New Update
My prior return was only for a day and then things around these parts became extraordinarily busy again. I was surprised at the large amount of work I was inundated with. I have been struggling with getting these needs accomplished and now I am once again on a steady footing.... and THIS TIME it appears that I will have a return to my general schedule.
My thoughts are currently all over the map, but here are a few thoughts that I am anticipating I will elaborate on over the next few days:
1. I am not yet acclimated to the below freezing temperatures in my region. It seems to take about 2-3 weeks of constant below freezing temperatures for me to "get used to it". Right now, I am feeling the cold and the biting wind very vividly.
2. This time of year is quite hazardous because the first several snowfalls are accompanied by a helluva lot of fender benders as people relearn how to drive in snow. It also is challenging for a lot of folks because the snow currently is light and sometimes does not even stick noticeably on the ground but it still can make the roads very slippery. I am being extra careful for the next few weeks while people acclimate.
3. My TMJ is acting up like crazy. It is now even affecting me during the day in very painful ways. I am trying to force myself to not clench my teeth.... but the moment my attention strays.... I am at it again. My tempormadibular joint is inflamed and my ear is also inflamed and sore as a result. I have taken to gripping a plastic pen between my teeth to try to help me to NOT clench. I wonder if my holding the stem of my pipe between my teeth prevented me from clenching so much and the current pain is in part due to not having the pipe between my teeth like usual? Interesting idea.
PipeTobacco
4 Comments:
We had more snow last night, which I will call snowfall 3b as it is more or less a continuation of the night before. I read that it did cause some accidents.
I have concluded that early winter accidents are not because people forget how to drive in winter but that they forget to actually do it since driving is in large part autonomic. We get behind the wheel and go into autopilot as it were, so we tend to continue to drive as if it's still summer until it gets ingrained once again.
Good point.
I have TMJ also but it's not nearly so bad as it used to be when our kids were pre-schoolers and home all day. I also grind my teeth at night. I'm not sure (since I think I missed a few posts) but do you have a bite plane? That has helped me immensely; I wear it at night and it makes me hold my lower jaw in a different position and slightly open, which seems to relieve the discomfort. One of my co-workers has a different kind of appliance(which I do not know the name of, sorry), prescribed and made by a jaw specialist, which is helping her very much. It's amazing how those muscles clench up on their own despite our conscious efforts. I think your hypothesis about clenching on the pipe stem, plus perhaps smoking being a stress reliever, certainly has merit.
we had freezing weather here and can't remember the last time we had freezing weather in Nov..here..it's usually still in the 80's
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