Went to the dentist finally to get some fillings done on my lower right side. The first day was bad. The second day not so bad. And now the third day my ear and my styloid/jaw area hurt so much I can’t stand it, I haven’t eaten solid food because it hurts to open and close my jaw.
I’m really worried because I have to get a root canal on my lower left side and that’s the side my styloid is super elongated and also possibly broken, and if I’m in this much pain from two basic fillings what is going to happen with the root canal?
I’m just sick of this. My stuff has been delayed because they couldn’t refer me to the doctor from this one doctor I saw, so now my GP has to do it, and unfortunately she does not understand what is going on, she’s trying her best though. Nothing I take helps with the ear or jaw pain. My TMJ appliances have helped with the headaches but not the head pressure. I know it is a lot of baby steps but I hurt and nobody in my life wants to hear me complain about it any more, and it’s so invisible to everyone
I’m sorry that you’re in so much pain, and yes, we do understand… Dental work often is a trigger for worse ES pain- it could be because of the pulling & tugging if teeth are removed, or the awkward angle you may have to keep your head & neck at. The inflammation from an infected tooth could add to the inflammation from the styloids, and the Trigeminal nerve is commonly affected with ES which can then cause a pain flare if you have dental work done! But if you need it doing & it’s unavoidable, then the best suggestions (if you’ve not already tried them) is taking a nerve pain medication - I take Amitriptyline & have always upped this a little before even just seeing the hygienist the day before & a few days after. Heat or ice helps, a muscle relaxant might help, and some members have used lidocaine either as a topical gel or patches. Sometimes steroids can dampen down extra inflammation so maybe that’s worth asking about, but you need to check between your doctor and dentist is there’s any contraindications for taking these while you have the work done. If you’re not already sleeping propped up that’s worth trying.
@petrichorrr Ugh. That’s really rough. @jules gave you some good things to try and calm the flare. Anything you can do to calm your nervous system down would be good to do as well. Some breathing patterns can help like inhale for 4 counts, hold it for 2 counts and exhale for 8 counts. Doing this for a few minutes activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Laughing can be very useful if you can manage it. Watch a funny movie or get together with a funny friend. I know it sounds weird, but when we are enjoying something and laughing we are working out of a different part of the brain than the alarm system. Let us know how you are doing.
Unfortunately I don’t have any nerve meds I can take yet, I’m going to ask my GP about that at my next appointment. But she might not even be comfortable prescribing something so IDK, but I’m hoping that she might give me something basic like gabapentin just to see if it works at all cause at this point nerve meds are the only pain management I haven’t tried. I should have taken muscle relaxants that probably would have majorly helped cause they have before so I will do that next time.
It’s almost like the freezing they put it messes with everything too? Like it’s so weird. I’m doing better today but tbh I havent tried to eat yet today so it might just be settled from sleeping all night on the heating pad.
I love the cold, but Im not sure if the cold is actually good for it? It causes my ears to start popping like crazy and like all kinds of twitching/spasms on the side of the styloid Im putting the cold on and it’s weird because the heat does that sometimes but not as much. But it also relieves some of the pain while being extremely irritating.
@petrichorrr - Some of our members have done better w/ heat than ice so there’s nothing wrong with using heat. You can also try lidocaine patches or gel on your neck to help reduce pain. Those are available OTC in the US & hopefully in CA, too.
