< Crunchtime update III | Main | Crunchtime update IV >
October 25, 2009
TMJ and me
So I'm at my friend's house yesterday after my presentation at the EAPSU conference and we're about to eat lunch together. She made scrumptious salads for us. I go to take a bite and I have this sudden stabbing pain in my jaw. It's only the left side, but wow does it hurt.
I take a moment to stretch my jaw--that hurts more. I try eating and every bite, nibble, and crunch hurts so bad the only thing outweighing my pain is my hunger.
Later I leave, driving back home from Shippensburg, and I'm wondering if I have TMJ. TMJ is the nickname for the joint--temporomandibular joint (which connects the temporal bone of the skull to the mandible, the jaw bone). TMJ is the joint, and the disorder is merely "TMJ joint disorder." I remembered learning about this in 12th grade anatomy class (an awesome class from my high school days six, almost seven, years ago).
I got home and called the 800 number on the back of my health insurance card. They have this on-call system with nurses you can talk to. (I called this number when I blacked out on a rollercoaster once to make sure I didn't have a concussion or other head trauma. They're nice and have good info--and it's faster than wading through scads of search results on the internet.) I told the nurse how I felt and what was going on now and she said it sounded like TMJ disorder. She said it's brought on by stress sometimes. Then she asked if I'm under a lot of stress.
And then I laughed out loud.
My jaw really hurts. I'm not supposed to eat crunchy or chewy foods, basically anything that takes a lot of jawing effort. This morning's breakfast was Cheerios mushed against the roof of my mouth. Now that's appetizing, I know.
I tend to think I'm dealing with the stress in my life better than ever before--I'm feeling well-organized, I'm not procrastinating, I have made time to do other things to step away from both work and school--but I'm also under more stress than ever before.
So this is how stress manifests itself for me this time. In the past it's been neckaches (stress going to the weakest part of my body) and migraines. Honestly, I'm not sure I care so much for this jaw pain. Would I rather have a neckache? Well, maybe I'm just used to those.
The first suggestion for relieving pain from TMJ disorder is to reduce stress... Um... haha.
And now I return to my regularly scheduled thesis writing marathon.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at October 25, 2009 8:30 AM