apr123

I have also noticed my jaw may be small and asymmetrical (right side is smaller and more set-in) which may have been a predisposing factor to developing TMD when I started to wear the retainers inconsistently (maybe regular changes to the bite/ jaw position). I cannot see any other difference between me and other retainer-wearers to explain why I developed these unique symptoms. While psychotherapy is effective for OCD/anxiety, there may be physical causes particularly if other symptoms are noticed as mentioned above (eg resistance feeling on moving eyes, eyelid drooping) and to be considered if symptoms persist.

I have done some research on the tmj side of things: in brief, in cases there may be an underlying physical condition like temporomandibular joint dysfunction (eg. due to stuff constantly affecting teeth/bite/jaw position, maybe inconsistent mouthguard use (which may or may not be compounded by teeth grinding, or perhaps cause teeth grinding?)?) affecting the face/eyes: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4b12/c46c8b9c5681cefa48b47543f744a5f72d75.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5045971/ "the study, based mostly on peer-reviewed specialist articles..has determined that..dental occlusion/tmj status...exerts an influence on..gaze stability" many other studies also link tmj and gaze stability (eg PMID: 20922171) I also had symptoms like a resistance, stuck, or jumpy feeling when moving eyes and droopy eyelids (which was asymmetric in my case- slightly blurrier eye got droopy which suggests this interacts with vision, also suggested by study below; call this the 'tmj headache'; neuro/ophthalmology problems were ruled out by physicians) including in social settings. Another study: "nervous systems and functional pathways strictly connect vision and dental occlusion"- this may explain why my 'tmj headache' was altered by cyl+sph glasses turning into a headache in the jaw. My symptom onset coincided (with a few months delay) with me switching to wearing orthodontic retainers (invisalign mouthguard that changes jaw position/bite) every other night (switching from every night). I have currently gone back to wearing them every night and may consider using them only occasionally in future (although the orthodontist said maybe not if you're grinding teeth but again not sure if my teeth grinding started because of inconsistent mouthguard use (where mouthguard would be the cause, and would persuade me to change frequency to every night/more or go off them for occasional use) or was independent).

Maybe wearing mouthguard (or similar appliances) inconsistently could possibly manifest as tmj issues (which are linked to eyes, eyelids etc). (on patientslikeme website if u make account and forum search 'Astigmatism pulling sensation' I wrote more on this- account apraprapr16).

Or (following from my above post) any activities you do/appliances you use/wear for yourself (esp. anything affecting head) that are uncommon/unnatural? Or pushing yourself to anxiety doing anything weird (e.g. certain 'exercises')? ((any eye problems like mentioned above may need checkup even if unlikely to be the problem))

Do you by any chance have any eye issues, blurriness in either eye, or have noticed eye movements being slow or any droopiness? Any jaw issues or anything you wear for the teeth or conditions like tmj? What is your lifestyle like in terms of what you do day to day? Do you engage in any addictive activities or deliberately doing things that you believe are wrong/harmful? Did you notice anything or any triggers when you first noticed it? Did you practice eg eye contact exercises extensively?