Eaton: The doctor told me to cure my painful condition with lemon drops
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It was around 3 a.m. Saturday when I woke up to extreme pain on the right side of my face.
It felt like somebody had a hammer and was repeatedly pounding on my jaw. The left side felt fine – but even a light touch on the right side of my face near my ear resulted in incredible pain.
I had been sick with a cold most of last week and figured this was the result of a sinus issue or ear infection. I popped some ibuprofen and was able to somehow fall back asleep.
But the pain was still there. My jaw was swollen when I woke up a few hours later. It was hard to open my mouth and the pain increased whenever I ate.
I suffered through the day (despite my wife’s suggestions to go to the doctor) and after putting the kids to bed, Google searched what my condition could possibly be. Word to the wise – don’t do this if you want to maintain rational thinking.
After reading about jaw tumors, weird brain infections and other unusual conditions, I decided that perhaps I should pay a visit to the doctor. It was around 10 p.m., and I drove myself to the nearest Urgent Care clinic.
I told the doctor about the pain, fully expecting to be diagnosed with an ear infection and sent home with an antibiotic. He looked into my ears, felt around my face and said, “You have sialolithiasis.”
Huh?
“Sialolithiasis is a condition where a calcified mass forms within a salivary gland,” he explained. “Kind of like a kidney stone in your mouth.”
Salivary duct stones can occur in all salivary glands, but are most commonly found in the submandibular glands, which are in the back of the mouth and on both sides of the jaw, according to the Salivary Stones Center of Excellence.
The usual symptoms are pain and swelling of the affected salivary gland, both of which get worse when salivary flow is stimulated with the sight, thought, smell or taste of food.
The doctor told me the pain would go away when the stone passed, and the best way to help this happen was keep my saliva flowing.
“Get lemon drops and eat a lot of delicious foods – foods that make your mouth water,” he ordered.
He said there’s a small chance the stone wouldn’t pass on its own, which could require surgery.
But in the meantime, I was off to Winco to buy lemon drops and other tasty sour candy.
I posted about the diagnosis on my Facebook page and was surprised at the reaction. About half of you have never heard of this and the other half seem to have experienced it.
“Just had the same thing a month ago. Had a knot under my chin, went to Urgent Care and said it was that or swollen lymph nodes,” Melissa wrote. “I probably ate a bag of sour candy in three days.”
Kristen said, “I never heard of it until it happened to me about 2 months ago. They told me the exact same thing. Also they gave me antibiotics.”
“I had them as a child,” Sheri commented. “The doctor slit under my tongue and it popped out. Surprise to us all.”
Fortunately the doctor did not have to slit my face because Sunday, around 7 p.m., I noticed my jaw was feeling a lot better. I’m assuming the stone passed, but I didn’t taste anything or feel any unusual lumps in my mouth.
I’m glad my body took care of itself on its own but can’t help but wonder – what unusual conditions have you been diagnosed with that you didn’t know existed before visiting a doctor? And did lemon drops cure you?