so I haven't been diagnosed but I have a doctors appointment in 2 months.
I have a recurring problem with muscles in my body being way too tense. Physical therapy like stretching and strengthening always only made it better for a couple of days until i was back at square one. Now, for the last month I've been doing breathing exercises, meditation and progressive muscle relaxation and it actually helped a lot.
However, now that I have much more of a feeling for how relaxed my muscles should acutally be, I've noticed that often when I wake up my jaw is clenched and my lower jaw is pushed to the front so that my bottom teeth are pressing against the upper ones. I don't know if this is a general rule about the human organism but for me having my jaw clenched like that clearly goes along with a more general contraction of my whole musculature.
So here's why I'm asking about obstructive sleep apnea. Ive read that mandibular splints function by moving the lower jaw forward and thereby preventing blockage of the airway. I am now wondering if maybe I have a disposition towards obstructive sleep apnea but my body just autocorrects by contracting the jaw muscles and pushing the lower jaw forward. And if then my other assumption is true that this tension/contraction in the jaw musculature causes muscles in my whole body to contract, the whole mystery of my problems with recurring tense muscles might be solved.
Do this sound plausible? Is there anything that doesn't add up to you? Maybe someone has had an experience like this, read something about it or their doctor told them?
Also I will add that even if this is not the explanation for my problems, now that I'm breathing and relaxing my muscles much more consicously throughout the day, my symptoms definitly often seem to be worse after waking and therefore somehow associated with sleep.
I would be very thankful for your input!
Thanks in advance for your effort!