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Stephanie Benedetti

@sensitivebodies

1.9K

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Spent 15 years+
$1,000,000 looking for my problem!
CIRS, MIGRAINES, MCAS, Lyme, Mold, Hypoglycemia, EDS etc
IT WAS cavitations!!
Any teeth pulled??

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For years, eating out was never just about choosing what sounded good.

I was constantly trying to predict what might trigger a reaction, make my face swell or leave me feeling awful afterwards.

I became so used to scanning menus for potential problems that it felt completely normal to me.

I changed my diet over and over again, eventually getting down to around five foods I considered safe.

And even then, I was still dealing with migraines, facial swelling, reactions, exhaustion and a long list of other symptoms.

Looking back, it is hard to explain how much mental energy went into simply eating.

Food was always another variable to control.

For fifteen years, I kept looking at what I was putting into my body, without knowing that another part of my story was sitting in my jaw.

A later 3D scan led to further investigation, and surgery found chronic infection in my old extraction sites, including multiple cavitations.

I still don't claim that this explains every reaction I've ever had.

But it completely changed how I understood those fifteen years of trying to find answers.

#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #chronicillness #cavitations by @sensitivebodies

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20 hours ago

This image represents a part of my health journey that still feels completely fucking surreal.

I had spent years being told different things, trying different treatments and spending an enormous amount of money trying to function normally.

At one point, my supplement bill alone was at least $2,000 a month.

And yet I still felt absolutely awful.

Migraines. Facial and eye swelling. Food and fragrance reactions. Brain fog. Exhaustion. Jaw and neck pain. Hypoglycaemia. A growing list of diagnoses and theories about what might be going on.

Eventually, my investigation came back to my mouth.

I'd had my wisdom teeth removed years earlier and assumed those areas had been properly checked. My standard dental X-rays had repeatedly looked ‘fine’.

But a later 3D scan showed areas that needed further investigation.

Surgery found chronic infection in my old extraction sites, including multiple cavitations.

That doesn't mean I suddenly have every answer to every symptom I've ever experienced.

But after fifteen years of searching, it was the first time I had something physical in front of me that made me stop and think:

HOW DID WE MISS THIS?

This is why I keep talking about my story. Not because I have all the answers, but because I know what it feels like to keep searching when everyone keeps telling you that you've already looked everywhere.

#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #chronicillness #cavitations by @sensitivebodies

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2 days ago

For years, I thought migraines were something I was just going to have to live with.

Mine were never “just headaches”.

They could take my vision, leave me vomiting and completely wipe out several days of my life. At my worst, I was dealing with them more than 15 days a month.

Because nobody could explain why they were happening, I spent years looking everywhere for answers.

Food. Histamine. Hormones. Stress. Supplements. Gut health. Mould. You name it, I probably investigated it.

I had scans, blood tests, specialists, treatments and more tests.

And still, the migraines kept coming.

Eventually, the investigation led somewhere I hadn't expected: my jaw.

A 3D scan showed areas around my old extraction sites that needed further investigation. Surgery later found chronic infection and multiple cavitations.

After surgery, something happened that I still find difficult to put into words.

My migraines stopped.

I don't claim that this explains every symptom I've ever experienced, but after fifteen years of living around migraines, that change completely changed the way I looked at my story.

Sometimes the symptom you've spent years trying to manage may not be the whole story.

#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #migraines #cavitations by @sensitivebodies

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2 days ago

I used to look at my stomach and genuinely wonder what the hell was happening.

I could wake up relatively flat and then become so distended that I looked pregnant by the end of the day. And no, I was not pregnant.

For years, I tried to work out whether it was food, gut issues, histamine, hormones, stress or something I was doing wrong.

I changed my diet so drastically that I eventually had a list of about five foods I considered safe.

The frustrating part was that the bloating was only one piece of a much bigger picture. I was also dealing with migraines, facial swelling, reactions, exhaustion and a whole collection of unexplained symptoms.

Eventually, I stopped looking at each symptom as a completely separate problem.

My health history eventually led me back to my jaw, where a 3D scan identified areas that needed further investigation. Surgery later found chronic infection in my old extraction sites.

I still don’t pretend that one discovery explains every symptom I’ve ever had.

But after fifteen years of searching, I finally understood why simply changing my food again wasn’t going to answer everything.

#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #chronicillness #cavitations by @sensitivebodies

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3 days ago

Not sponsored, just a mum sharing something that has made such a difference for my daughter! ❤️ I honestly cannot believe how much her bite has changed since she started using her MyoMunchee! 🦷

After everything I’ve personally been through with my own teeth, jaw and health, I’ve become incredibly passionate about finding dentists who focus on prevention, healthy development and minimally invasive treatments, rather than jumping straight into more aggressive interventions.

And I am SO glad I finally found a dentist who shares that philosophy! If you are in Australia I highly recommend @laserandholisticdental whilst we don’t live in Aus we do use them for remote work and when we do fly back we go get our cleans and treatments there.

Watching the changes in my daughter’s bite has been fascinating. Something so simple, yet we’ve seen such a noticeable difference... And apparently there are still dentists who think @myomunchee can not make “real changes” (literally had one say this the other day 🙄

For those who haven’t heard of it, the MyoMunchee is a chewing device designed to encourage oral muscle function, including the muscles involved in chewing, swallowing and tongue posture. I have one too!!!!

Of course, every child’s mouth is different, and this isn’t a replacement for proper dental assessment, but I’m so happy with the progress we’ve seen under her dentist’s guidance.

This is NOT sponsored. Repeat not sponpored - I am just starting to share what has made a BIG difference to our little family. I paid for it myself and just wanted to share our experience because I wish I’d known about these options sooner!

Has anyone else used a MyoMunchee with their little ones? I’d love to hear your experiences! ❤️

#MyoMunchee #MyofunctionalTherapy #HolisticDentistry #ChildrensDentalHealth #MinimallyInvasiveDentistry JawDevelopment by @sensitivebodies

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3 days ago

9 MONTHS. NOT A SINGLE MIGRAINE. HELLO MIGRAINE FREE ANNIVERSARY. 😭❤️

After 15 YEARS of the most debilitating, soul-destroying chronic migraines, I honestly never thought I’d be able to say those words. 15 years of losing days, weeks and months of my life. Of lying in dark rooms, feeling violently sick, cancelling plans, missing precious moments and wondering whether this was just going to be my life forever… (sometimes I still wonder if migraine free life is even real??)

I tried EVERYTHING. Specialists, medications, treatments, endless investigations. Nothing gave me lasting relief. Check out my substack pinned to post (it’s totally free) on everything I actually tried… one million dollars ain’t a small amount of money after all…

And then, after discovering chronic infections hidden in my jawbone where my wisdom teeth had been removed years earlier, I underwent dental cavitation surgery.

And the migraines stopped. Thank YOU @laserandholisticdental for finding MY SOLUTION!!!

Nine months later, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.

I’m not saying everyone’s migraines come from their teeth extractions or root canals… I’m sharing what happened to me, because I spent 15 years desperately searching for answers, and I wish someone had told me to investigate my jaw sooner.

If you’ve ever suffered from chronic migraines, you’ll understand just how life-changing it is to wake up without that pain. 15 years of suffering. 9 months of freedom. Woooohoooooooooooooo ❤️

I will never take a pain-free day for granted again.

#ChronicMigraines #MigraineRecovery #DentalCavitations #ChronicIllnessRecovery #SensitiveBodies by @sensitivebodies

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3 days ago

This is the part of my story that still makes me stop and think.

I had already seen dentists.

I had already had dental X-rays.

I had been to dentists in different countries, including practitioners who took a more holistic approach.

So when I was trying to work out why I had migraines, facial swelling, jaw pain and a whole collection of other symptoms, I genuinely believed my mouth had already been ruled out.

Why wouldn't I?

Someone had looked at it.

The X-rays looked reassuring.

Move on to the next possibility.

Except years later, at 38, a 3D cone beam CT showed abnormal areas around my old extraction sites.

Surgery later found chronic infection.

That experience taught me to question what ‘checked’ actually means.

I am not saying everyone needs the same imaging or that every chronic illness has a dental cause.

I am saying that in my case, I had been looking at the wrong level of the picture for years.

And sometimes that one distinction can completely change where the investigation goes next. 🦷

#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #chronicillness #migraines by @sensitivebodies

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4 days ago

My medical history became a collection of diagnoses, theories and things we were trying to rule in or rule out.

MCAS.

CIRS.

POTS.

EDS.

Histamine issues.

Mould.

Migraines.

And plenty more.

Each diagnosis seemed to explain one part of what was happening, but I was still left with the same bigger question.

Why was I still so unwell?

What I did not know was that there were abnormal areas in my jaw that had not been identified.

My wisdom teeth had been removed years earlier, and I had assumed the sites were old news.

They were not.

At 38, a 3D cone beam CT finally showed the areas that needed further investigation. Surgery later found chronic infection.

I am not saying those diagnoses were necessarily wrong, or that everything I experienced can be explained by one thing.

My health history is complicated.

But after fifteen years, finding something physical that had been missed changed the entire direction of my investigation.

Sometimes another diagnosis is not the final answer.

Sometimes it is a sign that there is still more of the story to uncover.

#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #chronicillness #migraines by @sensitivebodies

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5 days ago

I spent fifteen years trying to make my body easier to live in.

I changed my diet.

I changed my environment.

I took supplements.

I tried treatments.

I removed things.

I added things.

I spent an absurd amount of money trying to work out what my body needed.

And whenever something helped, I thought I was finally getting somewhere.

Then the symptoms would return.

That cycle went on for years.

What I did not realise was that I was trying to manage a body while something important had still not been identified.

Eventually, a 3D cone beam CT showed abnormal areas in the bone around my old wisdom tooth extraction sites.

Surgery later found chronic infection.

That was a huge turning point for me.

Not because I suddenly had a perfect explanation for fifteen years of illness.

But because I finally had something tangible that had been missed while I was busy changing everything else.

Looking back, I wish I had spent less time asking, ‘What else should I change?’

And more time asking, ‘What have we not actually investigated?’

#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #chronicillness #migraines by @sensitivebodies

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5 days ago

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5 days ago

There is a strange kind of frustration that comes from having results that look reassuring while your body is doing anything but reassuring things.

For years, I had bloodwork and other testing that did not give me an explanation for what I was experiencing.

Meanwhile, my face could swell dramatically. I reacted to foods and fragrances. I was dealing with migraines, exhaustion and periods where functioning normally felt almost impossible.

Both things were true at the same time.

The tests were not necessarily ‘wrong’. They simply were not giving me the answer I needed.

That distinction took me years to understand.

I kept looking for another explanation, another specialist, another treatment and another thing to change.

Eventually, the investigation reached my jaw.

A 3D cone beam CT showed abnormal areas around my old wisdom tooth extraction sites, and surgery later found chronic infection.

I wish I had understood sooner that feeling desperately unwell and having reassuring results are not mutually exclusive.

Sometimes the investigation just has not found the right piece yet.

#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #chronicillness #migraines by @sensitivebodies

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6 days ago

When you have been sick for fifteen years, you become very good at keeping records.
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I had around six MRIs.
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Hundreds of blood tests.
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Urine tests.
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Stool tests.
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Genetic tests.
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Dental X-rays.
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Specialists.
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Practitioners.
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Treatment after treatment.
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I had investigated so many possible explanations that I honestly thought there could not possibly be anywhere else to look.
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But there was.
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My wisdom teeth had been removed years earlier, and I had assumed the area had been properly cleared because my standard dental X-rays looked normal.
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At 38, I had a 3D cone beam CT.
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The investigation changed.
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Abnormal areas were identified around the old extraction sites, and surgery later found chronic infection in my jaw.
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That is the part of my story I keep coming back to.
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I did not need someone to tell me I had not tried hard enough.
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I had been trying for fifteen years.
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I needed someone to investigate a part of the story that had never been properly investigated.
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I am sharing my experience, not telling you what your symptoms mean.
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But if you have been searching for years, I hope you never feel ashamed for continuing to ask questions when something still does not make sense.
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#medicalgaslighting #jawboneinfection #undiagnosed #chronicillness #migraines by @sensitivebodies

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6 days ago