Saturday, August 13, 2011

I can finally see some light...


 I'm not sure if I've ever really gone into it before, but for the last few years I have had MAJOR issues regarding TMJ, Sinuses, etc. As a teen I got sinus infections quite a bit and was never really told that there was any urgency to fix anything. I suffered through many years of seasonal allergies, struggled through taking antibiotics (becoming allergic to some) and just kept dealing with the pain. 3 years ago a subtle grinding habit turned into full blown TMJ and between the two it has been a nightmare! Just the end of this June a lot of my symptoms got so much worse. My left eye started bothering me, I was getting dizzy spells and sometimes even vertigo, light sensitivity and the pain.... that's a whole other thing. We were without insurance for a while and finally got it back July 1st so I went right to the Doc. I found a fantastic ENT and he said I have a major mess to clean up. Because my sinus issues went on for so long, my septum became severely deviated, and I have a lot of issues that need to be handled asap. I'll be scheduling surgery sometime for the next month or so. I never thought I would be so happy to be told "You NEED surgery and it's not elective" This has been such a major thing I have been struggling with and honestly, I was starting to really lose hope. I just said to my husband the other night "I don't remember the last time I even felt like a normal person. Maybe I just need to accept the fact that I might be in pain for the rest of my life."

Unfortunately no one really understands all of the issues that those with TMJ struggle with. We might look ok on the outside, but on the inside we feel like we got punched in our face repeatedly most days. I know there are worse things in life to deal with, and I'm so thankful that I don't have a horrible illness or disease, but some days it's still really hard. I'm really hoping that maybe this surgery might take some of the edge off of my TMJ since the Doc believes it might have caused it. Even if it doesn't, it's still half my battle won! I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel!!!

So that is where I have been most of my summer and leading into the summer. I'm really hoping to start back up with blogging regularly now that my little hiatus seems to finally be over! What did you all do this summer? I hope everyone has been enjoying it!!!