whats wrong with me?!?

What is wrong with me?!? I cannot decide if I’m a paranoid hypochondriac or if something is really wrong with me. Not having good health insurance, I can’t really put my mind at ease and find out either.

I don’t sleep well and I’m tired a lot. If I press on my stomach to the left of my naval, there is a hard area — there is no matching hard area on the right-hand side. Despite running a lot, my times have slowed drastically — I can run long it seems but fast — ha! I seem to get winded too easily for someone who runs as much as I do. I constantly get stitches when I run on both the left AND right sides.
Ever since one of my wisdom teeth got infected in November/December, nothing has gone right. My ear got messed up with the vestibular neurnoitis. At least THAT seems to have improved.
I really don’t know if I’m paranoid or if something is really wrong with me. I could be somewhat overtrained — haven’t had a day off from running since summer. Or, there could be nothing really wrong. Or perhaps this is left over post-wisdom teeth infection …

I don’t know but I really wish I could find out without breaking the bank.

wisdom tooth

My wisdom tooth is continuing to slowly break in. But its also all swelled up and doesn’t feel particularly good right now.

I’ve been on the ‘net looking for information on wisdom teeth. Its hard to find anything I’d consider … well … um … unbiased. Everything out there seems to be put out by … yeah, you guessed it, dentists who also just so happen to be advertising wisdom tooth removal services. I admit that I can be a pretty cynical person. And this just sets off my cynic’s radar.

Supposedly the reason why nearly everyone needs to get wisdom teeth removed (an operation at least one dental website honestly compared to having your appendix out or your tonsils out — they definitely get honesty points credit) is because our modern processed food diet has shrunk our jaws and thus we cannot accommodate all thirty-two of the teeth Nature or God or whomever or whatever designed us intended us to have. I dunno about you, but that sounds like some pretty darned fast evolutionary changes.

(I also have to say my cynical side finds it interesting that these sites cite rare occurrences with wisdom teeth — forming cysts and tumors — as good reasons for removal. Can we say these things wouldn’t have happened anyway? Moreover, why are the rare but equally serious potential complications of wisdom tooth surgery like jaw fractures, sinus problems, even ear problems not also usually mentioned?)

Anyway, I have no clue what’s going to happen with this tooth. I have no money to even get it looked at right now — I’m barely making my student loan payments. My modest medical insurance doesn’t cover wisdom teeth. So I’m kinda stuck. I haven’t had dental insurance since I was 22.