I’ve Been A Little Busy

You know you’re busy out of your mind when you look at your blog and the latest post is from last Christmas.

Well, all the way back at the start of this blog, before it even was a cancer blog, I said I didn’t know how people found time to keep blogs, keep up with Twitter (back when it was still Twitter), Facebook, life, work, sleep, and the unexpected. Let’s hear it for the unexpected!

This time last year, I was struggling with what I thought was the onset of a new problem: IBS (yes, irritable bowel syndrome). It was like one damned thing after another. I finally had teeth again. Thanks to the pandemic, I couldn’t go to the dentist for non-emergency work, so my upper teeth followed David Cameron’s example and abdicated their positions and responsibilities. Tory teeth! How awful!

Their replacements were fashioned by a lovely lady who made them look pretty much like the old teeth in size and colour, although they have much a better work ethic, of course. But they took some getting used to. The lady who made them helped me get acquainted with them, showed me how to apply adhesive, and sent me home with a few tubes of Fixodent and a few toothbrushes.

(Trust me, we’re getting to the good part.)

And then, for some reason, I developed a problem very much like IBS. I couldn’t figure out why, and it just kept getting worse, to the point where I was being careful not to eat or drink anything on those rare occasions when I went out. Because bad, bad, bad things would happen if I did.

Finally, my gp referred me for a colonoscopy. Three out of my mother’s four brothers died of some kind of cancer in that region, all before their 70th birthday, and mine was coming up. We had to postpone when I tested positive for Covid. First time ever—I figured the zinc supplements had helped along with the immunisations. I had a minor cold and got over it.

Anyway, I finally went in for the colonoscopy earlier this year. I won’t bore you with the details except to say, I have no medical training but even I know healthy tissue when I see it. I was very glad of that but I was wondering what to do next, even though, unbeknownst to myself, I had already done it.

While I was fasting for the colonoscopy, I had decided to look for a different denture adhesive and as a result, I started reading the package inserts more carefully. Fixodent made a quick mention of being careful not to use too much denture adhesive as it might cause digestive or intestinal upsets. Eventually, I noticed something interesting: Fixodent contained zinc; some other brands made a big deal out of being zinc-free. So after the colonoscopy I looked a little more closely and did some research, and realised that I was actually suffering from zinc poisoning. ‘Digestive and intestinal upsets’—talk about understating it!

I stopped taking zinc supplements and changed to a zinc-free denture adhesive, and yeah, you guessed it: no more IBS symptoms at all. Zinc-poisoning goes away as soon as you stop ingesting it.

I called my gp and told her all about it. The two of us marvelled over the circumstances. I was a new denture-wearer and so of course I was using too much denture adhesive—I imagine everybody does in the beginning. But when a patient goes to a doctor with symptoms of IBS, who would think to ask, ‘Say, you haven’t just started wearing dentures, have you? Does the adhesive you’re using have zinc in it?’

Now, I might not have had the problem if I hadn’t been taking zinc supplements but even so, I avoid denture adhesives containing zinc—anything you rub on your gums goes right into your bloodstream—and I don’t take any vitamins or supplements with zinc. I think I’ve had enough zinc for one lifetime.

This is some holiday post, isn’t it? The Golden Years: The Denture Adhesive/IBS Boobytrap waiting for the unwary. You can’t make this sh!t up.