Bad karma

[veronica_rich]

One of my wiser friends told me I was blowing all the good karma I've built up by doing a rare bitching last night about fandom (and yes - look back, it is relatively uncommon these days), and I'm thinking she must be right. I have just a *smidge* of a little extra money I came into, and instead of being able to go down to the Mexican restaurant for some chips and salsa, I have to eat my damn soup and my damn applesauce and my damn yogurt thanks to the loss of my damn wisdom teeth.

*kicks rock*

And my jaw hurts.

*kicks rock*

Ah well, maybe I can entertain somebody with my misery, at least. LOL.

Please, tell me about your worse health problems and make me feel lucky? I well know from the days of a 16.6 TSH how feeling like lower than bedrock demands the occasional rant somewhere not sullying your own space. Have at!

Comments

[yoiebear.livejournal.com]

You know all of my worst health problems.

My kidney is still pounding like a bitch, if that helps you?

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

We all have our pain, but I would not take a kidney stone any day of the week.

[yoiebear.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't let you take one, anyway.

Hopefully my first shower this weekend will take the pain away. ROFL

[nobleplatypus]

We-ell, let's see... I inherited my mother's psoriasis (THANKS, MOM), and while it usually isn't a problem because I have magic ointment that makes it go away, there just happens to be some on my SCALP, and my thick thick hair (which I ALSO inherited from my mother) prevents me from using the ointment up there. I have to settle for shampoo that doesn't really work all that well. Huzzah.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

My mother used to yell at me when I would scratch my head as a kid. "PEOPLE WILL THINK YOU HAVE DANDRUFF," she would say. "QUIT DOING THAT!" (Mom, dandruff is what you get AFTER YOU SCRATCH IT. =><= ) Then she'd dunk me in Head & Shoulders. Nasty blue shampoo.

[nobleplatypus]

Selsen Blue (which is actually ORANGE half the time, which totally stunned me) is what my doctor recommended, but since I'm possibly allergic to sulphides, I think it just made things worse. :P Back to the coal tar...

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

My ankles have started swelling up like balloons, which - when I googled it today, along with some other symptoms - may indicate congestive heart failure. Needless to say, I'm going to the doctor tomorrow!

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

My friend the_dark_snack was just in the hospital for that very thing, as a matter of fact. You may wish to comment to her if you'd like to know more - she's usually glad to help anyone in need of information, but only has computer access during the week, normally.

Or, it could mean you're ingesting too much sodium. Do you drink sodas or tomato-based fruit juices quite a bit? I found when I cut down on the sodas, my ankles were much less a problem.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

I might have to talk to her :) I'll know more when I get to the doctor, which turns out to be tomorrow, but I fill all the other ticky boxes too - tired, wheezing when lying down, always out of breath etc. I thought I was just getting fat! I don't drink sodas at all, but I do drink a lot of coffee. I guess that will have to go, along with salt on my food. I second that 'getting old sucks', though this thread has managed to cheer me up too. At least we're not alone! :)

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

What took her to the hospital was fluid in her lungs; she thought she was having bad asthma problems. She was sick on and off for about three months, trouble sleeping, coughing, etc. They told her the heart problem was causing the fluid buildup, actually, not the other way around. Good luck!

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Oh, and speaking of teeth, I did have one of my two front teeth pulled out recently, if that counts? I now either have to wear a denture, or have a big hole in my smile :)

[crevette.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.

Maybe my Dry Socket.

Or maybe ruptured cervical disc that made me lose use of my right arm for six weeks. Or the frozen cookie dough concussion. Or getting run over by an old guy on a trike while training for the three day.

There are so many for me.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I'd call you a bitch for the first one, but I feel too sorry for the disc problem to be that mean. So I'll settle for you sharing your cookie dough and telling me what in the hell you were doing training for a three day like you're some kind of ... what, athlete? ... or something. ;-)

[nobleplatypus]

You know, I think I actually got dry socket when my wisdom teeth were removed. If I looked in the mirror, I could see white at the bottom of one of the holes. But it never caused any pain, and since pain is the only thing about dry socket that is bad/would need treating (according to my learnings and the oral surgeon), I didn't worry about it, and nothing came of it.

[crevette.livejournal.com]

Geriatric tricyclist nearly kills me. My best friends literally save my life.


Of course, the injuries were MUCH WORSE than the Cookie-dough incident.


Also, there was my entry about Hurricane Frances--48 hours with no power and a child who loves to sing who knew the lyrics to one verse of one Clay Aiken song.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know whether to pity you, sign you to a three-book contract, or send you the bill for my vicodin because my sockets hurt WORSE from the laughing. ("HAHA - ow. HAHAHA- ow. HEE HEE- OW DAMMIT.")

[mamazano.livejournal.com]

I have kids, does that count?

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

It depends. Did you choose to expel a watermelon through your vagina, or did space aliens force you at phaserpoint to do it? :-P~

[mamazano.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, aliens would be a good excuse...

The first one was an Ooops! The second was planned, the third was a really big Ooops.

Three kids, two husbands.

I poked myself with a fork...

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

...and ended up in the hospital.

Here's what happened:

I needed to take the littl metal ring that's left after you've removed a screw cap off a bottle so it could be recycled. So I took a heavy antique meat fork I had handy, pushed it through the ring, and twisted.

The ring snapped, the fork skidded down the bottle...

...and one of the prongs hit my left thumb just over the first knuckle. It hurt only a moment, and didn't bleed to speak of, so I got on with my housework and basically forgot about it.

But by Thursday the area around the puncture was red and puffy-looking, so I took it to my doctor. She prescribed an antibiotic.

Friday afternoon I realized the red had spread to completely encircle the joint. I knew that could be bad, so I called the "after hours" number. The on-call doctor I got (not mine) seemed rather impatient and when I finished explaining what I was seeing and said yes, I'd only been on the antibiotic 2 days, he said to take an extra one at bedtime and not worry about it (which translates, in hindsight, as "don't waste my time"). So I kept taking the antibiotic and tried not to worry as the red "ring" got a bit wider every day.

One week later I went back to my doctor for a followup. She took a brief look, listened to my explanation of why I hadn't asked to come in sooner, and told me to go to the hospital for my HMO so a specialist could look at it 'cause she thougth they might have to drain the joint, which was (as I'd suspected) infected. She was dialling the specialist's number as I left the office.

I went to the hospital, assuming the specialit would give me a local, stick a needle in the joint, and suck out the bad stuff. But instead the hand specialist took about 30 seconds to examine my thumb, then told me I was being checked in for emergency surgery!

Less than an hour later, I was getting nicely loopy from the pre-op sedative...

...and the next thing I knew I was in the recovery room, staring at the ceiling.

They'd cut the joint open, washed the infection out, and sewed it up again.

I was transferred to a room for IV antibiotics while they cultured the gunk from my thumb to find out how best to kill it, and spent two days being very, very bored, since I'd had no chance to bring a book or anything else with me.

On the third day the hand specialist came back and told me the broad-spectrum anitbiotic I'd been on wouldn't take out my infection, but they finally knew what would and it'd work just as well taken orally as by IV, so I could go home now.

So they made me a splint to protect the wound and changed the dressing and sent me home with some wound-care supplies, a prescription for antibiotics to kill the bugs, and another for therapy once I was healed up enough to do it.

I was lucky, all in all. I only lost about 15 degrees of movement in that joint, which means I've got full use of that thumb and hand for all practical purposes.

But I'm much more careful about taking cap-rings off bottles these days. :)

Re: I poked myself with a fork...

[mamazano.livejournal.com]

Okay, you outdid mine. I just stabbed my self in the finger with a butter knife, severing the nerve and requiring four stitches.

I was fighting with some frozen pesto and the pesto won...

[kahva.livejournal.com]

Okay, you asked for it! ;)

Let's see... Born with spina bifida, so I've got a spinal curvature, one leg about a half inch shorter than the other, and - depending on how the shoe's made - a 1 1/2 to 2 size difference in shoes, Of course the small foot is on the long leg. So, this all adds up to me being naturally clumsy, prone to backaches, my knees and legs screaming at me if I'm standing/walking for too long and/or having to take a lot of stairs - bonus pain if it's on hard concrete floors with little or no carpeting! As of this year I also officially have early, very mild osteoarthritis (knees) that I've been in physical therapy for, and am now three weeks (as of tomorrow) into my hypothyriodism diagnosis. Was sick the last two weekends, am almost through this weekend without being sick, so hopefully that streak is over with. Almost nine years ago I was diagnosed with PCOS, and with insulin resistance at about the same time. So at the least, tired and achy is a normal way of life for me.

I've had back pain bad enough that I could barely dress myself to go to the doctor to get meds for it, my Dad actually had to put my shoes on for me the last time it happened. I can't take morphine or codeine or anything with a codeine base, so when my pain gets that bad, I have to get loaded up on a muscle relaxant and painkiller combo. I swear, one of my muscle relaxants had a name that sounded like a planet in the Star Wars universe. In junior high when I was trying out for the girl's basketball team, I got back pain so bad running laps and suicides that it traveled into my ribs and it hurt to breathe. Ended up being manager for the team.

In Little League girl's softball, I was playing third base and the other team's - heck the whole local league's - best hitter came up to bat. She had the unnerving habit of if she stared at a certain section of the field? 80% of the time, that's exactly where the ball would be hit. She stared at third and shortstop. I got a line drive straight into my ribs. How I managed not to have a broken or cracked rib, I have no clue.

Back at my old TV job, years before my PCOS diagnosis, I would get REALLY bad pain sometimes during my periods. One morning in the middle of the morning show, it felt like somebody was trying to drive a jagged, rusty, over-sized spear through my left hip, they had gotten it stuck in the bone, and were twisting it slowly to see just how much more pain they could cause before attempting to yank it out of the bone. I'm told I went completely white. I know I took at least six Advil in a three hour period, took a couple of Extra Strength Tylenols in there by the time it was a four hour period. Somehow, I managed to get through running the tapes through the morning show and the news cut-ins without killing anyone or passing out. Or ripping my left hip out of my body and banging it against the nearest cinder block wall to make it feel better. And yes, that was after the painkillers. So even when I have headaches where it feels like somebody's got a jackhammer dancing the lamabada and "Lord of the Dance" at the same time on the inside of my skull, I do know that personally, I've had worse pain than that, so that's how I end up rating my personal pain. Is it better or worse than having your hip drilled with a rusty, over-sized, jagged spear and a good amount of your muscles and perhaps your ovary being ripped apart? With bonus heavy period and having to do your job properly so that Eastern NC doesn't realize that the tape operator wants to rip out her own body parts and bash them with steel and concrete to feel better?

This is where I remind you that you did ask for worst pain. :)

I'll hit 41 this Wednesday, so I seriously doubt I'll find ever find out at this stage if childbirth hurts more, and after what yoiebear's been going through, I really don't want to know if a kidney stone would be worse.

Feel better? ;)

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

*waves little white flag* We all surrender. You win!

[kahva.livejournal.com]

I do remind you again, you did ask for the worst pain, and so far, that morning in WNCT-TV9 is it. Had to drive 30 miles to get home after that too, which was such fun. Really. Loved it. Loved my bed and more painkillers MUCH more, however.

I've got a few more if you ever need them, but not as painful as The Day I Wanted To Use My Left Hip To Do Some Demolition To Commercial Building. Although having a cyst cut off of the end of my tailbone (three different times), and the sciatic nerve incident of last year do come close. Don't remember too much about the pain when I tried to take out the cinder block wall of my brother's dorm with my forehead. I was four, I was more upset about watching blood drip to the floor. The cyst on my left wrist was painful, but watching my hand flop around and not feeling a thing when I woke up from the whatever they gave me was oddly fascinating. Move arm, watch wrist flop, somehow manage not to giggle with drugged glee. Then there was the time when I fell into the alleyway between my Dad's service station and the City Hall and was bent backwards, or when I went headfirst off my bike in front of the old Volunteer Fire Department building in Bear Grass. So yeah, anytime you need, I've got a few more. ;)

And people wonder why I hate needles and hospitals so much...

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

Let's see. Ovarian cancer scare intense enough for you? And the gallbladder on top of that. That pain was worse than childbirth (which I have done without drugs). I wanted to kill myself it was so bad.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I don't know ... kahva might have you beat up there above you ... although I wouldn't choose to be pregnant or give birth if you paid me ...

[dahlianna.livejournal.com]

Three cavities to be filled next Monday and cyst to be removed from my wrist, immobilizing the only hand I have to use for who knows how long.

Feel better?

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're as bad off as kahva, though. (I would include crevette, except it's hard to take someone seriously who insists on listing snack-inflicted injuries as part of her dossier.)

So did you have the consult, then?

[dahlianna.livejournal.com]

No consult yet. She wanted the x-rays back first.

And I wasn't trying to be worse off than anyone other than you. You're the one who wanted to feel better, dude.

[a-silver-rose.livejournal.com]

Here's bad: When I was 15, I had a case of strep throat so bad I was literally choking in my sleep. Not a fun thing, to be scaring the shit out my mom and sister, and myself.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

That and bronchitis are the worst. NASTY business, both.

[venusinchains.livejournal.com]

I suddenly feel like a vision of Health and Grace. I'm even glad I had all my wisdom teeth cut out, resulting in having the jagged gashes in the corners of my mouth sewn shut - as it resulted in my dodging the 'dry socket' bullet completely. O_o

Really, I just wish I could sleep.

*pops several pills and waits for morpheus to descend*

I hope I at least didn't make you feel worse. Nite. :P

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking cut out would've been worse. There's not just the aching to get over, there's the rending of flesh. *shudder*

[tesan.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel better, I didn't go see the X-Files movie (for the second time) Friday because I got cramps while watching "Batman" and decided to grab dinner and head home instead of seeing XF2 again. The cramps have continued this weekend, mixed in with an upset stomach. But worse than any of that has been a nerve in my thigh which is dying, I think, or going thru some hellish situation. I woke up the other night in the middle of screaming and jumping up out of my bed with SCORCHING HOT pains searing thru my thigh. And when I say I screamed, I mean I SCREAMED in pain. Undoubtedly THE worst pain I've ever felt. And it continues here and there, on an almost daily basis. It's either nerve damage, or a vain is exploding inside my leg. Either way, I'd take wisdom tooth pain over it (and as I told you, I've had all of mine removed). BTW, my sections of my thigh are now permanently (I suppose) numb, except when the pains shoot thru there. Getting old sucks. :P

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of screaming pain in the thigh as a normal part of aging. I'm thinking you'd better get to the local shaman or something ... YEESH.

(And I did get your story and photos. I'll tell you now, if the "rape" quote gets cut, it won't be because of me!)

[tesan.livejournal.com]

Well, getting older while suffering from PCOS-related problems, I should say.

Re: the "rape" quote: I forgot that FW is probably really conservative. However, that's a powerful statement from a politically conservative celeb, so they should keep it, from that point of view. But, I don't care, really. It's out of my hands now.

[x-pixel-x.livejournal.com]

I got an abscess on the bottom of both feet, at the same time. I couldn't walk, went into the ER. The doc starts poking around and proceeds to just pop them, without y'know, doing me the courtesy of letting me know, he just goes to town....

Of course then I couldn't find adult sized crutches to hobble around on so I could do things like go to work.

That was really not a fun time.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

OUCH.

Man, am I glad I wasn't eating when I read that! LOL

[justawench.livejournal.com]

Erm... I had really bad food poisoning once. All night long, I couldn't figure out which end to put over the toilet and the only time I wasn't violently nauseous was the two-second period after I threw up. By morning, I was hoping someone would shoot me. I couldn't eat meatball sandwiches for years.

I know, that doesn't compare to those above, but there's nothing I hate worse than throwing up.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Ewww. EWWWW. VOMITING. I hate to throw up with the passion of the center of the sun. I think I would almost rather give birth. And to do so continuously? *wince*

[immortal-jedi.livejournal.com]

Well, I had chicken pox and strep throat at the same time several years ago...

A breast cancer scare might qualify. It got to the point where the biopsy finally reported it as "non-cancerous", but I have to keep an eye on the tumors for the rest of my life. (Yes, tumors. I have six non cancerous tumors.)

Not as bad as kahva, though.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

You have to keep an eye on them? They can't take them out? (I'm not a doctor; I know next to nothing about medicine.) That sucks. And is a lot of tomfoolery for you.

Pox and strep - you're just not sure which to scratch first ...

[elibad.livejournal.com]

Soul and energy sucking thyroid issues.

When I was eighteen I had two wisdom teeth pulled, it was unpleasant, really unpleasant. So unpleasant that I didn't go back to a dentist for over ten years. (All I remember was the room being full of dental type folks all trying to look in my mouth and at my x-rays, apparently I had really well developed roots for an eighteen year old, freaks).

When I did go back, the dentist whined and whinged until I agreed to get the other two pulled. I went in, got frozen and after two hours he'd managed to pull one. One. he spent two minutes whacking at the other and then decided I need to have surgery to get it out.

I bled like crazy, waking up for two days with a mouth and throat full of blood. I had to re-pack with the little gauze pads about every fifteen minutes when I was awake (my sister, the nurse, enjoyed all the WTF phone calls she received, 'serious trauma, gonna bleed a lot') and my jaw was so sore I couldn't eat for days, and was on soft food for weeks. Didn't have to worry about the dry socket since the stupid thing wouldn't stop bleeding. Not to mention the big purple bruise and the one-sided chipmunk impression I was sporting. All they gave me for pain killers was half a dozen Tylenol 3 and extra strength Advil.

I was really paranoid about the 'surgery'. I was in the office for 30 minutes, two needles one before, one after, about thirty seconds for a small cut of my gums, a cut in half of the tooth, completely painless removal and one stitch. I drove myself home and after My jaw defrosted took two extra strength Advil. After a nights sleep, the only problem I had was getting poked by a too long stitch tie-off (trimmed it myself and it was then fine).

I read my dentist the riot act then next time I went, why the hell hadn't he just done that in the first place. It was damn near painless compared to his Little Shop of Horrors act, sadistic bastard.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

*stares in abject horror*

[caniad.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I don't have anything to share bad-health-wise, but I wanted to say that I hope you're feeling better soon.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I do too. It's not as bad as it was; my jaw is adjusting to the new bite after 30-some years and it's grating - literally.