Exposure to novacaine cause me to have a ‘psychotic reaction’. I am ok for a while, except for a racing heart, and extreme anxiety, but about 1/2 hour after exposure, I get extremely afraid, irrational, suicidal, homocidal. The last couple of time were worse than ever.
I tried to drive myself home, and almost aimed for an oncoming truck. I wont allow myself to be left alone with the kids, I am not fully in control of myself, and I fear what I might do.
This IS NOT a fear of needles, nor a fear of dentists. The last few times I had novacaine, it was for a gynelocological procedure known as a colposcopy. But I havent had one for 5 years.
I have the same reaction if I have to get stitches. The last time I needed stitches (10 yrs ago or so) I told them not to freeze me, they were willing to use only half the dose, and it wasnt too bad (the reaction).
As a teen, I had a bad sunburn, and used solarcaine (a member of the novacaine family) topically on my face. The next day my eyes were swollen completely shut.
My question: Since I havent been to a dentist for 12 years (why? see above) and I now know I need dental work done. What the hell am I gonna do?
The last time I had novacaine, I thought my heart was gonna burst, I was truly afraid.
Is there a substitute? I dont know of any dentists around here that use the gas either.
Maybe you have one of those -caine allergies. Dentists do prescribe Xanax for panic-attack types. Let your dentist know you’re one of them. You’ll need a ride home afterwards.
Oh, and since it’s been 12 years, prepare yourself for two cleanings. The first is called something like “descaling,” the second is a regular cleaning. If you haven’t already, the dentist might want to seal some of your teeth.
Since 1972 (or was it '82), dentist have been sealing teeth. This entails applying a coating of some sort of plastic material to the crevises on top of tooth’s crown (Think molars, and food getting ground into these places). This protects the tooth from decay. It is recommended that children have their permanent teeth sealed soon after the teeth emerge. If the sealent is inavertently applied over an existing cavity, no problem, the sealent halts the cavity’s progress.
While I don’t have any URL’s handy, if you go to, say, www.google.com and search for “dentist”, you’ll find many pages that describe sealing.
kelli, I’d suggest you talk to your dentist about your reaction before having any work done. He might be able to suggest some alternative type of anesthesia, or a pre-treatment medication that will prevent or lessen your reaction. At the very least he should be made aware of it.
I don’t know if this would help in your case, but when one of my family members had to be treated for periodontal disease many years ago, he was so stressed by the repeated procedures that he was prescribed Valium to be taken before every visit. However, the only solution may be to make sure you have someone to drive you home and ‘babysit’ you until the drug wears off.
Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the hydrant.
I suggest that, if you already have not, you let your personal physician know about this reaction.
In the area of dentists, THEY NEED to KNOW about any form of reaction you might have concerning their medication. (Most usually ask you if you have any allergies to any medication.) There is another option and that is to go to an oral surgeon. They can put you out with an IV Valium solution and work on you that way, though you will need a ride home. Most will not work on you unless you have one.
I had that done once after a poke in the mouth in a bar kind of messed up my teeth and mouth. I was confidently telling the cute little dental assistants about my STRONG resistance to booze and drugs as they poked an IV in me and started the Valium push – and woke up later on. I did not feel a thing, though I did drift up to nearly being awake a few times because I recall them tugging on wires they were inserting into my mouth, but there was no pain.
Also, your doctor probably has something you can take to knock down the severity of the reaction from the Novocain afterwards.
Judging from one part of the reaction, I think you might be on psychiatric medication, like antidepressants. Suffer from anxiety reactions? Novocain reactions generally trigger physical effects, but your mention of mental ones leads me to believe that those effects trigger an anxiety affect, which MIGHT trigger some other preexisting depression related problems.
The actual effect MIGHT (notice the word MIGHT), be minimal from the Novocain, but if you have a high anxiety threshold, generated by the fear that a reaction will potentially happen, plus enforced by the fear of going to the dentist anyhow, you can be tipped right into a full blown anxiety reaction. Again, tranquilizers prior to the dental work might help, along with a driver to get you there and home.
Again, discuss this WITH your doctor and IF you have a psychiatrist, discuss this with him or her.
I think Sentinel’s on the right track here in terms of looking for drug interactions. Another thought - do you have any sort of heart arrhythmia condition, or are you on heart medication of any kind?
My mother once had a similar experience in the dentist’s office, but in her case it was because the dentist forgot to administer a “block” to keep the novocaine from interfering with her heart medication. I’m sorry I can’t provide specific names of drugs, but your dentist should understand the general situation and adjust your treatment accordingly. If not, you need a new dentist.
Actually I only take the xanax very rarely to ward off the occasional panic attack ( of which I only started having this past year)
I can remember similar reactions after tooth extractions as far back as age 7, or 8.
Unfortunately, I dont react any better to being ‘put under’. I had my tonsils dont about 5 or 6 years ago, and I puked my guts out for 3 days. I mean constant barf-o-rama.
I am otherwise in good health, good heart, blood pressure has never wavered from 120 over 80 since I was 15, including all through both pregnancies.
Its this concern that has kept me from a dentist for so long. I have had good dental plans for years, but I am afraid of what might occur the next time , because each time is much worse.
I dont discount the possibility that part of the reaction is my fear of the reaction, but I know I have a reason to be concerned.
The iv valium thing sounds like the ticket though…is that the same stuff they use to ‘put you under’ for surgery? I dont think so, but if I knew for sure, that would help.
KelliB - first off DO go to the dentist, a good, caring dentist. Don’t get yourself in my situation. Long story, but I’m almost a professional dental patient.
The Valium IV drip is a way cool, very easy way to go. Only an oral surgeon can administer them. This is from a person with a severe adversion to needles.
You won’t even notice them putting you under. The way to go! Especially for large amounts of work to be done.
You regular dentist can give you a referral to the oral surgeon.
Good Luck!
well, that leaves me out. Not only is the wait to get into one over a year, but they are so busy doing actual oral surgery there is no freekin way they would lower themselves to just doing a filling.
Shit. Unless I can find a reg. dentist who can do it, that isnt even an option.
Don’t give up, kelli. Talk to everyone you know who regularly goes to the dentist until you find someone who’s as afraid of the dentist as you and who raves about how good their dentist is. Make an appointment with THAT dentist and explain everything to him/her just like you did here. If you don’t get the answers you need, ask them if they know of someone else who can help you.
Modern dentistry has greatly improved from just 12 years ago. The dentist I see had me on Xanax, gas AND Novocaine for my first “session”, and I’m now just down to the Novocaine, if necessary…but I’ve learned how to maintain my teeth a lot better. I hasten to add, however, that it appears Novocaine is your problem…just like I get on Codeine. There are other medications available in case of reaction.
Get your teeth fixed, no matter what. A smile is a terrible thing to waste. (Passing up a good steak is also a punishable offense in some parts of the world.)
Local Anesthetics (“caine’s”) can cause psychological reactions. I suspect, however, that you may be blaming them for things they may not be responsible for:
They are almost always combined with Epinephrine(adrenaline) when injected to decrease bleeding. It sounds like you’re having some symptoms (heart racing) that are more likely due to the epinephrine than the novocaine.
The eyes swelling shut sounds like it might be more likely due to the sunburn than to the SolarCaine.
The IV valium injection mentioned above is a good way to provide needed care without reverting to torture or using local anesthetics. But it’s availability is limited, and due to deaths from delayed effects of the sedative causing shutdown of breathing, must be done in a setting where you can be observed for several hours after the procedure. This also makes it expensive.
An in-between solution would be to use oral forms of these drugs (Valium, Ativan, Xanax). You would still need someone to drive you home afterwards, and would not be as “out” as you might want during the procedure.
Probably, the best place to start would be with your primary care doctor. S/he might be able to refer you to an anesthesiologist who might be able to provide other suggestions.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
I don’t know if going to an ER will do you any good. A disabled friend of mine had problems with his teeth and developed an abscess. Since he had no money and insurance, no local dentist would take his Medicare nor set up time payments for him. The ER, where he went in desperation, gave him a shot, a prescription, patted him on the ass and told him to go see a dentist. The only way they would pull his tooth is if it became life threatening, by developing blood poisoning or gangrene. (Yeah. Really. Then, if he made it to the ER alive, they would spend about $30,000 poking him into surgery, rebuilding his ruined jaw, flushing his system of toxins and loading him up with antibiotics. It did not make sense.)
He managed to get the funds up to see and dentist later, but the experience was an eye opener.
Most cities have many oral surgeons. Check the phone books. When I had to have my mouth reworked, I located one who worked out of a cool little office instead of one of these HUGE impressive buildings like they often have these days. He did an excellent job. (Course, the smile is a little crooked, but I don’t think I can blame that one him.)
Check out the public health department because while they might not do the work you want, they should have a listing of dentists to refer you to.
Can oral surgeons knock you out? I went to one recently who said that if I wanted to be knocked out for the procedure, (extraction of every tooth in my mouth) he’d have to call in an anestheseologist, which would run me about $400 extra.
I opted instead for the $75 treatment which consisted of nitrous oxide, novacaine, and 4 powerful little pills called Ativan (generic name Lorazepam). It’s a benzo like valium or xanax, but it’s far more powerful. The combination of that and the nitrous actually gave me minor hallucinations during the operation. Pretty cool, eh? But the best part is that benzo’s seem to make time just FLY by! The three hour operation took about fifteen minutes in my head.
