exciting, informative, snarky, and very likely fabricated tales of life as an american expat in london

nightmare

by Jen at 6:48 pm on 13.01.2006Comments Off
filed under: mundane mayhem

Ever have a dream that is so vivid it leaves you shaken for the rest of the day?

I’ve been having intense jaw pain lately. The muscles on the side of my face feel like I’ve been chewing the same piece of gum for 2 weeks straight. It’s been going on for about 4 months now, and it gets so bad it triggers eye strain, headaches and nausea. I went to see the dentist about it, but he was convinced I was clenching my teeth at night. I, on the other hand, am convinced I don’t. No one (who’s ever slept in the same bed as me) has ever told me I do, and usually my jaw actually feels better in the morning. Then he told me it might be stress, but it happens even on the weekends and holidays. It’s interfering with my sleep because i become so *aware* of how I’m holding my jaw and concentrate so hard on trying to relax it, that the rest of me can’t relax, and then I start to panic about not being able to fall asleep, which keeps me awake even longer. I’ve actually developed new wrinkles since all this started.

But I didn’t realise just how badly it’s affected me until i woke up in tears and horror last night, from a dream in which the whole lower right portion of my jaw, including teeth, bloody roots, and bone, lifted out of my mouth like a set of dentures, leaving a hole i could fit my whole tongue into. the shock made me ill, and that’s what woke me up.

It’s been recommended I go see a cranial osteopath, but I’ve been postponing as it’s so expensive. Clearly, my subconscious is telling me it’s worth a restful night’s sleep.

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