Tired All The Time? It Could Be Your Jaw

Fatigue is no laughing matter, especially when it happens on a regular basis. When you’re always tired and feel like you’re not well rested, it can really drag you down.

Dealing with chronic fatigue can get in the way of your daily life. You can’t focus, don’t have any energy, and find it difficult to get through the day. Throw jaw pain into the mix and your life can truly be miserable.

If you find yourself struggling with the feeling of always being tired and your jaw is aching all the time as well, you need to get to the source of your problems. You could be suffering from a TMJ disorder.

Figuring Out TMJ Disorders

A TMJ disorder refers to a problem with the joint that attaches the upper and lower jaw, also known as the temporomandibular joint. This joint is extremely powerful and endures a great deal of strain on a daily basis as you talk, yawn, and chew.

You can add to that strain if you are always tensed up due to pressure, clenching your teeth together, or by grinding your teeth at night. In addition to becoming strained, the jaw joint and surrounding muscles can become inflamed. When there is undue strain or inflammation, this can affect the surrounding nerves as well, causing pain to radiate away from the jaw joint itself.

A misaligned jaw can cause problems as well, resulting in chronic pain in the jaw, neck, shoulders, ears, and throat. Migraines tend to be triggered by a TMJ disorder as well. If TMJ is affecting your life, you could find yourself dealing with a popping noise in your jaw, a locked jaw from time to time, the inability to open wide, and tenderness. TMJ could be affecting your quality of sleep as well.

How TMJ Can Affect Your Sleep

When your jaw is misaligned it can affect the quality of your sleep. How? While you sleep, your muscles relax. With your jaw in the incorrect position, as your jaw muscles relax, they can fall back and block your airway contributing to snoring or a condition known as sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea causes brief episodes where you stop breathing as your airways become blocked by throat tissue. When these episodes occur, your brain briefly awakens you so that you resume breathing. In many cases people who suffer from sleep apnea are unaware of these awakenings because they are so short. The clues tend to be snoring and a feeling of chronic fatigue.

TMJ Treatment As Your Sleep Solution

If you want to sleep better, try looking to your TMJ. If you would like to find out if TMJ is behind your fatigue, call our office at (301) 839-0055 or (301) 652-3444 to schedule an appointment today in our National Harbor or Bethesda office.