Yup...Still In Pain

Its funny how when I was first received braces, I was intrigued spacers. When I read the testimonials regarding them I was glad that I didn't need them. As time progressed, I learned about rubber bands and wondered if I would ever be in them. As the one year mark passed, I realized that I probably wouldn't need them but they still intrigued me. Well lets just say I am absolutely no longer intrigues by them. LOL They are wonderful tools but they hurt like no other. Well everyone says they have a high pain tolerance. I don't think I do but doctors and nurses have said otherwise. I didn't need any pain meds after knee surgery and I didn't use much pain meds after jaw surgery in the hospital nor at home.....well that was until I was rubber banded. My right TMJ was in a tremendous amount of pain that lasted about 6 days. Well I will not get into that again since I have already documented that horrible time. LOL

Well now I have 4 rubber bands as mentioned in another post. All of the bands are fine except the one at night. I have tried advil, alieve, tylenol different nights at varying amounts and to no avail, I still had intense pain. Suddenly I thought about the bottle of Lortab thatI still had from the jaw surgery. I barely used any so I had this full bottle left. I thought that if this didn't relieve the pain then I am done with this band. So on the first night of Lortab, I still felt the intense pain in my ear/R TMJ but the difference was the Lortab took a little bit of the edge off. I was even able to sleep thanks to the meds. Then I realized that I am not sure if it might not be a good idea to be on these pain meds every night just for these bands. But I needed to try something since this would help shift my jaw. I was able to sleep for 8 hours. The second night, I wasn't so lucky. I made it a whopping 15min until the intense pain started. I took off the bands and threw it off the side of the bed. LOL

So I was fed up. Something has to give. I decided that since I already had 2 poking archwires that I might as well go see my orthodontist and explain to him what was happening. I wanted to wait to see if things would improve but they haven't. And not sure if they worsened but sometimes when I chew I get this weird feeling in my ear/TMJ like something isn't in place. I even feel it when I am talking. I will give it another try tonight but I am having my doubts. I go from being so curious about rubber bands to hating them. I guess its like how I can't look at canned soup nor Ensure/Boost the same way.