Re: not a candidate for surgery, not sure what to do

[ticktickatick]

There's a lot of women on the internet who swear their tmj disappeared with thyroid/sex hormone replacement therapy. 

But with mine there's an obvious cause

There is hormone therapy for men as well. Yes, many many women get worse TMJ when they go on birth control because of the hormone changes. From my research, what helps them most is going on natural progesterone.

You can look into progesterone therapy for men. Progesta Care for Men. http://www.energeticnutrition.com/mens-supplements/progesta-care-mens-formula.html#.ULfhh4UXrYw

Bioidentical Progesterone is OTC.

[trigeminalneuralgia]

hi, i am actually a woman..hehe

i was actually on a pretty strong birth control for awhile and i believe it messed up my hormones..yasmin..this was years ago

i tried otc progesterone and to my surprise, it DOES do something.  it made me very very cranky and kind of sweaty.  this was a year ago when my body was really stressed, i might try it again.
dhea i tried too, it gave me acne.
estrogen was the only thing i experimented with that i liked (same brand you posted).  made me less cranky.  the otc stuff doesn't do enough though to change my labs, which is good..i like mild treatment otherwise i'd worry.


my thyroid is strange.  i have low ft3 but normal ft4.  i tried ndt and my ft4 plummeted and made me more hypo, even though my ft3 went up i felt like i was completely stoned.  tried taking ft3 alone and that is when i felt the absolute worst, incredibly hypo.  so i gave up.  ive read ft4 is a storage hormone and doesn't matter, it's the ft3 but that's bs man..i can instantly feel when my ft4 is dropping

i have braces now and they are helping with the TMJ, particularly the palate expander.  none of my muscles feel good though..anywhere

[ticktickatick]

hi, i am actually a woman..hehe

i was actually on a pretty strong birth control for awhile and i believe it messed up my hormones..yasmin..this was years ago

i tried otc progesterone and to my surprise, it DOES do something.  it made me very very cranky and kind of sweaty.  this was a year ago when my body was really stressed, i might try it again.
dhea i tried too, it gave me acne.
estrogen was the only thing i experimented with that i liked (same brand you posted).  made me less cranky.  the otc stuff doesn't do enough though to change my labs, which is good..i like mild treatment otherwise i'd worry.


my thyroid is strange.  i have low ft3 but normal ft4.  i tried ndt and my ft4 plummeted and made me more hypo, even though my ft3 went up i felt like i was completely stoned.  tried taking ft3 alone and that is when i felt the absolute worst, incredibly hypo.  so i gave up.  ive read ft4 is a storage hormone and doesn't matter, it's the ft3 but that's bs man..i can instantly feel when my ft4 is dropping

i have braces now and they are helping with the TMJ, particularly the palate expander.  none of my muscles feel good though..anywhere

Haha, sorry about that mixup! I think the Frankenstein avatar threw me off...

I am borderline hypo and used to have BAD (like pizza face bad) adult acne. I never went on birth control pills long-term though, because the ones I tried made me too sick to function. I am on a low dose of Naturethroid (similar to Armor).

Anyway, I started looking more into hormones when I was prescribed spironolactone for the acne. The cystic acne I've had for years disappeared. It was like a miracle. As soon as I go off the stuff, the acne comes back, so clearly I've got some chronic hormonal problem going on.

Spironolactone is anti-androgen and estrogenic, meaning it reduces testosterone activity and raises estrogen. I got to thinking...maybe all my hypo stuff is related to hormones. Found out there is a definite link between low progesterone and hypo. Most of the progesterone stuff is directed towards perimenopausal and menopausal women..I'm nowhere near that stage yet...so I started taking about half the recommended dose. Now I sleep better, have less muscle cramps, better periods, and more energy during the day. Still have some TMJ-ish pain but the progesterone reduced it enough that an oral surgeon told me "don't have a TMJ problem anymore".

So it's doing something. I was hoping it would completely replace the thyroid meds, but no dice yet. I might need to hit the higher dose. I use the Progestelle oil for the record.

I should add that my moods were wack the first week or so on progesterone...then it leveled out and I felt happier. Yes to the sweating too. I am ALWAYS cold normally, but when I started progesterone I was overheating like crazy...and now I am a "regular" temperature. My husband is glad that we agree on the thermostat now.

The timing matters, if you haven't hit menopause you're only supposed to take it on days 12 - 26 of your cycle (day 1 is when your period starts).

[ticktickatick]

Hey...one more thing...make sure your orthodontist watches that expander like a hawk.

I had an expander as a teenager when I was 16...I was definitely full grown so it wasn't "supposed" to do anything except widen it...but it shifted my jaw VERTICALLY considerably. I have no idea how, maybe I got a random growth spurt so this doesn't apply to you...but I would still be careful. My teeth straightened out but now I have vertical maxillary excess so I have bad lip incompetence. Meaning when my jaw is relaxed my lips don't close. I went from crooked teeth but a normal closed mouth, to straight teeth and 15mm of space between my upper and lower lip.

Which is why I'm now looking into oral surgery, yeah my teeth are straight but I look like a slack jawed idiot with a long upper jaw and a receding chin that was exaggerated by the braces/expander treatment.

[CK]

that was probably one of the most frustrating issues. i hated having an open mouth. not only was in not ideal aesthetically it was just uncomfortable. always mouth breathing and waking up to a desert in my mouth and throat, ugh.

[Heavyweight]

that was probably one of the most frustrating issues. i hated having an open mouth. not only was in not ideal aesthetically it was just uncomfortable. always mouth breathing and waking up to a desert in my mouth and throat, ugh.

I have this same problem too, and I hate it. Did surgery correct this for you?

[trigeminalneuralgia]

Hey...one more thing...make sure your orthodontist watches that expander like a hawk.

I had an expander as a teenager when I was 16...I was definitely full grown so it wasn't "supposed" to do anything except widen it...but it shifted my jaw VERTICALLY considerably. I have no idea how, maybe I got a random growth spurt so this doesn't apply to you...but I would still be careful. My teeth straightened out but now I have vertical maxillary excess so I have bad lip incompetence. Meaning when my jaw is relaxed my lips don't close. I went from crooked teeth but a normal closed mouth, to straight teeth and 15mm of space between my upper and lower lip.

Which is why I'm now looking into oral surgery, yeah my teeth are straight but I look like a slack jawed idiot with a long upper jaw and a receding chin that was exaggerated by the braces/expander treatment.

yay i have someone who i can discuss hormones with!!  woohoo.

yup ive heard about Spironolactone...i was on yasmin for acne too (which worked) accutane worked only while i was on it for six months and not worth all the nasty side effects.  i have insulin resistance (thin as a rail) which im sure relates to all of this..in highschool i drank cokes and fruit juice all day long.  i really wish i had tested my hormones THEN.  my acne wasn't pizza face but clearly hormonal because the yasmin worked.  although i was definitely not a candidate for PCOS... ive tested my free testosterone and it is lowish now.  definitely not high.  i wish i had my hormones checked in high school.  everything is lowish and i'm too young for this!! 29!  the panic feelings has to be the low ft3 and/or progesterone.  (i mention this in like every other post but i also have a connective tissue disorder and bad POTS..........makes me really spacey and panicky too)

that's amazing an otc product could help you that much.  i'm pretty sure i was just taking the p whenever, not on certain days of my cycle, lol.  i need to retake labs..if i do i'll post the results here.  last time during the luteal phase my p was like a 6, either out of range or the very bottom. 

 vertical maxillary excess
....................................
would that be a gummy smile?  can you tell this pretty easily by looking in the mirror?  fortunately the palate expander i have looks mild.  it's not one of those where you adjust the metal or anything like that, its this little plastic thing.

[trigeminalneuralgia]

i think bcp are just masking the problem

i was on naturethroid too, its the best..from what i've read. 

my calf muscles swell up too.  if that's not hormones then i dunno what is...i dont think my magnesium is low enough to do that anymore.  i drink too much caffeine for it to be low blood pressure.

[ticktickatick]

yay i have someone who i can discuss hormones with!!  woohoo.

yup ive heard about Spironolactone...i was on yasmin for acne too (which worked) accutane worked only while i was on it for six months and not worth all the nasty side effects.  i have insulin resistance (thin as a rail) which im sure relates to all of this..in highschool i drank cokes and fruit juice all day long.  i really wish i had tested my hormones THEN.  my acne wasn't pizza face but clearly hormonal because the yasmin worked.  although i was definitely not a candidate for PCOS... ive tested my free testosterone and it is lowish now.  definitely not high.  i wish i had my hormones checked in high school.  everything is lowish and i'm too young for this!! 29!  the panic feelings has to be the low ft3 and/or progesterone.  (i mention this in like every other post but i also have a connective tissue disorder and bad POTS..........makes me really spacey and panicky too)

that's amazing an otc product could help you that much.  i'm pretty sure i was just taking the p whenever, not on certain days of my cycle, lol.  i need to retake labs..if i do i'll post the results here.  last time during the luteal phase my p was like a 6, either out of range or the very bottom. 

 vertical maxillary excess
....................................
would that be a gummy smile?  can you tell this pretty easily by looking in the mirror?  fortunately the palate expander i have looks mild.  it's not one of those where you adjust the metal or anything like that, its this little plastic thing.

Yeah Yasmin is supposed to have a 25mg dose of spiro in it (in addition to the other BCP stuff). I'm on 100mg of straight spiro. Lower doses don't help me.

Wow you tested at 6?? That's really low...

The classic sign of vertical maxillary excess is gummy smile. Not always though. I do have a gummy smile but what bothers me more is that I have a big "mustache" area. If you pay attention most attractive women have a thinner area of skin between the nose and the upper lip...it's the men that have more height there...personally I think it just looks a bit mannish. The gummy smile is annoying too though.

[ticktickatick]

Oh yep, I had one of the metal turnkey expanders. My mom had to turn it and widen it every day for I don't remember how long. Hurt like hell 

[trigeminalneuralgia]

hey, do you know if a .3 free testosterone is low or normal for a woman? 

the range is 0-2.2

i cant seem to find info on this...  i would think that being a very small not muscular person this is okay and not as bad as my progesterone. 

[ticktickatick]

hey, do you know if a .3 free testosterone is low or normal for a woman? 

the range is 0-2.2

i cant seem to find info on this...  i would think that being a very small not muscular person this is okay and not as bad as my progesterone. 

MayoMedical says that would be the very low end.

TESTOSTERONE, FREE
Males: 9-30 ng/dL
Females: 0.3-1.9 ng/dL

http://www.mayomedicallaboratories.com/test-catalog/Clinical+and+Interpretive/83686

[trigeminalneuralgia]

Great!! Not really

Thank you though

I should get shbg checked too