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Appointment tomorrow, got myself tied in knots!

T

Tink

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Joined
May 14, 2013
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Location
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Hello folks, I'm really good (I hope!) at being all clear and calm and reassuring about other people's stuff but when it comes to myself I'm a shambles!

Anyway, I have an appointment tomorrow, at which probably nothing scary will happen at all but I've got myself tied in a great big knot and am considering postponing it. The situation is all a bit messy and complicated (sorry, vague I know) but with the help of a couple of fantastic dentists I'm in the process of sorting everything out and actually treating my phobia, but I keep lurching between everything being clear and feeling like I'm making good progress and I know what I'm doing, and feeling like it's all a disaster :dunno:

I really wanted to turn up tomorrow having made lots of progress and knowing what I was doing, I keep trying too hard to impress the dentist because I'm afraid of screwing it up and annoying him. Which is silly because he's very patient and doesn't get annoyed at all, but I worry anyway because he's the one with the drill and I'll always worry...

Urgh. It's all a bit of a mess. I need to get my head together.


Sorry about the vagueness. Somebody just send me some 'sensible' vibes!
 
I know this is easier said than done, but RELAX!!!!!!!!!!! You are doing great things by just making an appointment! Here are some key things to remember:

1) He sounds really nice and compassionate. A dentist that has both of these qualities will NOT be annoyed by you nor your fear in the least. He wants to make you healthy, but more importantly, wants to control your fear.

2) With that in mind, however, YOU have to be 110% honest with him about your fears, concerns, and the amount of pain you are in, or he can't help you to his full potential. If I am making a correct judgement here, he wants to help you, and THEN your teeth, which is a big deal that his priorities are straight!

3) Probably the most important of the three.... DO NOT POSTPONE THIS! I can say that from personal experience. The longer you postpone an appointment, the worse you will feel from a teeth stand point and an emotional stand point. Take the plunge! You should look at some of the success stories on here for encouragement also.

I know you can do this Tink, you just have to believe that you can.
 
I'm going to ditto CollegeBound....

Don't postpone....it really does just make it harder.
The anticipation leading up is often harder than the appointment ends up being...

YOU CAN DO THIS.....you really can. You're stronger than your fear. You just don't know it yet!

Sending strong sensible vibes your way.
 
Hi folks, thanks for the encouragement!

Wise words - the trouble is I only gave you half the information to go on though! A lot of the reason for my meltdown this morning was because there's a lot of other surrounding mess that could do with being sorted out before we try to move on with my treatment and I didn't know what was happening.

I spoke to the dentist this afternoon and (at his suggestion, to my surprise!) we've postponed the appointment until later on this month, to allow more time to get other stuff sorted out first. This is a good thing though, as when we do get to it we will be able to focus on moving on and I won't be overwhelmed with too much to deal with at once. Should make it much easier on me and we can make better use of the time. We agreed that I'm *not* running away, we're postponing for entirely sensible reasons.


Urgh, with dentist stuff I never seem to be more than one slight setback away from COMPLETE MELTDOWN. Wibble.


Thankfully, my teeth will be fine, it's my head that's the problem. If only they could extract my brain and replace it with a less troublesome false one…!
 
1) He sounds really nice and compassionate. A dentist that has both of these qualities will NOT be annoyed by you nor your fear in the least. He wants to make you healthy, but more importantly, wants to control your fear.

2) With that in mind, however, YOU have to be 110% honest with him about your fears, concerns, and the amount of pain you are in, or he can't help you to his full potential. If I am making a correct judgement here, he wants to help you, and THEN your teeth, which is a big deal that his priorities are straight!

These are spot on by the way. And helping me, then my teeth is exactly what we're doing.
 
We are all here for you too Tink!
 
Hi Tink!
Just wondering how you are doing and how things went today. Hope you are ok and the appointment went well...as well as a trip to the dentist can possibly go. Please let us know when you can!
 
Hi Tink!
Just wondering how you are doing and how things went today. Hope you are ok and the appointment went well...as well as a trip to the dentist can possibly go. Please let us know when you can!

Hi Mugz -

Well, the appointment hasn't happened yet (see upthread…postponed until later this month - 29th), but yeah, things are OK (if a bit wobbly at times), and progress has been made towards sorting other stuff out so that when the appointment does roll around it should be a lot easier.

Thanks for thinking of me! Will keep you posted :)



(Edited to add: I didn't run away in the end, the appointment was postponed at my dentist's suggestion)
 
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I was checking in to see how it was going. I know the appointment was postponed until later. I go through the same stuff in my head (worrying about everything when most of the stuff I'm not even sure how bad the problem is). That's where the anxiety comes from, expecting the worst when we aren't even diagnosed yet.

I'm going through the same exact thing, but I decided, I have to take it one step at a time.

Good luck tink
 
I'm going through the same exact thing, but I decided, I have to take it one step at a time.

Good luck tink

Thanks MAS! Yep, one step at a time is definitely the way to go!
 
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