I'm in a lot of pain. I've been twittering some....have kept up with a few friends and family on facebook, but I don't have it in me to blog at the moment. I have lots I want to say, but I'm just not well right now. The dentist no longer thinks it's TMJ and I don't think it is either. We're still looking into the root canal thing, but I'm even thinking it's not that. So, I'm in so much pain....and have a little road ahead of me before I can get better. I'm hoping for sweet relief soon, but until then I'll visit some blogs here and there. I'm just too ill right now to think about doing much else....no nicotine btw...still a non smoker. I'm hating the whole "smoker" thing even more now b/c I'm starting to question if maybe I quit smoking too late....it's just something I've thought about since I'm in so much pain right now. I'm on antibiotics....they're doing nothing. So, next will be root canal guy and if he doesn't figure this thing out, I'm thinking neurologist. I'll keep you guys posted when I can.
Oh, and I'll list my symptoms just in case any of you might have a clue about what's going on w/ me. Oh, and I'm not sure if all of it's tied in together but I had a few of the same symptoms a few months back...which lead me to the dentist after lots of normal results from tests my fam doc ran....which lead me to the TMJ prognosis. A few months ago, an upper back tooth on the left side was really sensative. I began feeling pressure in my ears and neck, sensativity in my jaw, 2 tingly fingers on left hand, tight jaw muscles. I had a cavity filled in the tooth and got my mouth guard and all of that went away.....except for the tooth sensativity. The sensativity became worse over time and eventually became pain. For the passed several weeks now the pain has been creeping into my jaw, then up behind my eye like a knife, then down back around to my bottom jaw. My left bottom jaw feels like it's on fire. I feel a twitching sensation in my jaw and the roof of my mouth hurts, along w/ the left side of my throat...like an achey pain. Now, it feels like I have a baseball behind my eyes and nose. My cheek tingles like pins and needles are being pushed through. My left eye tears up and tries to shut on me when I'm in real pain. My ear feels full and hurts sometimes...a couple times I've awoke to a fluid like feeling in my ear. My shoulder aches, my body aches too now. If I'm around noise or bright light, it almost immediately throws me into a migraine. Oh, and today I kept seeing little shadows out of the corner of my eye and thought I saw two strands of hair fall in front of my face...but nothing was there. Oh, and my hair hurts...I know that sounds strange, but my hair actually hurts....and the left side back of my skull when I'm having a migraine. It feels like pressure needs to be relieved in my head....a lot of pressure, but my sinuses are not really that stuffy. I wake up in the middle of the night hurting...can't sleep much. It's making me a little fruity b/c this has been going on for weeks now. Anybody know what all of this is?? (sigh) Considering I began having symptoms a few months ago (I think they're related...not sure), I don't think this is a sinus infection. You can almost draw a line right down the middle of my head....b/c the pain is pretty much all on the left side..at one point I had some jaw pain on the right side but now that's gone. I'll know soon enough though b/c I've been on penicillin for 2 days now. Any help would be appreciated if anybody has healthcare experience or knows anyone who's suffered from like symptoms. Sometimes it takes a village. Thanks.
Saving My Life
Anything I post on here about PCOS or any other condition, is general information or information I've accumulated in my experience having PCOS or other conditions. I'm not a doctor, so nothing I say should EVER take place of a real diagnosis from your doctor. My eating plan described on this blog is one I've made for myself and I'm constantly changing it according to my body's needs.
Ouch ! That is a lot of pain !!!
ReplyDeleteOutside of trying to lose weight and homeschool, I am an alternative healer who works with reiki, acupressure and Qi Gong . To me is sounds like the root cause of all of your problems in an inadequacy of your lymphatic drainage from the neck up. Antibiotics work to stimulate your lymphatic system to address infections, but if there is a blockage of some kind they will do noting. I get a gut feeling that the blockage is an emotional one, caused by not being able to voice your true opinion. Could be any number of real life issues that brings on this feeling. ( complicated reasons for this , but basically the inner self demands to be heard and if it is not it throws a temper tantrum and makes us "hurt") To find which one is the most important takes some soul searching, but in the mean time, try this. Rub your hands together to make them warm, and then gently pull on your left ear lobe like a small child would with and ear infection and gently pull it out and away from your body a couple of times. If this feels good, proceed with the rest ( if there is pain stop and ignore the rest) Next place two fingers in the depression directly behind your ear, where your jawbone ends, and with light pressure run your fingers down to your collar bone. Take your fingers off, bring them back to the starting point and repeat a couple of times. You can do this several times a day, and you will know if this is the root cause if you begin to feel relief of pain within the hour. I sincerely hope you find relief !
Hey kim, What you describe sounds like my tmj, as I've told you . The hair hurting-neck-jaw-head, shoulder, teeth sensitivity, ear popping , face pain.. everything. Even when wearing my mouth guard when I'm more stressed I have to take valium the muscle relaxer until I get a handle on my sress.
ReplyDeleteUntil you mentioned the finger tingling ,the vision issues, the -eye issues. I'm not sure about those symptoms. I'm a nurse not a doctor , but a couple of things come to mind and it does sound like a neurologist or an ENT -eye/nose/throat doc might be a good idea if the specialist you are going to can't confirm a dental cause. There are even some neurologists / ents that specialize in the first thing I'll suggest. I know you've mentioned Charlotte NC and probably that's where you'll find these.
I can think of a couple of things and I hate to mention them becasue when you look at this stuff on the internet it's scary. You might want to talk to the dental specialists you see about the possibilities of these versus a dental cause. One thing I thought of was.. Trigeminal neuralgia-- has similar symptoms, but I don't know much about it. It is usually handled on an outpatient basis nd I'm more involved in hospital / rehab based nursing. We have cranial nerves that can get inflammed or aggravated, and trigeminal neuralgia is one of these and is marked by one side of the head symptoms. Another thing I've actually seen is people getting bone infections in the jaw or mandible bones as a result of dental work. It can even spread in to the sinuses. I don't know if the symptoms are the same, but I just know it is something that can happen and is sometimes found by headaches / jaw pains.
A Head Cat scan or MRI would probably diagnose either of these things. The infection is treated with IV antibiotics and sometimes surgery . I have no idea for sure, but these are the only non TMJ things I could thing of. I know none of it sounds good , but also nothing at all is definitie. These are just things other than dental causes that I've seen in this area of the body.
Everytime I describe even one little unusual symptom my dentist says it's the tmj or that maybe I'm going to need to see a special root canal guy. I'm sorry you are feeling so bad. keep us posted.
In addition to the first commenter's suggestion, perhaps some pain management through reflexology would be beneficial. There are a number of different foot maps to review on line. Focus on your toes mostly...add some massaging of your toes to the picture; hopefully that'll provide some relief. And lastly, if it is possible that this is all nerve related, you may need to consider chiropractic care to potentially relieve any impingements.
ReplyDeletei've never hear of that, it sounds terrible but it also sound pressure related...as if something is pushing on a nerve.
ReplyDeletefeel beter.