Boy, I’m exhausted. Like, the minute I hit “publish” I’m brushing my teeth and heading into bed. The past few weeks have been tough. Obviously. I’ve spent all of this week reading reading reading. So much reading in fact that sometimes I forget that I should probably be working or doing other things and then I look at the clock and realize, I should be in bed. Like now, I sat down three hours ago to do a blog post, but instead I spent this entire time reading. Ayurvedic books, homeopathic books, mindfulness books, book on Chinese medicine, all the books. I’ll probably do a post about them, if you guys are interested.
My stomach seems to be doing a bit better since I listened to the advice of my acupuncturist. I’m eating less in general, but also, taking in a lot less fat. Surprisingly, it hasn’t made me lose weight. Which I find incredible. I had been pumping myself with 3x the amount of food + fat and not gaining anything— now I dropped all that and I’m not losing. So I guess thats showing me something.
Right now I’m trying to be super proactive about everything– and trying to get a lot of rest. Sometimes I feel like I can go back to my old ways of rarely sleeping, but then the ringing gets extra loud and I get super dizzy and it’s like my buzzer to send me to bed. I’m taking a lot of things for my gut again. I tried to stop, but I think my gut still needs to heal a whole lot more, so I’ve added them back in.
I also started seeing a holistic dentist, and as much as I HATE the idea of having my mouth (and wallet) assaulted again, I’m really considering the ideas of having my two root canal-ed teeth pulled. But—- since I have all this other stuff on my plate, I’m in no rush of course– just doing all the reading first to make a smart, thoughtful decision on it.
Speaking of the other stuff on my plate, I have my MRI scheduled. December 1st. I’m putting all the positive thoughts I can into thinking that this thing in my head has not grown. Ideally I’d like to believe it will be smaller, but I’ll happily settle for “just the same.” Because, like I mentioned, even though all my symptoms match, in my gut I believe that my symptoms are stemming from elsewhere and not from the lump. For now, I’m trying to focus on feeling well, vacation, and trying to get fresh air as often as I can and not focusing on the lump. The MRI will come soon and theres absolutely nothing I can do in the meantime.
On a health and being proactive topic, I really do believe my vertigo is triggered by by my horrendously terrible pms. So I’m trying to do what I can now to try to make this months deal a bit easier. Andplusalso I have a few posts coming up about womanly/monthly things. I’ve asked a few people who I consider quite knowledgable in this field to help me (and maybe you) and talk about tips to make this hormonal lady stuff easier. But we can save the personal lady topic for another day, maybe behind a cut 😉
Okay, so it’s 11pm. Alex just came home early and made me some tea. And I’m pooped. I’m off to bed. We got a mini cold front over here, it was quite nice. Drinking lots of warm tea + massive amounts of ginger since I know my body can’t handle many changes these days– in hopes to not catch anything! I hope you guys are having a good week. <3
*excuse any extra typos. my once 2 am bedtime is 11pm – midnight.
17 Comments
Please do not have those teeth extracted if they are asymptomatic, and please consider a second opinion. I'm a pediatric dentist and I'm as crunchy granola as they come. If those teeth are otherwise OK, not abscessed, and not decayed, the last thing you need is another invasive procedure. I am thinking about you and I'm happy to answer any dental questions you might have.
Yeah, I mean, having my wisdom teeth taken out was one of the worst decisions I ever made. Following that was my root canals probably. I HATE dental work– which means I should have been taking a hell of a lot better care of my mouth– but spent my life not doing nearly enough. Even if I decide to do it, it wouldn't be now or soon. The dentist I'm seeing says he doesn't even want to work on my teeth until we straight out my jaw issues first anyway. I don't have cavities or anything that needs to be worked on yet anyway. I do plan to read a whole lot more about it— a lot of my weird vague issues did start right after my root canals– major migraines and digestion issues to name a few. Have you read all the dr. mercola articles? or the studies by weston price? I don't believe in all of weston prices theory (obviously, I'm vegan), but a lot of what he has promoted does make sense to me. What are you thoughts on either?? Also, they did try applied kinesiology on me (which I'm still figuring out if I have any faith in that or not) and it showed how terrible weak those two spots were for me. Andddd the two teeth I have done are on the meridian line of my intestines— as well as my joints for carpal tunnel or whatever (also started happening after root canals)— so now I have ten million more question marks to the whole thing!
Drea, can you explain all that holistic dentistry thing? Why would you pull out teeth that are root canal treated?
Okay! SO! Just like how there are normal western medicine doctors and then there are doctors who practice more with the idea of whole body— the same goes for dentists (I just learned this last year myself.) A holistic dentist will use safer materials in your mouth, wont use mercury, probably wont use fluoride, and will focus on your whole body and not just one tooth in front of them. Like, they would recommend a diet plan for your teeth, and gentler less invasive dentistry options.
So, for the root canal thing, I don't know a lot, I'm just learning now. But right after I got mine, two years ago, my SIL sent me an article about all the negative effects a root canal can have on your body. I didn't read it. I had already gotten the two teeth done, so I figured I was shit out of luck anyway. I visited the new dentist and he/she (I saw four of them in one appointment!) said that they think a lot of problems could be coming from my (really poorly done) root canals and that my homework was to go home and learn as much as I can about the damage of root canals and then to decide was steps I would want to take from there. They gave me three options: ozone therapy, taking them out, or leaving them there. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do yet. But reading all the articles and studies that have been done is really opening my eyes to see how terrible they really could be for someone– especially someone with a weakened immune system (me this year). I'd def. read about it. Maybe google "dr. mercola root canals" or "dr wilson root canals" both will point you to studies done. And dr. mercola has tons of links to where to find a holistic dentist in your area!
Wow, thanks for the reply.
Actually this was a professional question as I am a dentist myself 🙂 What you described as a holistic dentist I would describe any traditional western dentist who is up to date and in fact interested in their patient's well being and that, of course, means not only drilling and filling but seeing the patient as a whole. That is what I try to do in my practice, too. Never heard of a term 'holistic dentist' before, but I do not live in the US, so maybe that's the main reason. What concerns root canals – well, this is the first time I hear that they cause damage in the body.. Doesn't taking them out cause more damage? I've seen studies that confirm the correlation between missing teeth and changes in posture/gait/overall skeletal system, which I would consider, but, according to evidence based dentistry there's no harm in treating root canals. It's much more traumatic to pull them out (the bite changes, you lose jaw bone, your remaining teeth start moving etc). The materials used nowadays are safe and there's a tendency to go for biocompatible materials. I would suggest retreatment of the existing root canals if it's poorly done. What was the dentist's suggestion in case of pulling them out? How would they replace them? I'm sorry for the rant, this is just an interesting topic for me. Thanks if you read this until the end.
Paula
oh awesome!
Yeah, I'm almost positive mercury fillings aren't even banned here yet– a lot of dentist are still poisoning patients here in the states 😐 I know my dentist royally messed up my mouth even more— and charged me 6,000$+ bucks for it.
Did you google the studies/angers of root canals? I hope you do— mostly so you can come back here and give me your thoughts! A lot of it makes sense to me from a holistic perspective, but at the same time, like you said, having my teeth pulled is pretty damaging in itself– so I definitely don't want to do that either :/
The dentist offered that I should try ozone therapy first to kill off growing bacteria and see how I do with that. My thing is that I know ozone is actually quite bad for your lungs. They said that it's not damaging in dental work, but I don't really want anything that could damage ANYTHING around me, you know? And if I went the route of pulling them, I wouldn't replace them. They're in the back, so aesthetically it wouldn't make a difference what so ever. Functionality wise, well, I don't really eat raw or hard foods anymore– I can't — and with the exception of chips, I didn't really before anyway. I'm in no rush to do anything really— right now I'm just waiting on my mouth guard to come in to see if they can fix that problem up– my teeth and bite does seem to be moving A LOT since the root canals/wisdom teeth stuff :/
Please read the articles and share your thoughts! 🙂
Well.
I am no holistic dentist but what I saw in those articles was.. confusing. I'll try to share some of my thoughts without going into detail:
1) Most of the information published in these materials is NOT evidence based and most of it was outdated, which means they cannot be taken seriously
2) Studies that compare humans and rabbits? Ridiculous in my opinion
3) At the same time I totally agree that it is not 100% possible to eliminate all bacteria from the complicated root canal system and with improper technique these teeth develop inflammation over time (locally, though) and have to be extracted if they cannot be restored or retreated. At the same time there's evidence that teeth with existent chronic inflammation heal clinically and radiographically after proper root canal treatment and show no signs of inflammation afterwards. So it depends on the immune system.
4) I try to avoid root canal treatment at all cost but only because it's better for the tooth prognosis. Prevention is the best treatment. So I do agree on the diet/oral hygiene part
5) I would suggest you leave the teeth as they are if they are asymptomatic and just do regular check ups to see whether there is no inflammation
6) Sorry, but we don't practice ozone therapy in my country so I cannot comment that kind of treatment
Thank you for sharing so so honestly. I recently started following you on Instagram just because your photos are beautiful but then I realized that your genuine spirit and words of honesty through pain and difficulty completely resonated with me. I've been on a mysterious health (or disappearing health!) journey for about two years now, slowly spending tons of money and checking off things that it is NOT but no closer it seems to what it could truly be.
Just seeing someone else work through these things gracefully and honestly, and with a family,
Is light for my spirit and I just want you to know that. Thank you for what you do and say! I hope the very best for you through the difficulty!
Becca mole
<3<3
Thank you <3
Looking forward to the posts, I have just started taking vitex agnus-castus as I have heard its good for pms mood balancing, so hoping it will work!
Great post Drea. I'd really love to know what you're reading. Hitting my own health slump and some inspiration and guidance would be good. Would also love some lady talk and perhaps some skin care advice? Always interested in your products usage / thoughts. Feel good!
For skincare: https://ohdeardreablog.com/2014/08/a-natural-living-bathroom-tourguide.html
It's pretty old, but basically still 100% accurate! 🙂
For books: yes! I will totally do a post on all my favorite current health books! Almost done reading all of them already! And I'm bringing more on vacation next week to read even more 🙂
Check out NicoleJardim.com and the book The Period Repair Manual. They are both fantastic. If you haven't yet read Taking Charge of Your Fertility, that is another book every woman should read. The Period Repair Manual is amazing though. The Magnesium Miracle is also one to read. I am part of a group for FAM and we talk all things fertility and hormone health related. There are several holistic specialists, FAM educators and very health conscious women in the group, so if you have additional questions or want more insight, feel free to reach out! I wish you all the best with your health and along on this journey.
will do! I wish I was more more on top of myself to consider doing the FAM method for myself– I would never remember to take my temp. each day. I would be all over the place. The period apps are about as good as I get, haha. But I will definitely check out all those suggestions! Thank you!
You sound good. I hope things get better soon.
Ups and downs— probably lots more to come, but it's seemingly getting easier at least 😉 Thank you!
Ginger is a good tip, I need to start including that a bit too I think. I'd be interested to hear any thoughts you have on the Lady Stuff. I really could do with being far less irritated half the time – before, during and after! It doesn't leave much time in the month when I'm not struggling. Enjoy as much rest as you can Drea, and I'm glad you've found that your digestion is happy with less food and less fat intake. Hugs, CJ xx