Connecting the Dots

When I woke on Sunday morning, my throat and ear were aching. Since Matt and I had been without kids the night before, we stayed up until 2:00am playing Rock Band. So, I was chalking the soreness to a late night (also partially to the four attempts to make it through Alanis Morisette's "You Oughta Know", which was a bit of a vocal strain for me)!

The throat and ear soreness wasn't much of an issue the remainder of the day Sunday or most of the day Monday. That is, until Monday evening. Immediately after dinner, I felt exhausted. I crashed on the couch while Elliot did the dishes and Matt cleaned up toys (thanks, boys!). And then the soreness kicked into full gear. It hurt to swallow and hurt to speak. I spent the next hour resting on the couch refraining from any extra vocal strain.

I took a spoonful of honey and headed to bed at 7:00pm. I rested in bed until about 9:00pm, talking very little and not above a whisper. I dropped some olive oil in my ear, (a replacement of the sweet oil that my mom used my ear when I was a child) inserted a cotton ball to catch the oil as it drained, and faded off to sleep to the sounds of Monday Night Football on our bedroom TV.

I woke with my alarm at 4:55am, swallowing cautiously to determine how my ear and throat were feeling. No pain! I hopped (or slowly trudged, after all it was early and I'm not a morning person) in the shower and dressed for exercise. About 10 minutes into my workout, the ear was tingling. By 6:30, the ear and throat were sore again. I found that I was trying not to speak again and then only in a whisper when necessary (this made for a very pleasant morning with Elliot...so astute is the boy who is told what to do via whispers and sign language). I finally decided that it was best not to babysit and get to the doctor. Nip it in the bud.

As soon as Elliot left for school, I went back to bed and slept until Avery called out, "Mommy, Daddy" from her bed at 9:00am. Glorious! Once again, my throat is no longer hurting. Hmmm. Still a little tingling in the ear, but nothing like the night before. Since I've taken the day off, I feel compelled to go to the doctor anyway. I call the doctor and make an appointment for later in the morning.

Throat and ear are healthy! What? I feel like an idiot for feeling so pitiful and for taking the day off. My doctor tells me that it's unusual for an adult to have ear infections. He proclaims the issue to be TMJ. What? He puts his hands on my face just in front of my ears and tells me to open my mouth. Jaw pops with each movement. I know that my jaw pops, but hadn't really given it much thought until this very moment. "Do you grind your teeth?" he asks. "No, but I find myself clinching my teeth a lot." I respond. As he's talking to me about the parts of the jaw and how they fit together I'm realizing that the fact that my jaw sometimes locks shut is probably not normal. Hmmm.

He proceeds to tell me how the nerve connecting the ear and jaw makes pain in the jaw feel like ear pain. He tells me how I should avoid things like chewing gum, taffy, nuts and anything really chewy for the next couple weeks. This can aggravate the jaw. I should take ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and if the problem persists I should see a dentist specializing in TMJ. No problem not chewing gum. I never chew gum because it hurts my jaw...hmmm. Suddenly, I'm remembering that I chewed two Now & Later's Saturday night (someone say "chewy") and ate almonds in my salad Monday night. D'oh!

More connections...I've experienced similar ear pain in the past year every time I've eaten nuts. I was starting to think that I was experiencing a mild allergy. Huh! Maybe it's the TMJ.

Once I'm home, I google TMJ. Another connection...neck and shoulder pain. I get random neck and shoulder pain all the time. I recently went through a bout that lasted several weeks and I could not figure out the cause of it. I thought that it was my sleep position. I tried (unsuccessfully) to force myself to stop sleeping on my stomach even though it's how I've been sleeping since I can remember. Now, I'm wondering if it was TMJ. Hmmm!