Oooouuuch! I have very suddenly developed a gum abcess. Hurts like a mutha!
Usually, I have a pretty good tolerance for pain. But the infection got worse pretty rapidly, and my gum is extremely swollen. And of course, any kind of bacterial infection running through one’s system does not leave one feeling their perkiest.
On top of all that, the antibiotic I was prescribed is well known for causing nausea and other, um…intestinal distress.
I go back to the dentist this afternoon to get it cleaned out. The procedure doesn’t sound like a day at Disney, but if I am actually looking forward to it if it will make this stop hurting.
My concern is how bad and how long I can expect to hurt. I have some important work stuff that needs to be taken care of tomorrow, and unfortunately I’m the only one who can do it.
So who else has had this kind of thing done…and what am I in for?
Somewhere on the board there is a dramatic story of a doper passing out and falling, with a burst gum abcsess. I do not recall if the passing out was from pain at the abcsess bursting, or if the abcess burst when they hit their face on the floor because they passed out due to being ill with an abcess. As I recall, they reported feeling better once they woke after the abcess had burst.
I have burst minor mouth abcesses in my mouth and felt sharp relief. I hope that you have a well defined infection and find relief when the abcess is lanced.
In some cases the infection is not well localized and so the abcess cannot be eaisily lanced and you need to wait until the antibiotics get it or it localizes. This is one reason that attempts to lance the thing at home are discouraged. It may not work and it may just traumatize the tissue and possibly spread the infection to new tissue. If the infection warrants it your doctor may even put you on an antibiotic IV in order to get the medicine to where it is needed.
It sounds like maybe once they clean this thing out I will likely feel better rather than worse. My face is even kind of swollen right now, so I’m not sure if I could call this “localized”…although there is no doubt about which spot in my mouth is causing the problem.
lisacurl , thanks you so much for mentioning the acidophilus…I had no idea about that! Very useful information, since I am going to be on these antibiotics for a week.
You may be thinking of my story–I had a serious absess, hit the side of my face on the arm of the couch, bit down hard from it and the damn thing burst. The pain was unbelievable, but then I did fall asleep and woke up better.