricts the ability to open your jaw).  Your dentist ought to be able to tell you if you have that.  I sincerely hope you don't, because curing it apparently requires surgery.

In any event, I'd suggest you see your dentist ASAP, and if he tells you it's TMJ try to find a specialist doc who deals with that on a regular basis.

[Curval]

I went to my dentist on Friday.  He gave me the muscle relaxants I took last night, and today.  (Valium, oh valium...how I love thee...did I say that out loud?...whomever shot me down in the TOD last night got an easy kill...I kinda spaced out on that one   )

I haven't scratched myself on anything, not even the sheep pens so it isn't tetnus.  The last tetanus shot I had was a while back, but I think I'd be sick if I had tetnus, or blood poisoning.  I feel fine, I just can't open my mouth too wide.

The dentist was't conerned with grinding my teeth, just clenching my jaw, but I will watch out for any signs.

MiniD..how long did it hurt for?

Oh..and Dowding..my jaw has clicked like that since I was 18.  I got sucker punched by a guy and ever since then it clicked whenever I ate.  My jaw was dislocated, but poped back into place a few minutes after he hit me.  I told the dentist about it and he said..."I had the same thing happen when I was 15".  He thinks it may be a part of the problem I am having now.

[Mini D]

It took about 3 days to clear up.  But you think about it every day after that.

MiniD

[Kanth]

I grind mine at night enough to be audible, and I clench them alot (stress)

I haven't had any jaw displacement or abnormal wear on my teeth that the dentist has told me but she did say I have unusually large jaw muscles..

It's bad news though and can give you really bad headaches and can misalign your jaw..

all I can think of is that 'lock jaw' is just one of those wierd things where it stiffened up due to some wierd strain (like other musles can do) and will take time to ease back off..

definately a good idea seeing a doctor though, I hadn't really heard of anyone who had something like that in their jaw before.

[Airhead]

It's a quite common affliction in San Francisco, known by the street name of Blowers Cramp. Avoid cigars and oral sex and it should clear up in a week or two.

-Doctor Airhead

PS: I noticed MiniD had it once- hee hee heee;)

[Mini D]

I had it once... but I'm not the expert on it that you seem to be.

You are in the S.F. area aren't you Airhead?  And I've noticed you've been talking about spending alot of time with Lazs.  Not saying there's anything wrong with that...

MiniD

[Airhead]

LOL Hey, I coulda told Curval my Uncle had the same thing and dropped dead from tetnus right after the dentist told him he had nothing to worry about, but I'm too kind for that.

[NUKE]

Originally posted by Airhead
LOL Hey, I coulda told Curval my Uncle had the same thing and dropped dead from tetnus right after the dentist told him he had nothing to worry about, but I'm too kind for that.

lol!

[Boroda]

Had such thing in winter.

First of all went to a surgeon to assure it's not "out of limb". It was over in 5 days. After 4 days I could eat normal food, not porrige or soup.

I think the problem was with a pillow, when I slept on an other bed with soft and "low" pillow it started to become better.

A horrible thing to suffer. I didn't take any medicines, tried to cure it with traditional method: "two with pepper, two without pepper". I mean 200g glasses of vodka I don't know if it helps, but the hangover next morning makes you forget any other desease