Monday, July 15, 2024

Baby Steps, A Giant Leap, And More Baby Steps

Unless you suffer from short-term memory loss, you may recall that yesterday, Mrs. HM was suffering from sinus-related jaw pain in her toothy nerves. It was BAD! The only relief came during my hot, hot shower, when I let the water spray on the left side of my face. Instant cessation of pain! Yet when I turned to finish my shower, the pain came back. Sweet Gummi Mary! If only I could stand in the hot shower for hours, to relieve my pain!

Saturday evening, Mrs. HM was in tears! Tears dropping onto the kitchen table, interfering with her scratcher scratching. BAD! The weeping even drew Farmer H into the kitchen, to ask if there was anything he could do. No. Nothing. Yet Farmer H suggested a trip to the emergency room  that is 10 minutes away from the Mansion.

"No. There's nothing they can do. They'll just assume I'm a drug-seeker. You can't even get painkiller meds for surgery these days! They'd only look down their noses, and maybe give a suggestion for high-dose ibuprofen or acetaminophen. We have those here, in regular doses."

So Farmer H went off to bed. Out of sight (and hearing due to deafness), out of mind, I suppose.

It was horrific! I understand why people with chronic pain want to end their suffering. As much as I hate to take extra meds, I vowed to make an effort to dull my jaw pains. I would take an ibuprofen every 8 hours, and an acetaminophen every 8 hours, offset.

The night was not pleasant. Those pills take about 45 minutes to show any effect. I had my ibuprofen around 10:30, and an acetaminophen about 2:30 a.m. Then another ibuprofen at 5:30 a.m. When Farmer H left the Mansion at 6:15 a.m. Sunday, I was feeling a bit of relief. I had managed to snooze a couple hours at a time. In fact, the pain had abated enough that I skipped my acetaminophen at 10:00 a.m.

The Pony texted to check on me shortly before noon. I assured him that I was 50 percent better. Planning to take my regular meds at noon. Farmer H also sent a text to see if I was okay. I was. I took an ibuprofen before my nap at 2:00 p.m. Again, skipping an acetaminophen about 6:00. That was a mistake!

My pain tried to return about 7:30 p.m. I'd only had a mini bag of chips with my Shasta Diet Cola while scratching scratchers. Deliberately chewing gingerly, and on the right side, not the painful left. But somehow my too-big-feeling tongue got caught between my left-side back teeth, and sent a jolt of pain coursing through my skull. DANG! So off I went, to pop an acetaminophen.

Right now, it's 7:56 p.m. on Sunday. I have yet to make my supper, which I plan to be a "chicken bowl" like Hardee's used to sell. Refried beans, hot sauce, frozen grilled chicken, shredded cheddar, salsa, and sour cream. You can bet that I'm leaving off the diced onion that I'd love. But common sense says "Don't poke the nerves."

I DO think I'm getting over this malady. I just tried leaving off the meds too soon.

3 comments:

River said...

Don't the medication instructions say to take two every four hours or something like that? So one at a time isn't going to be effective enough. It sounds like an infected tooth to me. That isn't going to get better on its own. I hope I'm wrong.

Rae said...

My heart goes out to you and apparently my sympathy wants to share in your pain as I woke up Monday morning with the worst headache. My usual tension/sinus/migraine. I have no desire for food, although I did try to eat a piece of toast, some of which I managed, and drank my tea but that was it for the day. It's even hard to make myself drink water as I am also very nauseated with this thing. I woke up this morning and it was better so fingers crossed we are both on the mend. This stinks! Ranee

Hillbilly Mom said...

River,
There's a limit to how many milligrams you can take per day, until it becomes toxic. By the milligrams in each pill, I figured that out to be 4 pills per day. I don't want to push the limits! So I'm taking 3 per day of each (every 8 hours, staggering them so I'm taking either an ibuprofen or acetaminophen every four hours.). These are the over-the-counter "extra-strength" pills.

I've had this before. I've had a toothache before. These are not the same kind of pain or other symptoms.

***
Rae,
So sorry for your pain! The Pony gets migraines like that, where he's sick, and afraid to drive because it makes him dizzy. Hope you are getting over it.