Two weeks ago when I went to see my rheumy, he suggested an MRI for my low back to see why it hasn't stopped hurting since early December when I fell; he said he thinks a disc may be ruptured (we already know they're all bulging). This past Friday he's filling out forms as I walk in the office and he asked, almost as an afterthought, if my jaws still hurt. I said yes (the worst of the TMJ started early last summer), so he sent me for x-rays of my jaws and hips - all angles, and my low back. He is also scheduling me for a whole body bone scan - he says that its to look for inflammation and said something else about the TMJ that I didn't catch. Could it be that he thinks a bad hip is causing the TMJ? The last chiropractor I had (before the dx of fibro and TMJ) said my right hip wasn't "working properly". I'm really confused now ... I guess I'm in the right place! Can anybody make sense out of this? Thanks.
To my thinking, hip problems cannot cause TMJ. But I do know that many people with FMS suffer from TMJ. Is your physician aware of this? With FMS, you have to make sure that all other afflictions are not the cause of your misery or you could end up in trouble. It might be prudent to play this out to the end with your doctor. Do you trust this doctor?
Yes, he's the one who told me that nearly everyone with FMS has TMJ; he has a double speciality-rheumatology and internal medicine - I've never had a more compassionate and thorough doctor. Yes, I trust him completely. There was a little box he checked off for the x-rays that said something about tying in TMJ with the hips. It kind of makes sense; if your gait is off-kilter over a minor hip "blip" (sorry), then your whole carriage could be knocked out of whack. I know there's arthritis in my hips and (thinking about it now) my PCP was worried about how bad it is in my right hip. The fact that the arthritis is everwhere is why she sent me to this doctor.
I guess all will be made clear enough eventually, I just wish I had enough education to figure this all out. Next life I guess...lol
We will all be physicians in our next life given all we have been through in this one...lol
I do hope, Christine, that you get an answer to your question after your MRI. I know how waiting is such a pain in the butt! We all read so much about symptoms of other problems when we are looking for answers we have to be careful not to overthink some things. Keep us posted on your outcome.
Low pain all,
Cat ;o)
