about Me

We all have struggles in our lives. This blog is my effort to overcome my struggles one by one (starting with bruxism) and hopefully help others along the way. Some of my efforts may touch upon multiple issues at once. For example, I may work on improving my sleep to help reduce my bruxism.

Since my early 20’s (I’m now in my 40’s), I can remember having jaw pain when waking up. I’ve seen many dentists, doctors, and holistic practitioners over the years. Every one of them has a different solution, which has ultimately cost me tens of thousands of dollars.

I’ve tried mouthguards (NTI’s and regular ones), medications, relaxation, massage, chiropractors, tapping, cpap machines, different sleep positions, heating pads, hypnosis, acupuncture, and much more. I used to have a mix of good and bad days, but over the last several years, I’m waking up with a dull ache in my jaw every day. My jaw feels painful in several areas.

I still don’t know exactly what I am doing while I’m sleeping. I’ve had sleep studies done that recorded sounds of teeth grinding, but my prior nightguards recently haven’t shown much wear and tear. My guess is that I’m doing some mouth movement while asleep that’s tiring my jaw out. However, I’m going to try to get to the bottom of this.

I’ve kept journals in the past of my efforts, but eventually would give up when my efforts failed. I’m hoping that by putting my intentions out into the universe and listening to advice from other people, things will change. Then I’ll move on to my next struggle.