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n/a
48 Posts |
 Posted - 09/07/2010 : 00:47:56
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Hello everyone,
I've been working more on mind-body issues for my IC, and I am including some Benson-style breathing exercises. Just as I was wondering if I might be making some progress at least on an emotional level, a new symptom popped up (symptom imperative, anyone?). Please advise as to 1) whether it's probably TMS and 2) what I should do.
My ear/jaw on one side have been hurting a lot for several days. I've been wearing earplugs a lot and may have accidentally scratched something open in my ear, so it could be an ear infection (but it'd have to be an external one as I don't have a fever or anything).
I find it extremely suspicious that I had just recently stumbled upon this wisdom tooth surgery brochure (I was supposed to get mine extracted but then - due to conflicting advice from various dentists and feeling like it might not resolve my TMS-like jaw pain at the time, I didn't do it).
What do I do? The pain is fairly severe - it hurts inside my ear, when something touches the outside of my ear, and at times my jaw gets stiffer and I have a hard time opening it all the way (plus my ear gets worse when I do). The pain got so bad that I took a Motrin, which helped for a while, and then same story again the next day.
Ignore it and/or take ibuprofen or Tylenol for a while? Go see a doctor of some sort? One of the really confusing things with TMS is that I have become skeptical of any sort of "diseases" in my body. Like I said, the pain is severe or I wouldn't have taken anything for it (I greatly limit the use of even stuff like Tylenol). Thanks for your help! |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2010 : 04:34:48
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Jamie, just got a similar symptom, about 48 hours ago. The closest thing to it in pain intensity was a kidney stone several years ago, that took me to the ER for morphine and Hydrocodone chaser. It is excrusciateingly painful to talk or eat or drink!--(I need to go on a diet any way).
My neck is VERY visibly swollen! Going to my dentist ASAP then to my physician if need be. Luckily had some Hydrocodone left-over in the medicine cabinet from the kidney stone. Google search said don't mix Hydrocodone with acetomenophen.
It started innocently enough with an old filling that popped out in one of my front teeth near the gumline. I didn't give it much thought and it wasn't painful. Within three days my lower right molar area and jaw began getting irritated. Coincidentally, I'm returning from a great road trip which will bring me back to the grind.
Went to RiteAid and got three different dental emergency products that helped symptomatically: emergency tooth filler putty for the original issue, Oragel ointment for the mouth and some swabs with numbing stuff for the jaw and roof of mouth.
Returned home from the trip and been in bed ever since unable to talk or eat. Googled swolllen neck and it reasuringly said "lympth node swelling, usually not serious, see a doctor if it doesn't go away in a MONTH!". And, BTW, "In rare instances, can be cancer", they always have to throw that kicker in there?
Up at three A.M. in pain, drooling, and will be seeing my dentist ASAP.
Haven't looked up the symptoms for "lock-jaw" yet--scraped my leg superficially on an exposed bolt the other day but it was a new bolt but got me wondering how frequently one needs tetanus boosters (and how you spell tetanus?).
From a TMS perspective, the only thing I can think of is I don't like returning from road-trips, wish I could keep travelling for a year.
The pain, and the swelling is VERY real and visible. Jamie, I'll let you know what transpires later in the day after doing the medical due-diligence. Did contemplate going to ER, but decided to tough it out for a day and hope I don't die from a restricted breathing pipe. The Hydrocodone is starting to kick in and getting drowsey. If this is TMS related, it's some mean ****!
DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6415
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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Edited by - tennis tom on 09/07/2010 10:09:41 |
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avik
128 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2010 : 18:04:19
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quote:
Originally posted by jamie
Hello everyone,
I've been working more on mind-body issues for my IC, and I am including some Benson-style breathing exercises. Just as I was wondering if I might be making some progress at least on an emotional level, a new symptom popped up (symptom imperative, anyone?). Please advise as to 1) whether it's probably TMS and 2) what I should do.
My ear/jaw on one side have been hurting a lot for several days. I've been wearing earplugs a lot and may have accidentally scratched something open in my ear, so it could be an ear infection (but it'd have to be an external one as I don't have a fever or anything).
I find it extremely suspicious that I had just recently stumbled upon this wisdom tooth surgery brochure (I was supposed to get mine extracted but then - due to conflicting advice from various dentists and feeling like it might not resolve my TMS-like jaw pain at the time, I didn't do it).
What do I do? The pain is fairly severe - it hurts inside my ear, when something touches the outside of my ear, and at times my jaw gets stiffer and I have a hard time opening it all the way (plus my ear gets worse when I do). The pain got so bad that I took a Motrin, which helped for a while, and then same story again the next day.
Ignore it and/or take ibuprofen or Tylenol for a while? Go see a doctor of some sort? One of the really confusing things with TMS is that I have become skeptical of any sort of "diseases" in my body. Like I said, the pain is severe or I wouldn't have taken anything for it (I greatly limit the use of even stuff like Tylenol). Thanks for your help!
Jamie-
I have the EXACT SAME THING; and have had it on and off for months.
You should 100% see an ENT and get some basic tests done.
For me, via a variety of tests, found nothing-and as a result, I was able to accept the TMS self-diagnosis.
That type of ear pain however should always be checked by a dr. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2010 : 23:12:04
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A little update from this morning TMS pals, I'm writing this from a hospital bed awaiting surgery to drain swelling on my neck from an abcess the size of a golf ball. Got an IV of morphine and it's still impossible to swallow or eat.
Got an emergency appointment with my dentist at 10:00 a.am., he took a look at me and sent me to an oral/maxillofacial surgeon. He did imaging and said he didn't want to scare me, but that I should go rightaway to the big university hospital on the hill.
So hours waiting in the ER, they scheuled me for surgery tonight so the swelling won't close down my breathing.
That's it for now, hopefully I'll be around to post again, that's all for now folks.
DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6415
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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Edited by - tennis tom on 09/07/2010 23:22:21 |
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Darko
Australia
387 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2010 : 04:59:02
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Oh dear......good luck with it all, I'm sure you'll be fine mate! Stay positive
D |
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n/a
48 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2010 : 11:38:24
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We're thinking of you, Tom, yikes! Feel better!!
On my end, I've started on oral antibiotics and AB ear drops because this really ended up feeling like an ear infection. One day later, it already feels a lot better, so maybe this will just resolve it. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2010 : 09:08:59
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| Anyone here from Tennis Tom? I don't like this long silence... |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2010 : 21:22:59
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Thanks for your positive thoughts and concern Art, Jamie and Darko. It was a close call according to the docs. If I hadn't gone to ER when I did, I may have stopped breathing while sleeping due to the swelling impinging on my windpipe.
I know one thing you don't do, while a team of surgeons are prepping you for surgery at 11PM, is ask if they've ever heard of Dr. John E. Sarno at NYU and how they feel about MindBody medicine?
If this were fifty or 100 years ago, without the benefits of medical technology, would I be typing now? Would I just have lied low for a few days or weeks and my body healed itself? That's something I'd like to know from a TMS perspective.
This is the second time in my life I've been hospitalized, not bad for 62. Both of these times there were stressful emotional situations involving relationships or family prior to their immediate onset. I wonder if these were triggers that pushed a bad situation over the top becoming "real" physical situations.
DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6415
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2010 : 05:15:30
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Ah, Tom -- I'm so sorry. My sense of you (and I've MET HIM, folks!!!) is that it will take more than this to hold you down.
Relationship and family pain is THE pain. I basically attribute my lifetime of symptoms to this. Reading the amazing book A General Theory Of Love helped me understand the unfathomable depth of this type of pain.
JAW/EAR PAIN
I have had it on and off, over the years. I have definitely had ear pain many, many times after using ear plugs. What I find helps - to the point of curing it - is intense heat. Even better is a very hot onion - you boil it up and place it in a sock over the ear - so hot it would burn if it touched. The hot, oniony vibes seem to kill the pain. I think it is a slight infectious reaction.
I've also had a particular pain in one ear that seems to relate to the jaw and teeth. It took me to the emergency room once, decades ago.
The thing about all this stuff, for me, is that MY PAIN IS REAL, my MY SYMPTOMS are real, my EMOTIONAL PAIN behind it all is real. And then, on another level, I can sometimes wake up and realize they are not real. And then they seem to dissolve.
Breathing in the mystery.
Katie
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2010 : 10:16:18
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Thanks for the onion tip wavy, I like onions and garlic as well, maybe I'll combine the two--kind of a California Dip, hot-tub, for the ear.
I've been home for about three days practicing what Deepak Chopra would describe as the Western form of meditation--staying at home in bed, post-op. Throat is still swollen and there's a hole in it about the size of a quarter from where they removed the abscesesd molar. The surgeons couldn't get my jaw open wide enough to remove it normally so they had to go through my neck. Reminds me of a joke about a proctologist who practiced dentistry, but I'll save that one for now. I know you can relate to dental issues.
Thanks for your concern.
Cheers
DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6415
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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Edited by - tennis tom on 09/15/2010 10:43:34 |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2010 : 02:11:27
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Glad you haven't lost your sense of humor. I emailed you privately, Tom.
Katie
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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New symptom - severe ear/jaw pain, please advise
