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Sleep, fibromyalgia and teeth grinding

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I’m really wondering if anyone on here has these coexisting problems, so basically if I don’t drug or exhaust myself into a stupor I don’t sleep, when I do sleep I grind my teeth, like really bad, I’ve broken 3 mouth guards by grinding and it causes horrible jaw neck and shoulder pain, and for some reason the mouthguard doesn’t work, it’s professional by the way. With that I have very shallow sleep which seems to be at least a little hereditarily, but like I said without pills, and too many at that I don’t sleep, maybe an hour of feverish napping if I’m lucky. I had an assessment and it’s not bipolar, but I definitely feel manic on those days, it’s especially bad around a full moon and my period, and not in a hocus pocus kind of way it’s just a pattern. I also got diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I’m almost in constant pain, but it’s such a murky diagnosis I can’t even take it seriously. I know prolonged periods of stress can cause adrenal fatigue, and I’ve read about correlations between ptsd fibromyalgia and adrenal fatigue. I try a holistic approach, eating healthy, excersize cutting out caffeine etc, but honestly nothing besides t3 and zopiclone really even makes a dent. My life is very interrupted by all these things I used to be a straight a university student doing a double major, but I just do the bare minimum to survive right now. I’ve had really bad experiences with a host of anti depressants and I’ve tried garbapentin, I got extremely suicidal from all of them. Does anyone on here have any insight or experiencing similar things? I seem to be some kind of a strange mystery to my doctors and psychiatrists, and no one is offering solutions. Trying to stay positive. Oh also I have like 3 recurring nightmares and my dreams are vivid and frightening and I cannot wake up from them, but they are not directly related to my trauma. Please share your experiences or advice I’m really interested if anyone can relate, I’m feeling really isolated by all of this shite.
 
I don't have any trouble getting to sleep in fact i am the opposite and seem to be constantly tired but I do have the teeth grinding, so bad that I get a severe jaw pain called TMJ which is pure agony and can last for hours and days at time. I also suffer from night terrors/sleep paralysis and believe that all of these symptoms are due to the fact that I am repressing memories of childhood abuse as I do wake from the sleep paralysis with some small flashbacks.... I just wish I could remember everything

Just to add to the above I also have really vivid nightmares which are not directly related to abuse but can be very disturbing and often degrading.
 
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Almost 30 yr ago I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and had sleep paralysis and nightmares. Then a remission, got my masters, and lived life fully. I went to sleep every night at 11 pm and was up by 7 am . By 11 pm, I was ready to sleep with no medications. A few yrs ago diagnosed with ptsd. It is 6 am and I have been trying to sleep since midnight. Often I will finally fall asleep about now and then not wake until 3 pm, or will sleep for 12-16 hrs at a time, once I take xanax and finally fall asleep. So happens that I have plans to go out of town at 10 am so at this point, its pretty useless as I won't be able to wake if I could sleep. I have basically dropped out of life due to sleep problems, fatigue, and pain. I have grinded my teeth for 30 yrs that I know of. I hurt all over including some jaw pain. I just had a sleep study 2 wks ago but have not got the results yet.

My mother was depressed when I was growing up, maybe ptsd. She spent much of her time in bed, so I missed much early yrs of education and other basics. She seemed to be up much of the night as I recall. I am very curious about this being some hereditary or pre disposed factor. My dr said I have a circadian rhythm disorder (loosely stated). I spent a couple yrs attempting to fix it by staying up all day and going to bed early and forcing this pattern until I was totally exhausted and was down to 90 pounds. Having no sleep also causes anxiety. This is the 3rd night with almost no sleep and last evening I had panic attack on way to dinner and then became nauseated and had to get take out.

I don't have any answers but sure can relate.
 
Almost 30 yr ago I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and had sleep paralysis and...
I relate so much to what you said, it’s such a viscous cycle, no sleep for a couple days or more can make the most balanced person anxious. I plan to do things all the time, and if they’re commitments to other people then I follow through, but everything for me falls to the wayside because everything stresses me out to the point of a panic attack. I know that feeling, you know you have things to do the next day but you just can’t go to sleep. I’ve tried resetting my sleep schedule too, but it never works, I just end up staying up for days on end. Sleep and especially dreams are not really understood yet, and how do you stop doing something that you do unconsciously like teeth grinding! Life is so incredibly hard sometimes but i have to believe that things will improve if I keep looking for answers and solutions. Something has to work!
 
I have done a ton of stuff, and I am not sure if you would like my list @tracy jones jones. I work pretty hard each day. So I can post it here or send it to you PM if you want.
 
I have done a ton of stuff, and I am not sure if you would like my list @tracy j...

Sure ! I do quite a bit myself for my fibromyalgia, I’m not sure if that what you were referring to, or if you work a lot and don’t have a lot of time to post on here. I’d be interested for sure, just as a disclaimer I’m not a fan of anything new agey without scientific evidence, just to cut down on your list I’ll mention the things I’m currently doing; excersize especially cardio every day or every second day, stretching although I have to be careful because I have a ligament disorder, I’m also not allowed to do yoga for this reason, magnesium sulfate baths, tumeric pills, and eating antioxidant rich foods. So if u post on here that’ll save u some time in your reply, oh and vitamin D because I’m deficient. Maybe you know some methods that I could apply besides these, that’s pretty much why I post on here! Thank u for your response!
 
I was diagnosed with TMJ about 20 years ago, PTSD 11 years ago, and fibro this June.

First off, the best tip I've ever had for the TMJ is to get in the habit of keeping my tongue on the roof of my mouth. It sounds really simple and maybe weird, but it's not easy to get into the habit. But it really prevents me from grinding my teeth, just by pure physics, and when you get the habit deeply ingrained I believe it extends into sleep. My GP told me to do that, and it really helps, at least so far as not having any more loose teeth. I lost one of my back teeth due to this just when my SSD settlement came in back in 2009, so thank God I could afford to go to the dentist, plus it was infected, but so far, since then, I still get jaw pain often, but no loose teeth. Tylenol on occasion helps it as well. Also, I find that just lying down and focusing on relaxing my jaws helps a lot, too. But, I understand you can't do that often if you still work or go to school full time.

As far as the fibro? It's still new to me and I am creeped out by how little is known about it. I also have had sciatica for the last two years -- or is it just part of the fibro?--and it prevents me from taking walks and doing other things I used to do to help my anxiety. My T thinks I also have adrenal fatigue, but that's even murkier than fibro at this point, as you say. And I don't know how to deal with these so far ephemeral ideas.

I do think we inherit this predisposition and then if we experience traumas, whamo, we're hit. My mother was also always very anxious and has been on Ativan for decades. She also had a car accident when she was pregnant with me. Then she started having labor pains when I was still two months due and was put on bed rest. I was still about a month premature. I don't know if this means anything. I don't know why I was so impatient to come into this world, lol.

Anyway, for the fibro, my T recommended cutting out sugar carbs and eating more fermented foods. I hope this helps.
 
I used to suffer big time from what was diagnosed as being severe insomnia, have been diagnosed with severe fibro and deal with daily pains of many varieties (among many other supposed severe diagnoses), but haven't had the teeth grinding issues.

My greatest and most sustainable forms of relief have come as a result of drastic change in my overall lifestyle, by first resigning from the highly stressful job that created many ills and caused old ones to resurface, relocating away from the concrete jungle into a more serene scene (luckily have a very supportive husband to help make all of that possible), totally changing my consumption habits (eliminated all animal products, caffeine, alcohol, and as much artificial stuff as humanly possible), and through several arenas that would likely be considered "new age" that I used to avoid like the plague, too, based solely on being taught if there wasn't 'enough' peer reviewed studies, then it isn't considered a valuable service.

However, I then learned how much of what is passed off as being safe by several alphabet agencies is often allowed to be distributed without any long term studies on efficacy or side effects and such, and most of that stuff is tested on animals, not humans, so it seems to be 6 of one doubt and a half-dozen of the other when seeking relief. I also learned more about who funds all of those studies and began connecting more dots of surprising awareness as I struggled along. I was desperate, had been harmed even more by some of the most highly recommended peer-reviewed/highly studied/scientifically approved methods/treatments/meds, and felt I had no choices left, thinking I must just be too broken to be helped. Best thing that ever happened to me, in hindsight. Although it took an additional medical emergency with the threat of removing an organ I'd rather keep to finally convince me to change my consumption habits. I rarely entered these helpful arenas gracefully.

Acupuncture, massage therapy, iridology assessment, chiro adjustments, various breathing techniques, sound healing, energy healing, herbal remedies, aromatherapy, hula-hooping daily, bouncing on a mini-trampoline daily, time in nature each day, nurturing self-talk on purpose daily, staying mindful of my consumption and food combining, learning to grow some of my own foods, learning how to healthily fast, supplementing as necessary, etc. all play(ed) a huge part in my healing process.

The other typically offered, insurance approved, and most widely accepted means of treatment only made things worse for my particular biological make-up. Much worse. Luckily, there are various healing practitioners in my local community that I met by attending community events like drum circles, healing workshop introductions, garden work parties, and other free events who barter for services, as insurance doesn't cover those types of relief, otherwise, I'd never be able to afford their methods.

Some are things you only need to learn once, then you can do it yourself without having to invest anything other than your time and effort, like breathing, exercising, preparing cleaner meals/beverages, etc. A few others are ongoing as needed, and massage therapy is monthly. I'm convinced the consumption habits and breath were/are my greatest relief, as that determines the condition of the foundation I operate from.

It's hard to be pain free, breathe easily, and sleep well when much of what we buy/ingest often suffers greatly in it's journey to get to our plate in order to satisfy our taste buds, or is artificially created in a test tube somewhere with things our innards can't healthily process and is specifically designed to be highly addictive, causing so many things to slowly break down over time within our body. Endocrine system disruption is no joke. We swim in a sea of massive tox-sick-city, steadily searching for relief from the sea itself. May we all find our best forms of relief.
 
So CBT is a bit one @tracy jones you can listen to David Burns, and he has several books out. You can search for him and read about him on this website. You can watch him on youtube etc programs. Doing the written exercises is highly recommended.

DBT is also a big one, and the .Link Removed site has it all there for you to work through at your own pace. There are many videos of Marsha Lineham.

Instant Mindfulness guided visual meditations for when you can't focus but need to relax.

Self Compassion - the guided audio is able to be downloaded for free, or listened to on the website. Self-Compassion

MBSR Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction - I have done the course 4 times.

Free meditations from Mindfulness | Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World

The Mindful Way Through Depression - I have the audiobook. Parts of this are on youtube, so you can listen to them.

The Mindful Way Through Anxiety - I have the audiobook.

Yoga Nidra.

As I had no energy I had to start doing exercise 1 minute per day. I had CFS for a decade plus.

I started mindfulness with a few minutes per day.

Link Removed You can listen to these for free.

Now I am trying to learn to be present in my body - ground, and that does seem out of my reach, but everything did when I started.

At the beginning just doing one minute per day with a couple of these things was really hard, and over a long time I did build up.

I tagged you in a few threads @tracy jones, so you can see the types of things that I did.

There is a whole lot of other stuff that I have done, but this is the bare bones of what I have done, it may be helpful for you, it might not be helpful at all. I don't have the answers for anyone but myself. Sometimes I don't even have the right questions. So it is just my few cents on it, discard what is not useful, helpful or interesting to you.
 
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So CBT is a bit one @tracy jones you can listen to David Burns, and he ha...
I don’t know why, but I have such a lack of faith in anything coming out of the psychiatric/psychological establishment, I have looked into cbt, I’m waiting for a referral to go through for a therapist, I really hope I get one to connect to on human level, thank you for sharing your tips with me, I think I’m going to have to put aside past negative experience aside to have any of these things work.
 
Oh the joys of fibro. yep it sucks. So - first thing I had to do was admit I had it. Yea, that took a couple years. I kept thinking I could just ignore it. Note to self -- that does not work

Biggest change for me -- learning to say No.
No to the extra overtime at work
No to the promotion that was going to increase my stress
No to the friends who had me on speed dial at all hours of the night
No to an immaculate house and yard
No to being the one dealing with my brother's schizophrenia
No no no

Then I had to say yes
Yes to rest even when I had "things to do"
Yes to removing toxic people, places, and things from my life
Yes to a natropath and all her weeds and twigs
Yes to a chiropractor and massage therapist
Yes to replacing the things I thought were important and finding new things to define myself by
Yes to counseling and meditation and yoga and relaxation exercises

It's taken a long time - but I'm better than I was. So I guess that is something
 
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