numb teeth

[Eggs]

hey everyone …i just have a quick question…

I went for my monthly clindy iv yesterday and had a weird reaction and was wondering if anyone has experienced this before. During the iv my teeth started feeling numb and tingly This happened last month too and was a little concerned. The dr or nurses didn't really offer any explanation so I figured I'd come here. it went away shortly after the IV was done. Anyways, thanks for reading 🙂 and for any input!

[linda]

All of the tetracyclines can affect the teeth by staining them, but I've never heard of numbness. Huh. I wonder if you have some bacterial colonies along some nerves that are in the mouth/gums, or in your teeth, and the numbness is from a herx that is causing inflammation along those nerves? What's your dental history? it also makes me think about the people who have dental work and then develop some form of AI disease. The herpes virus that causes chicken pox grows along nerves and goes dormant, and shingles is the result of those buggers becoming active again; shingles is so painful because the bugs are on the nerve itself. One of the most common sites for shingles is the side of the face. I wonder if mycoplasmas can grow on, or as they seem to prefer, inside, nerve cells? They are small like viruses, so it seems plasusible that they could make a home out of nerves just like the herpers virus. Of course, I am known to roam into the area of science fiction:sick:, so don't go by me.

At least its numbness and not pain that you're feeling. We still have so much to learn about these little buggers, and we all have our weird symptoms that we don't tell anyone because we think we're the only ones who have them. A case in point, I get pain in the cartilage of my ears, it's always on the side of my head where I sleep and worst in the morning when I get up. I never said anything, even to my doctor, because it is so weird. One day I mentioned it here and to my surprise there are others who have the same symptom. Maybe someone else has had the same thing happen to them during their IV (which is the reason for your post, duh). Hopefully we can figure this out.

[JeffN]

Eggs – Way back when I used to drink in excess on occasion, after having a few my teeth would feel numb. I commented on this one time and got the response “how can your teeth feel numb you only feel your teeth if they hurt”. I wonder if the IVs are causing the nerves to respond similarly to my alcohol experience by making your teeth feel numb? Glad it went away after the IV was over. I have SD but have not had IVs so I am not familiar with IVs effect. Numb teeth is an odd concept but I know what you mean.

Did you experience a lot of jaw and tooth pain with the SD before treatment? I did.

[Maz]

[user=11]linda[/user] wrote:

I wonder if mycoplasmas can grow on, or as they seem to prefer, inside, nerve cells? They are small like viruses, so it seems plasusible that they could make a home out of nerves just like the herpers virus. Of course, I am known to roam into the area of science fiction:sick:, so don't go by me.

Hi Linda,

The cpnhelp.org site has what is called The Wheldon Protocol, an antibiotic protocol for MSers….the belief being that chlamydia pneumoniae is one such micro-organism that goes intracellular and causes attacks on the myelin sheath of the nerves. So, if that's science fiction, you're in good company with the many who do that protocol for their MS!!! 😉 

Peace, Maz

[Maz]

Eggs, the only oral side-effect I've heard mentioned on this support forum is a metallic taste when receiving IVs (maybe as a result of its chelating effects?)….but, oral clindamycin is used frequently for dental infections as a good broad spectrum antibiotic, so it's possible something is being targeted there.

I did a little searching on this and the old BB, but couldn't find anything about “numb teeth” and IV clindy. If these symptoms just came on with your IV, it could be a herx, but probably worth checking with your physician when you go for your next round just for peace of mind and, as Linda said, to ensure nothing you're taking is interacting.  

Peace, Maz

[Lynne G.SD]

Hi Eggs;
     Great to see you again.Numbness can be part of this lousy disease.I used to have it big time but it was usually on the left side of my face and even my scalp.At the same time it felt life someone was turning a knife inside of my left eye socket.Doctors said it was just the nerves acting up as collagen build up in the skin can put pressure on them.It came and went too many times to count.Even now I see that there is residual damage as just the vibration in the car can make every tooth ache and total face goes numb.This may happen several times in a week and then not for an other few months.This is one strange disease.

[Kim]

[user=31]Lynne G./SD[/user] wrote:

Hi Eggs;
     Great to see you again.Numbness can be part of this lousy disease.I used to have it big time but it was usually on the left side of my face and even my scalp.At the same time it felt life someone was turning a knife inside of my left eye socket.Doctors said it was just the nerves acting up as collagen build up in the skin can put pressure on them.It came and went too many times to count.Even now I see that there is residual damage as just the vibration in the car can make every tooth ache and total face goes numb.This may happen several times in a week and then not for an other few months.This is one strange disease.

Hey Eggs,

Lynne nailed it …… this is one strange disease!  I've had and still have almost exactly what Lynne described.  All of my symptoms are worse on one side of my face, with the eye problems being the most concerning.  Seems almost every SD person has dental problems with the connective tissue tightening and shifting teeth.  My teeth were shifting so badly I broke several corners of the back teeth and had Invisalign braces made to gently push things back where they should be.  I also get severe TMJ that comes and goes…..I'm sure it's inflammation putting pressure on nerves causing that stabbing pain.

I've had one series of 10 Clindy IVs and had the strong metallic taste, but not the numbness you described.  Have you done anything to try and improve circulation, such as digestive enzymes or sauna?  Both have helped me tremendously and now my Raynaud's is almost gone, plus my too-thick blood is starting to thin out.

Take care…..kim

[Maz]

[user=40]Kim[/user] wrote:

I also get severe TMJ that comes and goes…..I'm sure it's inflammation putting pressure on nerves causing that stabbing pain.

 

Hi Kim,

Don't know if this is the same thing as you experience or not and it may be totally irrelevant, but I also get the transient TMJ, too. It comes on very quickly on one side and then disappears just as quickly. In the past two weeks, I've had it on both sides, one at a time, after not having it, at all, since this whole thing started for me. Very painful and difficult to open my mouth to eat. I gather that it's a pretty common Lyme thing, as you often see it on the symptom lists of Lyme sites. The bell's palsy thing is also pretty common, but I haven't had that, thank goodness. I think the facial/cranial nerves must be one of those favorite targets for Bb. 😕 It's all bizarre, isn't it?

Peace, Maz

 

[Kim]

So true, Maz.  This stuff is so bizarre it can and will make you crazy if you let it. 😯  I try not to dwell on what goes with what anymore because it's all just a guessing game really, but rather look at the whole picture and tally up improvements.

I figure we'll both be bullet-proof after Lyme tx. 😀

[linda]

Now you've all got me thinking about the possibility of different kinds of bacteria attacking nerve cells. Two things popped into my mind. First, could part of the problem of FMS be that there are damaged nerves from bacteria, just not the same nerves as in MS? After all, the main symptom is pain, and most people have specific areas in common that hurt. Again I go back to whether it's a genetic predisposition for certain organs or areas to be affected, or whether some bacteria have an affinity for certain types of cells, or both. The fatigue associated with all of these diseases could be from the bacteria using up nutrients in our cells that are neccessary for the cells to make energy. And the depression associated with FMS (and RA, PsA, etc), what if the neurotransmitters for serotonin and dopamine are damaged from bacteria?The second thing has to do with the weird one-sided sweating I've been getting. My best guess was that inflammation in my neck joints was putting pressure on the nerves in my neck to are associated with the sweat glands, but what if the nerves themselves are being attacked by the bacteria. Everything in the neck is so compact and vascular, it doesn't seem like it would take much for the bacteria to travel from the joint tissue to the nerves.

Kim is right, either way the treatment is the same, so I guess in that regard it really doesn't matter, but I wonder why there isn't more research into bacteria and nerve cells. Maybe there is and I haven't heard about it, but I've never heard of any diseases except shingles and MS associated with nerves and bacteria. Just thinking out loud.

[Maz]

[user=11]linda[/user] wrote:

Two things popped into my mind. First, could part of the problem of FMS be that there are damaged nerves from bacteria, just not the same nerves as in MS?

The second thing has to do with the weird one-sided sweating I've been getting. My best guess was that inflammation in my neck joints was putting pressure on the nerves in my neck to are associated with the sweat glands, but what if the nerves themselves are being attacked by the bacteria. Everything in the neck is so compact and vascular, it doesn't seem like it would take much for the bacteria to travel from the joint tissue to the nerves.

Hi Linda,

This article on the main website is pretty interesting as it relates to FM:

Fibromyalgia- is there an infectious connection?

https://www.roadback.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/education.display/display_id/135.html

There's quite a bit in this article that might be relevant to both your questions above in terms of infectious causes, but no doubt a neck injury or damaged vertebrae could also have neurological consequences, as the spinal nerves run right through the spinal column. What I find interesting is that FM has often been linked to a shock of some kind, which would have a neurological basis to it…like a car accident or whiplash from some other cause. FM has also been linked closely to infections like Lyme disease and often a longstanding, latent form of Lyme can be triggered into acute and chronic infection by such a shock. Also sort of interesting that in rheumatic diseases, the parts that are often hit worst are the previously injured joints. It's like the infections gravitate to these weakened areas.

Interesting that in the case of neurological Lyme, they test spinal fluid for evidence of the spirochete. Unfortunately, this test is pretty inaccurate, too, and they're not always looking for the cystic form, which seems to be what causes persistence in Lyme.

http://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/5/1/40

The http://www.cpnhelp.org site has quite a bit of info under the Wheldon protocol about how chlamydia pneumonia gets into the nervous system…also this on the first page:

[align=center]What makes Chlamydia Pneumoniae (Cpn) so troublesome?[/align]

• While it may start as a respiratory infection, Cpn can be carried to other parts of the body and infect many other tissues, including nerve tissue, the brain, muscles, the lining of blood vessels and even your immune cells (macrophages). [/*:1ys8bojr]
• Standard single antibiotic courses (two weeks) only kill Cpn in one of its three life phases, leaving live forms of Cpn bacteria which are in other stages to renew infection. [/*:1ys8bojr]
• Cpn contains at least two endotoxinsi (toxic chemicals) which cause tissue damage and inflammationi, chronic immune activation and toxic load in your body. [/*:1ys8bojr]
• Cpn infects inside your cells and parasitically steals energy from your own body cells in order to replicate. [/*:1ys8bojr]
• The only way to cure it is to take a combination of antibioticsi, to kill it in all of it's life phases so nothing is left behind to re-infect.

[/*]
[align=center] [/align]
[align=left]Peace, Maz[/align]

[linda]

Thanks for the links, Maz. I've never had a serious injury, just a lot of infections and severe asthma as a child. However, I was on a track team, basketball team and did gymnastics, and most of my affected joints are those that get the worst beating in those sports.

[Kim]

There's quite a bit in this article that might be relevant to both your questions above in terms of infectious causes, but no doubt a neck injury or damaged vertebrae could also have neurological consequences, as the spinal nerves run right through the spinal column. What I find interesting is that FM has often been linked to a shock of some kind, which would have a neurological basis to it…like a car accident or whiplash from some other cause. FM has also been linked closely to infections like Lyme disease and often a longstanding, latent form of Lyme can be triggered into acute and chronic infection by such a shock. Also sort of interesting that in rheumatic diseases, the parts that are often hit worst are the previously injured joints. It's like the infections gravitate to these weakened areas.

Maz, this was absolutely the way things evolved for me.  About 10 years ago I was in a rear-end accident and had a bad whiplash which dislocated both my jaw joints and injured my neck, resulting in a cervical disc fusion and chronic TMJ problems.  I've also had a knee replacement.  When I got the Lyme infection (probably 5 years ago) my hardest hit areas were neck, jaw, and knees.  My LLMD says the bacteria do go to the weakest joints.  Those are the only areas where I still have inflammation so there's still work left to do, but nobody promised this was a fast road back. 😉

[Author]

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