Hi and Welcome!
I'm sorry you are heading in for a root canal. I was given Halcion for the first time by my endodontist for a root canal I had going on 10 weeks ago. It did work. I will say that for me, it took a lot longer than the 15-30 minutes they say it takes to "kick in". They had me come to the office I think an hour early and take two halcion right there and they also gave me Benadryl. About 40 minutes later they gave me more because I wasn't ready to cooperate yet. I was really terrified going in though. I had only seen a dentist 3 times in the last 20 years and was very upset about the whole thing. HOWEVER, about an hour an a half later with the help of the laughing gas I finally fell asleep or relaxed enough for them to get started and remember bits and pieces of the first part of the procedure and then they took the gas off and I was awake from the middle to the end once drilling was done and FELT NO PAIN AT ALL. I feel like I need to say that again...IT DID NOT HURT DURING THE ROOT CANAL AT ALL....just so you are a little less afraid.
I don't know if you are in pain right now, I was, and I can tell you the pain in your tooth NOW is much much worse than the root canal. Honestly. Take the halcion and I would highly recommend Benadryl too. If they don't give it to you, bring some and ask if you can take one. (DONT DO IT WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION OR KNOWLEDGE) I've taken halcion a little differently for regular dental appointments and it didn't work nearly as well as it did for my root canal so I think it was the way the endo gave it...all at once with a Benadryl vs. one an hour before, one when you get here....blah, blah which didn't work for me as well.
Please try not to worry. You'll be okay. It isn't fun but it isn't nearly as bad as you imagine it will be. Really.
