UGH

[fox]

Awful, awful TMJ days lately. Monday night was the worst (I lay in bed counting my pulse by the throbbing of the whole right side of my face), but it's not as much better since then as I'd like. Last night I observed a hole in the right side of my mouth guard. I have in fact chewed right through it.

Combine the splitting headache with the hormones - I take my pills straight through, four months at a time, but along about the end of the second month I always get a little achy, irritable, etc., and guess what week it is? (if you said week 6 of 12, you win a prize.) - and I just want to go home, curl up under a blanket, have a good cry out, and then sleep for the rest of the day.

Comments

[cinco]

Hey, do you heat your jaw before bed? I find it really does help me avoid pain the next day. My dentist's theory is that it relaxes the muscles around your jaw and makes you grind/clench less or with less force. I definitely notice the next day if I forgot to do it--I fold an electric heating pad into a tube and lie on it for fifteen minutes on each side while I read a book before bed.

[fox]

I haven't done this, but it's a good idea. In fact just now I fired up the electric heating pad and put it on the back of my neck for a bit and then on each side for a little bit too, and things seem to be a little relaxed for the moment. I'm not sure there's not also a sinus thing going on, and it hasn't helped that, but it's helped the muscle issues. Or seems to have done. (Hey, the placebo effect is an effect, or else it wouldn't have that name.)