I was in an unfortunate accident last week which left me with a dislocated jaw and torn ligament (funny that THIS happened to the oral health girl). Anyways, as you can imagine, the pain is unbearable, and really there is no other treatment but pain management and 'father time'. I'm doing okay (I can put things into perspective with learning more about dental stuff - I now fully understand TMJ!)

My question is, has anyone else experienced an injury (or is currently experiencing a painful injury) while trying to complete a graduate degree? I'm not someone who will quit, but sometimes I find myself almost losing it. They say that stress and anxiety feeds pain...I'm not looking for sympathy, just tips on how to push through....Thanks.

Lynn, so sorry to hear this and hope that you make a speedy recovery. I had an injury in September, not so severe as yours, but very painful. I was diagnosed with "acute toricullis", which is basically an unrelenting muscle spasm of the muscle near your collarbone, that is involved with turning your head, etc...I simply woke up with this one morning, and could not even pull my head from the pillow. It took about a week to get right, but in the meantime was very sore, and was told that this could have been brought on by stress, too many hours at the computer, etc...I just did my best to rest, use the pain meds as needed, but it was a wake up call to the amount of stress I was under, and the toll it takes on you. I went for some therapuetic massage...would you benefit from that, even just for the relaxation?

Hi Lynn, I had major surgery on my neck a few years back for a suspicious lump. I recommend that you stay busy and focussed, I found the pain became less bothersome when I was really busy. That and cocodamol. Although that me me feel like I was floating...

I think just managing acute or chronic pain is very tiring and stressful in and out itself. It certainly can make you feel cranky and miserable to be in pain, and the energy that goes into just coping through daily life can be exhausting. You have mentioned the link that anxiety and stress feed pain levels--I am sure that is true. Isn't plain old tea supposed to have some kind of soothing or restorative quality? Maybe the best way to cope is a good ole cuppa.

Thanks-It is nice to know you are never alone...

I'm trying to stay busy and focussed (we all know how busy we are, I have my defense coming up in under a month) and I booked a TMJ massage with a very good doctor over here. All I can do is keep smiling...thanks again for all your suggestions!

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Losing a tooth (or teeth) can be a painful and emotional experience. A healthy set of a teeth can define a person's smile and personality, and losing one, or in some cases, several, can be a deeply traumatic experience for someone. It is likely to affect their self-confidence and general happiness. They will never grow back and treatment is extensive, expensive and often painful.
Dentists Mechanicsburg PA

Lynn you poor dear. My thesis is looking at thoughts, worry and how they impact on pain and I can confirm that all the literature supports the assumption that negative emotions exaggerate the feeling of pain and the unhelpful places that thinking about it can take us.  One of the worst thing for you may be that stress makes it more difficult for us to take our mind of the pain to focus on other things especially higher level thoughts.

So adequate pain relief may be important, however noting that some classes of drugs such as those containing codeine can also affect our reasoning/concentration. Toughing. It through the pain whilst trying to focus on higher level tasks is inadvisable as if the pain is allowed to ramp up it is more difficult to bring it back under control. Working in shorter more intensive bursts may help concentration and allow the work to 'distract' you from the discomfort.

Be aware that persisting pain WILL have an effect on mood so apologize to people round you before you start to throw things and hopefully they will be a little more understanding.

Lynn you poor dear. My thesis is looking at thoughts, worry and how they impact on pain and I can confirm that all the literature supports the assumption that negative emotions exaggerate the feeling of pain and the unhelpful places that thinking about it can take us.  One of the worst thing for you may be that stress makes it more difficult for us to take our mind of the pain to focus on other things especially higher level thoughts.

So adequate pain relief may be important, however noting that some classes of drugs such as those containing codeine can also affect our reasoning/concentration. Toughing. It through the pain whilst trying to focus on higher level tasks is inadvisable as if the pain is allowed to ramp up it is more difficult to bring it back under control. Working in shorter more intensive bursts may help concentration and allow the work to 'distract' you from the discomfort.

Be aware that persisting pain WILL have an effect on mood so apologize to people round you before you start to throw things and hopefully they will be a little more understanding.

Oops.  Must have felt what I had to say was so important it needed saying twice....

I am on my iPad and must have hit post twice - surprised that the forum allows us to do this.

I'm hoping that Lynn is not still in pain three years after she posted this!!

Loved your comment Pam!

thank you for your new posts.
there is so much more to this story that is possible on this post
pushing through pain is not advisable in the end.

and I do not agree that stress from school (as a dentist told me) was the cause of this injury.
Chronic pain is unpleasant, and stressful, .. and can contribute to a lot of things. I'm not sure we are defining stress appropriately here..the
"stress" of how the injuries (yes, I do not know the full extent of all injuries) happened, without not remembering what happend, or how, is "stressful = and should be recognized as well.