In the end, I never slept. Unlike previous nights, where at least sleep brought some relief from the never-ending pain, this night despite however many drugs I took, sleep refused to capture me in the relief of its embrace. I seriously just spent the entire night tossing and turning and checking my watch, counting down the hours until 9 AM. I had previously thought I had a high pain tolerance, but this was unreal. I suddenly understood why people used to yank rotten teeth to escape pain, as if I had not been living in an era of modern dentistry, I would have been tempted to do the same.
Finally 9 AM rolled around, and to my relief, they said the dentist would see me at 10:30 AM. When I made it to the office, he took an x-ray and then told me something not exactly surprising: I needed a root canal. I wasn't so happy though when he said I had a raging tooth infection, and would need to be on antibiotics for a week first to calm the infection and inflammation before he could even touch it. (Even though I sort of knew this too, as the pain had started at just one tooth and was now radiating down my entire jaw, which even a quick WebMD search will tell you is a sign of a tooth infection). I suppose it makes sense that you can't immediately just go digging around in the midst of something all swollen and inflamed, but I just about cried at the thought of dealing with this for another week. The dentist promised I would start to feel better in 24-48 hours as the antibiotics started to work, but took pity on me and wrote me a prescription for codine as well.
First thing I did was take advantage of that whole "may cause drowsiness" thing and went home and took a nap, the first sleep I'd gotten in over 40 hours. I can understand why the doctor was so concerned about me operating heavy machinery and driving, as narcotics would obviously be very dangerous in such a situation, but it was an absolute God-send to finally get some pain relief. I still can't chew or do anything exciting like eat solid foods, but at least I can sit still and play on my computer without wanting to cry, so that's a step up in the world!
I didn't get anything done at work however, and found myself debating taking some sick days from work. You'd think that with the whole "work from home" thing that I could just curl up in bed with my laptop, but I find that either I'm in such blinding pain from the tooth infection that I can't concentrate on anything other than the pain, or I'm so doped up on the codine that I can't think straight. Narcotics make you stupid, that is for sure.
I've never really read the little piece of paper that they give you at the pharmacy warning you of the side-effects, but I really should have, because on this one I had all of them: "Dihyrocodeine tablets may reduce your ability to think clearly. Effects such as dizziness, spinning sensations, muscle rigidity, visual disturbances, drowsiness, confusion or hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that are not real) may occur."
What followed was either a completely disturbing or hilarious time at work (depending on your perspective), as I found myself chasing thoughts around in my head as though they were butterflies. My boss (thank goodness), knew what was going on and was pretty understanding about the whole thing. Seeing rainbows and unicorns dancing around my flat beat the tooth pain, but I was still feeling quite wretched either way.
Then in the evening, I randomly got a call from Lotte at 8 PM, asking me if I wanted to come over for pizza, as she was having a few people over. Although I was tempted to just say no, I was feeling a bit cooped up in the flat and going out normally makes me feel better, so I said sure and would see her in an hour.
In the end however, it was quite the mistake. Obviously I couldn't drink due to the antibiotics and codine, but I brought a bottle of wine for Lotte and some Diet Coke for myself and thought I would enjoy the company of a few familiar faces.
Spent the entire time feeling flushed and feverish (okay, yes, I definitely have an infection), or just faint from the lack of food. Except then when I tried to eat, my mouth made it quite clear that idea was a no-go. I couldn't really hear people, because my ears are stuffed and it sounded like everyone was talking to me underwater. I just wanted to curl up into a ball in the corner and cry, as I couldn't recall the last time I've felt this wretched. You know it has to be bad when even socialising can't make me feel better!
I left after only an hour (and it was a struggle to stay that long so i wouldn't appear rude) and went for a long walk towards home, the fresh air felt good. I kept having dry heaves as I walked however, as the codeine was upsetting my stomach (the directions say to take with food, and have been taking with milk since I couldn't chew solids, but it was not quite enough, guess), but of course with the dry heaves, there was nothing to vomit. Caught a bus after walking for 30 min, and finally made it home again. Took some more drugs (as wretched as they make me feel) in the hopes of getting some sleep and crossing my fingers that the antibiotics would start to kick in and I'd feel better in the morning!
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