light99
09-11-2009, 07:55 AM
Hello all, first time poster. Don't know where else to turn here so I thought I'd post my situation. Sorry ahead of time for the long post.
First, this isn't about general anxiety visiting a dentist. Everyone has that. It's understandable. I'm talking about people who ALREADY have various SEVERE anxiety problems such as myself and then going to the dentist on top of that.
I am in my early 40's and have avoided the dentist like the plague all my life. Had a childhood experience with a dentist that drilled on me w/o anesthesia and would not stop even when I was screaming my head off. Anyway, as a result, my teeth are pretty messed up and last week I had a tooth actually crack, and now I have a fractured cusp.
It took everything I had and a lot of anti-anxiety meds, but I was at least able to go to the exam. Even though I was having non-stop heart palpitations and my heart rate probably was in the 130 bpm range.
Now, I also have MVP (common but annoying), hypersensitivity to drugs or anything introduced into my body, and frequent and triggable panic attacks, even when medicated. I have NEVER had a novacaine shot before in my life, and am very concerned about the adreneline component (ephephine or something) in it and my reaction to it. I just KNOW that I'm going to have some sort of heart problems with that, whether its a physical reaction or psychological. It doesnt really matter at this point. As an example of my hypersensitivity, I've gone through about 50-60 anti-depressent medications and had allergic reactions to probably half of them, and the other half simply had too many side effects to warrant using...(I even went through a week or two through many of them as I was told your body would "get used" to it---not for me)...another example is that I've had 3 MRI's, and even though I was very medicated for anxiety, my heart went to arrthmias (not just palpitations--I know the difference), and I nearly had to get shocked back into rhythm. Fortunately it fixed itself before the machines arrived.
Back to the dentist problem--I've discussed my concerns with the secretary of the dentist and he was supposed to get back to me but hasn't yet -- been two days and the 2 hours of surgery (possible root canal and other stuff) is on Wednesday. She mentioned there was an alternative to using the ephephine(sp?) but that it was shorter acting. Even if we can think of a replacement, I still don't think I can go through with any of this.
I'm starting to think the only solution for me is a general anesthesia/knock out process but even that I'm horrified thinking about. It would have to act quick as I would probably go into full-fledged panic attack and possible cardiac arrest from the panic of losing consciousness.
At the time of this post I'm seriously considering skipping everything and just letting my tooth rot and deal with the consequences myself. Maybe just yank the damn thing using the string and door method. My regular life is the epitome of pathetic too so I haven't ruled out the absolute solution either if the pain becomes unbearable. Any advice here?
light99
First, this isn't about general anxiety visiting a dentist. Everyone has that. It's understandable. I'm talking about people who ALREADY have various SEVERE anxiety problems such as myself and then going to the dentist on top of that.
I am in my early 40's and have avoided the dentist like the plague all my life. Had a childhood experience with a dentist that drilled on me w/o anesthesia and would not stop even when I was screaming my head off. Anyway, as a result, my teeth are pretty messed up and last week I had a tooth actually crack, and now I have a fractured cusp.
It took everything I had and a lot of anti-anxiety meds, but I was at least able to go to the exam. Even though I was having non-stop heart palpitations and my heart rate probably was in the 130 bpm range.
Now, I also have MVP (common but annoying), hypersensitivity to drugs or anything introduced into my body, and frequent and triggable panic attacks, even when medicated. I have NEVER had a novacaine shot before in my life, and am very concerned about the adreneline component (ephephine or something) in it and my reaction to it. I just KNOW that I'm going to have some sort of heart problems with that, whether its a physical reaction or psychological. It doesnt really matter at this point. As an example of my hypersensitivity, I've gone through about 50-60 anti-depressent medications and had allergic reactions to probably half of them, and the other half simply had too many side effects to warrant using...(I even went through a week or two through many of them as I was told your body would "get used" to it---not for me)...another example is that I've had 3 MRI's, and even though I was very medicated for anxiety, my heart went to arrthmias (not just palpitations--I know the difference), and I nearly had to get shocked back into rhythm. Fortunately it fixed itself before the machines arrived.
Back to the dentist problem--I've discussed my concerns with the secretary of the dentist and he was supposed to get back to me but hasn't yet -- been two days and the 2 hours of surgery (possible root canal and other stuff) is on Wednesday. She mentioned there was an alternative to using the ephephine(sp?) but that it was shorter acting. Even if we can think of a replacement, I still don't think I can go through with any of this.
I'm starting to think the only solution for me is a general anesthesia/knock out process but even that I'm horrified thinking about. It would have to act quick as I would probably go into full-fledged panic attack and possible cardiac arrest from the panic of losing consciousness.
At the time of this post I'm seriously considering skipping everything and just letting my tooth rot and deal with the consequences myself. Maybe just yank the damn thing using the string and door method. My regular life is the epitome of pathetic too so I haven't ruled out the absolute solution either if the pain becomes unbearable. Any advice here?
light99