Tuesday, January 13, 2009

blogging

So my blogging has been a little bit hit and miss lately as I'm struggling with my TMJ. I've pretty much been through the ringer the last few days and couldn't be happier that tomorrow is Wednesday and I get my mouth guards tomorrow. Pretty sad day for me to want to go to the dentist - as I've been afraid of the dentist for years and here I am looking forward to the phone call that everything has arrived.

How bad is it? Well it is worse than anything I've ever had to deal with. When I was pregnant with Kyle I was sick a lot - more of the pregnancy had nausea in it than anything else - but that was really it. I've had colds and flus but nothing compared to this. Jaw pain, inability to chew food, face muscle pain, numbness, neck and shoulder pain and to top it all off with a cherry I've gotten anxiety from all the symptoms. Anxiety has got to be the worst thing in the whole world. I know that my friends will say that I'm a little off but this is nothing - I really feel like I'm going off the deep end. One little pain leads to another thought about pain leading to fears and dwelling on the pain and what it might be and on and on and on and on until I either calm down and work past it or fall asleep. Plus without real food I'm having sugar lows that also kick start the anxiety. The jaw issues are rooted in stress which I'm working on developing a new relationship with - I need to have more control of my stress level and realize when I've taken on too much... which I have and now I'm trying to withdraw or just take things on as I can and get them done at my own pace.

My dentist is confident that the mouth guard is going to clear this up and I'm riding his confidence to the bank because it is the only hope I have right now.

Thanks for posting books to read - I'm definitely going to get them at the library. I meant to go today but I decided sitting on the couch and relaxing was better for this afternoon. I might get there for lunch tomorrow - all depends on the dentist appointments and when I get scheduled in. So there you go - not much uplifting in that little post, but with any luck my next post will be very positive, happy and cheery :)

4 comments:

Carmen said...

I am sending virtual hugs your way! Yay for mouth guards!!

Anonymous said...

Get yourself to PG PRONTO!! That sounds like an awful thing to have to deal with...chronic pain is the worst. I would bet a lot of money that my chiro can help you though. It doesn't hurt either...he is a no pain chiro. Hope things get better soon.

the author said...

Thank you for the hugs.

I'm going to call the chiro right now.

Thank you :)

Anonymous said...

I hope you're feeling better soon. I've had days here and there like that and the guard did help but in a desperate attempt to forget plastic I looked for other remedies and found that for me, rubbing peppermint oil (diluted in a veggie oil or mixed in a body butter) at my temples, neck, jaw etc. works wonders. I would have such a hard time sleeping and functioning and this has done a lot.

I'm not sure it would work in your case, but another thing that helps me avoid needing the oil is keeping my sinuses clear. I find neti (saline nasal rinse) has significantly reduced my need for peppermint. It's worth trying anyways!