What it's like to be wired shut

I thought I'd share a bit about what it's like to have your mouth wired shut. This is one of the main reasons that I wanted to write this blog. One of the first things I did when I found out that I was going to have to be wired shut eventually was look up what to expect. It turns out that the majority of people who are writing about their experiences are doing it as a recommendation from their orthodontist to correct bite problems. Now, don't get me wrong - some folks have really bad issues that need correcting.  Some don't even seem like much of a choice, their bites were so off to begin with it made more sense to have the surgery than not. But that wasn't my experience. I was already in rough shape, and the outcome of my surgery was a hope to get things aligned - no promises of a better facial structure, more attractive profile, etc. 

When Dr M told me that I was going to be wired shut, I didn't really think twice. I just wanted to fix my mouth. By this point I had been healing for about a month, and my whole lower jaw was really swinging over to the left side. Teeth weren't lining up, my face was crooked....I mean anything to fix that was ok with me. I had been thinking since the beginning of this experience that I should be wired shut anyhow..I mean my mandible was fractured at both contact points to my skull. How could it heal properly while just hanging there by muscles? I have since learned that this is a very viable treatment option when one side at least is not displaced. So I did some research to see what it might be like. Here are some things folks said: 

- You will be hungry

- You will "eat" from a syringe 

- You might feel claustrophobic 

- You may not be able to breathe well/get winded easily

- You will be able to talk 

- It will hurt to yawn. 

Here's what I found to be my experience. 

- I was hungry 

- I had to eat through a syringe 

- I never felt claustrophobic

- I was able to breathe just fine, but there were some instances where I had to breathe through my mouth (if I over exerted myself) and had to open my lips wide to get the air to pass quickly through my teeth. 

- I was able to talk. But, since the fractures were right near my TMJ joint, it was very tiring to do. 

- I found myself clenching my teeth a lot. This was a reflexive thing, to keep them from chattering or bumping together. 

- Yawning is hell! It's wiser to have a nap than let yourself get tired enough to yawn. 

One thing that I didn't expect was how much my jaw would spasm and jerk all over the place. Completely uncontrollably, and it is very painful. It would also cause my teeth to bash together, which was even worse. This wasn't really to do with being wired shut, but is something that happens to most people with broken jaws. Taking muscle relaxers really helped with this, just over the counter Robax, though my Dr prescribed me Valium to help with that as well. 

Now lets get to the most awful part of being wired shut. THE HUNGER!! This was the theme of my life. I cried over the hunger. I whined. I bitched and moaned. I even almost screamed the wires open one day. This is no joke. You just cannot ever feel satisfied on liquids alone. You can fill your belly with enough that your stomach isn't growling, but you will never feel full. When I started this experience, I was probably around 150 lbs, and 6 feet tall. This is a totally normal BMI, but I didn't get wired shut until a month after the accident, so by then I'd been on a no-chew diet for as long. I'm sure I had lost 5 lbs since August 12, if not more. So this was just the next step in my starvation diet I guess. By the end of the wiring, I was down to 135 lbs and I don't think I had much more to lose. 

Well, eating from the syringe was awful. Just awful. I felt like that was just humiliating...like adding insult to injury. I can (and will) write an entire post about it. 

I'd say this: if you know you will get wired shut, FATTEN UP. I don't know if it will help, but I would hope so. And be patient with yourself. Constant hunger is painful and you will be hangry the whole time. It's ok. You're allowed to be.