Toothache
Wow. I knew toothaches could be bad but I've never experienced anything like this before. With the fibromyalgia flaring up and the headache from the mono, I kept thinking that maybe my teeth and jaw were just hurting from that. But yesterday it became abundantly clear that there's definitely something going on with my teeth. Probably at least 4 of them.
There are definitely disadvantages to having developed a high pain tolerance. Why, oh why do I wait so long to deal with things? Of course, it didn't seem like as much of a priority, as sick as I've been.
When I went in to the dentist last time they told me I needed something like 7-10 fillings, but I had them start on the worst couple of teeth and was trying to stretch out dealing with the rest so it wouldn't be so much money and pain all at once. (Especially since even getting one filling tends to make my CFS/FMS flare up for a week or two.) Boy do I regret it now. How I wish I'd just gotten them all filled a few months ago.
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And why is it that things always seem to happen on the weekend? I called this morning and all the denists at our office were in training all day today. A dentist can't see me until late Monday morning. I spent all day today calling just about every dentist in the phone book, trying unsuccessfully to find someone who could see me today. I did find a dentist who can see me tomorrow, if I drive to the next state--during a time DH is taking the kids to swimming lessons. I'm not sure if I should go ahead and get the teeth worked on tomorrow, or just wait until Monday.
Meanwhile, I'm dealing with pain that fluctuates from "this is really pretty uncomfortable, and I can't sleep or concentrate very well" to pretty close to the "just shoot me right now, I'm begging you!" level.
Seriously, if someone came to me right now and promised that they could pull every tooth in my mouth right now and guarantee an immediate and permanent relief to all mouth pain for the rest of my life, I'd be seriously tempted to take them up on it. Eat pureed food or wear dentures for the rest of my life? No problem! Just make it stop hurting. Now. Please.
Huge doses of ibuprofen help slightly, as long as I don't eat or drink anything or take too much air into my mouth. But not for long. I've been trying everything from cloves to hydrogen peroxide and salt rinses to attempt to manage the pain.
If you know me, you know that I almost never even pop a Tylenol, and I try to avoid any kind of pain medication if at all possible. I tried taking just a little Ibuprofen, spacing out the 200-mg capsules to try to see if I could get some relief without going with the full 800 mg dose.
When I realized that I'd taken 1400 mg of Ibuprofen in a 5-6 hour time span (800 mg over an hour or so, and then 600 mg over the course of another hour 4-5 hours later) and I was still running back and forth in the kitchen holding my jaw and crying in pain, I knew it wasn't going to cut it to get through the weekend.
I called my dentist at home and he called in in a prescription for antibiotics and a painkiller for me. I haven't taken antibiotics since I was a teen, and I've never had an antibiotic I didn't react to with either giant hives or severe stomach problems.
This one, clindamycin, is one I haven't tried before, but I'm kind of afraid to try it. Especially since after I got home I read that it can be contraindicated for people with digestive issues, especially if they've gotten colitis from an antibiotic in the past.
Considering that I have IBS, already have diarrhea and stomach pain at the moment (sorry, TMI), have gotten severe digestive symptoms (diarrhea, nausea, etc.) from every antibiotic I've taken that hasn't given me hives, and had absolutely horrible stomach issues for YEARS the last time I was on antibiotics, I'm really not sure I want to take this unless it's absolutely necessary.
I'm not really sure if I even have a dental infection, or if I'm just having sensitivity from either cavities and/or gum recession. I probably do have some kind of infection, but the dentist hasn't actually seen me . . . just prescribed the antibiotic over the phone. And the fact that a fibromyalgia flare-up tends to cause worse pain, including mouth and jaw pain and tooth sensitivity, could affect it too.
I'm actually not in too much pain at the moment, since I haven't eaten anything or opened my mouth for a while. I think I'll just try to go to sleep now and call the dentist to ask about contraindications on the antibiotic in the morning.
The tendonitis in my ankle was acting up pretty badly this week, too. Sometimes I feel rather like my body is falling apart.
There are definitely disadvantages to having developed a high pain tolerance. Why, oh why do I wait so long to deal with things? Of course, it didn't seem like as much of a priority, as sick as I've been.
When I went in to the dentist last time they told me I needed something like 7-10 fillings, but I had them start on the worst couple of teeth and was trying to stretch out dealing with the rest so it wouldn't be so much money and pain all at once. (Especially since even getting one filling tends to make my CFS/FMS flare up for a week or two.) Boy do I regret it now. How I wish I'd just gotten them all filled a few months ago.
#############################
And why is it that things always seem to happen on the weekend? I called this morning and all the denists at our office were in training all day today. A dentist can't see me until late Monday morning. I spent all day today calling just about every dentist in the phone book, trying unsuccessfully to find someone who could see me today. I did find a dentist who can see me tomorrow, if I drive to the next state--during a time DH is taking the kids to swimming lessons. I'm not sure if I should go ahead and get the teeth worked on tomorrow, or just wait until Monday.
Meanwhile, I'm dealing with pain that fluctuates from "this is really pretty uncomfortable, and I can't sleep or concentrate very well" to pretty close to the "just shoot me right now, I'm begging you!" level.
Seriously, if someone came to me right now and promised that they could pull every tooth in my mouth right now and guarantee an immediate and permanent relief to all mouth pain for the rest of my life, I'd be seriously tempted to take them up on it. Eat pureed food or wear dentures for the rest of my life? No problem! Just make it stop hurting. Now. Please.
Huge doses of ibuprofen help slightly, as long as I don't eat or drink anything or take too much air into my mouth. But not for long. I've been trying everything from cloves to hydrogen peroxide and salt rinses to attempt to manage the pain.
If you know me, you know that I almost never even pop a Tylenol, and I try to avoid any kind of pain medication if at all possible. I tried taking just a little Ibuprofen, spacing out the 200-mg capsules to try to see if I could get some relief without going with the full 800 mg dose.
When I realized that I'd taken 1400 mg of Ibuprofen in a 5-6 hour time span (800 mg over an hour or so, and then 600 mg over the course of another hour 4-5 hours later) and I was still running back and forth in the kitchen holding my jaw and crying in pain, I knew it wasn't going to cut it to get through the weekend.
I called my dentist at home and he called in in a prescription for antibiotics and a painkiller for me. I haven't taken antibiotics since I was a teen, and I've never had an antibiotic I didn't react to with either giant hives or severe stomach problems.
This one, clindamycin, is one I haven't tried before, but I'm kind of afraid to try it. Especially since after I got home I read that it can be contraindicated for people with digestive issues, especially if they've gotten colitis from an antibiotic in the past.
Considering that I have IBS, already have diarrhea and stomach pain at the moment (sorry, TMI), have gotten severe digestive symptoms (diarrhea, nausea, etc.) from every antibiotic I've taken that hasn't given me hives, and had absolutely horrible stomach issues for YEARS the last time I was on antibiotics, I'm really not sure I want to take this unless it's absolutely necessary.
I'm not really sure if I even have a dental infection, or if I'm just having sensitivity from either cavities and/or gum recession. I probably do have some kind of infection, but the dentist hasn't actually seen me . . . just prescribed the antibiotic over the phone. And the fact that a fibromyalgia flare-up tends to cause worse pain, including mouth and jaw pain and tooth sensitivity, could affect it too.
I'm actually not in too much pain at the moment, since I haven't eaten anything or opened my mouth for a while. I think I'll just try to go to sleep now and call the dentist to ask about contraindications on the antibiotic in the morning.
The tendonitis in my ankle was acting up pretty badly this week, too. Sometimes I feel rather like my body is falling apart.
Labels: health issues, just life
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 8:01 PM[Permanent link]
6 Comments:
Oh, honey. I am SO sorry =( My last (as in most recent! not tempting fate! knock on wood!!) major tooth problem was a few years ago when a wisdom tooth I hadn't had removed yet came in further and exacerbated a bad tooth that I'd already scheduled to be root-canaled. Let's just say I never made it to my "due date", LOL. I remember taking SO much codeine and Aleve, and still having to put one pillow over my head and another over my mouth, so that I could scream without anyone calling the police on my poor husband.
I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but take the antibiotic. Infection does cause WAY more pain, and you don't want them messing with your infected mouth. If the antibiotic is going to help, it will do so right away,in my experience. IMHO, doctors overprescribe antibiotics but dentists do not. Perhaps it's because symptoms in dentistry don't mimic other things, if that makes any sense.
Hugs and prayers your way tonight. God is extremely familiar with my dental-related pleas, LOL. It'll all be over soon and you will feel like a million bucks in comparison!
One more thing...sorry this got so long, but, can you take vitamin B supplements? I find that stress and pain (especially dental-related, for me, since it's my worst phobia) completely exhaust my poor adrenals and the B really helps. Just a thought.
Thanks, Deb.
What bothers me about this particular antibiotic is that it has a much higher incidence of causing colitis (including fatal colitis) than other antibiotics, and is specifically cautioned when being used with patients with a history of bowel disease/problems.
Also, it is passed through breastmilk. Since I'm also nursing a toddler who has a history of chronic diarrhea and who at this very moment has severe watery diarrhea and vomiting, I'm not going to start taking this medication until I can talk to a doctor about it first. Hopefully I can get hold of someone to ask about it tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I'm taking echinacea and goldenseal and using colloidal silver and a few other things to try to combat any infection.
Aaack! Uh, my bad! I had *no* idea how dangerous those antibiotics could be! Apologies for the a**vice! (And thanks for always teaching me so much, seriously.) In any case, whatever you do to combat the infection will bring down the pain. In the meantime, the next time you have pain like that, let me know and I'll pass you a couple extra pillows ;P
Thanks, debangel. I was going to just take the antibiotic until I started reading the warnings about potentially fatal colitis and cautions about using it with patients with histories like mine. Scary stuff.
Thankfully, the dentist I saw today didn't think I needed antibiotics anyway. I'm glad I didn't just go ahead and start taking it in blind faith yesterday. All too often it seems like a good idea to be skeptical and double-check things.
Awh, it was so painful that one could probably feel the pain and discomfort that you were in, just by reading this. So how did it all of this go down? It would have been better if you didn't have to take an antibiotic, and the dentist was able to locate and fix the problem carefully.
I think it turned out to be TMJ pain.
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