what bodywork or other therapies have you done for this? what does your dentist say? is it the result of an accident or something else?

herbs can be used to manage symptoms and pain but we don't know what your symptoms are or anything about your pain so can't responsibly give you advice. clinical herbalism is not a 'this herb for that' approach, its holistic and treats the whole person, so while you can treat symptoms its best to also work on the root cause as well.

best wishes to you

As much as I know it is stress and teeth grinding that started it up back when I was really young. I was suppose to have a night guard/split but we couldn't afford to so I went without. I have popping and grinding in my jaw joints. The pain is normally in my teeth, adding to stress that something is wrong with my teeth. I finally got a dentist that helped me get a guard and use it every night. Most of the time its not to bad, but every now and then the pain in my teeth hurts so much its hard to eat. Beyond the guard no one has giving me much advice or hope. Though my own studding I have found to watch what I eat and the portion size of the bites. I have used arcana Montana pills but I think I have the wrong dosage but it helps my others pains so I keep it around.

are you referring to Arnica montana, used topically for relief? if so, good choice. i looked up king bio ingredients, its a combo of many homeopathics which can be pricey...guess you've already done comparison shopping for the best price? realistically you can't make it up for less than vitacost is charging however you could use herbs in other forms....a tincture made of antispasmodic and pain relieving herbs would be best for use at bedtime.

i've seen folks get good relief from tmj symptoms with cranio-sacral therapy, perhaps find an experienced practitioner and request a package deal on a series of treatments.

looks like you are in tennessee (its pretty there)..is there a local herbalist who could make a tincture formula up for you? if you need help finding one message me....

kali

Here's a listing of non-traditional/alternative methods for relieving pain of TMJ syndrome.

Not recommended are homeopathic drugs (essentially pricey water with no known efficacy) and cranio-sacral therapy (similarly worthless).

ho hum. how predictable.

solusumbra (cool screen name), you'll have to decide whether to accept googled info from a negative nellie (granny's old saying for folks like you know who) who loves raining on happy parades or the experience of folks who've actually used it.

homeopathy and cranio sacral therapy have both proven to help many tmj sufferers, ask them and see! a good CST therapist will be happy to provide references for patients who've successfully resolved their tmj issues thru this work, ask for that and go elsewhere if you don't get it.

also, take a look at any possible food allergies, have noticed a lot of allergic folks also grind their teeth. don't know for sure there is a connection but its worth consideration.

best wishes to you.

What are the principles behind cranio-sacral therapy? I don't know a lot about it, but with my knowledge of anatomy & physiology, it doesn't sound like it would provide anything more than mere symptomatic relief.

Likewise, what I know about allergies, I can't see a connection.

HerbDoctor

From a distinguished expert on herbalism and other forms of alternative medicine, Edzard Ernst:

"Craniosacral therapy (CST), which, confusingly, is sometimes also called âÂÂcranial osteopathyâÂÂ, was invented less than half a century ago by an osteopath. He thought that the spinal fluid is pulsating, the cranial bones are sufficiently movable to enable a therapist feel this pulse from the outside, and that it is possible to influence this process with very gente manual manipulations which, in turn, would restore health in sick individuals. According to the inventor, the CST-practitioner uses his or her own hands to evaluate the craniosacral system by gently feeling various locations of the body to test for the ease of motion and rhythm of the fluid pulsing around the brain and spinal cord. Soft-touch techniques are then used to release restrictions in any tissues influencing the craniosacral system..."

"To many desperate patients or distressed parents of ill children - CST is often advocated for children, particularly those suffering from cerebral palsy - this sort of lingo might sound impressive; to anyone understanding a bit of physiology, anatomy etc. it looks like pure nonsense. CST has therefore been considered by most independent experts to be on the lunatic fringe of alternative medicine."...

Clinical trials have not been kind to craniosacral therapy.

"The conditions treated in the trials were diverse: cerebral palsy, migraine, fibromyalgia and infant colic. All the badly-flawed studies reported positive results. The only rigorous trial was the one with children suffering from cerebral palsy - and here the findings were squarely negative. The conlusion of my review was blunt and straight forward: âÂÂthe notion that CST is associated with more than non-specific effects is not based on evidence from rigorous randomised clinical trialsâÂÂ. This is a polite and scientific way of saying that CST is bogus..."

"In a nutshell: 1) ineffective therapies, such as CST, may seem harmless but, through their ineffectiveness, they constitute a serious threat to our health; 2) bogus treatments become bogus through the false claims which are being made for them; 3) seriously flawed studies can be worse than none at all: they generate false positive results and send us straight up the garden path."

http://www.ebm-first.com/craniosacral-therapy.html

Note that I could have just said "Craniosacral therapy is bogus" without any references and expected readers to believe me. But I think visitors to this forum deserve more than personal opinions.

Eric gave a good answer.

HerbDoctor

I have to agree with kaliaman, so far in my many many years of dealing with the tmj this King Bio stuff has been the only thing that has brought me even the smallest hit of relief. I also do know from first hand experience that food allergies/normal allergies can do some pretty strange things to the body. However, without insurance like so many, I don't have the money to be tested for allergies. Thats one reason for trying to find a cheaper home remedy, such as an herbal remedy I can make. Thanks again for all the information every bit helps.

Solus:

There's often times two approaches to a problem. First, many people want to just have something to use that will take the edge off. In other words, they want/need symptomatic relief. There are lots of remedies for this approach in both the pharmaceutical and herbal realm. Sounds like you've had good success in this regard. Kaliaman gave some good advise.

Secondly, there's another approach by which you'd definitely need personalized consultations in order to customize some herbal remedies by a professional herbalist. This approach will allow for a deeper, longer lasting remedy to your problems. It could take several days to weeks to realize a relief of your symptoms. However, even after you quit the herbs, you'll have long lasting relief along with many other health benefits from problems you may never have known were even connected to your initial problem.

Thanks for listening.

HerbDoctor

solusumbra, good news! in addition to being pricey food allergy testing isn't 100% reliable anyway : ) much better to do an elimination-rechallenge, its free and gives absolutely certain results every time....either you react to a food or you don't.

CST is not just a symptom relieving therapy for tmj altho it will do that.... it addresses the root cause, one of them anyway, it can be multifactorial.

thank goodness we aren't limited to therapies that herb doctor knows about or eric_oh approves of ; )

if you need elimination-rechallenge information just message me and i'll happily point you in that direction. some chiropractors and nutritionists help guide and monitor clients thru this if help is needed or wanted, perhaps there is one where you are? good luck, sunshadow!