My TMJ Journey - Part 1
(Originally written back on 5/28/19 )
For about the past 14 years I have been suffering from something called Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction, or otherwise known as TMJ. TMJ to me, manifests in my jaw always popping while awake, which can you imagine is no fun. Somedays would be worse then others, and some days would be better. I think one day it probably popped about a 100 or more times during the day. Just constant popping, and it was getting quite ridiculous to be honest. Also, some other days it would literally pop out place, and I would have to manually put my hands up to my jaw and put it back in place. One time that happened, and it lasted about 30 seconds, or a little bit longer. It was pretty miserable when that was happening.
Luckily that hasn’t happened for quite a while, but those were some of the worst times. Besides popping out of place I do get headaches, and migraines that are probably attributed to my TMJ. And because of these things I’ve I sought out many different doctors to try and fix it. I’ve done shots in my jaws, and I’ve pretty much worn retainers on and off for a decade (sexy, I know, right??).
After about 14 years though I’ve decided enough is enough, and I’ve tried every avenue except for…. the big S word. And of course that would be surgery. This decision wasn’t taken lightly because I’ve read about/ heard how intense it can be. From stories about how it requires one’s jaw to be broken to having your mouth wired shut, and if you happen to throw up you have to get out wire cutters to cut them so you don’t choke on it… none of that sounds too appealing, but I know that if I don’t fix this now then I’ll have the next 80 years with a jaw that just creaks and cracks and pops, and honestly that doesn’t sound too fun to me.
So, I’m on this journey now to finally have this fixed. I haven’t seen a lot of blogs (does anybody still read?) about it so I thought hey why not start one, and hopefully shed some light on it!
If you’re going through this kind of thing, then please join me, and let’s see what happens. If everything goes as planned then this should be like a year and a half long process (hopefully less then that because that’s soooo long).
Also, you’re probably wondering, PQ, why are you doing this blog about your TMJ on your website that’s all about your photo/ video/ other media, and the answer is…. I don’t really know, haha. I just figured that I’m already paying for a website then i might as well use this one. Also, I view this website as like an expose on my growth as a creator so why not also capture my journey of trying to conquer my TMJ too?