Idiopathic First Bite Syndrome Associated With Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy.

Summary: Imagine taking the first bite of your favorite food and suddenly feeling a sharp, shocking pain in your jaw. This condition is called "First Bite Syndrome." Usually, it only happens to people who have recently had neck surgery. But sometimes, it happens for no clear reason at all.

Doctors recently treated a 63-year-old woman with this painful jaw problem. She had never had surgery, but she did have severe diabetes that had damaged her nerves. When her doctors treated her diabetes with insulin and lowered her blood sugar, her jaw pain completely disappeared! This case shows that getting your blood sugar under control can sometimes fix strange nerve pains you wouldn't expect.