Fibromyalgia (part 2)

Toothsmith

kassandra wrote: »

Hi Toothsmith! Could you tell me a couple of things please? I have five abcesses for a few years now. I also have a fear of dentists so my dentist referred me to the dental clinic who gave me gas and just fiddled around in my mouth a little. At my next appointment I sat outside and was shaking and crying like a baby. I couldn't go through with it but they say they can't refer me to the hospital for putting under until they have shown they have completed some treatment on me. This just seems ridiculous as, if I could get some treatment done then surely I could get it all done under gas!?? Is what they say true?

Not sure about this. It doesn't seem very logical.

BUT - I know that a lot of hospital GA services are under severe strain, so it could be a 'management' tactic for keeping the waiting list down.

Thinking about it - there is an element of sense in there. If they do take you in, do a GA and put things right, where's the evidence that you won't be back again in exactly the same position 5 years later?

Prehaps they want to see some evidence that once things have been put straight, you will then be able to go for routine apointments regularly, get minor things fixed, and generally look after your mouth?

GAs although pretty safe these days DO have risks associated with them. The hospital wouldn't want to create patients who felt that just one trip every few years to be 'put under' was an acceptable way of getting their dental care. Because it isn't - it would be very dangerous.

kassandra wrote: »

The other thing is, my aunt says that I'm poisoning myself in a kind of low grade kind of way and that it will be making me feel more ill than I should iykwim? Is this true too? Will I feel less ill when I get it all sorted (also got an upper wisdom tooth crumbled and keeps getting infected) or will it just mean less pain for the mouth area? Any advice would be much appreciated

This is a very interesting point.

There is increasing evidence linking chronic dental infections with heart disease, low birth weight babies, and - arthritis/joint pain.

More really with the low grade chronic infections associated with gum problems more that tooth abscesses, but in a mouth where there are several tooth abscesses due to dentist-avoidance (!) I would be very surprised if there wasn't some degree of gum disease going on as well.

It's not so much the actual infection, as the antibodies that your body is producing all the time to try and fight the bugs. These antibodies are thought to have a damaging effect on the heart muscle, and on the joints. Normally, with infections, the antibodies have done their job after a few days as the body begins to 'get better'. With chronic infections that aren't sorted out, they are constantly being produced, and munching away at everything after a while.

One of the common symptoms of fibromyalgia seems to be joint pain.

I often read these pages, as I do keyword searches for 'dentist' and this page crops up a lot. I don't normally jump in, because a lot of the times 'dentist' crops up here is with you telling each other your daily list of jobs and appointments.

Something I have noticed though is that a fair %age of the contributors here have issues of dental phobia to a greater or lesser extent.

Could some of your symptoms be caused as a secondary effect of chronic dental problems? It's easily possible.

I couldn't go as far as to say sort them out, and you'll be cured - but it really wouldn't make anything worse!

As I said in an earlier post - I have a few patients with fibromyalgia. They have problems similar to many of yours, and their teeth are in good order. So poor oral health certainly isn't the only factor. I'm pretty sure thouh that it is one of those conditions with many contributory factors rather than one 'cause' - which is why there's no one 'cure'.

It really think that it would be worth seeking out a dentist you can work with to overcome the dental problems though. It might help.

Careful_with_that_Axe

Interesting points Toothsmith. I'll have a digest of the info when my brain is more awake.
Having the different side of the "argument" in terms of the referral and costs puts things in perspective somewhat.
Thank you for your contributions - some food for thought there.

I've had to ditch my Sky BB and am back on my mobile BB *sigh*
What do you have to do to get decent service from people these days??
Back to a lazing day today - I need to re-charge the batteries somewhat.

kassandra

Thanks Toothsmith, that actually makes more sense now. One of the dentists said that it's because my immune system is so low that I'm unable to fight off these infections, it must be a fibro thing. The thing is, I had a filling done about 18 months ago and they were going to pull the wisdom tooth after. I was scared but willing to let them do it as it had been causing the most horrendous pain. Anyway, when they did the filling I nearly hit the roof :eek: It was awful and if I was in that much pain from a filling then how bad would it be pulling a tooth! They said the problem is that even with the maximum amount of antibiotics, it can't get rid of the infection and therefore even with the maximum amount of pain relief, it won't work if infection is still present. How can I be confident I'm not going to be in pain knowing this! I let them inject me under gas and they said that because it didn't hurt and it was the roof of my mouth then I should be fine but I don't believe them because the injections didn't hurt too much before and she checked (I'm on about two different dentists here too so they don't really know what happened previously) I was numb before starting work. It was only when she got a bit deeper that the pain came so I really don't trust any promises made now! If I let them start pulling a tooth and halfway through I'm in agony they can't just stop can they. You're right about the gum disease too. I must have as my gums bleed when I'm brushing quite a lot.

Morning everyone!

purplecatlover

re the friend thing, i do agree that men think about it more and are more likely to try it on if boundaries are not set etc. what i dont get is why that means its not possible to be friends just in case they try it on. the implication my friend is making is that any man will try it on with any female regardless of the females wishes just because they think about it and it has nothing to do with finding them attractive. which is kind of icky as that means she thinks her father will try it on with me just because he is a man and i am a woman and therefore he wants to sleep with me. i cant see that logic, and i think its unfair to assume that no man can cope with a platonic relationship just because he is a man. when i made her think about it re a gay female friend she decided that yes the fact that they might fancy her, even though its not reciprocated, means she cant be their friend either, just in case. i understand it being an issue and awkward if somethign is tried by either person or one persons feelings are different than the others and it becomes an issue. but not it being an issue big enough to prevent trying a platonic relationship. its getting complicated and confusing in my head now and i ahve no idea what my question originally was either lol.

pap how was the trip into town?

jamla hope your in less pain today

kass did the crawlyness settle down? car tax, they used to give you 14 days, but that was 10 years ago and before obline etc was possible. mine was taxed in belfast and i would invariably forget to send my mum the papaerwork in time to get the new disc sent back to me. the one time they stopped me was 3 years ago and i was actually on my way to get the new disc so they let me go, they ahd set up a roadside pull people over thign though. i dont think they will come knocking on your door, but if they were to spot it the might pull you over.

cwta duck pond, i love to watch them. my local reservoir is a lovely swan, duck and geese pond. ive not been out there this year but the last couple its been brill to watch them nesting and see the babies. last year the parent geese remembered me....i had stroked one of the baby geese the year before, they make me give them a wide berth now lol. we are not allowed to feed them though, they have signs up. it encourages overpopulation which increases the waste int he water, which inturn causes more green algae to grow and that is bad for some reason.

careful good luck with sorting out the sky bb problems, was it sky bz had trouble with?

im having a very quiet pyjama day today i have banned everyone form phoning me, and am staying put. i even managed to stay in bed all morning, which means i had a full 8 hours of sleep, even if it wasnt during the night.

whats everyone else got planned for today?

Careful_with_that_Axe

pcl It was sky bz had trouble with - the router appears to have developed a fault, although before that I found my connection was slowing to a crawl at certain times of the day. I'm not prepared to give them a chance and just want to cancel - at least I still have the mobile to fall back on otherwise I would be panicking a bit!
I've decided to have a bleurgh day too - TV on in the background and me not doing much at all.

bz I couldn't tax my car online although I usually do - the renewal form was for my old address and they would have sent tax disc there and it's one of those things that they won't re-direct. See! Me no stoopid *g*

I think you should think about what Toothsmith said - I really think it's time to find another dentist or see if the dental hospital will take you on as a patient there. If you are having this much hassle now, god forbid you would need to rely on them in an emergency.

I had one of those annoying days where I had to run around to about 5 different places to pick up various small things and sort recycling. Takes up so much time and at the end of it I don't feel I particularly achieved anything.

Had a lovely long email from my American Aunt - we became very close, very quickly when they were over at Xmas. She has a weird type of arthritis that means she understands thesort of problems and limitations I have without me having to explain - she just accepts them.
She wrote a lot of her memories of my late Mum which were lovely to read. After cancelling my trip over there this summer due to the move, I think I may try to reschedule at a time of year when the flights are very cheap as it would be lovely to spend some time with her and my cousin.
Hope you're all having a peaceful day.

sharon59

have been away for a lovely weekend-was my 50th birthday pressie from may and have had a relaxing time.Hotel was beautiful and dinner last night was out of this world.My breathing seems to be getting more wheezy -got my broncoscopy tomorrow morning so maybe once results are back they will be able to help with.
We have had some thunderery type rain -so hoping we dont get another storm!

bigzippy

:wave: s meekly

purplecatlover

nice to see you sharon, glad you ahd a nice weekend away. go luck with the broncoscopy tomorrow. hope it does bring answers. say hi to seaside too

bz why so meek?

cwta planning a nice trip is a good idea. have you sent a long email back yet?

Careful_with_that_Axe

sharon Hope the broncoscopy goews OK tomorrow and that you can get some relief for the breathing. Glad you had a good weekend.

Hugs to bz. You OK Chuck?

pcl Not yet - I think I'm gonna wait until tomorrow - I've found my mobile BB is faster during the day - not so many users on the network I think.

HopeAndDriftWood

Good afternoon everyone
I'm making a list of things that would help me through uni because of my disability. It can be absolutely anything..they started me off with a mini fridge, for storing food in case I can't get to the shop.

Any suggestions? It'd be appreciated!