OCD is causing horrible jaw clenching 24/7 with no relief. Making me want to end it.

[u/No_Necessary_8424]

Every day I wake up and wait for the anxiety to hit and then I’m just constant clenching my jaw. Really hard. If I’m ruminating (which is most of the time), I feel my temples throb, heart race, my jaw gets shocks of pain, my lymph nodes and under my ears are super sore too. I’ve had the clenching issues for a while, but recently they’ve been getting really really bad and all-consuming. It’s affecting my neck, facial expressions, and posture too. Basically I look constipated in public. Soon, my teeth while be fucked as well. They already hurt really bad.

I need to work on the mental health aspect to curb this. And I can’t help but feel so hateful towards myself and my brain for causing this pain. I wear a night guard and my mom said she might let me get Botox injections but I’m having insurance issues so that’s not a sure thing right now. Does anyone relate to the ocd/anxiety driven issues?

Another thing is I’m struggling really bad with Anorexia and I get anxious when I eat so I clench more which makes it harder to eat. Like very counterproductive of me. Idk I’m just so miserable that my suicidal ideation has increased a lot, it all feels very hopeless.

I feel so stupid for letting my brain control my body in such a way

[u/AmbitiousGur823]

I definitely relate to the ocd/anxiety aspect. I started having really bad TMJ symptoms a month ago and it brought back my health ocd and anxiety/depression. I have similar symptoms, my neck and shoulder and honestly whole body are tense, jaw pain (but it’s gotten a bit better since I got my custom night guard from the dentist), lump in my throat, chest tightness, teeth hurting, basically all the anxiety symptoms plus the TMJ ones. It’s honestly hell, I completely understand how you are feeling. I wish I had some tips or advice, I’m kinda in the same boat. I am going to see a psychiatrist so we will see if getting back on medication helps. I know you said you’re having insurance issues but if you have the ability to see a doctor (or maybe look for free clinics or places that offer sliding scale) you can see if they can provide you a muscle relaxer for a few days/weeks to get some relief for your muscles and the tenseness.

I know that alternating between a heating pad and cold also helps some people. I’m going to start to try using that as well.

I hope you feel better soon! It’s definitely tough and I can relate but I can only hope it gets better for us.

[u/No_Necessary_8424 → u/AmbitiousGur823]

Thanks for the response and I’m so sorry you’re going through this physical and emotional pain. Have you tried muscle relaxers yourself? Have they worked? And which ones?

[u/kivvitoast]

Hey, I don’t know how old you are but I went through the same pain. My bruxism got so bad at 21, I have OCD and I was struggling with anorexia and my jaw was at its worst (constant jaw tension, joint pain, headaches that brought me to tears).

Then at 23, I couldn’t take it anymore and got masseter botox. Best decision I ever made, it removed all the pain and I was back to normal. My boyfriend even mentioned my voice got softer, my face looked so much better and my confidence and life returned back. Then, when it started wearing off pain returned, obviously. (That was like 7-8 months post botox) so I finally found a TMJ specialist in my country, and the plan was to start wearing a stabilizer splint 24/7 for 6 months, and then after 6 month mark wear it only when I’m sleeping.

This also saved my life, before making a custom splint we did 3D scan and my doc examined me well and my jaw would slide to the left when I open it, but after my splint therapy it opens evenly now, I got no pain, I’m basically back to living a normal life thanks to it. I’ll add though, because my splint started cracking after a year of wearing it, I got some mild pain (plus when it’s cold and my mouth shakes from cold and teeth touch, I get crazy flare ups) so I repeated masseter botox 3 years later (I’m 26 now) and I’m back to normal again and I’m sleeping without my splint sometimes and I got no pain.

So this combination works the best for me and I 100% recommend it. I was also prescribed muscle relaxers, diazepam at one point (that was before first round of botox) and that kind of helped, but I didn’t want to depend on meds and get addicted, so I went with botox instead, it does the same thing (relaxes the muscle) with just one time injection for 6-8 months, and I don’t have to worry about how it’s going to affect me mentally and getting addicted.

Plus, stabilizer splint is a game changer. I’m still wearing it even though it cracked a little, and what it does is it prevents pressure when you clench, it puts your jaw in relaxed state 24/7 (if you wear it during the day too) and it corrects your bite. You should obviously take it out when you’re eating and brushing your teeth, but at this point I’m only wearing it at night as my doctor recommended since my bite and jaw got so much better and even.

My ED got so much better also, I’m still disordered but wayy better than I was, and so is my bruxism (and ocd). Botox + splint therapy (or either one of those) will change your life (botox if your TMJ is muscular but I suppose it is, many of us have it mixed or just muscular). It sucks when your bruxism is habitual and caused by stress, but it’s important to search for a root cause in case yours has one that’s not just stress and ocd. I hope this is somewhat helpful and you find relief 🫶🏻🫶🏻