I Am So Confused

Posted by Parus @parus, Jun 12, 2018

All of the insurance pandemonium, the controlled substance hysteria...someone, please, stop the world long enough so I can step into sweet oblivion. Physical/mental stuff is overwhelming to the point I no longer want to even try. So many others hurting and being punished because of the guilty. Laws are made to encourage the criminals to find more ways to become criminals.
I know people who are in real physical pain and cannot get help. I am one of them. I have never gotten a high from pain medication. I never abused thus. The people that do abuse still get the stuff.
Okay, @colleenyoung I am out of order. I have been paying out-of-pocket for botox (not the beautifying) for TMJ w/ no results. Knew upfront I may need more than intitial injection. At $360 per injection and having one series w/ no improvement I am skeptical. I am in severe pain which the TMJ clinching and grinding. I want some relief!!!! The dentist will not even prescribe a muscle relaxant to help relax the muscles relax to give the botox time to work-if it even will.
Sorry everyone as pain that I cannot get help for except w/ the hope of these injections-minor compared to all of the other members.
Always the skeptic-I do need to pay my bills. I pinch pennies until they beg for mercy-scary to have the injections again and not be able to pay my bills.
So, just needed to talk.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Just Want to Talk Support Group.

grandmaR | @grandmar | Jun 12, 2018

Hi!
This is the place for you to talk freely.
I suffered from TMJ for many, many years.
If I bit into something like a steak, apple or corn on the cob, it was not unusual for my mouth to freeze (or so I thought).
I would have to massage my jaw to close it.
In reality, I kept dislocating my jaw. It would slip out of its place.
I suffered not only pain in my mouth, but ear aches and I also got dizzy, A LOT.
Doctors thought it might be something else, like an inner ear issue.
It was not until I went to one particular that we figured out why I had the pain and I was dizzy.
When I first went to the doctor, only told him about being dizzy.
He asked me if I had any other symptoms.
I told him about my jaw locking and feeling like it 'came off the tracks.'
I also told him that my jaws clicked and when I ate certain kinds of meals, my mouth would feel exhausted.
Now, this was approx. in the late 70s, early 80s.
No one ever heard of TMJ.
Well, seems that my doctor's wife was in dental school.
He was reading one her dental journals that had an article on TMJ.
The doctor was so excited that he almost screamed out, 'I know what you have.'
He explained that it is a medical problem that is handled by a dentist.
This was very important since I did not have dental insurance, those days.
He sent me to a dentist (quite a distance from where I lived) who specialized in TMJ.
The specialist did some ultra-sound treatments and made me a bite plate that I needed to wear 24/7.
This bite plate was about 1/2 inch thick. I can't remember if I wore it on the top or bottom.
It made it very hard to chew, bite and swallow.
At each visit the specialist would grind down the bite plate just a little until there was almost none left.
The goal was to move my jaw into a new location. Apparently, when I wore braces as a kid, the orthodontist was more concerned with the esthetics of my teeth rather than the physiological placement of my jaw. After a time, the TMJ started.
When I was done with the specialist, I had only a thin bite plate to wear at night.
The pain was gone. It has been more than 40 years without any real problems.
The only thing left is when I go to the dentist and my mouth has to remain open for a long time, my jaw gets tired and will snap closed. Using something to keep my jaw open works.
Hopes this helps.....

Jen, Alumna Mentor | @sandytoes14 | Jun 12, 2018

@parus Dear Parus,
You can speak freely here. I feel for you choosing to spend money you don't have just to try to have relief of pain in your jaw. If I were in your shoes, I'd do the same thing. Sometimes I get jaw pain from Fibromyalgia or at least that's what I blame the pain on. When I do, I dream that all my teeth break off in my mouth..
I guess it's more of a nightmare.
Praying you get relief,
Jen

Parus | @parus | Jun 13, 2018

@sandytoes14 Thanks Jen. It is hard to trust anyone. there was a time when someone told me something I believed them. It took me 65 years to realize that not everyone thinks like I do. Yes, the jaw pain is severe enough it gives me pain (not an ache) in the back of my head. I have spent over $10,000 and the pain keeps returning. I go there and see all the employees with their perfect smiles that are sparkling white and I am ashamed I do not have a beautiful smile even though my teeth and gums are now healthy. I go back tomorrow for a follow-up.
Thanks for the validation about doing the same thing. I have given up on help from the medical world that has become so worldly. I am now trying to get a refill on thyroid medication again. No refill again and there is usually at least one.
Can't change it, can't fix it and I know I cannot buck the "system" which is turning into a beast. Before long the weak may be packed into box cars and sent to slaughter. I see and think in pictures.
The 1st OD labeled himself a specialist. Mad things worse and his hygienists were not cleaning my teeth properly. I mentioned thus and he told me all of the other dentists were lying to me to make more money. Insurance does not pay for this type of dental work. I tell myself that OD did the best he knew how-sometimes this helps w/ the lies I have been told. 🙁