Yes, you read that correctly – my face is killing me. I mentioned my migraine last week and the difficulties of coping with it and trying to get over it. What gets more interesting is that Saturday morning, I woke up in pain – my face hurt. The pain was with my jaw – opening my mouth, closing my mouth and don’t get me started on chewing. The pain came in pulses, when the pulses were on – I felt nearly blind with the pain and the relief afterwards was intense.
I went to the see the doctor at one of those little Fast ER care places because I couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe a crown or a filling came loose or maybe I had a huge abscess – or something. The doctor did the exam and he considered TMJ an option. Temporo-Mandibular Joint is the part where your jaw attaches to your skull. If it becomes inflamed, well – it can be exceptionally painful. He gave me some painkillers and antibiotics and advised me to see a dentist first thing Monday.
Excruciating Weekend
The weekend passed by in an excruciating haze. I took my daughter to see a movie to try and distract myself. I did what I could – but between the painkillers, the pain and the inability to really chew – it was a misery. Flash-forward to Monday, I call my dentist and get an appointment to see them ASAP. While sitting in the dental chair, they do X-Rays and the dentist does an exam. There is a slightly loose crown, but no sign of inflammation in the mouth.
I do have a wisdom tooth on the move, but again – no inflammation. There might be a small infection around that loose crown, but not enough to justify the pain I’m in. Wait – the dentist tests something and I feel that agony all over again – aha. So what is the bad news, doc?
I have a charley horse in my face.
No, don’t laugh – because laughing right now really hurts. The doctor is serious, the muscle in my cheek, along my jaw – is cramped and for lack of a better term – pulled. The likely causes are tension, stress and my migraine. During the pain of the migraine, I may have been gritting my teeth or clenching my jaw – the excessive clenching and gritting pulled the cheek muscle and cramped it – and then you got it, once it was in pain, I kept clenching and now it’s one giant charley horse in my face.
And even as I type this, I’m trying not to laugh – smiling, chewing, laughing – anything that causes me to move my face hurts. It would be hilarious if not so painful, I didn’t even know you could pull a muscle in your face.
So What Do I Do?
You treat it as you would any other severely pulled or injured muscle – hot compresses (using moist heat) to help relax the muscle; massaging the area to loosen it; stretching exercises to help relieve the tension and muscle relaxers to help along the way.
So – I pulled my face. I can’t wait until I can smile about it. Have you ever done something like this?