u/-SpaghettiCat-

I'm a male in my 40s, and I've had some degree of TMJ issues on my right side for at least 10 years. My jaw has always clicked, and occasionally it would catch, but over the last year it's been getting noticeably worse. Over the last couple of months, I've also developed what I originally thought was some kind of nervous tic.

For example, whenever I'm at the dentist and need to open my mouth wide, I can't just open normally. If I try, the right side catches and won't let me fully open. I have to first shift my jaw to the left, almost like I'm unhooking something, and then I can open all the way.

I've scheduled an appointment with a TMJ specialist for a CT/CBCT scan and a comprehensive evaluation, but they're booked about a month out.

The strange part is what my tongue has started doing. At first I thought I had developed some sort of nervous habit because I found myself licking my lips a lot. But after paying closer attention, I realized I'm actually creating a suction or vacuum inside my mouth, almost like my tongue is subconsciously trying to free the stuck right side of my jaw with the vacuum moving the lower jaw down and forward. Sometimes my tongue also pushes down against my lower lip, which feels like another attempt to mechanically free the joint.

I've noticed myself starting to do these tongue movements before talking to people or anticipating social situations. It almost feels like my brain has learned that it needs to "prepare" my jaw before I speak.

Another thing I've noticed is that when my jaw is catching or acting up, I can't naturally move my mandible downward or comfortably jut it forward. It's not like this all the time, but when I feel it catching and I need to talk, I subconsciously shift my jaw to the left and then down, which usually causes a loud pop on the right TMJ and lets me open and speak more normally. It has become almost automatic at this point.

A little background that may or may not be relevant:

• I had Invisalign in 2018 (I never had braces as a kid).
• I still wear my retainers every night.
• Every morning after wearing them, my bite feels strange and misaligned. Sometimes the pressure of my bite seems to be concentrated on the teeth just to the left of my two front teeth. Later in the day my bite shifts a bit, but it never feels like I get a solid, even bite on my molars. It's always felt a little "off."

I also recently cut back significantly on vaping because I developed a respiratory infection with a lingering cough. I typically only vaped on weekend evenings, but I kept trying to "test the waters" while I was recovering, which probably didn't help. While researching, I saw that upper respiratory infections can sometimes aggravate nearby muscles or lymph nodes, so I wondered if that could be making my TMJ symptoms worse. It may be completely unrelated, but I figured I'd mention it.

About two years ago I saw a TMJ specialist (I don't believe he was a surgeon), and he gave me some exercises. One was the "N" resting posture—making the "N" sound, resting the tongue in that position, and letting the jaw relax. Another was the "N" stretch, where you keep that tongue position while opening your mouth.

Here's where I'm confused: if I try the "N" stretch, my right TMJ catches completely. I literally can't open unless I first shift my jaw to the left to free it. Sometimes I'll even push my jaw to the left with my right hand to get it unstuck.

So my question is: when doing these exercises, should I be trying to stretch through the caught position, or should I first free the joint with that leftward movement and then perform the stretch from a normal open position?

While I'm waiting for my specialist appointment, I was wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.

• Has anyone else developed these subconscious tongue or lip movements because of a catching TMJ?
• Are there any other safe stretches or exercises that helped you temporarily free the joint or improve your range of motion?
• Is shifting the jaw to the left before opening something you've experienced with a disc displacement or similar TMJ problem?
• Should I avoid trying to force stretches when the joint is catching?

The subconscious tongue and lip movements are becoming pretty noticeable in social situations, and I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's dealt with something similar. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I’m watching the ESPN app on my Android tablet (Samsung Galaxy S8+), and I’ve been running into a really frustrating issue that seems to have started a few days ago.

Right now I’m watching hockey, and what keeps happening is this:

I’ll be about 30–40 minutes into the game then all of a sudden the audio cuts out completely. So I exit out to the main menu and go to the Continue Watching section to jump back in.

When I click the game again, it plays a 30-second ad… and then the broadcast restarts from the very beginning instead of where I left off. So I completely lose my place.

This has now happened multiple times.

I also noticed something similar while watching a hockey game recently—the game would randomly reset back to the beginning during playback.

It almost feels like something with the ads is glitching the feed and causing it to reset.

Also, to add to the frustration, when the ESPN app crashes and I have to find my place in a game again, the timeline scrubbing is incredibly poorly designed. There are no visible time indicators while dragging the scrubber—no timestamp on the cursor and often no clear start/end time reference while you're actively scrubbing. You basically have to guess where you are, drop the cursor, wait for playback to resume, and hope you're close. To make matters worse, when you do drop the cursor, the app frequently triggers another 30-second ad break. So if you're trying to relocate a spot in a three-hour game after a crash, you can end up repeatedly guessing, waiting for ads, and trying again. Combined with the frequent crashes and playback issues, it's an extremely frustrating user experience.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this, or if there are any workarounds to prevent it. And in the rare case someone from ESPN sees this, hopefully it can get flagged.

Appreciate any advice or input—thanks in advance.

Whenever I try to play ffa I always get stuck at Searching for Match. Is this maybe a bug or just a combo of it being an unpopular game mode and a need to match sbmm among limited players?

Appreciate any input.

https://billabongsell.us.com/

I was shopping and started to get suspicious that too many items were on sale, but the site functioned like a somewhat legitimate site, no sure if it's a factory or discount seller.

https://imgur.com/a/HGVLwbG

Appreciate any input or help.