Just before finals week, I was nearly done with all of my packing when, while sleeping, I apparently clenched my teeth together for something like 6-8 hours straight out of stress. Obviously, my jaw did not appreciate this, and I was in a serious amount of pain. James, being the sweet guy he is, decided he wanted to help, and brought me ibuprofen and took me up to a sports store to get an athletic guard (the dentists say they're just as good as a night guard made in an office). The vibrations were awful, and I'll admit to crying most of the way there and back. *Side note, James made a quip about how I'm not allowed to have children with this kind of pain tolerance :D* The night guard was a good idea, but I was in so much pain, I couldn't handle the idea of trying to make it. Since clenching was what caused my pain, I didn't really want to do any more clenching, even if it was only a minute of it to help make something that might help. I'll admit, this was probably stupid decision number 2 (number 1 was not having a night guard weeks earlier when the dentist told me to go get one).
By the end of the weekend, I was mostly moved into my new place, and in just as much pain as ever, if not more. I probably was still grinding my teeth at night, the pain just causing more stress, causing more grinding, causing more pain, etc. By either Monday or Tuesday, I went into the school medical office and saw a nurse practitioner. She prescribed me muscle relaxants for the nighttime, and Vicodin for the pain. Story's over, right? Wrong :/
The Vicodin did absolutely nothing. I was in even worse pain, the muscle relaxants helped some, but they weren't controlling any pain either (for good reason, that's not their job). I don't think I made it another two days before James came over to my new place (which is my aunt and uncle's house, by the way) and found me curled up in a ball crying in one of the armchairs, with a very concerned one-year-old golden retriever trying to figure out what was wrong. I had a final that afternoon, but I knew I wouldn't make it, so I called my professor's office phone. I kind of pulled myself together before the call, but clearly it was obvious that I was in pain because he asked me if I needed to be calling 911 instead. Oh, and he was totally fine with me missing the final and making it up later.
After hearing from someone other than James that I seemingly needed to go to the hospital, I finally agreed, and the two of us headed over to the ER nearby to see what was wrong. I didn't get a new diagnosis; the doctors in the ER agreed that I just was in a lot of pain, that it would go away eventually, and the point was to control it now. They also informed me that part of the reason the Vicodin wasn't working was because it was not an anti-inflammatory, therefore ibuprofen would be more efficient in this case. So, they sent me off, with a stronger muscle relaxant, instructions on how much ibuprofen to take, as well as Percocet.
Never, EVER try to have a normal existence while taking Percocet. Even though I felt somewhat sane, there were many moments where I felt like I was floating around the ceiling, and apparently my friends had a heck of a time trying to understand me, since my speech was rather impaired (apparently...I only knew that I was having issues finding words a lot more than usual).
So...the point is, the pain went down enough that I was willing to make a night guard, which also coincided with the completion of all my finals, and the end of my sophomore year of college. Suddenly I slept way better and soon after, I was able to reduce down to just ibuprofen. Thank God.
Meanwhile, since then I have puppy-sat for my wonderful hosts, started working regularly in the library, knit up a storm, and went to a friend's wonderful wedding. I bike everywhere, swim nearly every weekday morning, and eat tons (yes, my friends, Allie is eating three good meals a day! What exercise will do for a person!). I can come and go at will, I go to work when I want to, work as long as I want, and leave whenever I'm ready. I practice before and after work (sort of convenient when you work in the music department) and knit in all the rest of my free time. Life is good! (and low-stress, which is exactly what I needed)
Tomorrow brings the beginning of a new lace project, some more swimming and work, but I really do look forward to each day now! Oh, and I've discovered Seattle's public library system...what have I been doing all these years without it?! So many knitting books I can have access to!!!
Until the next interesting thing happens (probably my birthday in T-minus 11 days),
Allie
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