Tooth pulled

[melchar]

I am missing a tooth now. By 'missing' replace with: 'face hurts, huge gaping hole in back of jaw, WHY O genetics do you deprive me of pain medicine relief**'.

Humorous story tho: the jaw specialist explains tiny chance of saving tooth, so I say 'pull it'; he does & the tooth comes out so very fast that it squirts away from forceps. The tooth bounces off of my chest and rebounds right back into my open mouth. Lots of 'OMG, don't swallow that!' and he fishes it back out, saying THAT never had happened to him ever before.

[** = apparently there is a Scandinavian recessive gene that deprives those with it from having opiate receptors, so there are virtually no pain killers that work for me.]

Comments

[sardonicus.livejournal.com]

Never have I been more grateful for LJ's friends-of-friends function.

I say this because your mention of this recessive gene is the first time I've run across anything that explains my lifelong lack of response to opiates.

Was this something mentioned to you by the doctor in question or had you run across this elsewhere in medical literature?

[melchar.livejournal.com]

I've heard about it from several sources. My dad [full-blood Swede] had the same problem. A morphine drip did nothing to abate pain he had a couple times [it was marked on his Kaiser charts as 'paradoxical response to opiates', he was STILL given morphine and I heard a doctor very politely ream a nurse when she started to hook dad up again to [a] read the chart and [b] that some Swedes had this problem.

I also heard about it from my opthomologist in association with hereditary eye problems [lack of iris contraction when presented with bright light] that those of Scandinavian heritage had the eye problems and a problem with opiates. [My lack of iris contraction leads to painful ocular migraines - and a lack of pain meds to handle it. The only solution my opthomologist could suggest was blast-furnace dark lenses with full coverage [as close to goggles as I can manage]. That actually helps tons.

I've heard about it from other places, usually doctors as a 'given' about Swedes or those of Scandinavian heritage, so I'm guessing there is some sort of print source for this. However, I'm guessing this research predated google and hasn't been archived on the 'net much - but from what I do remember, there was some major Swedish research study breakthrough about 40 years ago that discovered opiate receptors in the first place - so that might be some of it.

Sorry I can't be more informative.

[sardonicus.livejournal.com]

Trust me, this is far more information than I had previously. So I thank you either way!

While I've never had issues with bright light to the point of it leading to migraines, it does take me longer to adjust to sunlight than most folks. So once again, this is a fascinating tidbit to me.

My father, while he specializes in speech pathology, does have a number of swedish colleagues who work with neurological issues. So I've queried him, and perhaps that print source might be found so that I can read it for reference.

Again, much appreciated!

[jobethfun67.livejournal.com]

****hugs**** hope you're feeling better soon!!!!! Drat that gene, good pain meds are, well, GOOD...though I don't really get all that from tylenol with codeine, or those other narcotic pain relievers.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

[nods] I had one once. ^_^ 30 years ago, when I had my wisdom teeth out - and shortly thereafter has a tooth abscess that just about took my head off, I was prescribed 'Zomax' [a non-opiate pain blocker] that was perfect: stopped pain & no side effect.

But it caused anaphylactic shock to those allergic to bee venom - killed some people - and was taken off the market. [sighs]

[kaichi-satake.livejournal.com]

Carson is of Swedish descent and also has trouble finding pain relievers to help with his old back injury. But I don't think he knew (and I didn't know, either) about the gene! Of OTC meds, the only one that helps him at all is Tylenol Extra Strength. He gets the rapid release ones. Fortunately, that does help him. For severe pain, I require opiates, but the downside is that I have an addictive personality and VERY easily get addicted to them. So they're a last resort kind of thing for me. *hugs* I hope the pain leaves you, soon! I'm sending some good healing energy your way! The tooth popping out is kind of funny, though. It's like it WANTED out! "I'm free! I'm FREE!" hehe

[nobarking.livejournal.com]

D: No opiate receptors would have been hell on wheels for the last 8 months, I can't even imagine that.

And tooth (or lack thereof) pain, agh agh. I'm sorry and I hope you feel better soon!