Ask Bella: Lymph drainage massage

Q: I was considering a lymph drainage massage, but my oral surgeon said, "I have no idea what that is, so I don't know if it's a good idea." But you did have one, and you said you noticed a difference, correct? Was it at all uncomfortable? And would you recommend it?

A: Lymph drainage is very gentle - like a butterfly touch - and it drains the swelling like crazy. I couldn't believe how effective it is, particularly because the guy "massaging" my face barely touched me. It made such a huge difference.

The only regret I had was that I should have gone the day after the surgery instead of waiting two weeks. I was very swollen and lopsided from the swelling, and after one session I noticed a huge difference. The homeopathic remedy Arnica is great for helping to reduce swelling, too, and you can find it at most health food stores.

It sounds like your surgeon is pretty traditional. Some doctors are strictly medicine/surgery, while others are more open to complementary medicine and alternatives.

Just so you know, all of the remedies and treatments I have used post-surgery are things that have been used by many other people who have gone through the same surgery - just check the online jaw surgery support groups found in my sidebar for examples of others who have done the same. (That being said, please consult with your surgeon or doctor before taking any supplements or natural remedies.)

*To ask Bella a question about her jaw surgery, email her at smilingbella at gmail dot com or leave a comment on this post. Go ahead: ask away!!

Anemialiscious

This post-surgery anemia business is far more complicated than it first seemed. You think - okay, my iron levels are low, so I'll just take iron pills and eat some spinach.

Not so much.

The first thing I learned was that you have to take iron supplements with Vitamin C or your body won't absorb them. My doctor never mentioned this when she told me to take the iron; I got this information from a friend. So, one more pill to take.

Then, I decided to look up information on foods with high iron content so I could be sure I was eating right. I was surprised to learn that not only there is a list of foods that enhance iron absorption, but there is also a list of foods that block iron absorption. These include sweet potatoes, red wine, soy and spinach.

What? Spinach inhibits iron absorption? Isn't it supposed to be chock full of irony goodness? Well, it is, but it also contains an acid that blocks iron absorption. In order to absorb the iron in spinach, you have to eat it with iron absorption enhancing foods, such as meat, tomatoes, and Vitamin C-rich fruits.

Note to self: people put strawberries, oranges and bacon in spinach salad for a reason, not just because it makes the salad look pretty. Go figure.

Not surprisingly, the iron that is most easily absorbed by our bodies is found in meat, poultry and fish. Making it extra difficult for vegetarians.

So, I took my iron supplements with Vitamin C like a good girl for a few weeks and...nothing happened. I didn't feel any better. I was still exhausted and sick all the time. What the heck was going on? Was there something else horribly wrong with me?

On Monday, I went to see my naturopath and mentioned it to her. She asked what else I was taking the iron supplements with, and I named off my arsenal of capsules and pills.

"You have to make sure that you don't take calcium and iron supplements together. The calcium competes with the iron for absorption and the calcium always wins. Then, the iron is just this toxin floating around your body."

In other words, all that iron I had been taking these past few weeks was not absorbed, even though I was taking it with Vitamin C, because the calcium blocked the iron.

Grrrr.

On the plus side, I started taking the iron away from the calcium on Tuesday, and by Friday, I had already started feeling better. So, there's hope for me yet.

Anemia is the new black

This long weekend, while everyone else was out camping, sunbathing, and enjoying not being at work, I was sleeping 15 hours each day. I thought it was fallout from the torture session with my physiotherapist or I was coming down with (yet another) cold or flu. My whole body felt heavy and run down.

On Tuesday, I talked to my doctor about the tests I requested last week and she informed me I am mildly anemic. This is a new thing, because I had the same blood tests run a month before my surgery and I was fine.

A number of factors can affect your blood iron levels, and surgery is a big one. Fortunately, the solution to my problem is pretty simple; my doctor wants me to take iron pills for a month and then get my blood tested again (iron builds up in your body and can become toxic, so it's important to get levels re-tested regularly if you're taking iron supplements.)

I hope the iron deficiency also explains why, since the surgery, I'm constantly picking up viruses, getting easily worn out, having problems getting out of bed in the morning, and, as a result, missing waaaay too much work. Because not only do I have zero sick days left, I actually owe my employer for all of the time I've taken off for health reasons. And let me tell you, all of that physiotherapy, homeopathy, supplements and acupuncture don't come cheap. Bella needs a paycheque.

Poke me, baby

One of the things that stressed me the most about having jaw surgery was the possibility that there would be nerve damage, leaving my chin and lower lip numb for a year or perhaps forever. My orthodontist told me the likelihood of permanent nerve damage increases with your age. As a 32-year-old undergoing the surgery, I had a 32% chance of permanent numbness.

This prospect was thoroughly unacceptable and made me determined to be in the 68% of people who regain full feeling in their lips and chin.

So, I did what I've done with pretty much everything surrounding this surgery: obsessive-compulsive research, or OCR for short. I found a number of homeopathic and natural remedies to help reduce inflammation and nerve pain, and I investigated acupuncture to help rejuvenate nerves.

I also stalked jaw surgery survivors. A friend had the surgery in her 40s and ended up with permanent nerve damage in her chin. When she finally discovered acupuncture, which helped her get some of the feeling back, the practitioner told her that he could have helped her get all of it back...if she had only come to him one month after the surgery, instead of one year later.

Some sharp needles in my face vs. not being to fully appreciate future make-out sessions = easy decision. I made the appointment for two weeks after the surgery. Stat.

You talkin' to me?
Can you tell I took this shot myself?

I had gone for acupuncture before, with mixed results. One practitioner took on so many patients that she made her storage closet into a treatment room. You'd be lying on the table, immobile (because needles were piercing various body parts, and moving would shoot pain up your limbs), and someone would walk in, reach up to pull something off the shelf above your head, and leave. And then someone else would do the same a few minutes later. She was also so busy that she'd even forget needles in you. I stopped going to her after discovering a large needle in my ankle and having to pull it out myself.

The other practitioner I saw could barely speak English. She had such a heavy Chinese accent that the majority of conversations with her involved the phrases, "What?" "Excuse me?" and "I'm sorry, I don't understand," as well as a fair bit of gesticulating. I don't know about you, but when someone is coming at you with a handful of sharp needles, it kind of helps to know what they're saying.

Regarding the acupuncture itself, both of the practitioners I saw were great at it and their treatments helped me feel a lot better. But when you've got a broken jaw, you just want to go to someone you're comfortable with. Fortunately, my new naturopath also practices acupuncture. I was relieved to discover this, as I really liked her, even though her elimination diet had nearly pushed me over the edge the last time I saw her.

A great up-the-nose shot. But you can see all the homeopathic and natural remedies in the background.
Plus, I have a cute nose, right?

I usually find acupuncture really relaxing. I go into a meditative state, and sometimes, I feel like I am levitating out of my body. Not this time, though, because my naturopath and I were goofing around with my camera, trying to get a shot that showed the needles in my face. The facial acupuncture needles are even thinner than the regular kind, so it was really hard to get them to show up in pictures.

Finally, we got a good one!

When she took the needles out from behind my ears, it was the strangest sensation - it felt like they were still there. I rubbed my skin, concerned that this was acupuncture déjà vu all over again, when she said, "Does it feel like they're still there? That means the chi is working."

I didn't know what that meant. But all I knew was that two weeks after my surgery, I had about 75% of the feeling back in my chin and lower lip. In the days following the acupuncture treatment, my feeling came back rapidly. By the one month post-surgery mark, I had 95% of it back, and today, I would say that I'm at about 98%.

Am I going back to get more needles stuck into me? H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks, yeah!

Homeopathic healing

A lot of people have expressed amazement on how quickly my bruising and swelling went away. While I maintain that a positive attitude does make a difference when you're healing from major surgery, I certainly don't credit alone with my progress.

Before my surgery, I went to see my naturopathic doctor and she prescribed a number of homeopathic remedies and supplements.

Homeopathic remedies operate on the principle that like cures like. So, if something in great amounts causes a headache, then the theory is that a very, very, very small amount of the same thing will cure a headache. Homeopathic remedies dilute those substances to microscopic levels and then use them to treat that ailment.

There is a constant debate going on as to whether or not it really works. In my experience, it has. But everyone is different. The way I see it is there's no harm in trying. If it works, it works. If not, the remedies are relatively inexpensive (I paid $7 per vial, Canadian Dollars, for mine), so you're really not losing anything.

My arsenal of non-drug remedies.

This is what my naturopath recommended for me (please consult your doctor/surgeon/homeopathic practitioner before taking any supplements):

1. Arnica Montana, 200K pellets. One or two pellets at a time, taken away from food, as often as needed to reduce bruising and swelling.
2. Hypericum Perforatum, 200K pellets. One or two pellets at a time, taken away from food, as often as needed to reduce nerve pain.
3. Calendula, 200K pellets. One or two pellets at a time, taken away from food, as often as needed to heal wounds post-surgery.
4. Thiosinaminum, 6CH pellets. One or two pellets at a time, taken away from food, as often as needed to break down scar tissue.
5. Wobenzym N., enteric coated tablets. One tablet three times a day, taken away from food, to break down inflammation. (Note: Wobenzym contains Bromelain, a digestive enzyme made out of pineapple. I know of a lot of jaw surgery patients who just take Bromelain, which would have the same sort of result if you're unable to find Wobenzym.)
6. Traumeel, oral drops. This is a complex homeopathic with a variety of compounds in it. Five drops, three times daily, taken away from food, to reduce swelling, bruising and inflammation.
7. Vitamin B12. She didn't give me an amount on this, but said that it helped encourage nerve regrowth and reduce nerve pain. I found these great dissolving Vitamin B12 strips that I could put in my cheek while my jaw was wired shut and they would dissolve. Awesome!
8. Mediclear, protein and vitamin powder. One scoop in rice milk in the morning with breakfast. Provides protein essential for healing and liver support post-anesthesia.

If I had to do it again, there were some changes I would have made.

Firstly, I would have found as many of the homeopathic remedies in tinctures/oral drops to make them easier to take when I was wired shut. I used a method for taking the pellets called "pulsing" where you put a very tiny amount of water in a glass and dissolve the pellets in it before swallowing. It worked fine, but the usual method is to dissolve the pellets under your tongue. Drops would have been much more convenient.

Secondly, I would have started taking the Arnica and the Traumeel several days before surgery. You get a much better result that way. I took the Arnica just one day before, and I didn't start on the Traumeel until three weeks after the surgery. It turned out well for me, but it would have been even better to start earlier.

Otherwise, it's been going very well. I wasn't able to take the Wobenzym while I was wired shut, but I am taking it now. While I was wired, I focused more on taking the Arnica and Calendula as much as possible. Now that the swelling is mostly gone, I'm concentrating more on the Hypericum and the Thiosinaminum as well as making sure I'm taking my Mediclear every day. I added the Traumeel because I noticed there was just a tiny bit of swelling left that wasn't going down as much as I would have liked and I figured it would help.

The really nice thing about homeopathic medicine is that it is so diluted that it's impossible to take too much of it and it is not going to interact with any drugs, or so I'm told. It's kind of idiot-proof, which serves me quite well.

Pre-op prep and freak out

It's amazing how time flies when you're about to have your jaw broken and wired shut. This this past month has been a roller coaster of emotions.

The first seven days, I was so excited I was practically vibrating with energy. It was finally happening, finally, after all that waiting! I skipped around the office with a maniacal grin. My co-worker said that I should be the poster gal for jaw surgery. She's right. Maybe if that happens, I'll be able to make up for the shortfall in cash when I'm on disability recovering from the surgery. Poster gal has got to be a paying gig, right? Especially if I show a little cleavage.

I was a flurry of Internet shopping. First were the Zip-n-Squeeze bags that are popular on the jaw surgery forums in which I have been lurking. They are washable pouches with tubing at the top. You put liquid or puree into the pouch and squeeze it through the tube to eat when your jaw's wired. A friend of mine refers to these as my "feed bags."

Next was the Magic Bullet. It's that blender made famous by the late-night infomercials that will pulverize just about anything in ten seconds. I have to admit that the infomercials completely sucked me in and have tempted me for years. But I couldn't justify spending that much on a blender. Until now. Come to mama.

Then, I browsed the book store for a cookbook full of soup recipes. The plan was to make a few in advance and freeze them in portion-sized containers so I won't have to worry about cooking when I'm convalescing at home after the surgery.

The physical things purchased, I moved on to shopping for health care practitioners. I went to my naturopath and had her order a schwack of homeopathic remedies for things such as healing, bruising, swelling, scar tissue, nerve damage, and anything else I could think of. I also made some appointments with her for acupuncture following the surgery.

I found myself an MLD massage therapist who can help with the lymphatic drainage before and after the surgery, which reduces bruising and swelling. I made several pre-op physiotherapy appointments. And last, but not least, I called in a favour to my friend, the Reiki master. Two weeks ago, she taught me the first level of Reiki, so that I can work on healing myself after the surgery.

But then, at about the one week mark, once all the shopping was done, I started getting apprehensive. Not so much about the surgery itself, but about the long recovery. About having my jaw wired shut and my face swollen and bruised and not being able to eat or talk. Feeling claustrophobic. Finding a variety of foods to eat that can be sucked through a straw. Freaking out about missing work and going on disability. Worrying about being in a hospital in a city two hours away from my family and most of my friends. Wondering who will drive me home once I am discharged from the hospital.

Just thinking about it made my jaw muscles tense up and gave me the painful migraines that the surgery itself is supposed to relieve.

How I feel varies from day to day, and I'm sure will continue to bounce around from emotion to emotion for the next three [yikes!!] days.

So, yes, here I am. In the middle of all of that, making soup like a madwoman.