MY STORY

Here's a little timeline of me. 

This is me, pre-braces, holding a picture of VERY little me, before i had this surgery called "otoplasty", which is getting my ears pinned back. I was a little monkey! I am also wearing a cast in the picture. That's because just a few weeks before this, i flipped a four wheeler! It landed (i assume) on my ankle. I tore every ligament in my foot, and had a clean break through my tibia. I was on crutches FOREVER! Anyways, This picture was probably taken around the time that my TMJ symptoms started. I woke up one morning and my jaw was locked up to a certain point. I was FREAKED out! I ended up pushing my jaw sideways with my hand, and putting it back into place. This started happening every morning, and eventually i discovered that i could just open my mouth as wide as i could, and then POP it open the rest of the way. painful at first, but i got used to it. 

Here is me, probably over halfway through my time with braces. The popping still remained. It wasn't getting any worse at this point, but it wasn't getting any better. Finally, when i was getting my braces off, i had to get "finishing bands". That basically means you have a rubber band on every tooth holding your mouth shut to finish up your braces. Halfway through bands i had the WORST Migraine. DURING EXAM WEEK TOO! We talked to my orthodontist about the headaches and my TMJ, and he said he would order me a "bite reprogrammer". (or something like that). It did nothing at all.

Here is me, about a year after i got my braces off. This is also after i got rear ended by a woman going 50 MPH while i was at a stop light. I told my mom "I'm fine! I'm fine!" that night i realized i was not fine. I had whiplash! I went to see a chiropractor the next day, who showed my how bad my whiplash was. He was practically a miracle worker, and fixed up my back and neck in a matter of a few months! but about a month after the car accident, my jaw locked. It was extremely painful and hard to deal with at the time. It has now become one of those thing i just live with. It is very painful, and limits what i can eat, and is VERY painful when i yawn or sing. Well i was just about done being in pain. We had heard the name "Dr. Piper" here and there, so we decided to give him a call. Well i just had my appointment with him to find out that i will be going through a disc repair surgery on May 29th. If my disc is irreparable, he will do a fat graft. (he takes a little ball of fat from your tummy and replaces your disc with it!) so until then i will be preparing my self mentally, and physically for the surgery, and most of all, the recovery.

So thats my story up until now. From here on out, I will be blogging about my dietary choices, and my preparation for surgery. After surgery it will be all about post surgery survival (and more nutritional posts). I'll keep you updated on anything and everything. Thanks for listening! :)

Xx