Jaw problem.

Thanks everyone! I enjoyed a full nights sleep. NO wet bed. lol I was still pretty stiff this morning but I was able to eat within an hour of getting up. Oatmeal, but its not even been that good before.
Thankfully, this doctor finds a place FOR me to have the MRI done AND if it is covered within my network. Its such a blessing to know I don't have to do that now.
Stay tuned...

The MRI will be on this coming Wednesday April 2nd at the early bird hour of 6:30 a.m. Then April 9th I will go back to Dr. Shum in Houston for him to look at the results and discuss a plan of action. Lets hope I don't have to go to anymore doctors other than him. Thanks!

So glad you're having the MRI done and that this doctor seems to know what he's doing!!! Praying for you, Gin!!  

The MRI shows joint problems so I am off to a Dr. Wilson. He has done a "wash" procedure of the joint many times with an 80% success rate. Dr. Shum today explained that they sedate the patient then with a needle go into the jaw joint and clean it out. The space in there is supposed to be a fat cone shape but mine looked like a bow tie. ( what class huh?)
There is cartilage in there as well, and the fluid that is naturally there would regenerate itself after the wash.
I should be hearing from the hospital this week so we can either find out if I have to go for another consultation with Dr. Wilson or he will just schedule me. At this point he is my 6th doctor and I just want it done.
Oh, and he will NOT sedate me he will KNOCK ME OUT. I have no desire to know anything he is doing.
What caused this? The clinching I do at night, but because this has become a joint issue no mouth guard will help. I am hoping if everything gets back on track, and If I ever have any soreness again THEN I might be able to use a mouth guard. Who knew, right?!
On the plus side...I will meet my health care expenses for next years taxes!
Thanks for the prayers, and please pray this procedure does take care of this.

Praying Gin....I hope this helps and maybe as a precaution, you can wear a mouth guard at night while you sleep to keep it from happening again.....   

Thanks. I will be asking this Doctors opinion on the mouth guard, but we will see. I hate to spend more than I have to right now. I have heard they can be as high as $1400. BLAH!

WHAT?!?!? Go to Walmart and get one that the kids use for sports!   

I have, but its not the kind I would need. Those have not done a thing. That was about 9 months ago.

My hubby has a custom made mouth guard because he grinds his teeth at night. It's been a real lifesaver for him and he doesn't experience the pain anymore.

Glad things are moving along for you, Gin. I pray the procedure goes well and that you're feeling tip-top in no time at all.

Thanks Cheryl. I am still waiting to hear. I suppose Dr. Wilson is looking at the MRI now , so then I might get something scheduled by the end of next week.

So, you don't have actual TMJ then?  Unless I missed it somewhere (sorry if I did!   )

I have TMJ.  I have had it for years.  I would say about 17 or so.  And my life has been miserable since then.  Nobody really knows how bad it can be unless they have it.  I forget the exact word that the dentist (a man who also specialized in TMJ) said, but it was along the lines of "textbook" TMJ.  Of course, he was smiling when he said it!  I always thought he got a kick out of how bad it was.

I woke up one morning with my jaw out of place.  Of course I panicked.  I didn't seem to have a problem again for practically a year later.  When the same thing happened again, that is the way my jaw stayed.  Meaning, I have had a problem with it ever since then.  For years I slept with a pillow bunched up in a certain way to make sure my jaw stayed in place.  I know a lot of people might think that sounds horrible, but it is the truth.  My jaw literally falls out of place.  And I have to get it right again.  Sometimes that can take a couple of minutes and sometimes it can take an hour.  It always happens to me when I am asleep.  I think it is because I am so relaxed at one point that it happens.  Then I wake up and I have to get it back by massaging it back into place.  Or I have tried to relax my face as much as possible and it seems to go back as it should.  So I have had some pretty miserable nights over the years.

It got to the point, though, where I had to see someone.  I woke up twice where my jaw was so bad that it wouldn't go back into place at all.  It took a couple of hours to do so.  That was about 2008, I think.  Maybe 2009.  When I saw this man he said that people who have had braces have a tendency to get TMJ (yes, I had braces - 4 1/2 years!).  He told me that I was going to use a splint (basically, a guard - I know they can be thousands of dollars - he cut it down for me to $850 - I had no insurance and I was in bad shape with my jaw).  Then he said that if that didn't work, I might have to have braces again or surgery (my current dentist didn't agree with any of that and I've heard surgery generally doesn't work for people like me).  This guard, though, was supposed to realign the jaw.  Oh, the pain that first night!  I had it in for a little while.  But then I had to eat.  The jaw was in the right place, but when I took the splint out, my jaw went back to the out-of-joint way, and did that HURT!  Anyway, I was supposed to leave it in for 24 hours everyday and then he was going to slowly take me off of it.  I slept FINE with it.  So I decided to not go anymore.  I was OK during the day.  I just wanted to sleep at night.

Fast forward to 2010.  I know I mentioned on here at some point that I had 2 broken teeth.  I remember saying to my mother how odd it was that my teeth broke right where the splint hooked on.  And I saw a commercial recently that talked about ill-fitting dentures breaking teeth.  Well, there you go!  Anyway, I had to go to the dentist for the teeth.  And when everything was going on, I couldn't use that splint.  Come to find out, those things warp really quickly.  So I couldn't even use it anymore.

I know my dentist can obtain a new one for me, but as he said it is thousands of dollars, he wanted me to start on something cheaper and work my way up.  He molded a basic mouth guard just for me.  It doesn't hold my jaw in place.  But it does actually protect my teeth from my clinching.  And I know the only reason I do that is to try to keep my jaw in place at night (although it was out a few nights ago).  When I get the money, I want to try to go the next step up and see how that helps.

My left side grinds all the time.  And occasionally it will pop.  Not that much, though, to claim it as a problem.  I can't eat normally.  I know it takes me forever to eat something because sometimes my jaw gets really tired.

When I first went to the specialist, there was a list of don'ts that I received.  And it was kind of funny because I did ALL of the things that I wasn't supposed to do with my jaw that they said not to do with it (i.e. move it around to make it out of place, clench my teeth, et.c.).

Anyway, after all of my pointless rambling   , I just wanted to let you know that I know what it is like to have bad jaw problems.  I hope they can do something good for you!  It is misery to live with something like that!

This is a problem with my joint. An MRI confirmed that two weeks ago.

I will be having a procedure tomorrow at 2:30p.m. They will clean the joint , insert a steroid shot and then hopefully it will start to heal. The inflammation in the joint has gotten very painful.

I am not looking forward to no food or drink 8 hours before this is done. Thankfully too though it isn't too costly. I am SO ready though.

Please pray this heals quickly. I will update you as soon as possible. Thanks everyone.

 I'll be praying, Gin.

I'm so glad you're (hopefully) getting to the bottom of this now, Gin! I'll be praying this does the trick!  

Miss Oleson, so sorry that you have suffered so too.  

Gin wrote:

 This is a problem with my joint.  An MRI confirmed that two weeks ago.

  I will be having a procedure tomorrow at 2:30p.m.    They will clean the joint , insert a steroid shot and then hopefully it will start to heal.  The inflammation in the joint has gotten very painful.

   I am not looking forward to no food or drink 8 hours before this is done.   Thankfully too though it isn't too costly.  I am SO ready though.  

Please pray this heals quickly.  I will update you as soon as possible.  Thanks everyone.

Yeah, I remember reading that. I just didn't know whether I accidentally skipped you saying if it is was or wasn't definitely TMJ.   

Too bad you have to go so long without food or drink before then. But it will probably be worth it in the end. :)

Amy wrote:

Miss Oleson, so sorry that you have suffered so too.  

Thank you. At some point I hope to get another splint (or something similar to it - I would hate to have another thing like that in my mouth to break more teeth!   ). I don't know when I will do it, though. It really will depend on whether my jaw gets that bad again. Then I will have no choice. But they are so expensive, too.  I just don't want to risk wasting money like that again.  

Praying for Gin's Jaw problem. My mom has TMJ. I have a mild TMJ.

 

Hello Everyone! I have slept the past day away, but now coming alive. The Arthrocentesis went well. Dr. Wilson reminded me of "House" in looks only , thank goodness.
You just never know how anesthesia will make you react to the simplest things. Clay said I was pointing to people walking in downtown Houston asking if it was Nathan or Madison. I pointed to planes in the sky and took my shoes off , raised my shirt once to saying "stickers." ( They had stickers on me keeping up with my heart rate.) Luckily , I did keep my shirt on.
By the time I got home I was hurting pretty bad and needed the pain meds. Anytime I got up to go to the bathroom I would shiver and my teeth would chatter. THAT hurt.
I finally ate 24 hours later a little bit of mac n cheese. IT WAS GOOD!
Yesterday was okay, I just slept and didn't get up much. Heidi slept by my bed all day, and only asked to go out two times. I think she knew it would be an effort. Clay did go back to work, but I was finally able to walk once the anesthesia wore off.
I am opening my mouth pretty wide this morning . The soreness is still there and just a bit of popping. This has made things better, but I will ask Dr. Wilson about a mouth guard next week. One of his interns told me I needed a hard one, so I guess I will go back to using the tray like one I have .
Thank you all for the prayers. I feel like healing has been quick already and a lot of it took place in his office. I go back to work tomorrow, so I do hope to gather a bit more strength before then. Laying around will make you tired all by itself. I do recommend this to anyone that needs relief. It takes a good Doctor, but once you find him you can feel better.
Have a great Thursday everyone! Love to all!~ Gin

SO happy that this procedure seems to have been the answer for you, dear Gin!!!!!    I know you were miserable.  Hopefully 'life' can continue on now and you can concentrate on bigger and better things!!    I am glad you are recovering fairly quickly, and will be praying you continue to heal well, and that you'll be energetic enough for work tomorrow.  If not, just sit around!  I'm sure they'll understand!!  

Hang in there, kiddo!! 

(P.S., I know it was painful and I cringed as I read, but gosh, I had to laugh when I heard about you lifting your shirt up and saying "Stickers"!    Clay must have LOVED all the Gin-isms!  Something tells me you won't live any of this down for some time to come!  ).

So glad you can get back to flapping your jaw, now.....I am sure your family has missed that!  (You know I love ya!  )  And OH...do I understand the craziness of coming out of anesthesia!  Just happy none of the people that were the designated driver ever thought to pull the phone out and start recording me....I'd been famous on Youtube!  On second thought, you might go to Youtube and check to make sure no one saw you and taped it.....   

Praying you continue to heal and everything works out the way it was planned!

I'M glad things went well for you.  

Gin, I am sooooooooooo happy that you have gotten some relief from all of your pain. I pray that it gets better and better each day until the pain is completely gone. Hopefully the mouth guard will help at night. It's great that you finally found a doctor that could help you.

Thanks Teresa. My ability to open is better but I am still popping a lot. Not too sure what if anything I can have done about that. That will be something I ask next week.