Flared up

The "fun" thing about tmj is the flare ups. You're rockin' along happily ignoring minor pains and feeling like life is finally close to back to normal and WHAM!

Maybe it was something you ate.

Maybe you slept really hard and were grinding your teeth last night.

Maybe it's that you've overdone it again.

So many things to consider, but it's stress that is the worst trigger. For a person like me.. who lives in a moderate/high level of stress most times, this can be difficult to prevent.

Any kind of drama filled or anxiety producing situations, time crunches, disputes, large amounts of noise, etc and you can count on some pain.

I am a "teeth clencher" the tmj peeps say. My stress tolerance may be high but in the process apparently I internalize all that stress. Calm, cool & collected on the outside but chaos raging on the inside. Ah, such is life.

The TMJ doc said I needed therapy. No, not that kind. Either physical therapy or chiropractic care. Since the specialized PT was hours away I chose the latter. I am to be going in twice a week until things improve. Joy. Today I've done my horribly painful treatments and been on the couch on a heating pad filled with meds and despair.

School starts in 15 days. I need to be "all better" before then. I'm out of patience with this and soon will not have time to "recover" from treatments. I will have to carry on thru the pain.

For now I am grateful to be relaxing and that I get to have my hubby & kids nearby. And also very thankful for my friends.. who ARE my stress relief. I know it could always be worse.. oh yes I sure know that. So today I am thanking God that it's not worse.. just a little flare up.