Most recently, the facial numbness seems to be worse. The front third of my tongue is numb and there is marked numbness all around my mouth. It isn't totally dead, of course, but just feels like it's asleep all of the time. When I first started the IV Clindamycin I noticed that during the infusion the numbness would get significantly worse, but I knew it wasn't a side effect of the medication. It seemed more like a Herxheimer reaction. There's a very long story I'll have to explain at a later date, but I haven't been on any IV meds since the Friday after Thanksgiving. We're in the process of getting that fixed. Now, I'm positive it isn't from the Clindamycin. Some mornings I think I'm going to wake up with full-blown Bell's palsy. I had a slight problem with it a few months ago. The entire right side of my face was numb. It was almost as if you could draw a line straight down the middle of my face. It's a strange feeling.
Let's talk about the Plaquenil. Soon after starting it I noticed red pinprick-like bumps on my palms. They didn't itch and they weren't obvious, but they were definitely present. A week or so after that my palms had places on them that looked like the dead skin you see after a blister pops. That was so weird. The funny thing about my hands is that I complained quite a few times about profuse itching. It always seemed to happen when I was shopping and had to push the grocery cart. My palms would turn red and itch so badly I would just claw at them. The itching felt like it was deep inside. It was not superficial and there was never a rash. Putting pressure on it seemed to exacerbate it. Who knows what that was. I know that if I had gone to one of my regular doctors they would have blown it off like they have everything else. I probably would have had a meaningless referral to dermatology where, if I had decided to go waste my time and that of the derm department, I would have gotten a script for some cream or ointment that wouldn't have done anything or, better yet, I would have been told that it was nothing. Quite clearly it is something and that something is related to Lyme.
Last week I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. After they read my history and saw the PICC line they didn't want to touch me without getting permission from my Lyme team. They were afraid I might need to be premedicated with antibiotics because of the invasive probing and scaling they do. Just like those who have mitral valve prolapse they think I may need prophylactic Amoxicillin. I was able to have x-rays taken, so all was not lost. I was afraid I had something wrong with my bottom back teeth. I've had terrible pain around the gums. There is also black all around the base of the teeth. Lyme patients tend to have HUGE dental issues, so I was a little obsessed with it. I had never had any bleeding when I brushed or flossed, but some of my teeth hurt.
The dentist came in for a look, had me bite down, and push my bottom jaw forward. He asked me if I grind my teeth at night. I told him I didn't, that I was always a clencher. Well, here's to something new! I'm a grinder now. It looks like I'm going to need a new bite guard. That's why one of my incisors had a groove in it and how I managed to chip my two front teeth. Oh. My. Goodness. So, the pain is from the high-octane grinding I'm doing while I'm asleep and the staining is most likely from the compounded vitamin B12 sublingual drops.
What's going to happen next? I can barely stand it. We wait with bated breath.