We had quite a week this week. With two Physical Therapy appointments, a Neurology appointment, a Podiatrist appointment, and a Hygienist appointment at the dentist, we’ve been very busy. And I’m really worn out. I’ll be sure to not let the appointments end up like that again.

We go to the dentist regularly, but I’ve always had trouble keeping my mouth open wide all that time. Now I understand why, as my jaw muscles simply fatigue so much that it’s very painful. And that has set my neck into spasms in the past. I sure didn’t want that to happen right now, as painful as my neck has become.

I found out a long time ago that I could deal with any lengthy dental work better if I asked for a bite block. That wedges my mouth open without me having keep it open myself. So this time I asked for the bite block when I got my teeth cleaned, and it helped a lot.

The Hygienist said my gums were bleeding more than usual. But that didn’t surprise me, since I’m now on a rather large dose of Coenzyme Q10. It acts like Warfarin, a blood thinner. So I guess the next time I have work done, I’ll need to stop the CoQ10 ahead of time.

The Physical Therapist is spending most of my time there trying to relax my neck, shoulder, and back muscles with moist heat and the TENS unit, as well as some wonderful massages and some neck traction. As far as “exercise” I spend time in between the heat and massage sessions just “sitting”. That doesn’t sound like exercise to you I’m sure. But for me to sit unsupported with less pain in a regular chair without the neck brace is really exercise, because my neck muscles have to hold up my head all on their own. It was easier to do today than last time. So the little home exercises he gave me to do, plus what he’s doing at therapy are already helping a little.

He set my TENS unit for my current needs and gave me a diagram of where my hubby will need to put the electrode pads. Hopefully that will mean I can use the TENS unit more and depend on the muscle relaxer and pain meds less.

So I continue to do what I can to improve my situation as much as possible.