As you're probably aware, being that all my posts in the last week have reference my teeth, I had all four wisdom teeth removed last Thursday. I had been nervous about the procedure and didn't know how the pain would affect me. I spent Thursday resting, alternating between napping and watching movies in a groggy state. Aside from some tightness, the pain was nearly non-existent. I was a little more mobile on Friday still only experiencing some tightness in my jaw and Saturday was largely the same. Sunday night was the first night that I could not fall asleep because of the discomfort. My stitches had started coming out and a dull ache spread throughout my face. I heated up my rice bag and was able to fall asleep for a few hours, but when the warmth wore off, I needed to take a pain killer which only lasted for a few hours. The pain settled into my neck and shoulders.
Yesterday was day five and the pain spread throughout my face. It felt like I was wearing a migraine mask. Since I had returned to work, I didn't take any pain killers and struggled to make it through the day to get home. I ended up taking a pill and sleeping for a couple hours before getting up for dinner.
Today is day six and the pain continues to spread through my jaw. All of my stitches have either dissolved or broken and my jaw is tight. It's not a sharp pain, but dull and heavy, slowly spreading throughout my face, temple, neck, and shoulders. I have been extremely diligent about rinsing with warm salt water a few times a day, every time after I eat so that no food gets lodged in the sockets and causes infections. I don't know that I have dry sockets at this point, but I'm still feeling pain nonetheless.
I began looking up home remedies online as it's a blizzard outside and the last thing I want to do is venture out onto the Chicago streets. I read a lot of accounts of dabbing a few drops of Clove Oil in the hole of extraction. Well, again, I don't have clove oil. So I improvised ::
-- add four shakes of ground cloves to one tbs of warm water.
-- stir with a Q-tip
-- soak two pieces of gauze or two tea bags in the mixture to absorb
-- place the gauze pieces over the site of extraction
-- bite down on gauze for at least 15 minutes up to one hour
Note* it doesn't taste good and it will make you spit a lot until the excess water is out of it. But it did alleviate the pain -- if only temporarily. I don't have research on its long term effects. Many people reported that it took their pain level from a 9-10 to a 1-2. It definitely helps.