Pain
So I've now pretty much had an entire 4 weeks solid of pain.
I'm literally at the end of what I can handle right now, mentally at least.
It started out about 5 weeks ago with a chipped tooth (from a cavity) that gave me a pretty gnarly toothache for like 3 nights in a row. I was just about to set up some sort of dentist thing when it totally stopped hurting and went away for a week. So of course, no pain = out of sight out of mind pretty much. Then all of a sudden it came back, except it was no longer that tooth that hurt, it was the entire right side of my bottom jaw, from the front teeth all the way to my ear. When this started, just like with the toothache it would only hurt at night. For the first week of it, it was fairly moderate and wasn't every night so once again I didn't pay a lot of attentuon. Second week was every night, and I was getting to the point where I was losing sleep over it because everytime I'd lay down, it'd get a hell of a lot more intense/painful. At this point (no dental coverage mind you) I started calling around to A. find out what I might need to do about it and B. what kind of cost I was looking at. Answer? Root Canal - Local dentist $1200.
Of course after hearing that all I could think was "Ok yeah right, I'll just wait this thing out". Third week, was no longer just hurting at night although at night it was definitly at it's worst, but it was also hurting me a lot during the day. No Relief. Ever. (And no amount of asprin or pain pills would even dent it) At night, the only thing I could do was pace through the house because at this point even sitting down made the pain worse.
So, after spending 2 or 3 nights only getting about 3 hours of sleep because of the pain, I got desperate and went to the clinic as a walkin and waited a good 3 hours to be seen because NO ONE had any appoitments I could book. Clinic Dentist see's me for 2 minutes, says "Yeah thats infected" and gives me a script for antibiotics and ibuprofen and sends me home. I start taking the pills, pain continues to get worse, I continue to miss out on sleep and spend my nights pacing. Got even MORE desperate and decided to go to the ER, only to be sent home. Next day I decided I needed to go get my mom and make her come stay with me for a few days and help me solve my problem.
Finally made it in to a real dentist, guy was INCREDIBLY helpful, explained to me exactly what was going on and told me flat out that I had 2 teeth that were messed up at this point and I either needed root canal x2 ($950 each) or extraction x2 ($100 each). So, got them pulled right then and there.
As they started, the first one wasn't all the way numb so I freaked the fuck out because I was already having serious anxiety about losing 2 teeth and now it was pretty painful. So by the time they finished that one I was shaking and crying so bad I had to be left alone for like 10 minutes to calm down before the next one was done. Was scary shit o.o
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo that was one week ago tomorrow. I followed all the post op instructions (obsessively, because I'm so scared of more pain at this point). The relief from the old pace the room can't lay down or sleep ever pain, was IMMEDIATE. I was the happiest kid in the world. Of course I still had some pretty severe pain from the fact that two teeth had just been ripped from my jaw, and swelling etc. But really? That was cake compared to before.
I COULD LAY DOWN! I COULD SLEEP! I COULD SIT IN THE RECLINER AND READ!!!!!!!!
But no, this was not to last.
So while reading up about tooth extractions and how to take care of it, I discovered something called Dry Socket. The initial blood clot that formed right after the tooth was pulled, is supposed to stay there for about a week to protect your empty tooth hole and allow it to heal. If the blood clot comes out at any point, you risk having just a plain empty hole with nothing to protect the bone and nerve at the bottom. Only 5% of people who get teeth pulled, actually get dry socket (so says everything I read, how accurate this is? I don't know)
Guess who has dry socket.
Uh.......... me.
Guess who is now on like week 4 of pain. It's making the entire right side of my head hurt, badly. Mostly my temple area and my ear? Weird, but I guess thats what it does, plus the whole nerves and bone open to anything you put in your mouth deal doesn't feel great either.
So it's back to the dentist in a short 30 minutes to hopefully solve yet another problem in the hopes that SOMEDAY I might be a normal human being again and live pain free.
At this point, just one day without vicodin or 20 ibuprofen and whatever else I can grab to make it stop, JUST ONE DAY without pain........... is the best thing I can think of.
Maybe I'm melodramatic, maybe I'm a fucking whiny little bitch. I don't care, it hurts, and in the last month I've experienced intense pain I hope I never EVER have to feel for the rest of my life.
So yeah, wish me luck today I guess. If this continues, I honestly wonder how I'll manage to stay sane. I just really can't fully explain how badly this all has hurt. Do you know how long 1 night feels when you spend your time from about 10pm til 3 or 4am simply pacing, holding your face, and crying? Until you finally pass out from sheer exhaustion for a meager 4 hours of sleep. -_-
Maybe I am whiny and annoying at this point, reading back I feel like it. I just hope to god they can make it stop today. The healing pains in the other tooth area they pulled are just about over now, so to me it seems once I get this dry socket problem solved, I should HOPEFULLY be relatively pain free. I can't fucking wait.
Oh yeah, and on a somewhat related note, I haven't smoked in well over a week now. I think, I might just keep it up and see if I can quit. I started not smoking just for the sake of my mouth, but then I've realized just how easy it is not to so I think I'll keep it up.
Ok dentist time
I'm literally at the end of what I can handle right now, mentally at least.
It started out about 5 weeks ago with a chipped tooth (from a cavity) that gave me a pretty gnarly toothache for like 3 nights in a row. I was just about to set up some sort of dentist thing when it totally stopped hurting and went away for a week. So of course, no pain = out of sight out of mind pretty much. Then all of a sudden it came back, except it was no longer that tooth that hurt, it was the entire right side of my bottom jaw, from the front teeth all the way to my ear. When this started, just like with the toothache it would only hurt at night. For the first week of it, it was fairly moderate and wasn't every night so once again I didn't pay a lot of attentuon. Second week was every night, and I was getting to the point where I was losing sleep over it because everytime I'd lay down, it'd get a hell of a lot more intense/painful. At this point (no dental coverage mind you) I started calling around to A. find out what I might need to do about it and B. what kind of cost I was looking at. Answer? Root Canal - Local dentist $1200.
Of course after hearing that all I could think was "Ok yeah right, I'll just wait this thing out". Third week, was no longer just hurting at night although at night it was definitly at it's worst, but it was also hurting me a lot during the day. No Relief. Ever. (And no amount of asprin or pain pills would even dent it) At night, the only thing I could do was pace through the house because at this point even sitting down made the pain worse.
So, after spending 2 or 3 nights only getting about 3 hours of sleep because of the pain, I got desperate and went to the clinic as a walkin and waited a good 3 hours to be seen because NO ONE had any appoitments I could book. Clinic Dentist see's me for 2 minutes, says "Yeah thats infected" and gives me a script for antibiotics and ibuprofen and sends me home. I start taking the pills, pain continues to get worse, I continue to miss out on sleep and spend my nights pacing. Got even MORE desperate and decided to go to the ER, only to be sent home. Next day I decided I needed to go get my mom and make her come stay with me for a few days and help me solve my problem.
Finally made it in to a real dentist, guy was INCREDIBLY helpful, explained to me exactly what was going on and told me flat out that I had 2 teeth that were messed up at this point and I either needed root canal x2 ($950 each) or extraction x2 ($100 each). So, got them pulled right then and there.
As they started, the first one wasn't all the way numb so I freaked the fuck out because I was already having serious anxiety about losing 2 teeth and now it was pretty painful. So by the time they finished that one I was shaking and crying so bad I had to be left alone for like 10 minutes to calm down before the next one was done. Was scary shit o.o
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo that was one week ago tomorrow. I followed all the post op instructions (obsessively, because I'm so scared of more pain at this point). The relief from the old pace the room can't lay down or sleep ever pain, was IMMEDIATE. I was the happiest kid in the world. Of course I still had some pretty severe pain from the fact that two teeth had just been ripped from my jaw, and swelling etc. But really? That was cake compared to before.
I COULD LAY DOWN! I COULD SLEEP! I COULD SIT IN THE RECLINER AND READ!!!!!!!!
But no, this was not to last.
So while reading up about tooth extractions and how to take care of it, I discovered something called Dry Socket. The initial blood clot that formed right after the tooth was pulled, is supposed to stay there for about a week to protect your empty tooth hole and allow it to heal. If the blood clot comes out at any point, you risk having just a plain empty hole with nothing to protect the bone and nerve at the bottom. Only 5% of people who get teeth pulled, actually get dry socket (so says everything I read, how accurate this is? I don't know)
Guess who has dry socket.
Uh.......... me.
Guess who is now on like week 4 of pain. It's making the entire right side of my head hurt, badly. Mostly my temple area and my ear? Weird, but I guess thats what it does, plus the whole nerves and bone open to anything you put in your mouth deal doesn't feel great either.
So it's back to the dentist in a short 30 minutes to hopefully solve yet another problem in the hopes that SOMEDAY I might be a normal human being again and live pain free.
At this point, just one day without vicodin or 20 ibuprofen and whatever else I can grab to make it stop, JUST ONE DAY without pain........... is the best thing I can think of.
Maybe I'm melodramatic, maybe I'm a fucking whiny little bitch. I don't care, it hurts, and in the last month I've experienced intense pain I hope I never EVER have to feel for the rest of my life.
So yeah, wish me luck today I guess. If this continues, I honestly wonder how I'll manage to stay sane. I just really can't fully explain how badly this all has hurt. Do you know how long 1 night feels when you spend your time from about 10pm til 3 or 4am simply pacing, holding your face, and crying? Until you finally pass out from sheer exhaustion for a meager 4 hours of sleep. -_-
Maybe I am whiny and annoying at this point, reading back I feel like it. I just hope to god they can make it stop today. The healing pains in the other tooth area they pulled are just about over now, so to me it seems once I get this dry socket problem solved, I should HOPEFULLY be relatively pain free. I can't fucking wait.
Oh yeah, and on a somewhat related note, I haven't smoked in well over a week now. I think, I might just keep it up and see if I can quit. I started not smoking just for the sake of my mouth, but then I've realized just how easy it is not to so I think I'll keep it up.
Ok dentist time