Jaw Arthritis

[TheOne1313]

I been taking Raptiva and I think I developed arthritis because of it. Its hard to eat food and chew. I was wondering what to do? What works the best with Jaw Arthritis?

[Ihurt]

I am not familiar with Raptiva at all, but alot of jaw arthritis feels very similar to TMJ problems. Do you also have cervical area problems, problems in your neck? Jaw pain also comes from grinding teeth at night. The only way to know is to be seen by your doc.

Ihurt

[zdoob]

i had the jaw arthritis - thank god that went away. i know how painful and annoying that can be. i found that stretching it slowly and keeping it moving helped a bit. the longer i would go without opening my mouth, the more it would hurt when i finally opened it. i've seen threads here recommending to rest your jaw, but exercising it and chewing gum helped the most for me.

good luck.

[TheOne1313]

i had the jaw arthritis - thank god that went away. i know how painful and annoying that can be. i found that stretching it slowly and keeping it moving helped a bit. the longer i would go without opening my mouth, the more it would hurt when i finally opened it. i've seen threads here recommending to rest your jaw, but exercising it and chewing gum helped the most for me.

good luck.

You know.........its funny you say that because on all the sites i read it tells me to not chew gum and rest the muscle. But I have to say, you completely right because when im eating at first its hard to open but as i keep eating it eventually gets better. And Im assuming the reason it hurts in the morning the most is because I havent moved my mouth in hours.

Outta curiosity, how long did yours last? I wanna know about how long I have to put up with this. And were u taking any medications for it? Currently im not....waiting on my insurance to approve Humira and refuse to use any more Raptiva cause im afraid its gonna get worse.

I'll say the arthritis in the jaw is horrible, much worse then any other part of my body. I cant wait till this goes away.

[nuttydenise]

I agree jaw pain is the worst. That was my first symptom for the joints but knobody knew what was going on. I had both of my disc in my the jaws removed due to damage. My jaw does not work that good anymore. I did have about 10 years of no pain but it started back up. When I was on Enbrel the stiffness went away.

It always amazes me what part of the body that PA can affect. Sure does add to the comedy of life!

[seedoubleyou]

I've been cautioned repeatedly by ortho & dentist to be cautious with really chewy stuff because evidently ones jaws can "lock" in the OPEN position!! :eek: Mine audibly pop/crunch/crack everytime I open & close my mouth; embarrassing to yawn in public. :o

(And, um, compliant patient that I am, as I type the above I'm devouring a bag of Atomic Fireballs!! :p )

[TheOne1313]

Did yours go away eventually?

[khorath]

I had severe jaw pain when I was on Raptiva, too. In fact, I developed pain in a lot of my joints - back, toes, knees, jaw, etc. I have heard of this type of symptom from several Raptiva users. I don't know if Raptiva "causes" it or just aggrevates the existing potential to have PA.

However, when I immediately switched from Raptiva to Remicade the pain basically left pretty quickly. I don't know what helped the most - stopping Raptiva, or starting Remicade. Maybe a combination of both.

I'm happy to say that my skin is now basically clear and my joint pain is gone, too.

Kevin

[TheOne1313]

Thats great to hear.

Yeah im kinda curious as to whether for ppl that got PA with Raptiva if its the stopping of Raptiva or the starting of something else. Im going on Humira but not for another month it seems........just seeing how long i have to endure this pain. I guess either way it dont matter.......as long as it goes away :)

Yeah......im kinda thinking maybe we have PA in our systems and the Raptiva just brings it out (not causes it). I never had any pain until I went on it.......I guess its hard to say whether it caused it or whether i always had it and the Raptiva helped bring it out.

[KellieG]

Hi all
I've only recently been diagnosed with PA but for the previous 2 years have had ongoing severe jaw pain meaning I haven't been able to eat for days at a time, and it has locked shut for a day at a time on two occasions. The best relief I have gotten so far is from an NTI device (not sure that it stands for) - it's a bit of plastic made by a dentist that fits over your 2 front teeth when you sleep (supposed to be primarily for clenchers) - it keeps your teeth apart a certain distance and acts to allow the muscle to rest. Whenever my jaw becomes painful again I start back on the NTI and in a couple of days I have very few problems.

Has anyone else tried this? with what results?

K

[zdoob]

Outta curiosity, how long did yours last? I wanna know about how long I have to put up with this. And were u taking any medications for it? Currently im not....waiting on my insurance to approve Humira and refuse to use any more Raptiva cause im afraid its gonna get worse.

I'll say the arthritis in the jaw is horrible, much worse then any other part of my body. I cant wait till this goes away.

haven't been here in a while - sorry for the late reply...

my jaw PA lasted about a month i'd say, and went away on its own - thankfully. i gotta tell you though, as awful as the jaw PA was, getting it in the neck was just as bad... if not worse.

i am now on humira (since september '05), and have been PA free since the 2nd injection. also, the P that covered about 25% of my body is pretty much nonexistent (knock on wood). even my fingernails are smooth again - something i haven't seen since 1989. i was EXTREMELY reluctant to try a biologic or MTX, even after at least 5 docs told me to get on enbrel. i was holding on to those drugs as my "get out of jail free" card... waiting until the pain was so bad that i had no choice. in hindsight, that was a bad move.

i hope you get approved for humira, and that you find some relief from it.

*edit* just as i hit "submit" on this post, a humira commercial came on the TV!

[TheOne1313]

I was reluctant as well to try biologics.......well the good news is the jaw arthritis has gone away...well mostly.....i can open up pretty wide yet not as wide as i normally can (which im just hoping a lil more time and it will completely be gone).

The bad news is since I been off Raptiva.......my p came back big time. Ive had this since i was little and its never been this bad. I even got it on my face......my eyes and everything. Im so dry i can barely move.

How long have till you saw results with your p when u took humira? Im wantin to know how long ill have to suffer with the way I am now.

lol i never seen commericals for humira or raptiva.......ive seen the enbriel one on alot tho lol

[zdoob]

honestly, i noticed results within a week of my first injection. the doc said it was extraordinary. the P started to go away very quickly. the PA would start to creep back just before the next inejection, but that stopped too. i'm so grateful for these past few months without P and PA. i had p for so long that i didn't even realize just how much it was affecting me until it was gone.

good luck with humira!