1. Sensitive teeth. I have had pain move around my teeth and gums -- more so in earlier w/d, although I still get more pain when my hayfever is bad than I ever did before w/d. Several times, I was afraid I had a cavity, but it never turned out to be a cavity, and the pain moved on to another spot.
First off, thank you so much for responding Sheila! Yes, I understand how hayfever can create dental pain. I'm so sorry you have to contend with such. I'm sure as you more fully recover this will be less of a problem.
Being as I'm 30 months and 3 weeks post rapid taper I'm just shocked at how bad symptoms can still be. During my brutual taper, I was in excrutiating dental pain for two solid months straight but I was too violently ill to go to the dentist. I was in such a severe state of terror but bedriddenly sick that I couldn't get out but I remember be so afraid that I would have to have all of my teeth extracted. Then, one day it dawned on me "this must be WD". I was too out of mind in WD torture and thus, didn't make the connection for the longest time. Anyway, eventually the extreme daily non-stop pain lifted.
However, I have various degrees of this pain still playing out and rotating etc. It never really goes away but is tolerable some days which feels like a gift.
2. Film. I had this and read about it on pp. Many people seem to get a slimy film that forms easily on their teeth, during meds use and for awhile after. I no longer have this film.
Yes, I have about these reports however, I don't experience that. Rather, it is the food or drink that creates this film that I immediately have to remove since, it creates tooth pain and sensitivity.
3. Jaw tension and teeth. I didn't exactly grind my teeth, but I kind of "held" my jaw super-tight, and, falling asleep, I would involuntarily clamp down on my tongue. This was so bad, that I had an open wound on my tongue that didn't heal for months....years? I wore a cheap mouth guard some of the time, but had dreams of choking! So that was a trade-off....Anyway, this has gotten much, much better. I only do the clamping thing about once every three months now, and my general jaw tension has slowly gotten better.
I have to really work on this tension, though. And one thing that helped, and was an alternative to the mouth guard, was to stretch my mouth open as wide as I could and hold it there, several times, before going to sleep.
A dentist told me that jaw tension is very characteristic of neuro damage.
Oh my gosh re: the tongue ulceration. So sorry you had to suffer in that way. That sounds horrible! Thank you for the tip re: stretching the mouth. I'm going to give that a try. No doubt neuro damage causes all these symptoms.
4. Focusing and breathing into the pain. I'm positive you know this technique, but I forget it regularly, so here goes. You focus and breathe into the pain, and sometimes that makes it break up into pieces and dissolve.
Very good advice but you are right re: I am aware of this and I religiously engage. However, I do have to place reminder notes around the house to alert me to BREATHE, BREATHE AND BREATHE my way through this journey. As you mention, sometimes we forget when we are tense, anxious and most of all, when we are out of minds (crazy) with intense WD symptoms.
I don't think I would have made it through WD without utilzing breathing techniques.
I'm definitely sending you extra healing and soothing energy.......now! This is just unbelievable, isn't it? The parade of symptoms? The duration? We are healing, and it is getting better, albeit too damn slowly. I'm glad you asked for support.
Originally Posted by Sheila
