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Hi Ladies. I am feeling desperate. At the beginning of June I got a pain in one of my teeth (no cavities or anything up to this point). The story is long and complicated, but they decided the tooth was cracked and did a root canal. However, I am still in pain and worse than ever. I was even hospitalized last month for several days for pain management. It is so scary and frustrating. Nobody can pinpoint the problem. I have no idea what each day will hold and whether I will be able to bear up under it. The pain is in the whole side of my face and jaw. One dr thinks it is a form of muscular TMJ, another thinks a nerve condition called trigeminal neuralgia. Either way, I am told that facial pain ranks #1 among pains, even above back pain, and I believe it. I had to stop nursing my baby and I'm not even the one bottle feeding her at night . My whole life has been sucked into this pain. I pray all the time and know God is leading, but I don't understand and it is so physically hard. Now I am dealing with depression/anxiety too. My husband and I talked about enrolling our kids in ps, but we chose to hold off in faith that God would restore me enough to be able to teach. I have spent many days just trying to survive and nothing is ready for school at this point. I feel like such a figment of my normal self and so inadequate for the task in front of me. My MIL has been here helping but she can't stay forever. So, would you please join me in praying for complete physical and mental restoration and relief from this terrible pain? All I want in the whole world is to get up, care for my family and do what God has called me to do. I am seeing a neurologist on Wednesday and I'm praying for wisdom. I appreciate your support so much.

Oh, I might also add that our 2 year old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the midst of everything. It has been a hard, hard summer here. I know God is good. I so want him to show himself to me.

Larica,

That sounds so difficult! I'm so sorry for all the pain you are having to go through. I will pray for all that you have asked - and that God would give you a peace that only He can give.

Blessings.

Praying! My husband had some horrible pain with a cracked tooth this summer. They pulled it and all is well. Is there any chance something like that could help? I know how much pain he was in. I am sure they have discussed that, but just in case..... I am so sorry, and I will pray for you.

Larica, I am so sorry you are having to travel such a hard road right now.

Praying for you!

Prayers and hugs! May the Lord grant you strength and heal your body.

I'm so sorry. Praying!!

I will pray for you. I understand pain of a different kind that makes it hard to go on. May God uphold you, strengthen you, sustain you, heal you and give you peace.

Erica,

I'm so sorry that you are going through all this! You are in my prayers. ((((hugs))))

I'm so sorry. Praying for healing and grace for you. It sounds extremely difficult, but I know God's grace is sufficient even through our darkest times.

Praying for you. I encourage you to give some time before making school changes. Your children are young enough to go easy for a while.

I wanted to ask if they have ruled out TMJ. I ask only because I have been experiencing something similar for the past few weeks. My jaw became sore. It would hurt every time I chewed anything tough. I was also having problems in my neck and shoulder on the same side. We were camping, so I waited until we got back to visit the chiropractor. She said my jaw was out and she did adjust it somewhat. After my visit with her, although there was some relief, I still felt awful tight on that side and continued pain in my jaw. That is unusual after an adjustment. On Friday I visited another chiropractor, simply because some chiropractors can work deeper than others. He gave me a good forceful adjustment and did work on the jaw as well. He said the jaw can cause problems in the neck. He also said it takes time for the jaw to go back to normal, so I didn't expect instant results. Even after his adjustment, I can still feel some tightness and occasional pain in my jaw and neck, but it is better. I know some are not chiropractic people, but if your problem is TMJ, a chiropractor can help to alleviate some of the pain. I have a high tolerance to pain, but it WAS getting to me. I am hoping that is all it is. I go to the dentist for my cleaning this month and will address it with them if it is not gone. I just wanted to give you some hope. If you don't mind chiropractors, I would recommend seeing one. It may give you some relief. HTH

Dear Heavenly Father,
We lift up our hearts and seek You, the Almighty Physician, to touch Erica, her family, and doctors. Please give them Your strength and wisdom to find relief from her pain and restore her to Your calling --a wife and mom. May Your whispers fill them with peace in this trial. We praise Your name for Your sacrificial gift. ~Amen

{{{Erica}}} May you find comfort in knowing that we are all praying for your family. As a mom who suffered with hyperemesis gravidarum with each pregnancy, I can relate to the inability to barely care for myself or my family at times and often questioned whether homeschooling could remain an option. I want to encourage you to use this time, to teach their hearts instead of fretting over academics. It was once shared with me, that God will look to their hearts and not ask them to recite their abc's. Now, I can say with passion, I see the fruits of these difficult trials. I have many people come up to our family and share that just love our girls and their willingness to serve.

I really hope that you will feel the genuine encouragement from my heart. Remain faithful to your convictions and allow God to wrap His loving arms around you and your family and carry you through this trial.

I hope that I am sharing this the way I deeply intend in love. I am quite sick right now and not all the way up to par, but know that I will be praying.

Definitely praying. (((HUGS)))