Well, my dentist visit went pretty well. I had a lot of periodontal (pockets). Most level 5 with a couple of 7s. Normal is 3 I think. They said it was because of the medicine I'm taking is making my mouth dry so I don't have enought saliva to combat bacteria that causes gingivitis. They cleaned my teeth and then did a deep cleaning with a laser. That was amazing because it didn't hurt at all. I had a little pain in my gums/teeth during the cleaning.
The dentist said that all my teeth looked good, no need for concern anywhere. I talked to him about my facial pain and the incident with the back tooth during the first root canal about six years ago. He explained to me that the initial root canal endodontist breached the barrier at the end of the root and the mixture they use to clean out the root (basically bleach water) got into the facial tissue and permanently damaged the nerves in my face. Once the nerves calmed down from that episode, I didn't really have any problems but when I had the subsequent root canal done, the damaged nerves became inflamed and have not calmed back down. This theory makes sense to me for part of my facial pain problem. I still think that several of the cranial nerves got compressed during the second root canal or it's just a coincidence that the compression caused by the artery was excaserbated at the same time as the root canal. I'm being referred to a new neurologist at Wash U and I'm going to present my theories to her and see what she thinks. I'm also going to ask her to look at the MRA I had last April and see if she can see other nerves compressed. I STILL think my best option is a microvascular decompression surgery, but now I think more nerves are compressed than just the trigeminal nerve.
Don't I sound like a neurologist? Wow, who would have thought. Anyway, I'm glad I went to the dentist but my facial/head pain has gotten significantly worse since then. I went to rehab today but was very uncomfortable. Everytime I touched my face I had radiating pain out in every direction from where I touched it. I came home and went to bed. I fell asleep for about an hour, but that didn't help the pain, just gave me some rest. I didn't put two+two together until today, but the night of the dental cleaning I was in such pain I was yelling at my daughter and my dogs. I threatened to take the dogs to the pound the next day and told my daughter to quit getting on the bed, because everytime the bed moved it caused me pain. My husband got her and made her stay in the other room and I shut the dogs out of my room and curled up under the covers in the dark to avoid contact with anyone. I just wanted to die I was in so much misery.
That is what is hardest for me to cope with is the losses I have had in all the things that I loved to do. Like working, teaching, taking care of my family, playing with my dogs. I used to love all the attention I got from my daughter and my animals but now I can't tollerate any activity that is going to cause vibrations or movement of my face and head. Including talkin, laughing, and smiling. This disease has litterally stolen my joy and I have lost interest in just about everything and everyone. In my rehab program, I'm going to mention that they should cover the stages of grief because all chronic pain suffers grieve the loss of their previous life and it's inevitable that they'll go through denial, anger, sadness, acceptance.
I have a follow-up appointment with my pain doctor on Friday. I want to check into other medications besides anti-convulsants that are used to manage pain. I've got a list of them from the Fibrmyalgia Network and am going to get as informed as possible before I go. I have definitely learned during this experience that I have to be my own advocate and be prepared to discuss medications, treatments, reactions, etc. when I go. This blog is really helping because I can review it every so often and see what progress or digress has been made.
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