I had no idea what was going on, I was like, wtf is my throat hurting? Why? WHY?
Normally when I have a sore throat it only lasts for maybe 1-2 days, before transforming into a cough or cold. Neither of which happened, and my throat still hurt like heck. Normally I would take paracetamol, have a long nap, or go to bed early, and that would help a lot. But this time, those methods didn't help. Normally, with a sore throat usually (unless I ate something spicy) anything I ate would soothe it, which was great. But this time, it hurt every time I swallowed, and that was pretty horrible, cos I love my food. Even bananas and broccoli, foods which were soft and I thought bland actually felt like they were burning my throat. I started taking ibuprofen 400mg with my paracetamol (acetominophen), but that was hardly doing anything. So I cancelled a dinner with my family and father in law and went to see the doctor.
She had a look down my throat with a flash light, "Ah hah! I see... you have an ulcer! One, on your right tonsil."
"What?? But... but why??"
"Sometimes these things happen. Maybe you caught a virus, or your immune system is low. Just wait a few days and see if it heals by itself." That's when I recalled a few days prior I'd had this headache that had come on out of nowhere and lasted the whole day, which was when my throat started hurting. That was a definite "huh" moment.
Then she stuck an extra long ear bud (Q-tip) soaked with iodine down there and swabbed over the ulcer. That didn't hurt, surprisingly.
She told me she only saw one, but when I went home and had another swallow, I'm certain I had atleast one other on the left hand side because boy did it hurt. I couldn't sleep for ages that night, I could feel the little wounds throbbing in my throat. The inflammation was spreading into my mouth and making my tongue and gums sore as well.
I sprayed my throat with Corsodyl spray that I happened to have at home, aiming for where I could feel the wounds. That helped so much. Its soothing tingling spray sensation counteracted that awful raw wound throbbing. The spray itself is cooling, as well as antiseptic.
The doctor had given me ibuprofen with famotidine (to counteract ibuprofen induced stomach irritation), vitamin B complex, and herbal drops.
I took the vitamin B complex, which I'd always considered to be a placebo type thing - it's an old fashioned remedy doctors give out to patients who they think might be a bit run down and could do with a bit of a tonic of some sort.
But this time I thought it was a good idea, because I'd decided to go vegan a couple of weeks ago. Vegans need to self supplement with vitamin B12, and I hadn't been. I don't know if this episode has anything do with being a bit low in vitamin B12, I don't think so, but no doubt my mum and other sceptics would disagree.
I was dubious about the herbal drops too, but turned out they really really helped, wow, as I was so ready to give a shot of morphine a go by then.
I stayed at home and napped as much as I could. I want to say I slept 12 hours, but really it was broken up sleep as I had to wake up through out the night to tend to my 8 month old baby. I felt pretty crap those few days. Corsodyl is normally a magic solution when it comes to mouth ulcers, I swear by it, a couple of sprays and the ulcer immediately goes on the retreat. I was spraying the heck out of my throat the whole of the next couple of days, and not eating very much. The only things I was eating was cups of soy or oat milk with shots of espresso, cold soba noodles and cold congee. I tried a bit of banana puree which I'd made for the baby, and wow, did that sting. Funnily enough plain toast with margarine seemed to be okay. After eating these foods my throat would be stinging and I'd have to drink cold water which I'd refridgerated which really helped.
This lasted for almost a week. Food in the fridge that I'd normally eat up went off and had to be thrown out. I was feeling a bit queasy from the amount of Corsodyl and throat sweets I was ingesting. I finished the herbal drops and bought some Dequasin Extra throat sweets, and wow that really helped too. Dequasin Extra contains hexylresorcinol and benzalkonium, both which are antiseptics, and hexa in addition is also a mild anaesthetic. The paracetamol and ibuprofen did not touch the pain, and although Corsodyl definitely helped, that did not take the pain away either. That night I went to sleep with a lozenge in my mouth and it was like bliss, being able to escape from that pain for a short while. Undoubtedly terrible for my teeth, but I didn't care.
I went to see the doctor on Monday, and it is Saturday today. Today I started eating more normal food, so yay. I don't know what brought those ulcers on, but thankfully they seem to be on their way out.
Products mentioned:
Corsodyl spray: this contains chlorhexidine, a potent antiseptic agent. I swear by Corsodyl (or chlorhexidine) for mouth ulcers. As well as helping with would healing, it also provides a bit of pain relief by swamping the area with a tingly numbing sensation, which is partly to do with chlorhexidine, and partly to do with the spray action, which naturally has a cooling effect. It is not as such an anaesthetic though. Corsodyl is also available as a mouth wash, but in this case as my ulcers were down my throat the spray was more useful.
Dequasin Extra: I am not sure, but when I did a Google, it looked like this was a Hong Kong product? But in anycase I'm sure any throat lozenge containing hexylresorcinol, or some other anaesthetic agent would have worked as well. Some examples of other similar products: Strepsils Extra strength, Cepacol.
Vitamin B12 can be found in any multivitamin product, but also in vitamins which contain only vitamin Bs, such as Vitamin B complex, and Berocca.
She had a look down my throat with a flash light, "Ah hah! I see... you have an ulcer! One, on your right tonsil."
"What?? But... but why??"
"Sometimes these things happen. Maybe you caught a virus, or your immune system is low. Just wait a few days and see if it heals by itself." That's when I recalled a few days prior I'd had this headache that had come on out of nowhere and lasted the whole day, which was when my throat started hurting. That was a definite "huh" moment.
Then she stuck an extra long ear bud (Q-tip) soaked with iodine down there and swabbed over the ulcer. That didn't hurt, surprisingly.
She told me she only saw one, but when I went home and had another swallow, I'm certain I had atleast one other on the left hand side because boy did it hurt. I couldn't sleep for ages that night, I could feel the little wounds throbbing in my throat. The inflammation was spreading into my mouth and making my tongue and gums sore as well.
I sprayed my throat with Corsodyl spray that I happened to have at home, aiming for where I could feel the wounds. That helped so much. Its soothing tingling spray sensation counteracted that awful raw wound throbbing. The spray itself is cooling, as well as antiseptic.
The doctor had given me ibuprofen with famotidine (to counteract ibuprofen induced stomach irritation), vitamin B complex, and herbal drops.
I took the vitamin B complex, which I'd always considered to be a placebo type thing - it's an old fashioned remedy doctors give out to patients who they think might be a bit run down and could do with a bit of a tonic of some sort.
But this time I thought it was a good idea, because I'd decided to go vegan a couple of weeks ago. Vegans need to self supplement with vitamin B12, and I hadn't been. I don't know if this episode has anything do with being a bit low in vitamin B12, I don't think so, but no doubt my mum and other sceptics would disagree.
I was dubious about the herbal drops too, but turned out they really really helped, wow, as I was so ready to give a shot of morphine a go by then.
I stayed at home and napped as much as I could. I want to say I slept 12 hours, but really it was broken up sleep as I had to wake up through out the night to tend to my 8 month old baby. I felt pretty crap those few days. Corsodyl is normally a magic solution when it comes to mouth ulcers, I swear by it, a couple of sprays and the ulcer immediately goes on the retreat. I was spraying the heck out of my throat the whole of the next couple of days, and not eating very much. The only things I was eating was cups of soy or oat milk with shots of espresso, cold soba noodles and cold congee. I tried a bit of banana puree which I'd made for the baby, and wow, did that sting. Funnily enough plain toast with margarine seemed to be okay. After eating these foods my throat would be stinging and I'd have to drink cold water which I'd refridgerated which really helped.This lasted for almost a week. Food in the fridge that I'd normally eat up went off and had to be thrown out. I was feeling a bit queasy from the amount of Corsodyl and throat sweets I was ingesting. I finished the herbal drops and bought some Dequasin Extra throat sweets, and wow that really helped too. Dequasin Extra contains hexylresorcinol and benzalkonium, both which are antiseptics, and hexa in addition is also a mild anaesthetic. The paracetamol and ibuprofen did not touch the pain, and although Corsodyl definitely helped, that did not take the pain away either. That night I went to sleep with a lozenge in my mouth and it was like bliss, being able to escape from that pain for a short while. Undoubtedly terrible for my teeth, but I didn't care.
I went to see the doctor on Monday, and it is Saturday today. Today I started eating more normal food, so yay. I don't know what brought those ulcers on, but thankfully they seem to be on their way out.
Products mentioned:
Corsodyl spray: this contains chlorhexidine, a potent antiseptic agent. I swear by Corsodyl (or chlorhexidine) for mouth ulcers. As well as helping with would healing, it also provides a bit of pain relief by swamping the area with a tingly numbing sensation, which is partly to do with chlorhexidine, and partly to do with the spray action, which naturally has a cooling effect. It is not as such an anaesthetic though. Corsodyl is also available as a mouth wash, but in this case as my ulcers were down my throat the spray was more useful.
Dequasin Extra: I am not sure, but when I did a Google, it looked like this was a Hong Kong product? But in anycase I'm sure any throat lozenge containing hexylresorcinol, or some other anaesthetic agent would have worked as well. Some examples of other similar products: Strepsils Extra strength, Cepacol.
Vitamin B12 can be found in any multivitamin product, but also in vitamins which contain only vitamin Bs, such as Vitamin B complex, and Berocca.
No comments:
Post a Comment