Goal: Get Healthy
It occured to me that I might get a boost in motivation (or at least confidence) by going over some of my recently achieved goals. Here’s one: get healthy.
At the start of this year, I was at my wits’ end. I had been sick for months (and would be for a few more months to come) from a combination of allergies that caused sinus and ear infections one to two times a month, plus a mixture of other problems. The I went to the dentist for the first time in 3 years, and I was told I had gum disease. Gum disease? I couldn’t believe it — they said it was so bad that if an antibiotic treatment didn’t work, surgery was the only other option. How can you have a disease that bad and not know it?
After consultation with a good dentist and an ear/nose/throat doctor, my gums were treated with antibiotics and I started using a sinus rinse. In case you’re not familiar with them, you basically put a saltwater mixture in a bottle and squeeze it up your nose. It sounds gross, but if you suffer from chronic allergies I would highly recommend it. As long as you use the recommended mixture, which includes baking soda so it won’t sting, it is painless and doesn’t really feel uncomfortable — just odd. And you would not believe the difference when you can actually breathe through your nose.
This cured the sinus infections, and when someone taught me to hold my nose and blow gently, I learned to cure the ear infections, which the doctor told me were caused by water getting trapped in the ears. I tried earplugs, but they didn’t really keep the water out, and besides blowing air through your ears is much more comfortable and practical than earplugs.
This left just the gum disease. Five weeks after they injected time-release antibiotics into my gums (thank goodness for good dental insurance, or it would have cost me a small fortune) I was pronounced healthy. The gum specialist said he had never seen such an improvement — most people improve with the medicine, but they don’t usually return to the normal healthy level.
To keep the gums healthy, I invested in a Waterpik, which almost felt like a splurge since it cost $60. But it was worth every penny, and since it comes with multiple heads for every family member, I’m not the only one benefitting. It cleans underneath the gums, where a toothbrush can’t reach and mouthwash can only kill germs — not remove the plaque. And here’s a trick for the Waterpik: use hydrogen peroxide instead of water, and it will kill off the germs better. The other thing I did was try the toothbrush my sister recommended — a Pulsar. It, along with my new Colgate Total, has kept my mouth feeling fresh from the dentist ever since the professional cleaning.
Being healthy was the goal I thought would take the longest to achieve, but surprisingly it was the first I accomplished this year. On to the next: relaxation and stress relief!
October 28th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Thanks for writing this.