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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / October 2004The more I learn the less I like it
The more I learn about arthritis the less I like it. I have been having intermittent pain in my TMJ for the past couple of weeks. I saw my GP yesterday and asked him if that could be arthritis. His answer........ Yes. Damn. I hate this disease. I thought I had a high pain threshold, guess not. My knees hurt, my feet hurt, yadda, yadda, you all know the drill. My massage therapist put me back together again this morning, did a TMJ massage as well and my jaw is okay at the moment. I see my RD next month. I can't see any improvement with the Arava after nearly three months but I called today and he wants me to stay on it till I see him. I think MTX is my drug of choice. Anyone know if after a year or more off the MTX that it still takes several weeks to kick in again? Whine mode off. (I just had a little cheese to go with it.) --- Joan Hang in there, Joan. There's lot's of drugs to try and more in the pipeline. My jaws have become so bad I can't lay with them touching the pillow anymore, so I feel for ya. -g- Kitty I feel for all you people too.. It is awful and painful. I hate it. Just hope you get some help to make you feel better. audie Get yourself a good mouth guard to stabilize your jaw while you sleep. I think that will help the TMJ pain. I have no bite left at all - only 8 teeth touch and those are in the back. The whole jaw [condyles] are gone and the jaw slipped backwards. sigh First noticed it moving when I could no longer bite a cuticle. Damn it is the little things in life that are sometimes the hardest to loose. That and asking for a knife and fork to eat a sandwich. I have gotten used to the stares. I have found that there is a place between the thumb and the hand wear the V forms that hurts when the jaw hurts. If you push on that spot for a slow count of 20, the jaw tightness will loosen up and the muscle pain subside. This disease is not for sissies. Here is a site with good diagrams -- not pushing his method and no my guard looks nothing like this but will give you some information. Scan down past the glitzy and click on the links. Duckie > The more I learn about arthritis the less I like it. I have been having > intermittent pain in my TMJ for the past couple of weeks. I saw my GP yesterday [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > --- > Joan  Signature_('> (_<_) _ _('< -quack (_<_) _ __('< *QUACK!* <_{__) _('< "|,,|_" (_<_) _('< "AFLAC!" (_<_) > I >have found that there is a place between the thumb and >the hand wear the V forms that hurts when the jaw >hurts. If you push on that spot for a slow count of 20, >the jaw tightness will loosen up and the muscle pain >subside. That is the acupuncture point for pain control. I saw my massage therapist this morning and he did some TMJ massage and taught me how to do it to myself. Years ago I had that pain and a dentist made me a special bite plate. I gnawed holes in both sides of it. It seems I was grinding my teeth. :-) --- Joan Well, you had the whine, you had the cheese, so how 'bout a hug? {{{{{{Joan}}}}}} luv&stuff, Denise >Well, you had the whine, you had the cheese, so how 'bout a hug? >{{{{{{Joan}}}}}} >luv&stuff, >Denise Oh, I sure need that. My RD just called. My liver function tests are out of whack, my WBC is a tad low, and I am off Arava as of now, off Tylenol that I was taking for pain, on low dose Prednisone, more blood work Monday. Good thing I have good veins is all I can say. So far, they are good. <snort> I feel awful, so tired I can hardly see straight, cold all the time. I think once my blood work improves he will put me back on MTX. It worked, I want it back. I had questioned my GP about taking Tylenol but he assured me it was okay in the recommended dose. I don't think he realized the combo of it and Arava was bad. I knew it wasn't such a hot idea. Sometimes nurses DO know better. :-) I will be doing a lot of stretching, hot compressing and walking this weekend. On the positive side my haemoglobin and platelets are okay and we are having turkey soup for supper. Thanks for listening, reading, whatever. Firechief, keep the jokes coming! --- Joan >Oh, I sure need that. My RD just called. My liver function tests are out of >whack, my WBC is a tad low, and I am off Arava as of now, off Tylenol that I was >taking for pain, on low dose Prednisone, more blood work Monday. P.S. I asked him about Milk Thistle and he doesn't know about it. You can be sure I will be getting written information from my pharmacist and the local health food store and sending it to him. :-) --- Joan > Oh, I sure need that. My RD just called. My liver function tests are out of > whack, my WBC is a tad low, and I am off Arava as of now, off Tylenol that I was > taking for pain, on low dose Prednisone, more blood work Monday. Good thing I > have good veins is all I can say. So far, they are good. <snort> Long may they last! I have good veins. They see a needle and go into hiding. <g> > I feel awful, so tired I can hardly see straight, cold all the time. I think > once my blood work improves he will put me back on MTX. It worked, I want it > back. I had questioned my GP about taking Tylenol but he assured me it was okay > in the recommended dose. I don't think he realized the combo of it and Arava was > bad. I knew it wasn't such a hot idea. Sometimes nurses DO know better. :-) Just a thought. I get cold when I am dehydrated. One of my BP meds has a diuretic (boy did I glare about it, but couldn't persuade him that I didn't need it - have enough trouble keeping hydrated), and sometimes I just shrivel up, and freeze until I figure out what's going on. Take your Milk Thistle with LOTS of water? > I will be doing a lot of stretching, hot compressing and walking this weekend. > > On the positive side my haemoglobin and platelets are okay and we are having > turkey soup for supper. Thanks for listening, reading, whatever. Firechief, keep > the jokes coming! Glad some things are still working right. Turkey soup - on of the best 'side-effects' of Thanksgiving. Can hardly wait for ours! Hang in there. luv&stuff, Denise |
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