The Whine thread.

[WarpGirl]

I can't shoot him. It wouldn't be logical.

[Aikiweezie]

I have TMJ and it really hurts today. I'm debating wether or not I should go for the Vicodin.

[Alelou]

Ouch, I've had that. It's real fun showing up at the emergency room with your jaw locked open and then trying to answer all those medical history and insurance questions without being able to close your mouth. Just try saying a sentence with your mouth stuck open.

And then they gave me some sort of tranquilizer to help with the swelling, or maybe they thought I was freaked out, I don't know. But it made me sleepy so when I went home right after they reset the jaw, I yawned, and the jaw slipped right out of joint again!!! Thankfully, the oral surgeon showed us how to put it back ourselves after that.

I take it ibuprofen doesn't do the trick? Vicodin is pretty powerful stuff.

[WarpGirl]

Vicodin is on the list of my allergies, not that it ever helped me with pain.

[Aikiweezie]

Alelou, you have it, too? We can whine together!

Ibuprophen only works to a point with this for me. Vicodin works for me, but I don't like how it makes me feel - kind of light headed and loopy (okay, MORE light headed and MORE loopy). It's a last resort. I actually took waaaaaaay too much once (ruptured ovarian cyst - sent me to the ER) I took three of them at once. OH MY GOD! I am SO never going to become a drug addict. I was sick as a dog.

Even though I've had TMJ for as long as I can remember I've only had two accute episodes with it - dontcha know, both episodes were the result of getting knocked in the jaw in my martial arts class. The first episode was awful. My jaw didn't lock, but I couldn't open it more than about a half an inch and OH the pain!!!! This time it doesn't hurt as much, but my ear and my tonsil on that side is all inflamed. I guess there's a lot of stuff all crammed in a small space, you eustacian tubes and stuff like that so it's all connected and when one thing gets inflamed so does the rest.

My dad once had his jaw locked open for a whole day and finally gave up and went to the hospital. As he was waiting to be seen it loosened up.

Do you wear an appliance when you sleep to align your jaw? My doctor measured me for one, but unless and until this is a regular occurance I hate to shell out the $200+ it would cost to get the thing.

[WarpGirl]

I'm hurting bad too. Looks like the wine is coming out tonight. Only things besides my Fentanyl and Demerol that works, and I finally got off! I'm not looking to start again.

[Aikiweezie]

I'm hurting bad too. Looks like the wine is coming out tonight. Only things besides my Fentanyl and Demerol that works, and I finally got off! I'm not looking to start again.

Oh, my, WarpGirl. Vicodin ain't nuthin' compared to Fentanyl! My mom had some patches for a nerve problem - that's major stuff. I used to work with a woman with CP and I sort of know what you have to deal with 24/7. I am SURE what I have to deal with is nothing NEAR what you do, I am for the most part very healthy.

In addition to this TMJ thing I have arthritis in my back and neck thanks to horse named "Cisco" who saw fit one day to take off into a full gallop from a complete stop - throwing me into a wall (at least that's what they told me when I regained consciousness) and giving me a concussion, whiplash, and a t-8 compression fracture of the spine. I usually don't give in to the Vicodin, 'cuz like I said, it makes me feel funny and I try to tough it out, but I gave in about an hour ago and now I feel better and am quite happy thanks to the codine Am I babbling?

My son's t-ball game tonight might be a little more interesting to watch, too.

[WarpGirl]

I have CP!!!!!!!!!!

[Alelou]

There's CP and then there's CP. I have a friend for whom the biggest pain in the ass involved in it is having to buy two pairs of shoes everytime she wants new shoes, but otherwise she just has a bit of a limp and limited use of one of her arms but she gets around fine. No pain in particular. Well, other than the pain of growing up different and all that, but you know that story.

Aikiweezie, my TMJ is under control, thank God. Mostly because I don't chew gum anymore -- a marathon, extremely tense gum chewing session as I drove home for three hours in a driving snowstorm is what set it off the first time. But it probably didn't help that as a teenager I used to kind of grind my jaw joints compulsively just because I could ... I had a similar problem last year -- I'd lie in bed and compulsively tongue the front teeth I'd loosened by biting down on something the wrong way (OUCH), and they were just getting looser and looser. Thankfully I was able to break the habit and they reseated themselves.

I never did do an appliance, though that would have been the next step probably for both of those issues. I didn't want to spend the money either...

[WarpGirl]

Your very right. I have a friend who died at 26 from complications. And yet another friend who is 30 is a dynamo! The drs. get annoyed with me because I'm in between. One thing we all have to deal with is that the majority of people who aren't familiar with the injury, automatically assume if you have CP you have retardation. While this can be true it isn't always. I went to school with a girl that they didn't figure out how smart she was until she was a teen because she couldn't speak. Fortunately the horror of the eighties has gotten SO MUCH BETTER. Children who would have been written off when I was a kid now have happy fullfilling lives. I am proud to be a part of that. So many studies have been done on me I am annominously famous. Not that I enjoy the attention, but I am proud.

But I have to say it's annoying when you can't open the wine yourself.

[Alelou]

Yes, of course it is.

[WarpGirl]

Still I have a pretty amazing life in some respects, and God has blessed me more than I can ever express. I have wonderful friends and family that stick by me no matter what new drug I need, or what new slice and dice I have to go through. All in all, I'll never complain. Besides there is always Pepperment Schnapps.

[Aikiweezie]

Still I have a pretty amazing life in some respects, and God has blessed me more than I can ever express. I have wonderful friends and family that stick by me no matter what new drug I need, or what new slice and dice I have to go through. All in all, I'll never complain. Besides there is always Pepperment Schnapps.

You go, WarpGirl!

[WarpGirl]

With a mother like mine to complain would be as bad as blasphemy. There's noting too special about me, just her. I'm worried because she's not well right now. Although the ovarian cysts I have are killing me right now, like getting the uterus out at 20 wasn't bad enough. Still, if that's the only thing wrong I'm good.

[Aikiweezie]

Although the ovarian cysts I have are killing me right now.

I've got those, too. Have for years. They suck.