After more than 30 years of TMJ pain: one client's journey to finding relief
"It's great to have my jaw feeling 'normal'."
Recently, one of my clients gave me permission to anonymously share her story. While every healing journey is unique, I hope her experience offers hope to anyone who has been living with persistent pain and wondering whether there may be another layer worth exploring alongside the medical care they are already receiving.
When TMJ pain becomes your normal
My client had lived with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction for more than three decades. It began in her late teens and gradually became something she simply learnt to live with. Her jaw felt constantly tight. Movement was restricted. Eating chewy foods was difficult. Her jaw clicked loudly whenever she ate, leaving her feeling self-conscious around friends and family. Dental appointments became increasingly difficult because keeping her mouth open for extended periods was painful.
Like many people living with chronic pain, she adapted and accepted the headaches, clenching and the discomfort because nothing she tried seemed to create lasting change.
Over the years she explored an extraordinary range of treatments:
Mouth guards
Remedial massage
Acupuncture
Physiotherapy
Chiropractic care
Kinesiology
Jaw exercises
Magnesium supplementation
Heat therapy
Arthrocentesis surgery
Regular Botox injections to manage the symptoms.
Some treatments offered temporary relief. Others didn't. Eventually she found herself cycling between trying everything and giving up altogether out of sheer frustration. Then something happened that changed her perspective: she cracked a tooth. The ongoing clenching wasn't just uncomfortable anymore; it was beginning to create other consequences.
Looking beyond the physical
When we first began working together, we spoke about approaching her situation from a different perspective. My work combines Emotion Code®, Body Code™ and Belief Code® to explore whether unprocessed emotional experiences, energetic imbalances and limiting subconscious beliefs may be contributing to what someone is experiencing.
This doesn't replace medical assessment or treatment, nor does it suggest that every physical symptom has the same explanation. Rather, it's an invitation to become curious and to start listening to what your body is trying to communicate.
In my experience, our subconscious is constantly working to protect us. Sometimes, however, unresolved emotional experiences or deeply held beliefs continue to influence how our nervous system and body respond long after the original experience has passed.
Within this approach, physical symptoms can sometimes be viewed as messages worth listening to rather than simply problems to suppress. Instead of asking only, "How do we make this pain stop?", we gently explore another question:
"What might the subconscious be trying to communicate?"
A gentle process
Throughout our sessions, we allowed her body to guide the pace of the work. Rather than forcing change, we followed what her subconscious was ready to reveal.
As she later reflected:
"Through Jeanette's insights, we were able to be guided by my body to determine the treatment tempo and duration, slowly unpacking the underlying issues and addressing the root cause to treatment completion. It felt gentle and considered."
One of the things I love most about this work is that healing doesn't always arrive dramatically, it's subtle. Sometimes clients notice they're responding differently to stress. Sometimes a symptom gradually becomes less noticeable until one day they realise it simply isn't dominating their life anymore.
I work with the subconscious on a particular topic until the point in time when the body indicates there are no further energetic imbalances to address at that time. This work is facilitated by me while being subconscious-led, tailored to exactly what each individual client needs.
The changes my client began to notice
As our work progressed, my client noticed something surprising: her jaw was becoming quieter, the tension was reducing and movement felt easier. One side improved before the other, but overall she could feel genuine change taking place.
Confident enough in what she was experiencing, she made the decision to cancel her next Botox appointment. For someone who had relied on this treatment as a temporary measure for years, that felt significant.
After completing our sessions for TMJ pain she shared:
"It's great to have my jaw feeling 'normal'."
My client also shared that she later experienced considerable emotional and workplace stress, and previously, this almost certainly would have intensified her jaw clenching. Instead, she said:
"I've been under a lot of emotional and work-related stress over the last few months and yet, surprisingly, my jaw feels fine."
More than physical relief
When I asked what had changed most, her answer wasn't actually about pain.
It was about freedom.
"I can eat around people without feeling self-conscious."
After decades of noisy clicking and embarrassment while eating, this simple statement felt incredibly profound. She also shared that understanding the trapped emotions we identified helped her appreciate why this issue had remained so persistent despite trying so many different approaches over the years. For her, making sense of that deeper layer was an important part of the healing process.
My client's advice to others
When I asked what she would say to someone considering this work but feeling unsure, she replied:
"This process feels like a root-cause solution, and I would recommend trying it. Fantastic results where many other conventional treatment options had failed."
Those are her words and her experience. Every person's journey is different. No practitioner can promise identical outcomes, and I would never want to suggest otherwise.
What this story reminds me of
Working in this field has reinforced something I continue to witness time and again. Our bodies are remarkably intelligent. Whether symptoms arise from injury, illness, structural issues, stress, emotional experiences or a combination of many factors, I believe they deserve our curiosity rather than our frustration.
My work isn't about fighting the body - it's about listening to it. Emotion Code®, Body Code™ and Belief Code® provide a way of exploring whether unresolved emotional stress, energetic imbalances and subconscious beliefs may be contributing to the challenges someone is experiencing. I am always so excited to hear when clients notice meaningful changes in long-standing physical symptoms.
Could there be another layer worth exploring?
If you've been living with chronic pain, persistent tension or recurring symptoms that haven't fully responded to the support you've already received, perhaps this story resonates with you.
My work is designed to complement the care you're already receiving by exploring the emotional, energetic and subconscious patterns that may also be influencing your wellbeing.
What I can promise is a compassionate, thoughtful process that honours your body's wisdom, moves at a pace that feels right for you, and creates space to explore what your subconscious may be trying to communicate.
Sometimes healing begins by asking "What if my body has been trying to tell me something all along?"
I recommend my Subconscious Weeding Program, a 1:1 4-week online program as the best place to start on your physical-symptom healing journey.
With best healing wishes,
Jeanette
Human Design Energy Healer
Please note: my work is complementary and not a replacement for medical care - please always seek advice from a qualified medical practitioner for all physical concerns.
Jeanette is a Human Design Energy Healer who helps people understand themselves more clearly and to address underlying root causes of physical pain.
Combining Human Design, Emotion Code, Body Code, Belief Code and Angel Reiki, she supports clients in understanding their unique energetic blueprint while gently releasing subconscious beliefs, trapped emotions and energetic patterns that no longer serve them.
She believes that healing begins with awareness, and that life becomes more aligned when we stop trying to be someone else and start honouring who we are within.
Jeanette offers online 1:1 human design readings and healing programs from her studio in Canberra, Australia.
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