brain abscess

[kitkats]

i'm really worried i'm developing a brain abscess! basically, i had an abscess tooth and i got it fixed pretty quickly. antibiotics and a root canal. it was no problem and everyone i worked with was really reassuring.

then i got home and my left eye (this is the side i had my root canal on) was watery and the eyelid was a little swollen. i was like, mm, okay, no big deal.

then about two days later, i started getting some head pains. and they've just gotten worse and worse. they're not in any specific location, they come and go too. the only consistent ones are my two temples. pills don't really help. i was so freaked out about brain abscess (i read about it in advance) on the first day i got the head pains that i ended up throwing up. i have back/shoulder/neck pain, my jaw hurts, sometimes my chest is tight, rashes, i feel shaky and nervous all the time. i couldn't sleep last night because i was so upset and i'm not hungry either. i finished my dose of antibiotics yesterday afternoon and since then i've been feeling this way.

i saw my eye doctor this morning about the swelling and he said it wasn't swollen or infected at all, but i thought it was. just a little. isn't swelling a sign of a failed root canal? and the back pain and headaches can't be good. i'm so upset right now and i'm so convinced that there's an abscess either in my brain or maybe my spine.

i can't get a blood culture or any scans done today, nor can i get in contact with my dentist. i don't want to go to the er over nothing but i'm feeling so scared. can someone please reassure me that this isn't happening? or if you think it is, what do i do?

[Gary A]

Perhaps your symptons are a side effect of the antibiotics?

Certainly doesn't sound in any way like a brain abscess.

[wubu]

I sometimes feel crap on antibiotics too. A root canal isn't fun and no doubt you'll be feeling the Effects way after.

I believe a brain abscess will present a fever and seizures, paralysis and weakness along with severe headaches.

I wouldn't have thought you'd be posting if you had one.

[kitkats]

Perhaps your symptons are a side effect of the antibiotics?

Certainly doesn't sound in any way like a brain abscess.

maybe? i don't know why stopping antibiotics would give me a headache though

what does sound like a brain abscess? i thought i had some of the symptoms.

[Gary A]

Not even slightly. A severe unrelenting headache, paralysis and siezures are all symptoms of a brain abscess. Not to mention the fact that they're unbelievably rare. You'd be a very very ill person if you did have a brain abscess, they really don't come quietly.

[kitkats]

I sometimes feel crap on antibiotics too. A root canal isn't fun and no doubt you'll be feeling the Effects way after.

I believe a brain abscess will present a fever and seizures, paralysis and weakness along with severe headaches.

I wouldn't have thought you'd be posting if you had one.

that's pretty reassuring. thanks!

---------- Post added at 12:25 ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 ----------


Not even slightly. A severe unrelenting headache, paralysis and siezures are all symptoms of a brain abscess. Not to mention the fact that they're unbelievably rare. You'd be a very very ill person if you did have a brain abscess, they really don't come quietly.

ok. thank you for letting me know!

[worrywart29]

Typically being on antibiotics would have stopped the bacteria from even spreading to your brain. If the doctor said your eye is not swollen it's not swollen. I've had cases where I could have sworn something looked abnormal but every time I asked someone they all said it looked normal. Anxiety throws off our perception of things. You are fine I'm sure of it.

[kitkats]

Typically being on antibiotics would have stopped the bacteria from even spreading to your brain. If the doctor said your eye is not swollen it's not swollen. I've had cases where I could have sworn something looked abnormal but every time I asked someone they all said it looked normal. Anxiety throws off our perception of things. You are fine I'm sure of it.

okay, i hope you're right! it's so hard to trust other people with this kind of thing sometimes. every time i leave the doctor's office i come up with a million more things i want them to check. :/

[wubu]

I agree with worrywort.

I had this mole on my leg last year and looked at it 100 times a day. Every day I looked at it I thought it had changed but it hadn't. The doc ended up taking it off for me.

[MyNameIsTerry]

You've got various symptoms of anxiety in there, could you attribute them to that?

I'm wondering whether the jaw pain is because of the work or whether the infection wasn't fully treated and needsw another course? I had to have 2 with my infection under a wisdom tooth as the pain came back a coupld of days after finishing the first course. The second course was a llonger one and did the trick.

Could the dentist have nicked one of the nerves? I know someone who had a lot of pain in that area due to this.

Could you even be clenching/grinding? This causes lots of headaches. The muscles around your temples move when you clench hence the headaches.