Pained and Worried

Hey Y’all! I'm new to this site. I'm just going to vent a little bit.

So about a year and a half ago I was getting these terrible headaches, like crawl in a ball and sleep for 10 hours a day, everyday for months on end. I went to a series of Doctors but no one could figure out what was wrong with me. Finally they stopped all on their own. I stopped thinking/worrying about it.

Oh, just an FIY I'm only 22 years old.

Moving on. February of this year comes along and the headaches start up again. Oh no. I go to my Primary Doctor, she says it could be one on five things: 1. I had just gotten over a sinus infection, so she thought that could be residual. 2. I need new glasses. 3. TMJ 4. Migraines 5. And lastly I should see a Neurologist-- worst case scenario.

I had a feeling it was TMJ related so I made an appointment with my regular dentist. (I needed a cleaning anyway). So the first appointment the can get me in is a week later. Fine. They took normal X-rays and did a routine cleaning and such. Due to the amount of cracking, popping, grinding my jam makes when opening my mouth, which I've had since high school I might add, She said they could make me a mouth guard to help, but she'd rather send me to a specialist since they could make me a better, customized mouth guard as well as suggest alternative treatments because surgery is not necessary, (It's got a very small success rate, and sometimes makes things worse).

Anyway, so after months of cancelling and rescheduling, they finally got me in to see the specialist. So I go in take more x-rays, talk with the PA, he shows me a video and gives me a folder with general info on TMJ and such.

Then the Doctor comes in... "Wow you're young, too young for this kind of damage." She starts asking me all these questions about family history and my general health and if I had been in any car accidents.

Long story short my jaw is deteriorating rapidly and we don't know why. Her working theory, as of right now, is that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, or some other kind of Autoimmune Disease. Funny thing is I got blood work done back in October and everything came back fine. Yet my Temporomandibular Joint is so withered away on both sides, it seems like this has been a problem for years.

Since I've seen her I've been doing physical therapy twice and week and seeing a chiropractor once a week. It was helping to the point where my headaches were down to nothing. But the last couple of days it’s back up to crawl in a ball and sleep all day pain.

I got an MRI about two week ago and no one has really gone over it with me, though my physical therapist read the report briefly and disagrees with it.

The specialist wants me to see a Rheumatologist, which is not till the end of April.

I've been missing months of school due to the pain and the appointments. The semester is rapidly coming to an end and I feel like I'm not going to be able to finish in time because all I want to do is sleep. I feel like my professors think I'm just making up the pain, It's all in my head. But you try and feel this way for months on end, and you don't even know why.

I've also already spent over $600 just on co-payments in just the last month.

I fear for my mental health, I work 2 jobs, go to school, deal with this medical crap, and try to balance social life and a new boyfriend. I also have to find a summer internship in order to graduate.

I'm not sure how much longer I can do all this with out collapsing in a giant heap.