Piriformis and TMD

Alright
So. As off now my body hates me. I don't think I ever fully explained my TMD stuff and what I did to fix it. Long story short the cartilage that softens my jaw joint ran away. This causes all of my muscles in my jaw, head, and neck to be crazy tense in order to keep the bones from rubbing and makes it hurt in many other ways. I couldn't open my  mouth wider than two fingers for a while which made eating difficult, let alone the shooting nerve pains when I opened my mouth wrong! It also gave me headaches and extremely tense shoulders. I still get them but it's not as chronic. I saw a few docs, got a night guard made and went on my way. I ended up seeing Dr Mark Tasaki a TMD specialist. TMJ = Temporomandibular joint and TMD = Temporomandibular joint Disorder. He fixed up my night guard many times to make it just right and used an infrared laser on many of the knots in my neck and shoulders to help it all heal. My jaw is working on replacing the cartilage with scar tissue so that everything can relax. It's gotten much better and less chronic but still hurts when it chooses to. Like right now. It's under control and when it becomes chronic I can go back to the Doc but now we're on an as needed basis. Woo hoo.

See that little purple disc? That's what has slipped away.

Pain Areas for TMD


This is all old news that I never bothered to talk about. Now onto the new problems! Apparently since I got the TMD under control, my other muscles felt the need to join in on the fun. "Why let the shoulders/head/jaw muscles have all the fun?" they said, "Let's make her hurt from the lower back down! That'll be new and exciting!" And so my piriformis joined in on the fun. Well, that's the impression I'm under right now. I finally see a doctor tomorrow. For a couple day I was fighting chronic sciatica (aka sciatic nerve pain) that would go from extreme to tolerable at it's own will. It seemed like it wouldn't go away and it was very painful so I called the dr. I couldn't get an appointment until Feb 7th, this was almost 3 weeks ago. That's military healthcare for you. So anyway, last Saturday (not yesterday) I went into urgent care because it gets excruciating and I didn't want to wait another week. What if it was something that needed to be fixed asap? Well they took me in, gave me Naproxen and took XRays. The XRays turned out to be clear (I had to call to get the results) and my hands and feet swelled after taking the Naproxen. They're still a little weird feeling now and it's been almost a week since I stopped taking it. I called and told them and they called and left a message to not take them and to call a dr to get a new prescription. I called and left a message with the nurse explaining that situation and wanting my xray results. They called and left a message saying it was clear and I could just take aspirin.

How helpful. If Aspirin helped, I'm pretty sure I would have been able to wait till my appt. Driving was excruciating. To the T. After 50 mins I was nearly in tears and often screamed. Work wasn't too bad, it's the prolonged sitting that was the worst. I'm waiting for my appt now. I went to a massage therapist. My friend's neighbor is one and she offered a free session. It actually helped a lot. It still hurts often but she  moved or adjusted one of the MANY knots I have and it turns out I can drive now. It got to the point that I had to ask John to get gas when he got home from a very long day because I couldn't be in that car longer than I had to be. It was awful. I'm going to try to set up more sessions with her, but it all depends on time and money. So far she's been more helpful than the Navy.

Oh right, the cause. Well since the Xrays are clear, my guess (since they never bothered to tell me) is that it's the aforementioned Piriformis. The Urgent Care doc suggested that it probably was, but took the XRays just in case. My assumption is that the XRays proved it wasn't a hernia, slipped disc, tumor, or any other thing that would be out of place or unwelcome and pinching my nerve. Piriformis is a muscle in the butt. I guess the sciatic nerve can weave through/around it a certain way so that when that muscle inflames for some odd reason, it agitates the sciatic nerve. It's not fun when the Sciatic nerve is pissy. It hurts from the lower back all the way down to the foot. Mine is bad in the lower back, worse in the butt, painful down the entire left leg during the worst of times and painful down a portion of the right leg. It's.... unpleasant. I worked on Friday and it hurt a lot. I kept from carrying a lot and had to walk really slow. I hate it.

Pain areas for Piriformis. Though mine is also in the lower back and a bit of the right butt


It's a pain in the ass. Literally! Hah. I hate feeling like a sissy. I always liked being the one that could life things and would do everything if possible. In work that is, we all know I'm no crazy adventurer. Now I feel like a wimp who tries to get everyone to do work for me. I try not to though. I just try to avoid some of the heavier things. It can hurt so bad though. As of now it just looks like I'm in for a lot of physical therapy.

Also, you can't ask how it happened. I have absolutely no clue. I have no recollection of ever hurting my bum. I'm told that it could inflame at the slightest of things though. That's why I believe that it just wanted to join in on all the fun my top part is having.

I'm pretty deflated from all this though. I already have a chronic muscle tension problem that basically requires lifelong care or else it could get much much worse. I don't want another.