Well, in almost two months anyway.
You see, I have never been officially diagnosed, but I am pretty sure I have a slight case of TMJ. My jaw has always cracked off and on (like sometimes I can open and close my mouth 20 times in a row and it cracks each time—well, not cracks, like a cracking a knuckle, but like the jaw is popping in and out of joint).
It never really bothered me that much, but before we left for the cruise, I started to notice that if I chewed more than once piece a day, or a few days in a row, my jaw would be very sore.
Well, I didn’t chew gum at all during the cruise, and very infrequently the rest of the two weeks of vacation…until the ride home, when I was trying to stay awake, and then all day afterwards. And come Monday morning? I could barely get my mouth open. I am assuming this was due to the TMJ and having been aggravated by the gum-chewing.
So I decided I had to give up gum. And I went cold-turkey.
Now, keep in mind this was almost like asking me to stop breathing. I have gum at work in my desk, in my car, in my purse, in my nightstand, by the computer, in the kitchen, in Tom’s car—you get the idea. But I had to for the sake of my jaw.
And I bought mints. Lots and lots of mints. And more mints.
But today? I just finally decided I would try a piece of gum—for no more than the time it took to ride into town and get to our destination (15 minutes). Unfortunately, it didn’t even last that long, LOL, as I think we had an old pack of gum and the taste was off and the gum didn’t stay soft very long…so I think it ended up to be less than five minutes.
Luckily, my jaw didn’t hurt from those five minutes. But it made me realize that my jaw hadn’t hurt AT ALL during the past two months…so it looks like gum is no longer a valuable part of my life. :'(
Now, what to do with the 20 packs I have sitting around the house? |-|