Let the buyer beware....

[TheDreadedFoosa]

I recently experienced some various aches and pains and had been taking Ibuprofen, which I had taken in the past with no issues whatsoever. Only this time, the original pain went away and a whole new pain set in in the form of the left side of my face swelling almost to the point of my eye closing. So basically it feels like my face is being stepped on with no letup. So I happen to take a gander at the bottle I'm using and there it is big as effin' day one of the potential side effects is facial swelling. I don't know if the difference was that I used name brand Ibuprofen before and this time was a generic brand or if I just was really fortunate last time but either way I am in the process of learning a very painful lesson which is to read every word of the fine print

[Top Cat]

Some people are simply allergic to it. One of my daughters broke out into hives when she took it. By the way, Ibuprofen is also known to spike your BP. So if you have high BP, it's best not to use it.

I might suggest acetaminophen.

Or not.

[TheDreadedFoosa]

Well, it turns out the Ibuprofen was not the culprit. I went to the doctor and the pain and swelling was caused by an abscess that was right smack on my face, perpendicular with my nose. I think I was a medical wonder or something because none of the doctors, nurses, etc. had ever seen anyone or even heard of anyone with an abscess on their face. For some ungodly reason they tried to drain the abscess by going in through the mouth, which baffled me, I figured they would just drain it from the outside where the lump was clearly visible. Sufficed to say, they got nothing and after 12 hours of laying in a hospital bed with nothing to show for it I finally told them i had to go and they gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and some pain killers (generic vicadin). The abscess is now nearly completely gone and to this very day I have no idea how it even got started so anyone with some abscess info...feel free to chime in

[dlb]

Here you go: Abcess

While you're there, you may want to bookmark the site. It's a good source of basic medical info.

[Nocahoma]

Originally Posted by TheDreadedFoosa

For some ungodly reason they tried to drain the abscess by going in through the mouth, which baffled me, I figured they would just drain it from the outside where the lump was clearly visible.

It was probably in one of your sinuses, and it was easier to go in through the roof of your mouth.

You are lucky that the antibiotics worked well for you, though. Most abcesses develop because the primary infection becomes walled off from the rest of the body and grows from within. With that type of setup, many antibiotics cannot penetrate the abcess, and it must be drained to reduce the mass and give the antibiotics (and your immune system) a better chance to attack it.

[DCFan]

Originally Posted by dlb

Here you go: Abcess

Thanks for the link! I just finished up a round of antibiotics for an armpit abcess which I was told is fairly comon. So far it's taken care of the problem but my doc says if it comes back then I have to go see the surgeon.

Danged thing came out of nowhere. And since it was in the armpit, first thing that came to mind was lymph nodes.

[Nocahoma]

Could also be a glandular origin. You normally have scads o' bugs living there, anyway. If a bad one got a foothold, an abcess would be easy to start.