Pain Puzzles – How Long to Solve Them?

Anniversary Cake

As many of you know, I am very close to the 8th anniversary of my second bout with Burning Mouth Syndrome.

A friend I made on the Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) Facebook group page is named Dennis, and I have stayed in contact even after I left the group.

(Trolling is bad, boys and girls; don’t do it because people like me will not hang around for it!)

He became interested in the syndrome after his lovely wife was afflicted, and has been keeping up with research, traveling to multiple specialists, and keeping others informed about any progress toward finding a cause or a cure, no matter how tangential it might be.

He shared a recent article with me about endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) and the possible linkage to neuropathic pain.

“Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have identified a key mechanism in neuropathic pain. The discovery could eventually benefit millions of patients with chronic pain from trauma, diabetes, shingles, multiple sclerosis, or other conditions that cause nerve damage.

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Burning Mouth…Impossible Choices

May 2016 will officially be 8 years of burning. – No celebrations are planned.

If you have checked into this blog from time to time, you have seen me try all of the medicines and supplements and coping techniques that have come my way or been recommended by any of my Neurologists (three, so far).

Back in August 2015, I reported to you that the orally dissolving tablet form of Klonopin/Clonazepam seemed to really be making a difference for me. And it did…until it didn’t quite so much. To be fair, I recently started using a seasonal allergy spray called Dymista, and it tastes horrible. The bitter taste seemed to worsen my BMS symptoms immediately, and I didn’t think I could tolerate it. I learned how to apply it correctly, and that made it better, but since I have been using it, overall my burn has been much worse. Dymista works very well for my allergies by combining cortisone with a topical antihistamine, and I am breathing easily and clearly through the worst of a very heavy juniper/cedar pollination season in Central Texas, but increased burning seems to be the price I must pay for that.

What a decision – to burn or not to be able to breathe?

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