It’s been a while since my last blog posting, so it’s time to catch you up on a few recent happenings. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was starting to fall apart. I had my annual physical, and everything came up roses. My cholesterol reading was the lowest since my early 30’s, my blood pressure was normal, and all other stats were within normal range. But lately I’ve been plagued with dull headaches, sore jaw, sensitive scalp, and nothing in my blood report indicated anything was wrong. Then it dawned on me…at my last dentist appointment earlier this year, my dentist asked me if I was under a lot of stress because she saw signs of mouth clenching. At the time I said no. I didn’t think I was under any stress, and I wasn’t showing any visible physical signs, other than with my back teeth which was only visible to my dentist. Flash forward about six months, and everything started to make sense with the headaches and sore jaw. I went back to the dentist and she confirmed the situation got noticeably worse and she recommended that I be fitted with a night time mouthguards to stop the clenching. I thought I would have to be fitted with one of those molds that covers the entire top of the mouth, but with recent medical advances I got this little custom-fitted plastic device that fits only over the two front teeth. I found a picture of what it looks and posted it here. So no, I’m sorry to say this is not my mouth, although I am envious of this individual as it appears he/she has a very healthy gum line. Anyway, the cost of this little plastic thing was $640.00!! I am definitely in the wrong business. Fortunately my insurance picked up a good portion of this. I’ve been wearing it for about 3 weeks now, and headaches and jaw aches are pretty much gone.
As far as the sensitive scalp goes, my dentist didn’t think the pressure being caused by the mouth clenching would necessarily lead to what I was encountering there, so she referred me to a dermatologist who prescribed a special shampoo called Loprox. I picked it up at the drugstore and had to pay $30 for a 120ml bottle that should last about a month. You think that is expensive for a shampoo? The bag said that my insurance saved me $170.00, so it would have cost me $200.00. So why am I telling the world about this? I have no idea. Other than this whole health incident has consumed me for the past couple months. I guess this is what happens when you start getting up there in age. Fortunately I am still young enough for there to be solutions to these problems. I guess the duration between these types of things will shorten over time, and the seriousness will grow. This all has happened leading up to my 25th high school reunion which I will write about afterwards. I’m sure those folks have their own health stories to tell. Meanwhile, I will just have to live with looking like a buck-toothed beaver at night. But at least I have the most expensive hair to get me through the day.
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