With the warm days and late nights of summer finally over, many people are spending more time indoors. But for some, there are painful reminders of summer lingering in their bodies - reminders that may never go away. That’s because an estimated 30,000 people each year contract Lyme disease, most commonly in the summer months. Worse yet, they may not even know they have it for months, years or ever. Further complicating matters, Lyme disease symptoms are often so vague they mimic other illnesses, causing patients to be repeatedly misdiagnosed.

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder is a medical condition wherein the temporomandibular joint of the jaw becomes misaligned and causes pain throughout the face, head, neck and even the back. Patients with the disorder often have trouble being diagnosed because of the range of symptoms – which, in addition to the aforementioned pain, can include tinnitus, clicking or popping of the jaw, teeth grinding (bruxism), migraine headaches, and muscle aches. But one symptom in particular is much more obviously related to TMJ disorder - and a lot harder to deal with.