When I was pregnant, I made the decision to have a natural birth.  I decided I wanted the drug free experience of giving birth.

By hour 13, after blacking in and out of consciousness and repeating the word ‘Ow’ so many times and so loudly that I probably had any women in a 10 mile radius changing their minds about getting pregnant, I told my mom – ‘please tell them I want the drugs, I can’t take it anymore’.

Too late.

As a nurse came to check me, she announced my child (I wanted the sex a secret) had blonde hair.

It was time to push.

I would however, go through the same pain everyday over and over if the end result was my son.

Thursday night had pain coming in intense waves.  Much like contractions in the transition phase.  I felt something building, knew what was to come and whimpered at the prospect.  Sharp, intense pain – affecting my entire mouth, ear, jaw and eye.  I did not sleep a wink.  I cried out, I sobbed, I shook and trembled while repeating ‘Ow’.

A tooth infection.

I had no one.  I was in the most pain I had been in since giving birth.  No lie.

My poor dog didn’t sleep a wink either and alternated between caring protector to annoyed tired canine.

I reached out on Facebook.  Did anyone have any remedies?  Any new ideas for relief??  I was too tired to Google and scroll.  And I needed human interaction.

I’m writing about this because nothing was working and maybe one day, someone will be googling and stumble upon this post and find something that will work for them.

I was not going the listerine route, as I can not drink and the ingredient in mouthwash that stops the pain is the alcohol.  But, when Nic had an issue with his mouth last year, it gave him immediate results.

Other solutions offered were: Cloves, salt water, Orajel, ibuprofen.  All should work with a mild toothache.

But if you have a serious dental issue, with exposed pulp and intense pain – don’t put ANYTHING in it, never mind a whole clove in there.  As for the Orajel, it worked on the less serious teeth, but not the culprit.  In fact, it made it worse.  It stung and throbbed.

It wasn’t until about 5 am, when I had given up on any hope of sleeping that I Googled.

Funny that when I think back to when I was sitting up typing out my night – there was some relief.  I found a site that explained that the nerves are of course a part of the circulatory system and when we lay down, the blood pumps with more vigor.  In layman’s terms, sit up, it hurts less.  Had I known that at 2 or 3, I might have tried sleeping sitting up on the couch.

I had so many milograms of acetomenaphin coursing through my veins, I’m surprised my liver is still working today.  Nothing helped.

The one thing I knew would help, I couldn’t find.  Heating pad.

I went to work and immediately called my dentist.  They will not work on you if you have an infection.  I knew I had to get prescriptions for antibiotics.  And I knew I needed pain killers.

Ironic that my previous post was about being appreciated at work – one of my bosses insisted that he go to the dentist for me.  I couldn’t drive anymore than I had to.  He left immediately and picked up the prescriptions and I went home.

I’m not a call-in-sick person.  But if they had said ‘no’ when I asked to go home, I would have had to leave anyway Friday.  It was that bad.

I understand not being able to afford to go to the dentist.  We’ve established I’m a single mom, working a full-time job and a part-time side job, and I have no insurance.  I’ve been putting off having this particular tooth taken care of for a couple of reasons.  When it doesn’t hurt, I don’t think about it, and it’s easy for other expenses to take priority.  I’m also pretty scared as my dentist won’t remove the tooth – instead he’d prefer an oral surgeon do it.  It’s really quite bad.

I’ve trained myself to eat around it, I avoid the molar.  But in waiting too long, the molar next to it is deteriorating too.  So – I started using the left side of my mouth.  Which resulted in a top left molar also being damaged.  My mouth is a painful mess.

Bottom line is this.  Find a dentist that will work with you.  Make it a priority.  Going immediately eliminates the need to go through such pain and avoiding it only makes the problem worse and more costly.

I took my prescriptions to the pharmacy and picked up a heat pack.  If you’re in agony – whether from an infected tooth, or an earache – try heat.

Heat, in conjunction with the antibiotics and pain killers afforded me some sleep last night.  And as soon as I’m finished with the course of Keflex, I’m GOING to make that appointment to have the tooth removed.