My Struggle for Relief

These days when I am struggling for some relief there’s not a lot I can do. There are usually two things I do; the first is to take one Advil and one extra strength Tylenol and the other is to eat a popsicle or crushed ice. Both of these things are temporary relief, but it's all I can do.

The popsicle or crushed ice is the immediate relief and it feels really good on my tongue. There are usually bumps underneath my tongue around the side and this wicked line along the side that becomes very prominent and hard. Most of the time the pain is external, meaning that it is physically on the surface of my tongue, which I am sure most of you know when you do something like bite your tongue, it hurts like crazy. Well, imagine having that pain constantly! There are other times where the pain is internal and it’s a really bad ache and not as much of a sharp pain on the outside. Most of the time it is the swelling of my tongue that causes that external pain because my tongue will rub on my teeth and my teeth will dig into it. But sometimes there is just that pain from those bumps when my tongue is not swollen. Other times the back, middle part of my tongue gets so swollen it makes it more difficult to breathe and I have to be careful by not over exerting myself because I can have a hard time catching my breath. When I was younger, before my tongue reduction surgery, it was much harder to get relief because I could not keep my tongue in my mouth when it was swollen. That would also lead to bad scabbing on my tongue because it was exposed to the outside air. Also I could not really eat and relied on yogurt drinks and milkshakes. I am grateful that now I can actually eat with my tongue is swollen but it is still very uncomfortable and I tend to only eat soft foods like mac & cheese, mashed potatoes or anything I don’t have to chew too much. I think one of the things that upsets me the most is that I have been experiencing pain and swelling more frequently over the past year or so. It’s pretty draining to have to keep dealing with it every other week or so and it can last anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. My parents really help me keep my attitude as good as possible and I am very grateful for that.