Tuesday 25 June 2013

Day 89: Congestion and TMJ.

So the past week or so, has been an 'iffy' week - not great, but not awful either.

First thing on my list is congestion. Unfortunately my hayfever has started - big style. Naturally when something initiates an allergic response, one of the actions your body takes is to inflame the mucus membranes in your nasal passage and as a result your turbinates become enlarged. This has annoyed the living hell out of me. It's getting to the point now when my inferior turbinates are completely blocking my nasal passage, meaning that I can't even blow out the mucus and snot that's trapped behind it, and i'm having to breathe through my mouth again. Before surgery this didn't bother me, as I was never a nasal breather because I couldn't, but now i'm struggling. Just waiting on the summer to pass and the pollen to die down! Anyway, a few days ago, my congestion got so bad I ended up choking on my snot and gunk the moment I lay down and resulted in me having to spend the night sleeping slightly upright in bed. Lately I have been taking something to calm the hayfever down and it's become more manageable, but I see my surgeon again on Friday and i'm hoping he can advise some decongestant spray. 

Another thing that has been happening this last week is pain in the right side of my jaw, around the muscle area. At first I thought it was the jaw exercises, so I cut them down but the pain actually became worse, so i'm thinking i've got some slight TMJ appearing. 
I've never suffered from TMJ previous to surgery and I know that jaw surgery itself is a very tricky process when people do have TMJ as it can sometimes exacerbate the symptoms as opposed to reducing them. My surgeon was pretty happy pre-op that I'd never suffered from TMJ or clicky jaws beforehand! However recently i've been experiencing awful pain in the area which will radiate into my head. It also goes on to restrict my movement in my mouth as I can't open my mouth as wide.  One thing that I have found though is that the moment I take my bands out, the pressure is relieved and the symptoms disappear. I'm guessing that the force of the bands is starting to put too much pressure on my joints which is causing this pain - so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that the pain is definitely band related and nothing more sinister. Roll on getting bands off for good! 

5 comments:

  1. Has any of the doctors ever recommended getting radio frequency done to shrink the inferior turbinates? Supposedly it's a 10 min. In office procedure or sometimes they do it during jaw surgery.

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  2. Did you tell the surgeon that you think the bands are causing tmj, and if so what did he say?

    You might be able to use lighter bands.

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    1. Don't see him until Friday, but will definitely mention it.

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  3. I'm sorry to hear but shouldn't your bands be coming off soon? I hope so!! I think mine mentioned at week 8 or 9 I can start wearing only 2 bands and I can take off the one that is bothering me. On the good side, our feeling has returned and we have more mobility? :) ((Hugs))

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    1. Hey Camilla.

      I hope so! I do just have the 2 bands left, I was only originally meant to have them for max 6 weeks, but I guess if your bite is moving together slow (which mine is on one side) then you need to wear them for longer! Fingers crossed though I won't have them on for much longer! I'll go insane if I do :P xx

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