Elaine

TMJ…What IT HAS DONE TO US…

TMJ has totally consumed our lives.
It controls everything that we do.
What you as a “normal” take for granted,
We as TMJ sufferers can not.
We are a people all our own.


Most of us haven’t eaten solid food in
so long , we aren’t sure we remember how to chew.
When you smile…you feel good.
When we smile…we feel pain.
One of your bad headaches
Is one of our good headaches.
Most of us have had to give up our jobs.
Most of us have had to give up our “normal” lives.


We have been reduced to sucking through straws
and depending on medications to get us through the day.
The days that the medication doesn’t help…
Are the days we call HELL. We guess by now you’re wondering
how and why we ended up this way.


We give THANKS to the doctors that took our pain
and suffering and used it to better himself/herself.
All they seen were dollar signs. These doctors never told us
“ALL”
the risks involved in having TMJ surgery.
They never told us that we would never be “normal” again.


They never told us that the surgery they did would
make us worse. They never told us that the parts
they were going to put in our bodies (whether the parts be man made
or from our own bodies) would one day fail. They never told us when
these parts failed, they would never treat us again.


They never told us the reason these parts failed was
because of them. They let us believe they failed because of us.
They never told us that our faces would change shape. They
never told us our bite would change. They never told us they would
turn their backs on us and deny ever scarring our lives forever.


We the TMJ family would like to THANK YOU our dear
Doctors for changing our life forever. We’d like to ask you
our dear doctors…”How can you sleep at night knowing how
many lives you have ruined?” “ How can you eat knowing we
will never be able to eat the way you do?” “How can you smile
knowing we will never really feel the pleasure of smiling the way
you do?” “How can you face yourself in the mirror knowing it was
YOU that did all this to us “Well our dear doctor…How can you?”


Tell us dear doctor…Have you ever wondered what it’s like
it’s like to be screaming and crying in pain…
and hear your children in the background crying
and asking their daddy what’s wrong with mommy?


Tell us dear doctor…Have you ever wondered what it’s like to see
your spouse cry because they don’t know how to help you? Picture
this dear doctor…picture a grown man, a daddy and a husband crying
so hard he can’t talk because your in so much pain he can’t help you.


Tell us dear doctor…Have you ever wondered what it’s like to crave
a McDonald’s hamburger and know you’ll never be able to eat it
because you can’t open your mouth to chew it?


ANSWER US DEAR DOCTOR…WE’D REALLY LIKE TO KNOW.

Written by Maria Holleman



[This message has been edited by Elaine (edited 09-09-2001).]