Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Bad day coming.

I'm having a rough time again. I have felt swollen in my throat for weeks, with numbness in the skin on the throat area, and oversensitive even to clothes there. I had to go home from work last night, I had been to the dentist (to remove 2 Amalgam fillings) and just having my mouth open there for a long time left me with terrible jaw pain, neck pain and nausea. I actually stopped by the ER to have them look at my throat. No CRP elevation and no fever, but swollen lymph glands and redness in throat. I took two painkillers and fell asleep on the sofa.
Today I wake up to insanely sore muscles in my temples, and nerve pains shooting in my face and hands.
I've also started getting constipation issues again. I've upped my water intake a lot. My stomach doesnt feel like it works like it should anymore.
I got antibiotics for a sinusitis during christmas and had 2 wonderful months afterwards.

The last three years I have had joint and muscle pains and spasms, nerve pains, balance issues, stomach problems, altered nerve sensations, fatigue, dryness, loosing sensation in one side of the body in periods, bladder issues,......and no answers.

I've booked a doctors appointment.
I'm going to request a check of my sinuses....and an MRI to rule out MS.

I'm so tired of the pain and the worry.

You know what has been really helping me is juicing carrots and apples everyday and eating greens. It is part of the Gerson Therapy and I feel more energetic and less pain and less inflammation when I stick this way of living. I know it sounds too simple, but you might want to try with a juice fast for a few days , I feel soooo much better. I started at the first of the year and have never felt better. I still do the NSD/LSD and it relieves my back pain but I feel like the fresh juices give me more energy and heal my body.

Yes, definitely get yourself checked out by the doctor. I'm not so sure about asking for an MRI to check for MS though. If you really feel MS is possible, get your doctor to do a basic neurological examination first (checking reflexes, pinprick sensation, etc) - if that is all normal, then there really is very little likelihood of MS. The more negative investigations you have, the more likely the doctors are to dismiss you as being hypochondriac, which will just make it harder to get a proper diagnosis.

Sore muscles, sore and sensitive throat, swollen lymph glands, the irritated nerve tingly skin - all that is pretty common with viruses, and this time of year (change of season) seems to be when viruses hit pretty badly. Take paracetamol (tylenol) regularly, hot lemon and ginger drinks, a few days off work, and rest up for a few days, then see how things are again. If your stomach isn't right, cut back on the starchy foods (except maybe plain boiled rice), and eat "invalid food" that is gentle on the stomach - applesauce, soups, etc along with plenty of fluids. It does sound like you have a bit of a flu-like illness right now.

I hope you feel better soon. Don't let it all get you down though.

Gilth I am so sorry you are having such a hard time. It sounds perfectly miserable. I am glad you are going to the dr. to get some answers.

I will be thinking of you.

Possi

Ty all for your help!

-The pain broke yesterday afternoon, and suddenly nerve pains and muscle pains are a lot better. This at least I can live with.
Maybe I had a reaction from the Amalgam fillings being drilled out. I also did another thing yesterday. My chiropractor has been nagging me about starting Vitamin B12. He said its vital to the nerve system, so I bought sme high dosage ones and started them yesterday morning. Maybe that helped...I really don't know what actually did the trick but what a relief to feel a little better at least.

These nerve pains are terrible to endure when they hit me. They are so brief, lasting only seconds or less each, but they make you feel so vulnerable. Like nothing shields your nerves anymore and someone is poking them with needles.

Everytime I go to the dentist, I have to do the following:

1. Take the muscle relaxant zanaflex before I go.

2. Take all my various pillows with me: my neck pillow for my neck, my lumbar pillow for my lower back, and a "couch" pillow for under my knees.

3. Tell the dentist that I need to stand whenever they are in between things waiting (like after the novocaine shots, etc), tell the dentist I need to close my mouth very frequently / whenever I can.

All of that and I "just" survive the dentist. My dentists have always been very understanding of my needs.

It used to amaze me that something as simple as a dental visit could be such a major production. But nothing amazes me anymore.

Of course having our mouths open like that for any period of time will set off our TMJ (if we suffer with that)! The only way I survive it is with the muscle relaxant and closing my mouth frequently!

And any static sitting like that will kill the rest of me, but the pillows help tremendously.

I have a bag of pillows that I take with me to the dentist, MRIs, ultrasounds, etc.

Pillows and Zanaflex, they are my secret weapons to getting through things like the dentist.

Sorry for your pain, hopefully in the future you can ward some of it off like I've been able to.

I'm really amazed. Since yesterday afternoon, it has been like I have gotten back warmth in my body. And I mean warmth that has been missing for years.

And not just like feeling warm, but it feels like skin sensation is more normal, and I feel better, stronger, faster, warmer. Something has happened, and I can't figure it out, but oh God, I hope it lasts a while!!!

Could it be the Amalgam fillings? -sounds like stretch, I only removed two, and I have 9 in all. Granted I needed them removed because my bad jaw problems has left me actually grinding down the fillings themselves, more or less eating them over time, hehe. Thats not what everyone with a filling does, but my teeth grinding is so bad its flattening ALL of my teeth. I've already been told I need top replacements on all teeth within 10 years.

Or could it be the high dosage Vitamin B I started taking yesterday? -Vitamin B12 defficiency can lead to nerve damage, and the nerve damage will actually start to take place before blood tests can even reveal a defficiency.

Or is it just a random fluke?

Who knows, but I will enjoy work today! I can't remember the last time I looked so much forward to work.

I hope you are all in your best of health, I often feel bad for not answering in more posts, but I've had so much with myself lately.

This day, dear friends, is very strange and very good to me!

I am so glad Gilth. :o)

TAKE THE B12!! Your symptoms sound a lot like my symptoms a couple of years ago when I got really messed up, turned out I had a massive B deficiency, (I was severely worried about MS, my sister has it) and the B12 fixed it. I was getting numbness, paralysis, stabbing pains, horrible trigeminal neuralgia (face pain), falling asleep at weird times, and the B12 injections made a world of difference. Look up "baribari."
Still - please rule out MS if you can, that's something you don't want to leave untreated. Are you familiar with LDN? Low Dose Naltrexone - it's my Miracle Med, and it does fantastic things for many MSers. VERY FEW side-effects, and it's very cheap. Hard to get, because it's off-label and doctors are mostly wusses nowadays, they'd rather prescribe a $15,000 med that might kill us than a $10 med that will cure us, if it isn't "on the list."
I really, REALLY hope you get this figured out and feel better. It sounds just awful, and of course nobody (except us) will believe you that going to the dentist made you feel like dying. Sue knows what she's talking about - she has great advice about dentists!
Sending prayers, white light and warmth to you!!
Bridget

Yeah I definetly will Bridget, actually I'm asking for a B12 shot when I see the doc on monday.

But the weirdness goes on;
Since this started I have gotten more feelign on normal sensation in the skin and more normal felt bodytemperature.
But it's more....it's like my nerves have more driect contact with the perifery if you know what I mean?

I have been plagued by a feeling of changing back and forth between a body that feels "thight" and giving feeback and feeling more weak, and abnormal. Now it is definetly in the former category. I could swear my skin feels like It's almost thight to have on, and the muscles too. I know it sounds crazy. But I do have less fatigue quite clearly, and I also feel less pain. I'm thinking its a good thing, and keeping on with the B12's.

IF it turned out to be B12 defficiency it would explain a lot, but not really how I got that. But it would fit in pretty neatly with me suspecting that I have a tapeworm (or more) for the last half year. (I found segments in stool that look like it, and that was right after a very serious constipation. I do struggle with constipation still and have to use stool softeners and up my fiber and water intake.

Tapeworms actually feed on B12 and thus lead to B12 defficiency, so it could be one explanation, I suppose.