Pain, Pain, Go Away!

The Problem: Sharp, intermittent pain in my upper left wisdom tooth and a persistent cough. A dental examination showed no problem with the tooth. The x-ray showed that the wisdom tooth had longer roots than  the other molars.  The diagram below may help you. Good luck!

Readers may know I'm trying to get over a persistent cough. The PA I saw on Saturday prescribed benzonatate, which I've been taking since then. Last night, I started thinking, "I don't remember breathing being this difficult." Nor did I recall a shower feeling like a mild beating. It was like my 38th birthday --the one where I was recovering from a car wreck. I see that these are some of the side effects of benzonatate: SIDE EFFECTS that may occur while taking this medicine include constipation; dizziness; drowsiness; headache; nasal congestion; nausea; or upset stomach...Symptoms of an allergic reaction include rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; or swelling of the face, lips or tongue.  I'd take something for the pain that's in every joint in my upper body, but my stomach is too upset. At least I didn't take a full dose of this stuff. Note to self: take Mucinex or Umcka instead. No side effects for me, and it&#

Once again , the Wall Street Journal has run a (sort of) helpful article(1) on digestive issues--this time, on gluten intolerance, or what they should have called "wheat intolerance": You've got abdominal pains, bloating, fatigue and foggy thinking. You feel worse after eating wheat or other foods with gluten, and better when you avoid them. Add weight gain and rampant appetite to that, and that was me before I cut out wheat a few years ago, even though a previous medical test showed no signs of celiac. I stopped eating wheat to lose the 20 pounds I'd put on within a few years after I went back to eating the stuff. Indeed, I started slowly losing weight and feeling better. Wheat is an appetite stimulant. Later, I found out that humans have gone practically our entire existence without eating grains: there's no need in our diet for them. For millions of years, we lived on meat, roots, greens, eggs, fruits and nuts. But don't try this on your own! Accordin

I think I may now hold the record for most illnesses in a six-month period for someone on a mostly lacto-paleo diet: I still have a cough hanging on from when I got sick in January. I don't feel horrible, but coughing and spending 12 hours a day in bed aren't things I normally do. I've just started the fourth round of antibiotics in six months. The PA also gave me prescriptions for a cough suppressant and a steroid to calm my bronchial tubes, saying it shouldn't mess up my blood sugar if I'm not diabetic, but if I didn't feel well on it, I could stop taking it. A nearby restaurant, Spicy Basil, offered coconut curry chicken soup that hit the spot. I don't normally eat out, but I was on the bus today with my car stuck in the garage because of the snow. They also had seaweed salad, which I'll try when the weather is warmer. EDITED TO ADD: By sheer coincidence, Sami Paju and his girlfriend had chicken coconut curry soup as well last weekend, and they k

"I am not a role model." -Charles Barkley  Possibly the wisest words any celebrity ever said: And so it is with all entertainers flogging drugs, diet and fitness programs: they aren't paid to actually know how any of these work. An entertainer may not know any more than you do about diabetes, losing weight or getting in shape. What these entertainers have that you might not is stage training, the gift of gab, and a contract to shill for a drug company, weight loss program, or food manufacturer. I'm not accusing anyone of lying, but do you really think someone like Paula Deen, as spokeswoman for Novo Nordisk , is going to tell you how to keep your blood sugars under control without drugs? (Novo Nordisk is a major insulin manufacturer and sponsors flawed research supposedly showing that low-carb diets aren't any more effective than high-carb diets for controlling diabetes. See this .) Are some doctors paid shills, too? Oh yes. In fairness, a lot of p

If you've ever been pressured to act a part, you know how exhausting it is. If you're in a world where you don't feel at home, you might think something is wrong with you. This is the theme of a new book called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.(1) It's estimated that one-third to one-half of people are introverts, yet American culture reveres extroverts and sets up schools, homes and workplaces for interaction. Think open concept offices and schools and big, airy houses. Give me a quiet classroom and a Craftsman house with private nooks and crannies if I have to live with someone. (I don't, and don't want to.) I spent four years in a noisy open concept grade school, where I quickly developed headaches and insomnia. My mother lost part of her hearing during her rehabilitation in the din of a noisy nursing home. My life now has a Do Not Disturb sign: no Facebook page, cell phone, listed phone number, iPod, T

"The last President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, is said to have asked British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: How do you see to it that people get food? The answer was that she didn't. Prices did that." The quote is from a book called Basic Economics, a subject I should have considered before I wrote in my last post that low-carb food costs more because it's high quality. If that were true, a pound of nutrient-dense chicken liver would cost a lot more than a sugary (but tastier) piece of pumpkin cheesecake roll at Denver Urban Homesteaders where I buy meat. It doesn't. As a former freshman economics student, I should have remembered that prices are a function of supply and demand. As economist Thomas Sowell put it, Prices in a market economy are not simply numbers plucked out of the air. While you may put whatever price you wish on the goods or services that you provide, those prices will become economic realities only if others are willing