Pain/cramp in jaw bone esp. after drinking alcohol

I also suffer the same symptom--- one glass of wine does it for me, as if I tried blowing a balloon for hours. Everyone gives me the crazy look when I explain to them why I usually don't drink at parties.

Hello. Maybe my words will be funny to you, but if you really do have a chest pain after drinking alcohol and you want this pain to goes away, the best solution is to quit alcohol.Maybe, it is the only solution. Sure, if you already have some diagnoses, that is a sign that you should stop it as soon as you can.  Sure, you can make this pain to go away with some over the counter medications. For example, I know that it is good if you apply a warm fomentation or a warm cloth on the painful area. That should reduce the pain and it is wort of trying. .

Whoohoo I am not alone :-) - Glad I finally found something about this.

Yes I too have had this for I'm guessing 12+ years now. 95% of the time if I try to drink or drink and eat that sharp pain appears. Once in a while it will also happen from eating, though normally no-where as strong.

I too thought it may be something in the alcohol, but I can drink the same bottle of wine (same year/same case) and it may or may not occur. I do mostly notice it is when I haven't eaten for a while. So at times I try to eat first then drink later, but still occurs, though once again not as bad.

felixtobius, I think you are on to something here. Alcohol going up via the stenson's duct and as most have mentioned it's while eating, and well the chewing motion is basically being a pump and pushing the alcohol up.

I do recall many many years ago when it was first occuring and telling a person about it, that they did mention that they had it to and something about a duct. They had an operation and then no more pain.

Oh well glad to have found this thread and have certainly bookmarked it.


Cheers (no pun intended).

Wow!!! Hello, I'm the original poster of this topic. Nearly two years later I decided to check back in (because at the time there was not many replies).

Thank you so much everyone, the drinking water suggestion worked straight away!!! This is why the internet can be so helpful.

Although I have not read every page, I found felixtobius reply to make most sense, although I am sure there are other posts as well.

I only wish there was a name to the condition, so it can become more widely understood by doctors, and so they can pass on suggestions to their patients who are suffering.

Maybe it's candida or a fungal infection? They tend to make your jaw and neck kind of painfull and you will experience popping sounds in your neck it will be very easy to make your neck go pop pop pop and your lymph nodes in your neck will have a sore feeling.

Candida feed off of sugars alcohol is full of sugars and feeds the yeast. Alcohol also weakens your immune system allowing the Candida or fungus to grow.

Other symptoms of candida are pain in joints, tightness in chest, red or white blotches on your skin, white stuff growing in your mouth most noticable when you wake up in the morning, depression, anxiety...

Many doctors end up not recognizing a full body yeast infection and by the time you or they realize you have one they probably have you on several meds that don't seem to be doing anything and have you thinking you have some sort of mental illness and need to take these meds or you have arthritis you need to take the pain meds or you have a stiff neck you need muscle relaxers. Their job is to sell you drugs not tell you that you just need to change your diet. They'd be out of a job and wouldn't be able to pay their $200,000.00 student loan bills. This doesn't apply to all doctors many really do care.

Try eliminating stimulants, alcohol, sugar, wheat, and flour from your diet also eat yogurt and pumpkin seeds frequently or take acidopholis tablets if lactose intolerant. This diet may be hard to stick to but try it and when the yeast goes away you can start reintroducing these things back into your diet.

You'll be amazed at how much better you feel and you'll also wonder why the hell your doctor didn't tell you this and why he kept throwing all these different pills at you.


What you can eat:
Protein: Eggs, Meat, Beans, Soy
Grains: Oats, Rice
Vegi's: All of them onions are especially good they're an anticeptic
Nuts: All of them except peanuts and diced almonds


No: Noodles, Sugars including fruits and fruit juices, alcohol of any kind, stimulants, no cafine decaf should be avoided too it has traces of cafine, no gluten meaning no flour... you get the point right...

Good luck!

As many of you, I have had this pain all my life. I noticed it when I was younger when I blew up balloons. I don't think it was simply fatigue from blowing up a balloon- though I do admit, the pain would only come after struggling. To avoid the pain, I would give up whenever I couldn't get the balloon to expand on the 2nd or 3rd try.

I occasionally get the same pain from drinking wine- especially Merlot. Again, to avoid the pain, I would drink wine less often. I didn't really think about it until tonight when I sat back and had a glass of wine.
I decided the wine was interacting badly with part of my mouth, so I decided to swish water in my mouth and brush my teeth. As I brushed I found the focal point of the pain: under the tongue in the back of the mouth below the very lowest part of the inside of my gums. No, the pain is not from a gum infection or something, its- I think- from a saliva gland.

You all know the stinging pain, but something else happened to me after I pressed on the part of the mouth I described: part of my forearm and half of my had went numb. This is the point when I got scared and madly searched for an answer to this pain.

I think the closest to come to an answer is felixtobius. I haven't seen my doctor in years... it would be a bit awkward to see him about something like this... maybe I should just see him and get a laugh like most of you did from your doctors.
If a large group of people such as us suffer from this, there should be a clear explanation!

I have this exact sensation as I read this and have been having this for as long as I can remember intermittently. I can actually remember being given a taste of my dad's beer when I was a child and having the same strange feeling.
For me it happens when drinking beer with food. If I drink beer in pints on it's own it never happens but when I have food and drink beer slowly I get the pain described by others for about 10 minutes, but only as the beer goes down. Very strange!!
Nice to read about others with the same

I've had this as long as I can remember. Because it doesn't happen all the time, I have not stopped drinking. But last night I had a Black Russian and the pain is excrutiating. Started happening as I was finishing my drink and lasted for about 1/2 hour. I notice it with strong drinks & red wine, but not always. I mean, usually not with vodka but sometimes. Not always with red wine but sometimes. I usually have to stop talking and sit with my hands pushing up into the glands to try & stop the pain. How strange that I've never heard of this before, but glad to hear I'm not alone! And odder still that no one has posted a doctor's diagnosis, although felix...'s post made the most sense. I'll have to try drinking water before & in between. Crossing my fingers....

38 F
no food allergies
u.c. sufferer, although I'm sure that's irrelevant

I also have this problem and have had it for many years. It occurs most often when drinking alcohol (any kind of alcohol...wine, vodka, rum, whisky, baileys, beer) while eating dinner. When I'm drinking alcohol at a party, to which I am NOT drinking slowly and NOT usually eating food, this pain does not occur. Sometimes, but rarely, I will have the same pain in the morning with the first bite of food. This is the kind of pain that makes you grit your jaw tight, wince and squeeze your eyes tight until it stops. That pain usually only lasts seconds.

The theory presented by felixtobius makes the most sense to me as I agree the pain is associated with the parotid gland. Whether it's from alcohol getting into the nerve and irritating it, or the gland itself is somehow being irritated by the alcohol, I'm not yet convinced because it wouldn't explain the early morning pain. However, that's not to say the early morning pain is something else.

I would like to toss out a few other symptoms that I have that may or may not be associated, but wondering if others have these same symptoms.
1) foot & toe cramps...I get these a lot and relate it to a lack of water throughout the day, but not really sure of the cause.
2) dry eyes....This symptom has become noticably significant over the past 2 years (so bad it sometimes feels like there's sand in my eyes in the morning).
3) ear pain on cold, windy days...I can't be in the cold wind without having a hoodie covering my head or I will be in severe pain later.

Anywho...'food for thought'...or should I say 'alcohol for thought'?

NOBODY HAS AN ANSWER FOR THIS????

It's one of those things that I wouldn't go to the hospital for and you just learn to live with it, but I'd love to know what causes it.

Hello, I am a pre-medical, biochemistry student who suffers from this same problem. After some research I have to agree fully with some of the the earlier posters and disagree with others. Here's what I believe the facts are:

1. This is almost certainly a problem with the parotid gland. The blockage of saliva production by stones (probably the culprit in most cases), or tumors will cause the intense stinging pain described by others in this forum.

2. Dehydration is NOT in any way related to this problem, we know this because many people with the pain are not dehydrated (myself included), and because it is unrelated to parotid gland problems (mostly).

2. Swishing water DOES help, especially if you tilt your head back and allow the water to flow into the corners of your mouth where the pain is occurring. This is because the movement of water in the area can help to jostle the stones (or other blockage) causing the pain and allow for a clear flow to occur.

3. Although the specifics of why alcohol may cause this problem are unclear, I am sure that the biochemistry is understood or could be worked out quite easily. Lactic acid may play a significant role as it is found in most alcohols, as well as in cheese, sour kraut, etc., and many meats, all items mentioned in this forum as culprits. Lactic acid is related to amylase production, which occurs in the parotid gland. Therefore, these food/drink items may decrease the ability of the gland to produce saliva, increasing the pain caused by stones/blockage (although it is also possible that the lactic acid on its own may be the cause).

4. The best option for people here is to have a doctor check your glands for blockage by stones/tumors, etc. and have them removed if necessary. I am going to discuss this with my doctor in the next couple of days and will get back to this forum with the results.

5. The condition cannot be an allergy as it occurs only intermittently in most people.

I'll post more after I've found out some additional information. Hope this helps!

^ Thank you so much for you post, Guest. It is quite insightful and informative. I am, more than anything, merely curious as to why this occurs ever so occasionally, and your information is helping solve a little riddle :-)

Looking forward to hearing from you. Cheers. 8)

I have this too and have been looking for a solution for a couple years now. I'm 27 and it only happens when I drink red wine, but it happens every time I drink red wine.

I also remember the blowing up balloons thing happening when I was young but don't really know if that's related.

Well I am happy to have found this site, and hopefully we can get an answer to help this problem go away. I have been getting the jaw pain while drinking for a number of years now. I have done numerous test to see if I can figure out what triggers it for me.

Here is a few things I am sure of.
1. Dehydration has nothing to do with it. I usually have a beer or two after hockey without issues.

2. It happens with any alcohol if I am eating a meal or a large snack. It generally starts after a few sips and then gets worse quickly and lasts 15-30 minutes. Hard alcohol and wine usually cause worse pain then beer does.

3. Drinking and not eating doesn't not cause pain.