5 Minute Freewrite Challenge Day 71 Toothache

My worst toothache went on for a few years. I had impacted wisdom teeth – all 4 of them - and went around for pain in a year before having a dentist diagnose what was wrong.

It used to hurt my head to walk. Every step sent pain up to my head. Moving was not what I wanted to do. But for some reason - all this pain did not seem to be coming from my back teeth, even though that was the problem.

Then I had another year of infection after infection that would not clear up. Food got caught under my gums and would get really bad.

Many ideas were tried and finally I was put on a liquid diet for a month to see if the infection would go away enough to have surgery. It did! And then I had out-patient surgery to remove those 4 problem teeth. Chipmunk cheeks!

Happily, I recovered perfectly from this event and have not had many troubles with my teeth since then.

The best thing to come out of this was a Percocet prescription. Even though I was in horrible pain, those things made me sick, caused vomiting, and made me feel hungover for days. I was told Percoset was codeine-based and not to take it.

A few years later in life I decided to live it up; and took one Percoset a friend had for a horrible headache. Sure enough, the sickness, vomiting, and hangover came again.

So now – when doctors ask me if there is any medication I cannot take, I know to say “Codeine.”

This has kept me away from Oxycodone, which is now a big problem in my Chronic Pain groups. I am very grateful to miss it as I watch my friends struggle with overuse, addiction, and withdrawals when they try to quit.

PS: I did not lose weight on the liquid diet! My mother was beside herself. "Everyone loses weight on a liquid diet except my daughter!"

I laugh now, but wish every day that my mom could see me thin. It was her biggest dream for me and came after she was gone.

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My entry today is for the #freewrite daily challenge by @mariannewest. Freewrite is a wonderful daily challenge with many interesting participants, so give it a try. It is very helpful to me these days when I need to keep posting through brain fog :)

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I’m always grateful I lost half my size and just sorry it took me until I was 50 years old to figure it out. Anyone can lose weight if I did. I can help you with simple and natural methods you will enjoy. It’s been over seven years now since I had to worry about my weight. My obesity used to rule me.