678 is how many words I have written for the
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words_we_wroteTTA track challenge. At least 822 words to go.
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Diagnosed by a DoctorSo, I went to see Dr Levey yesterday (and I totally spelled his name wrong in the other post) He said I definitely need a root-canal. But he said that this one would be, like, 100x easier than the last one. The last one was so horrible b/c the infection was just completely out of control. The nerve in my tooth had died so I wasn't in any pain and didn't notice the infection until my gums and face were wicked swollen. And apparently, the same thing has happened this time: the nerve in my tooth is dead. Hence no pain.
Earlier in the year, after my first root-canal, I couldn't wear my nightguard b/c of my new crown. Then my front tooth, the one that's getting the root-canal, was soooo painful. The dentist said it was just b/c I was grinding so badly without my nightguard. So they made me a brand new one for free b/c I hadn't even had my old one for a year yet and those suckers are, like, 400$. Needless to say, my tooth stopped hurting once I got my new nightguard. Everyone thought it was hunky-dory. But now my mom and I are wondering if that wasn't b/c of grinding. Maybe that's when my tooth was infected for the first time. Usually the nerve in your tooth doesn't just die right off the bat like that unless there's some sort of trauma and Dr Levey doesn't think the fork did it. So now we wonder. Not that it matters any. It doesn't change anything. But Dr Levey said I don't have to have it done until I come back from vacation next week. I have an appointment scheduled for 9:45am on Thursday. Oh joy. But he guarantees it'll be so much better than the last time. Plus, b/c the infection's so small it's not going to be as much work so it's only going to cost us $840!!!! I'm so happy with that. But we'll have to see how much we gotta pay my regular dentist for the after-work.
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Self-DiagnosisFor years and years and years, showering has made me itchy. The warmer the water, the worse the itching. The other day I was in the shower and just as I was finishing up my shoulders and the top of my thighs started to itch something fierce. By the time I was all dried off and dressed, my forearms itched horribly too. I finally decided to jump on-line and try to look up my symptoms. Seems a ton of people have this problem and it's an actual medical issue. It's called
Cholinergic Urticaria, a subcategory of physical urticaria. Basically, it's a skin rash brought on by a hypersensitive reaction to body heat. Symptoms can be brought on by anything that increases your body temp, i.e.: exercise, heat from the sun, saunas, hot showers, and even alcohol! All this time I thought some forms of alcohol made me itch b/c of the sulfites in it. And get this: it's more common in people who have other atopic conditions such as eczema and asthma, both of which I have. So basically the next time I go see my PCP I'm going to ask her about it. But it all makes total sense now. It's amazing.
Whenever my entire body itches and I'd tell my mom she'd tell me to take a shower b/c I was probably itching from sweat and dirt. I've always told my mom that showering doesn't help. And now we know it doesn't. Unless it's a shower of icecubes. This is kind of amazing actually. I'm not itching just a little bit and then essentially making mountains out of mole hills. It really is
that bad. It's not just all in my head. Last night my mom was like,
you have so many other problems, why not this too? haha But now it finally makes sense and it gives me some semblence of relief.
