I have chronic Lyme, Babesia, Ehrlichia, and Bartonella. Babs is the biggest issue for me. I also have the usual viruses like EBV, CMV, etc.
On 2/18 I got sick with what I thought was a cold. The next day, in addition to a stuffy nose, feeling crappy, etc. I had a wicked headache and upper right tooth pain. End of that week talked to my doctor who thought it might be a sinus infection. She recommended 7 days of Levaquin but said I could wait to see if I feel better.
On 2/26 I went to see my dentist who said it's actually my gums that are mildly infected on the top right but my teeth seem ok. He gave me an herbal antimicrobial to use in my waterpik and to give it two weeks. That was Tuesday last week but by Thursday the top left of my teeth hurt as well and it felt more like my teeth versus my gums. Occasionally I would also get pain in my upper left front tooth.
Last Friday the headache came back with a vengeance and the pain in my upper teeth, both sides, was so bad I couldn't stand it. I took 2 extra strength Tylenol that morning which got rid of the pain. I had a phone consult with my doctor that night who said if it were a viral infection it would have gone away by now. She prescribed Levaquin, 750 mg but this time for 10 days. My DH picked up the med for me but I didn't take it because I noticed the pain wasn't back and it had been 13 hours since I had taken Tylenol.
Saturday I was still ok - no pain. Sunday the pain was back top right, Monday top right and left, and yesterday top right constant and top left on and off throughout the day, but my sinuses are clear.
This morning the top right still hurts, the headache is worse, and I don't know what to do. Every time I go to take the Levaquin I get scared because of the side effects.
I have been flushing my sinuses daily with salt/baking soda/oil of oregano, taking MSM internally, rinsing my mouth with MSM, using the herbal antimicrobial in my waterpik, and using Sinus Buster nasal spray.
Is there anything else I can do to avoid taking Levaquin? I just have a bad feeling about this med.
I am on Dr. K's Lyme cocktail, currently being treated for parasites and am on Iodoquinol, and otherwise just herbal antimicrobials and other supplements to help with MTHFR, detox, etc.
Any other thoughts what this could be? I do have titanium all through my upper jaw from a jaw surgery in 1993 and there's a possibility I have FL1953. I did read that biofilm can form around implants so I am not sure if something like that is going on.
posted
I just read that FL1953 can cause pain in ones teeth. Now I really don't know what to do.
Anybody have ANY suggestions at all?
Posts: 165 | From TN | Registered: Jul 2011
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Lyme can cause dental pain. You will see that as a symptom in Burrascano's list of lyme symptoms.
I had this and it was horrendous. I lived on narcotic pain killers and took anti-inflammatories. My dentist did 2 root canals to try to get rid of this pain. Then, when that didn't work, he sent me to a dental surgeon who said it was "inflammation" and put me on the max of Advil daily. It was worse on wet and cold days. Surgeon said it would likely not go away until warm weather. That's exactly what happened.
I was in agony 24/7 for months, living on narcotic pain killers. This was all before my diagnosis of lyme disease.
So, treating lyme with antibiotics could make this go away.
In case the cause is a sinus infection, then get a culture of your sinuses and see what the lab reports. I had the headache from hell most of 2012 (lyme has been cured for 7-8 years by then) from a sinus infection that didn't show on a culture for 6 months.
When it finally showed on a culture, it was 3 horrendous infections including MRSA. These infections did not show on a CT of sinuses.
I had sinus surgergy (balloon sinuplasty) and when the ENT got the camera in the sinus in my cheek, he SAW that it was full of pus.
So, I have suffered with this kind of pain twice in my life. Once it was lyme and once it was a sinus infection. Both times, I had no life until the problem was resolved.
Levaquin is not the only antibiotic to treat sinus infections. Each infection is resistant to certain meds and susceptible to certain other meds. Before my sinus infection showed on a culture, they put me on Augmentin, cipro. and others. Each of these helped some, but I didn't get rid of the sinus infection until they showed on culture and the ENT gave me the antibiotics that killed what I specifically had.
You can load up on magnesium now in case you want to try the Levaquin later. Here is a website that tells you how:
Since your dental pain is not consistently in one spot, but is on both sides from time to time, etc. my guess is that this is from lyme disease. The moving around pain and coming and going pain is classic for lyme.
However, I had no sinus discharge when I had my horrendous sinus infection that took me 10 months to get rid of. So, you can't go by clear sinuses.
You can go to an ENT if you believe that sinus infection is likely. They can take better cultures than your primary, and they will give you liquid antibiotics to squirt into your sinuses if they think a sinus infection is likely. Also, you would be getting the opinion of an expert on whether or not this could be a sinus infection.
I, myself, would start on magnesium and start the Levaquin if I were in real agony. If it works, you saved yourself months of agony and lots of money (getting in with an ENT, waiting for cultures, CT scans of sinuses, the cost of each ENT appt, etc.).
You should stop the Levaquin immediately if you get any signs of tendonitis, just like the website above says. I took Levaquin for 30 days straight when treating bart, and I had no problems.
Doctors and ENTs prescribe these short courses of Levaquin all the time--for sore throats, etc.
My lyme doctor said the tendonitis problem is rare. Certainly, primary doctors and ENTs never mention it as a possibility. So, it is a rare side effect. If you know what to look out for and not ignore soreness or tightness in tendons as soon as you notice it, you should do OK.
Two extra strength Tylenol did NOTHING for my dental pain--both when it was lyme and when it was a sinus infection. So, since you are not totally debilitated by this, you could try lyme treatment (antibiotics) and see if it resolves.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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Thank you for your reply. I am actually on magnesium (topical) and have been for a long time. I also take baths with Epsom salt several times a week. Last but not least, I just got my mag sulfate injections and will be starting those tonight. Given that, I THINK (hope?) I am on enough magnesium. I use magnesium oil at night - around 24 sprays. Can't remember how many miligrams that gives me.
The pain in my teeth is usually bearable. Today it's a bit worse and Tylenol does help me. The fact that I had this same pain in 2007, incidentally after getting bit by a TON of mosquitoes in Mexico, makes me think it's not a sinus infection. On the other hand, I am scared I am letting this infection go and it will be systemic.
Thanks again...will give this some more thought and prayer.
Ellen101
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 35432
posted
You may have trigeminal neuralgia. Neurontin works very well on this.
Posts: 1748 | From United States | Registered: Dec 2011
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
When I got inadequate lyme treatment, I developed trigeminal neuralgia. It was totally unbearable! It felt like I was being electrocuted in one side of my face.
So, since your pain is mild, Tylenol helps it, and it is not like electric shocks, and especially since it comes on both sides of your mouth, it doesn't seem to me like it could be trigeminal neuralgia.
From what I read, trigeminal neuralgia starts after you have been chewing for a while. That is exactly how it happened to me. Near the end of dinner, it would hit like a quick, searing shock. After so many episodes at dinner time, it can begin to come at any time. But, the pain in on one side of the face, where the trigeminal (three nerves) nerve is. It is not dental pain. People go to a soft food diet to avoid setting off the trigeminal neuralgia.
Tylenol doesn't work for trigeminal neuralgia. Neurontin totally debilitated me, which is common, so it was not a solution for me. Only good lyme treatment worked, and Benadryl until I got the good lyme treatment.
If you go on some lyme meds like high dose amoxicillin (with probinecid) and pulse some flagyl in there every once in a while, you could see if anything changes.
Amoxi will treat some sinus infections also.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
I don't think it's trigeminal neuralgia either. The pain is just not that bad. It's actually mostly bearable, except today when I did take 2 more Tylenol, my concern is mostly with letting a bacterial infection getting out of hand.
It occurred to me that last week, I started taking more and more MMS thinking I have an infection. I had been told that there is no herx with MMS as such. If you take too much you will get nausea and/or diarrhea. I got neither one but the pain in my teeth and head got worse. So I kept increasing. Last Friday, when the pain was really bad, I took Tylenol and stopped everything but the nasal flushes and antimicrobial rinse in my waterpik. The pain never came back that day and Saturday I guess it wasn't gone, but very, very mild on the right side only. I think I went back on MMS that day. Sunday it was worse and I kept incresing MMS and was taking 7 to 8 drops a day Sun/Mon/Tue. I stopped it again today but had already taken some oil of oregano and garlic before I realized this could be die off. Gosh, so much to consider and I sure wish I wouldn't be so absent minded or I would have thought of this sooner.
Now I am also craving sweets - part of die off for me. I only took 2 drops of oil of oregano and 1 garlic capsule, but I think that could do it for me.
Hoping tomorrow will be better. I did get an appointment with my local doc (not my Lyme doc) tomorrow afternoon just in case. If she says bacterial and abx as well I will take an abx but will ask for something different.
Posts: 165 | From TN | Registered: Jul 2011
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Carol in PA
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 5338
posted
Do you have an LED light therapy unit? If you do, treat the painful areas on your face and jaw, as this will reduce inflammation and pain and help any infection to resolve. I use the SOTA LightWorks for this.
Also, the SOTA Magnetic Pulser would work. When I used the pulsed magnetic therapy on tooth pain for several minutes, the pain stopped and did not return.
Have you ever tried systemic enzymes? This would reduce pain and inflammation and help the sinuses to heal. I find that 12 tablets daily of Wobenzym works wonders to reduce body and joint pain.
Posts: 6947 | From Lancaster, PA | Registered: Feb 2004
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