weird problem
Mar. 19th, 2019 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7via https://ift.tt/2ufSmHr
So my whole life or most of it anyway, I’ve occasionally had this weird thing where sometimes a strong flavor or, like, strong alcohol, or suddenly starting to salivate, will make one of my jaw muscles go into spasm. It’s normally not worth mentioning, but very occasionally it’s excruciating to the point of being debilitating for a minute or so.
A couple years back I had it happen severely enough that I couldn’t open my mouth for ten minutes. It was distressing, but then it stopped, and went away.
This past week I’ve had a series of cramps in that muscle, the jaw muscle on my right side, and for the last day or so it’s been pretty much constant. I can feel that the muscle is in a knot. Driving home I started yawning and it hurt so much I almost pulled over to wait it out, but I didn’t because I knew it wouldn’t stop. And last night in bed if I lay on that side, the pressure of the pillow was noticeably painful, but like, in the way of a sore muscle where it kind of felt like maybe it was stretching it out. I tried a few different head positions and nothing seemed to fix it.
I’ve just… hurt all day today. I’m writing it down because it’s weird and I can absolutely see this becoming the sort of thing that goes on for an incredibly long time and I’m constantly convinced it wasn’t this bad before and it’s only just started bothering me.
It is so unpleasant!
(Your picture was not posted)
So my whole life or most of it anyway, I’ve occasionally had this weird thing where sometimes a strong flavor or, like, strong alcohol, or suddenly starting to salivate, will make one of my jaw muscles go into spasm. It’s normally not worth mentioning, but very occasionally it’s excruciating to the point of being debilitating for a minute or so.
A couple years back I had it happen severely enough that I couldn’t open my mouth for ten minutes. It was distressing, but then it stopped, and went away.
This past week I’ve had a series of cramps in that muscle, the jaw muscle on my right side, and for the last day or so it’s been pretty much constant. I can feel that the muscle is in a knot. Driving home I started yawning and it hurt so much I almost pulled over to wait it out, but I didn’t because I knew it wouldn’t stop. And last night in bed if I lay on that side, the pressure of the pillow was noticeably painful, but like, in the way of a sore muscle where it kind of felt like maybe it was stretching it out. I tried a few different head positions and nothing seemed to fix it.
I’ve just… hurt all day today. I’m writing it down because it’s weird and I can absolutely see this becoming the sort of thing that goes on for an incredibly long time and I’m constantly convinced it wasn’t this bad before and it’s only just started bothering me.
It is so unpleasant!
(Your picture was not posted)
no subject
Date: 2019-03-19 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-19 01:18 pm (UTC)I took two ibuprofen, and within an hour the pain had eased enough that I could probe with my fingers and feel that yeah there was kind of a-- like a mass there, maybe, and it felt like muscle fibers kind of, it was squishy and not like a cyst or a tumor or anything, and if it was that'd be shocking because it's my jaw, I'd presumably have noticed?-- and then within three hours the mass was gone too, it's about the same size and shape as the other hinge of my jaw, just a little tender to my probing.
So the only thing I can think is an inflamed muscle. Today it's still a little sore to probe at, and it just feels like-- I mean, on the other side, there's muscle and fat over the bone there, I can feel it and move it around under my fingers, and then on the affected side it feels almost the same but a little thicker and... more fibrous, maybe?
So it's something, all right, but I can't tell what. I'll have to get it looked at but I don't know how to describe it. Of course I don't currently have a primary care physician since the whole debacle of losing health coverage the year before last and then never being able to get in to see a new doctor after that and giving up when my skin stopped breaking out every time I stepped outdoors. (Every time I have a health issue it's when I'm not covered by insurance, so I deal with it on my own. Every time! We live in a dystopia.)