Humira & my first serious secondary infection

Thanks to all the immunosuppresive drugs!  I was in the ER again last night...this morning...what day is it anyway?!  Two impacted wisdom teeth & a failed root canal.  Two weeks after by birthday gallstone present I might add and the constant vaginal bleed from an ovarian cyst.

Good news though...no ovarian cancer!

Anyway...I had taken my Humira pen injection 3 days ago and had just survived the typical flu post injection symptoms..when WHAM, all of a sudden with no prior symptoms...the infection & searing pain hit my mouth and swelled it shut within 3 hours!  So I got to thinking this infection is in my head and I need a dental block for pain and antibiotics ASAP...hence the ER.  I didn't want to wait for a oral surgeon visit, most likely 24 hours later, to start the antibiotics since the Humira was causing the infection to be so aggressive!  The ER doc had never done a dental block, bless his heart and told me not to hold it against him if he missed the nerve.  My response was go for it and not to hold it against me if I decked him in the process!  Inject humor here!  He ended up doing a great job even though the block doesn't last more than 5-6 hours it allowed time for the Rocifin (spelling?) antibiotic injection to start working wonders.

Now, I'll take responsibilty for not following up on the failed root canal for over a year cause I wanted my body to heal from the resection and to be on the lowest possible dose of predinose before doing any further surgery.  Not to keen on all that oral bacteria floating around in my bloodstream post op dental procedure and the fact that I'll have to stop the imuran temporarily and possibly the Humira in preparation for the surgery anyway.  It's another CD flare waiting to happen.

So....just thought I'd share.  I have the oxycotin chatty syndrome tonight and have another hour before taking my follow up antibiotics so you guys are just going to have to put up with my middle of the night blah...blah...blah!  Thanks for being here to listen!

Hi Sure sounds like you had a not so good night keeping the young lads busy are you? Hope your better. Got myself a doozy cold chest and head so on antiboctics too with my Rem. It is Thurs. now by the way .Went to the dentist Tues for a permanent filling and Wed. running because of my cold .I do have rather a lovely cough. I Do love Nanners sense of humor!Well only wishing the best for you and glad no cancer in the ovaries . Get yourself better soon .lol gail

Broomhilda...sorry to but in....but has your dentist suggested a strong regime of anti-b's prior to the surgery.  With your history and background this would be pretty much S.O.P. and could prove to be very important.  If he has....great, no problem......  if he has not, then you may want to question that.   

My wife is a hygentist and she says many complications from oral surgery come on because folks like us (compromised immune systems) ...or people who have had recent surgeries..don't know or aren't told that they should be on anti-b's prior to and during the dental work.  Her office even suggests it if you are just coming in for a deep cleaning and have the issues I cited.

A dental infection is nothing to mess with...it is so close to the brain and heart that infection into those areas is very common after major dental work.

hspenser-

Yeah, I'm well aware of the release of bacteria into the bloodstream while undergoing dental work. That's part the reason I delayed some of the dental work until my CD was more settled and I got off the predinose. It was a gamble. I went to the ER the other night when 3 days after my Humira the dental situation occurred with no warning and swelled my mouth almost shut within 3 hours. I got to thinking...this infection is in my head and being very aggressive and I don't want to add meningitis to the list! The Dr. in the ER was smart to give me the Rociphen injection (he didn't play around), then a dental block (so my stomach didn't have to tolerate stronger pain killers prior to the antibiotics kickin in) and lastly followed up with 500mg, 3x a day of amoxicillin for 10 days (again, easier on the stomach). They are also planning to give me a bag or two of fluid IVs prior to surgery to help insure I don't dehydrate. The only thing I haven't covered at this point is a discussion with my GI about taking my scheduled Humira dose 2 days after the surgery....I'm apprehensive about that. Right now the GP says continue all meds as normal but I don't know if he's consulted with the GI yet. Thanks for your input though...you'd be suprised at how many people are not aware of the need to be premedicated for "standard" dental procedures!