7/30/2011 Continued vitamin C and left side of mouth started hurting..

I have continued taking high doses of vitamin C.  I found a liquid vitamin C from a company called Buried Treasure.  I hold it in my mouth for 30 sec to a minute and hope it is absorbed in.  I have this issue where thick liquids like salad dressing seems to absorb into the bad areas of bone and cause something to swell, the bones or gums.  Not sure but it causes pain.  So if salad dressing can absorb in, I think liquid vitamin C should also.  The bad spot on the right maxilla is significantly smaller now, but I am having increasing problems in the right mandible and now the left too. 

I went to see my family doctor since my ID doctor no longer knows what to do with me. (I'm still on 3000 mg of Amoxicillin a day monitored by the ID doc).  My family doctor told me that the pain in my left jaw area is "somatic".  He was kind enough to leave the word psyco off the front, but whatever.  I think he thought I didn't know what somatic meant. So he is now telling me it's imagined.  I'da really liked to give him some unimagined pain about right then but I doubt jail dentists take care of OM either...lol. 

So I am nearly back to square one.  My right maxilla is a lot better since the debridement, but still has problems. The swelling in the right side of my face is significantly better. My right lower and left lower are getting worse, although some days I think the vitamin C may be helping the right lower.  Left lower is definately worse, but I have no doctor.  I called Mayo.  Very nice but out of network with my insurance.  I emailed Shands here in Florida.  They didn't respond.  I called and left a message with the Oral Maxillofacial Clinic at Shands on Thursday and haven't heard back.  May be they aren't open on Fridays.  Not excited to have students working on me.  Can't afford to fly to San Diego or have time to...but it's all in my head anyways....I'm still dizzy, have trouble focusing, have trouble answering questions, have minimal memory...probably side effects from the amoxicillin.  I swear what comes around goes around...every *&^*^ doctor that says stupid things will be adequately rewarded. 

I meet someone recently that went sky diving with one of the local oral surgeons that I saw (that dismissed it as neuralgia), Dr. Streeter.  He told me that Dr.Streeter was so terrified that he whined a lot before and after the jump. Actually he said he, cried!  I would have loved to see that! 

Anyways, enough of that.  A patient sent me an article on "Oil Pulling".  Some people dismiss it as hogwash, but according to the doctors I'm crazy anyways........., but they don't have any idea what to do with me and I don't want to loose any more teeth or have any more surgeries, I'm not ready to die from the infection spreading, so I am willing to try safe hogwash. 

With Oil Pulling you swish vegetable oil around for 20 min in your mouth.  It's supposed to be sesame or sunflower, but the article I have suggests coconut oil.  You shouldn't swallow it, but just swish it around, spit it out and discard it. I tried yesterday and today.  I'll have to work up to 20 min.  Also trying olive leaf extract and a couple other natural remedies that are considered antibacterial and anti-fungal and continuing the Vitamin C at 2000-3000 mg a day.

July 6, 2011 Benefits of Vitamin C on Osteomyelitis

A couple months ago during an online search for answers about osteomyelitis, I came acrossed an article that said that high doses of Vitamin C can totally eliminated osteomyelitis of the jaw.  I was on Probenecid at the time though and Vitamin C is to be avoided when on Probenecid (figures).  More recently I read an article about Folic acid also have a positive impact on new bone growth in the jaw.  I had some sub-lingual Folic acid in my cabinet and sell Vitamin C in my office...so I have started both about 1 1/2 weeks ago.  I've taken the Vitamin C more frequently and am up to 2000 mg a day.  I really think it is helping.  My energy has been better.  I hit the gym yesterday for a half hour on the elliptical and half hour on the recumbent bike with random hills on level 8..yay.  The right maxilla I think is a lot better.  The swelling in the right side of my face has decreased at least 50%.  I almost feel normal!!!  My lower jaw on the right might be a little better also.  The left lower jaw which recently has been more problematic is continuing to be an issue. OM isn't supposed to spread like that but as I say.."about 50% of medicine is factual, we just don't know which 50%"..   I'm keeping on the Vit C and am determined to be as "normal" as I used to be, just with a few less teeth (and less bone)....If you have OM of the jaw, please give the Vitamin C a shot!  I wish I'd have started sooner.  You have nothing to lose..oh except may be more teeth and your jaw bone...

Still fighting the system..

Would like to find a dentist in FL that has a Cavitat machine..may call the manufacturer next week to see if they can help..  (Have since found one in Clearwater, FL at Dr. Ray Behm's office...don't really recommend him).

Sun, June 6, 2011

Still have weird spot/lump in very back maxilla. It was getting smaller, but appears to have plateaued in it's improvements.  The right side of my face swells everytime I eat.  The whole right side of my head feels swollen.  Back to being lost. Too busy with work and Rotary to be frustrated. Will see my GP sometime this week for a routine thyroid check and may email the ID doc to see what he thinks I should do.  Please feel free to make suggestions.

June 6, 2011

Frustrated..not sure what is going on.  My lower jaw feels better since the last extraction, but the right side of my face swelled up and is still swollen.  I think the swelling is getting worse every day.  I feel it going up into my eye again and into the right side of my throat.  I feel like a chipmunk with acorns in just one cheek. I wish I was still skinny so the doctors would be able to see it better, but then so would everyone else.. If it keeps going a this rate, by the time I see the ID doc in the end of June it will be obvious.  I won't have a cheek bone.  I told the oral surgeon about it at my follow-up, but there's really nothing to do at this point but to continue to take the antibiotics and wait and hope it starts to go down. Just passed my one year anniversary of my first dental appt for this and so ready for it to be over..enough already! 

Thurday, May 26, 2011

I went to see Dr. Gear, DMD, MD in Fort Myers today.  He's the latest of my long line of oral surgeons.  He is different.  He actually appears to care about his patients and schedules follow-up appointments etc.  So anyways..I thought I was going for a consult, but was taken into the "other" room.  The one where extractions are done.  I saw a schedule on the wall with my appt time and ext beside it.  So I was scheduled for an extraction.  It was good though, it eliminated the running around and trying to convince a dentist, endodontist and then an oral surgeon to extract it.  I didn't really want it extracted, but choices are limited and I knew ultimately it was going to happen.  So it was extracted.  Now I'm just playing the waiting game again to see how my body responds.  Hoping that this along with the antibiotics, resolves all the problems I am having in the right lower jaw. 

Update...

Over the last week my energy took a dive again.  I started seeking out caffeine, which I normally don't consume (other than what's found in chocolate - which is a staple), but I need my energy back.  Then tooth #31 started hurting. 

For at least 3-4 days I managed to stay in denial that anything was wrong again. It hurt when I brushed my teeth.  Then my face started hurting over my mandible when I washed my face.  This morning; however, I woke up with obvious undeniable pain in my right mandible.  I reset the alarm clock and went back to sleep, then finally drug myself out of bed to go to work. 

I saw the ID doctor today too.  I was grateful that the pain kicked in prior to my appointment not right after. He stopped the Probenecid, but kept me on the 3000 mg of Amoxicillin a day.  He called the last oral surgeon I went to and I have an appointment tomorrow morning..   

Ice is my best friend...