The Mid-Night Medical Anomaly

Tuesday night was like any typical evening at the CI household.  Mr. Sunshine was off from work, so after we got Miss Sassypants into bed, we treated ourselves to a snack of chips and dip while we watched the tube.  Later on we retired, and right before I got into bed, I noticed that one side of my tongue was a little bit swollen.  Strange, I thought, and I mentioned it to Mr. S. in passing.  No biggie...  I figured that I must have gotten a little nick from a chip or something.

Cut to 2:30 a.m.  I woke up and realized that my tongue was pretty darn swollen!  I was slightly freaked, but it was only in my mouth and my breathing wasn't compromised, so I wasn't panicked.  I got up, got some ice and went to the couch and to Google.  As we know, the Internet can be our biggest enemy when it comes to medical information, but I needed to see if I could find out anything...  any information that could help me!  I read about allergic reactions, swollen salivary glands and all kinds of lovely things.  So I went to the linen closet in search of Benadryl, or any medicine that contained diphenhydramine.  Unbelievably, out of all of the drugs that we have, nothing!  So at 3:00 in the morning,  I changed into sweatpants, kissed my baby girl, and woke my husband to tell him, "By tug id swollen - I'b goin' to Wal Mart to get sobe Bemadryl."  I got into my vehicle and hauled my cookies to the 24-hour Wal Mart Supercenter to see how that part of the world lives.  That was interesting!  Anyway, I got my Benadryl and a box of fudgesicles (because popsicles just didn't seem like much fun at that point, and I needed something cold for my tongue), and paid at the one checkout lane that's open at 3:30 a.m.  I took the pills in the parking lot, drove home in the thick fog, and settled back on the couch for a while before drifting off to sleep.  

When I woke back up at 6:45 to get Sass ready for school, the swelling had gone down slightly, but not by much.  At least I could talk without sounding like I had a mouth full of sh__!  After I got her off, I took another dose and by about 10:30 the swelling was down, but I could tell that my salivary glands underneath my tongue were still swollen.  By Wednesday evening, everything was 100% back to normal.

The only thing that I can figure is a really, really long shot...  could I be allergic to my Vivera retainers?  After I finished my Invisalign treatment, I was prescribed these retainers, which you wear every night, pretty much forever.  A few times in the past several months I've woken up in the mornings with a dry and swollen soft palette.  once I even went to Urgent Care because of it because it led to a sore throat and laryngitis.   I've been wearing them 24/7 for quite a few days in the past week to correct the shifting in my teeth I'd been feeling (which is now fixed).  I still wear them nightly as directed, but still...