what are you having done?

im haveing the left joint rebuilt.

are you having partial or total joint replacement, or are they going to rebuild your original joint? Whatever they're doing, best of luck to you!

Dyan,
I definitely will be praying for you. I really do hope and pray that everything goes well. Keep in contact.

God bless...
Carol

Good luck with the surgery, I am having my right joint replaced next Tuesday 27th (Lorenz) This is my 5th operation to date and if all goes well i will be having my left replaced in the next few months.

Can everyone keep their fingers crossed that 5th time is lucky

Best wishes SAMARA

xxx

ps Carol thank you for your lovely e-mail, I will reply very soon.

After all you've been through, I hope this will be the final answer for you! I'm new, but I've been reading alot here and you sure have had a rough road. You're all in my prayers.
Lisa

Thanks for your kind words, this is a good place to share ideas that might help other people deal with this horrible disorder. You seem very knowledgeable with regards to supplements etc, if they buy you time before you have to have surgery thats fantastic, I unfortunately am beyond that stage and basically my joint is like chalk and degenerating very quickly, i only have one TMJ (no use to me though) at the moment so am looking forward to having 2 healthy joints within the next few months.

Keep smiling everyone if you can.

Take care SAMARA

Wow, Samara, that is not good. There is another site that alot of TMJ'ers post at "Chronicpain.com" - there are so many people out there with this terrible disorder - I wish we could all be in the same room for a day! Keep us posted on your progress.
Lisa

they are just rebuilding what i have but if they need to do more they have my permission to do so. i trust these docs with my life. good luck to the rest of those having surgeries. lets all keep in touch so that we all know how we are doing. im going to michigan on the ninth and wont be around till after the 23rd. my surgery is at 7:30 am so you all lknow what to do lol

Good luck to you! I guess you won't be posting again before I have my surgery, 4-24. Maybe we can co-misurate together? I look forward to hearing (reading) how things went. I'm sooo scared!
Pam

hey pam Ill be more than happy to commiserate with you. I return here the 23rd so I will be at home for your surgery. I will be sure to include you in my prayers. If you werent scared---Id be worried about you. its normal to be scared. what are you having done?

kepp us informed of how you are. if you need anything you know where we are

Thanks so much for the prayers! I will gladly accept them and send mine out to you as well. I couldn't get to sleep thinking about all of this last night. I just don't understand why this particular area is so difficult. I mean I do, but the technology should be better than this by now. For crying out loud, I wear contacts to bed at night that change the shape of my eyes while I'm sleeping and I wake up seeing better than 20/20 wearing nothing!!! Why can't they do better with TMJ problems??!!!
I'm having a total replacement on the right side. I have condylar hyperplasia and some other stuff going on. The end of the bone that fits into my tmj has just grown completely out of the tmj. I've had problems for over 20 years. No one ever took me very seriously I guess. I'd tell my doctor, my dentist and they'd say "yep tmj problem. don't yawn fully, don't chew gum, don't eat hard candy," etc. But that's it. Apparently it was not happy with the lack of attention .
I have to tell you all again how happy I am to have found you. Thanks so much for listening.
I will be back on the 25th after my surgery (as long as all goes well). I will be sure to check in with you.
Take care.
Pam

ok mustangsally - you're funny!
I've never heard of those contacts you're talking about - what kind are those? I wear the disposables - can't sleep in them.
LisaV

im glad that you found us. Tmj is the most complex joint in the body. In fact it is the only one that can do all that it does. the tecnology isnt that great yet cause everyone is different. not one thinkg will work on one person. all are different and hence require different treatments. even then more likely than not when the joint is opened it will look normal and then they write you off as tmj and nuts . we will just have to keep working on it. With your help i think we can do it.

Lisa: The contacts are Corneal Refractive Therapy contacts. They are hard lenses. You wear them at night and don't have to wear anything during the day. Once you've worn them for awhile, some people are actually able to get by with wearing them at night 4 or 5 times a week only. Its pretty cool. I have terrible problems with contacts, especially during allergy season, but I wasn't quite ready for the laser surgery, so my eye dr recommended these. They really do work well, just a bit tough to get used to. If you put them in right before bed its usually not a problem. Check them out.

Dyan: I think we all need to revolt!!! That's what I think. Get on the stick Docs...we're coming for ya all!!!! Seriously...I think the ones that are involved in it are doing the best they can. But when I have a problem getting my splint covered under insurance or I'm told my insurance may not cover my surgery, well that just really ticks me off!!! How can they possibly think that people are faking this or that its all in their minds???? In case you can't tell, it makes me really really angry. Take a look at my xrays people!!! Do you think that one bone being about 3 times the size of the other feels good?! Is it really hard to understand why there'd be pain there??? It seems so odd to me that they think nothing of knee problems, shoulder problems, etc., but this is so hard for them to get.
Sorry, I'm spouting now. I'm waiting to hear back on my second opinion...Not sure what I want to hear though. Maybe I want the 2nd Doc to agree with the first, because then I won't have a decision to make. I don't know. It just stinks really badly
I have to go do laundry...another thing that really ticks me off!!!! I mean, how come the darn basket never seems to be empty?! Anyway. You all take care. Talk to you soon!
Pam

Hey Pam.
I know with one of my surgeries years ago, my doctor really had to go to bat for me with Blue Cross to get them to cover it - but they did - if the doctor puts up a good fight, there's a good chance it will be covered. Isn't funny, they'll pay for rehab after you're addicted to pain medication from your problem and they'll pay for the meds, but they won't cover the surgery?! Way back when I had my first surgery, it wasn't recognized at all - I think the insurances for the most part have started to come around.
You must be using the same kind of laundry basket I am! - We should return them and get our money back!
Lisa

Lisa: You have the same problem with your laundry basket?? Hmmmm must be we missed the letter about the recall!!!!

Yeah, it really wasn't too hard for me to get the surgery covered. But they never did cover my splint. They said it was because it was a dental device. Now I can see that side of it....its to make my teeth come together so that I have a fairly normal bite, however the reason my bite is off is because of my tmj...which I don't really consider dental, not in my case anyway. But oh well...I'd rather have them cover the surgery then the splint anyway!

I've never heard of an insurance covering splints. I don't know if my orthodontic coverage would cover it now - it's such a small amount of coverage anyways so I guess it doesn't matter that much.

I live in Michigan and have Blue Cross. They will cover a bite splint under medical. The entire cost minus my co-pay. Check into finding out if you can find the correct service code. Your doctor should be able to look it up. There is both a dental and medical code and you have to make sure to get the medical code. Maybe this is only in Michigan, but I would still look for it. You might have to get a little aggresive in your search as doctors just don't seem to want to help TMJ patients all that much. I hope you can find this information.

God bless...
Carol