Re: Healing crisis unbearable! Please help!

Hi 231 --

I am so sympathetic as I had an early, bad detox reaction (in the form of an enormous mouth sore, which was also unbearably painful and lasted for a while and was worse at night -- I would fall asleep for a short period of time, rub it against a tooth, and shoot up straight out of bed screaming. On top of that during the time I was asleep I guess I was keeping my mouth open and so my face would be covered in drool -- it was a dreadful time). I hate it when people say things like, "Nobody ever died from lack of sleep," because not being able to sleep and being awake in the middle of the night is miserable. My solution was narcotic painkillers after a point. Mouth pain is bad. Anyway -- it did go away, but like you I was not enthusiastic about oil pulling during that time, and nobody here had experienced the same thing, so I felt pretty lonely on top of it, and also sort of scared as I was very new to OP.

Regarding your questions:

My guess (which derives from reading posts at this forum over the past 15 months) is that you *are* experiencing some form of detox. The dentist said everything looked OK from the outside (I assume) which is really good news. It is just going to get out of you, which is ultimately what you want.

Why only one side of the mouth? Maybe that side of your mouth is more vulnerable -- here is where it gets frustrating around OP because nobody can give you an answer like, "XYZ tends to be stored in the right cheek, so expect some detox pain for 12 days if you have taken XYZ." I am sure it will go away but I have to add the annoying "although I don't know when" part. My other thought is that there *are* some things that are one-sided in nature (migraine, for instance) and I really believe that a) the dominant side of our bodies are likely to be affected in such cases because they are slightly bigger, perhaps (i.e. if you are right-handed, you'll get right-side pain). SOunds crazy but it's borne out (albeit unscientifically) by asking a lot of people with migraine. The other thing is that we get more congested in the head at night when lying down (this is why when you wake up with a stuffy nose, when you get up and walk around in the morning, it usually goes away pretty quickly). Is there a way you could sleep in a big chair at an incline for the duration of this? (I know that sounds miserable, too -- but it is something that I actually had to do during a twins pregnancy and at least ensured that I got some sleep.)

Should I discontinue the OPing? Part of me says, "Stop now!" and the other part thinks that these reactions are like crossing a river and being in the middle when the water gets really rough -- no matter what you do, you're still in it. If I were you, or let me say, if I had gotten that miserable *&(^%$^*( mouth sore knowing what I know now about OP, I would probably a) make the first call to my doctor and get some painkillers (one thing you could try is over-the-counter stuff if you haven't already). b) I would stop OP until I had been intense-pain-free for a few days (or in your case, and most important, nights). and c) I would start again with a different oil and on a very slow schedule -- maybe a few minutes a day every other day -- something conservative. You know you react to OP because of this and the skin rash -- but our bodies can only handle so much at once.

Finally, the skin rash reminds me to remind you to make sure your liver is working properly and that your kidneys are functioning well. My belief is that any time we have skin symptoms, it's a sign that we need to make sure via Liver Flushing and kidney cleansing that those organs of elimination are clean and able to handle whatever we send their way via OP or other therapies/protocols. You might think about doing some liver flushes/kidney cleanses while you are taking a break from OP.

Please let me/us know what happens and it is my *great* prayer that you will be past this very soon.

Laura