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Hi Bryanna!

How have you been? A belated Happy Thanksgiving, H’ween, Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!

My pie hole and I wanted to reach out to you to purge several dental-related thoughts & frustrations. I hope you don’t mind…I’ll jump to the present day situation...

It’s been 11 months since the 3rd and final pie hole surgery. I am so thankful to say that the surgery site itself is in great shape; my OS was able to once and for all get that area to heal. YAY!

On the flipside, I haven’t been as fortunate as I’d hoped with the facial nerve(s) healing. I still have issues on the lower left part of my face. From my lip down to under my chin & also on the inside of my mouth (backside of my lip (and space between it and my gums), the gum area and what feels like 2-3 lower teeth). I have constant numbness and tingly sensations in the area from my lower left lip down to under my chin and about an inch or so toward my cheek as well. Couple of quick examples: I can touch the side of my chin and the area beneath my lower lip tingles. When my toothbrush moves around on the left lower inside area of my mouth, I get wave after wave of numbness and tingling. My chin is itchy in one small area most of the time as well.

Worse than the above is the stinging that goes on with my lower left lip. It bothers me on and off, every day; I can’t tell how long it’ll last or what, if anything, causes it to flare up. The damn thing is bothering me right now---it stings from the front of that lip and surrounding area and it extends through to the inside of my mouth. It's accompanied by a burning sensation as well, which really hurts. I’ve described the pain that goes through my lower lip back into my mouth as a burning sensation which radiates right through to the teeth behind that area. Those symptoms also occur daily (or for days at a time) and the amount of time they are on a rampage varies; the symptoms I am having at the moment have lasted for well over 2 days straight.

I’ve given a name to the most evil of all symptoms---the holy muther zing. It’s a sickening, quick feeling of electricity-like zings/zaps that hit the area of my teeth, gums & lip. The zing freaking hurts (thus the name holy muther) and it also makes me feel as if I've bitten down on a piece of aluminum foil!!!! Man…makes my skin crawl!!! The zings happen without warning, lasting less than 10 seconds or so----and they drop into my daily life at east 3 times a day. After all these months of waiting for my nerves to heal and go back to normal, I'm beginning to lose hope that this will get any better...........I don't care where it's located, chronic pain and discomfort suck BIG TIME.

I want to mention that I began seeing an exceptional neurologist (at the request of my OS) to evaluate/treat the nerve issues in my pie hole. She has prescribed a couple of different meds that would theoretically help with the pain; the one med didn’t agree with my system (If I am remembering correctly, it caused intense gastric issues) and the other was a pain medication that I didn’t want to take for any amount of time. It might sound odd, but I had to give that exact same med to my old lab/coon hound dog and his dosage kept increasing over and over as time went on....

Besides the Rx med ideas, the neurologist recommended that I try an over the counter external cream on my face (I can't recall the brand name) when the area flared up. After giving the idea some thought it didn’t make sense to walk around with a tube of cream to apply to my face whenever I was having aches/pain---because it happens so frequently throughout the day and not to mention, the external layer of pain is just the first layer of many that freaking hurt. For a while I used Ambesol (I hope that is the correct name) to apply directly to the front of my teeth and gums located right behind my left lip. It helped numb the area, which helped, but after so much time, I stopped using it. If the issues were going to continue for x-amount of time, I didn't want to be ingesting that stuff day after day (also there was the possibility that these symptoms and damage could be permanent so I was curious about finding another way to cope).

A quick bit of candid background. My neurologist is super but there is sometimes a language barrier between us. I do listen closely to what she is saying and I do believe I understand her but I think she may have trouble understanding me and my "Pennsylvania, WV" expressions. Ex: the last time I went to see her, she asked how the issue with my facial nerves was coming along and I replied “things are holding steady”,meaning that they are the same as they were since my last visit. She seemed very pleased that I was feeling better, etc.---???---but it’s my fault that I didn’t take the time to try and rephrase my answer to her…. In all fairness to her, she wanted to review other issues that have arisen from the CT she had ordered for the facial nerve issues (severe stenosis in my neck), so the discussion regarding the face/mouth pain was only part of my visit. I know, I know, next time I go to an appointment, I will definitely clarify what I meant by that expression and I'll fill her in on any progress (still hoping) or not. She probably thinks that I suck as a patient being that I am not a fan of using Rx meds for pain...

I have developed a few different ways of handling my pie hole issues. One is that I bite down on my lip and space below it---similar to what you might do if you stub your toe---push on it because it hurts. I press my tongue against the inside of the lip area and below. I scratch the infamous itchy chin area when I can't stand it any longer and I try to get through the holy mother zings without making it obvious to those around me. Probably some of the neighbors/friends who I see from time to time think I'm turning into an orangatang; between biting my lip, pushing my tongue against the inside of my lip, scratching my chin and looking like I just chewed on a piece of foil... LOL

What's the old saying about either laughing or crying? Thank you for listening and reading my ramblings. I hope that you and your loved ones are doing great. ~Laughter