Hi, I'm 24, but apparently secretly 80

Jaw opening continues to be GREAT, so that is a huge blessing. It is more painful when it rains, which I guess makes sense. I had a nectarine today (peel taken off) AND a frozen yogurt from Pinkberry with raspberries and kiwi. Things take a lot longer to chew. I have a good idea of what my limit is (it's about what I just listed for today! lol).

I am just getting frustrated at how weak the rest of me is. It's hard to get my energy up for a good singing lesson, which is hard to believe because I LOVE my teacher and am so eager to please her ... I've felt bad lately that I can't do things as well as I used to.

Exhibit A: I somehow threw my back out and have been in total spasm for three days. Nothing helps. I FORCE myself to keep moving because I refused to let injury/chronic illness control me ... as a reminder, as a result of May's disastrous fall, Dr's also discovered bulging discs in my neck, as well as arthritis in C5-C7. I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia. But I REALLY try to forget all these ... I just feel like I keep running into them.

I've found some diagrams of the muscles in the neck and face, so you can see how pain/inflammation/tension in one place (ie: jaw) tends to radiate, causing headaches, backaches, etc. I am trying to stay away from medications as a solution, but often there is no choice. With time, these muscles will loosen (I can do things like yoga ... which will be frustrating until I can get my muscles strong enough to get me up off the floor!!!) ... I just don't know how MUCH time. It absolutely makes me more compassionate for people who are not as fortunate as I am, for people who are in accidents and suffer injuries from which recovery is not really possible.

The diagrams below are pretty self-explanatory. Note the ones that lead from the TMJ ... muscles are kind of like those old curly telephone cords - one kink, and the whole line is screwed up. Or a slinky. If the slinky gets screwed up, it won't go down the stairs as easily. You can then purchase a new slinky -- can't buy a new body.

On exam, ALL the muscles shown here are in spasm on me (there are probably a few exceptions but not much). Blows to the head put tremendous pressure on muscle.