WATER AND FIRE

To me,

Water helps everything get better.

Except,

my tooth.

That feels like fire.

I've spent the last couple of days turning into a prune. I love the water and the weightlessness helps my back and the Fibro pain. 

It does nothing for my teeth but it helps the rest of me.

Today, is the first day where something isn't throbbing.

Tomorrow, I have to go back to the dentist.

When will all this stop? 

I have 24 hours to stay in the water before my face becomes fire again.

I am not sure if it's the Novocaine that is bothering me or if it's the procedure itself. All of this reminds me of pain tolerance and pain threshold. I feel like a wimp because all of this dental work is actually getting to me. I really do believe that these experiences are colored by the Fibromyalgia and there is a definite difference.

Pain threshold and tolerance.

Pain threshold is the level at which the body perceives pain.

Pain tolerance is the level of pain that a body can take before breaking down. 

A person with Fibromyalgia isn't a stranger to pain. Actually, we live with a certain level of pain everyday. I don't know why this dental work causes me so much distress. I live with pain constantly so it shouldn't be a big deal. I, like most people with Fibromyalgia, have a huge tolerance to pain.  It shouldn't be a big deal, but it is. For some reason this causes me an inordinate amount of distress and pain. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow knowing that I will be curled up in the fetal position by tomorrow night and that the following day will be even worse. I know I should be imagining health and wellness. A healthy attitude and positive imaging can help me deal with the pain. It's just that I can't seem to focus on just the positive part. I know that pain is coming and that doesn't disappear from my mind.

So, tonight I'm going to back to the tub and try to relax.

No bubbles, just chamomile aromatherapy so I can cope.

I'm going to try to be positive.

(is anyone else buying this?)

NEEDLES AND PINS

I don't like going to the dentist.

I like it even less the past few days.

First, my mouth really hurts.

Now my whole body hurts.

Just what I  needed.

Great.

I feel like a fricking pin cushion. If the needles aren't going in my mouth, I feel like they're being pushed in all over my body. I've spent the last couple of nights curled up in a ball cursing life and especially cursing my teeth. 

It has to do with pain amplification.

And, right now the amplification is turned up full blast.

This time around I took a muscle relaxer before I got in the chair. That helped the muscles spasms while I was sitting in the chair. What to do for the pain after? Actually, nothing helped. The pain medication took the edge off but all I wanted to do was curl up in bed.

Can there be a connection between the root canals and the fibro flares besides just the stress that there is in going to the dentist? Could it be when the procedures are being done bacteria is being released into the bloodstream? If that is the case could it stimulate the immune system a little bit so that would increase the cytokines in your system? Cytokines are the molecular messengers of the immune system. If cytokines are responsible for inflammation and cytokines increase Substance P which transmits pain messages, is it so far out of reach to assume when you have these kinds of procedures done that it will affect the severity of the flare with Fibromyalgia? Most Fibromyalgia patients have elevated cytokines in their system. Whether it is a problem of the immune system in and of itself or secondary to something else hasn't been shown yet. 

I don't know but I have enough problems managing this crapola without root canals let alone with them. 

I'm so tired and I have to go to a Father's Day dinner at 5:00. I really want to go but I'm having a hard time getting motivated enough to crawl to the shower. It's going to take me some time to get it together and I'm just not looking forward to that part of the process.

Can I sleep for an hour before I go?

I'M GOING AND IT'S COMING

I am still dealing with the root canal 

from the Memorial Day filling loss.

Now, I have to go again today.

This is not good.

Yesterday, I finally finished the last stage of the root canal on my tooth. I can honestly say that going to the dentist AF (after Fibromyalgia) as opposed to BF (before Fibromyalgia) is a WHOLE different animal.

Talk about amplified pain.

I've never been in love with dentists but I went and got my teeth cleaned and did what I had to do. I've had fillings and gone the novacaine route; again, no big deal. I thought I was going to come out of the chair yesterday. I can really feel the difference in my response to pain. 

To top this all off, I lost ANOTHER crown on the other side. She looked at it and there was a cavity underneath the crown and it was a cavity that HAD to have been there when the last clown put the crown on the tooth. I went to a new dentist because he was right around the corner.

Big mistake.

The guy seemed nice. Lot's of credentials on the wall and the guy played Pink Floyd in the office.  It really was kind of a cool place. Looking back, he must have been on drugs. How the hell do you put a crown over a cavity?  Now, I have to have another root canal on the other side! Do you believe this?

To top it all of this is bringing on a real   doozy of a flare. I can feel it coming. I've got to be there at 10:00 and I'm hurting. I'm going to take a pain pill and half a muscle relaxer because I don't think I can sit in that chair for an hour without jumping. Plus the needles, plus the drilling, plus, plus, plus.

This is not good.

Have the ice packs ready.

I'm going to need them and a margarita.

Forget the ice packs.

Keep the margarita's coming.