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Jun. 17th, 2004 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sraunHave I mentioned recently how much I adore canker sores?
I'm betting the methotrexate is not helping the situation.
I've got three canker sores right now - two on my lower lip just left of center, and one HUGE (OK, about 1/4" across) one about an inch back on the left side of my tongue. Where my tongue likes to come into frequent contact with my teeth. I've had these since the weekend - come midafternoon, I'm in pain and slightly nauseated. And sleeping isn't - I spend the first three or four hours of the night just getting to sleep and the waking about (I'm not getting more than about 45 minutes of consecutive sleep in that period, by my handy-dandy bedside clock), and then I finally drop off for about three hours straight, then it's time to get up.
Normally, just before bed I rinse my mouth with a 1.5% hydrogen peroxide solution, followed by a Dexamethasone rinse. Past experience is that this should have the canker sores starting to heal (and stopped hurting!) within three days. Not this time.
Last night, I cheated. Hydrocodone. I had some left over from the last time I had lower back problems, so I gave up and took one. And I fell asleep within an hour, and slept straight through until morning. Wonderful!
I'm one of those people with a high pain tolerance and a dis-inclination to take pain meds. I may not take them as early or as frequently as I should - but the OTC pain-relievers don't do much for me most of the time. A massive dose (~1000 units) of aspirin will kill a headache. Moderate doses (recommended dosage on the bottle) of ibuprofen will usually get muscle aches taken care of overnight, somewhat larger (another one or two tablets) will usually take the edge of a muscle ache during the day. Acetaminophen will break a fever, and that's all it does for me. Tylenol 3 just kind of sits there - I've heard lots of people describe the 'take me out of it' effects it has on them - nothing like that for me. The hydrocodone is the first anti-pain med where I've noticed the pain going away!
I've got four hydrocodone left - but if tonight is like last night, I'll take another one.
I'm betting the methotrexate is not helping the situation.
I've got three canker sores right now - two on my lower lip just left of center, and one HUGE (OK, about 1/4" across) one about an inch back on the left side of my tongue. Where my tongue likes to come into frequent contact with my teeth. I've had these since the weekend - come midafternoon, I'm in pain and slightly nauseated. And sleeping isn't - I spend the first three or four hours of the night just getting to sleep and the waking about (I'm not getting more than about 45 minutes of consecutive sleep in that period, by my handy-dandy bedside clock), and then I finally drop off for about three hours straight, then it's time to get up.
Normally, just before bed I rinse my mouth with a 1.5% hydrogen peroxide solution, followed by a Dexamethasone rinse. Past experience is that this should have the canker sores starting to heal (and stopped hurting!) within three days. Not this time.
Last night, I cheated. Hydrocodone. I had some left over from the last time I had lower back problems, so I gave up and took one. And I fell asleep within an hour, and slept straight through until morning. Wonderful!
I'm one of those people with a high pain tolerance and a dis-inclination to take pain meds. I may not take them as early or as frequently as I should - but the OTC pain-relievers don't do much for me most of the time. A massive dose (~1000 units) of aspirin will kill a headache. Moderate doses (recommended dosage on the bottle) of ibuprofen will usually get muscle aches taken care of overnight, somewhat larger (another one or two tablets) will usually take the edge of a muscle ache during the day. Acetaminophen will break a fever, and that's all it does for me. Tylenol 3 just kind of sits there - I've heard lots of people describe the 'take me out of it' effects it has on them - nothing like that for me. The hydrocodone is the first anti-pain med where I've noticed the pain going away!
I've got four hydrocodone left - but if tonight is like last night, I'll take another one.
Preventative measures
Date: 2004-07-16 02:05 pm (UTC)I don't know any way to make the damned things go away, but (for me, at least) they can be prevented. I take a daily regimen consisting of a standard multi-vitamin, a stress-formula supplement (B-complex, zinc, and maybe vit. C), and 1000 mg of lysine. Two or three weeks after I started this, the sores stopped forming. After the existing ones healed up, I was (and am) completely free of the syndrome.
Mark (Ann Totusek's hubbie) Hagerman