Fear of getting heart attack in the chair and fear of pain

[Chaosdeal]

Hi
At feb 26 i have my first root canal. From past experinces with cavities and cleaning i noticed my heart rate go up that bouncing heart feeling. for a root canal i am much more fearful . So i think more fear then my heart will pump faster and maybe its to much and i will get a heart attack and die

The second fear is that i will have pain during the root canal

 

[MountainMama]

I had my first root canal last year, and was absolutely terrified. It was actually much easier than I had anticipated.

I had a huge fear of pain during the root canal, because I have always had difficulty getting numb. I have had fillings done where I felt numb, but when they drilled, at a certain point I would feel it. So the fact that the drill was going into the pulp terrified me. I spoke to the endodontist of my fear and my history. She said to raise my hand if I felt anything and she would stop immediately and give more anesthetic. I did not ever feel pain. Once she told me she was into the pulp, I could relax a little.

I also had laughing gas, which helped a lot. It calmed me down, so that my heart didn't race. I know the feeling you are talking about. It comes from the adrenaline in the anesthetic shot. It makes me dizzy.

Talk with your dentist about your options. Do you have a heart condition?

 

[Chaosdeal]

Your story calms me a bit. I also had experience of feeling pain when drilling a cavity . I dont have a heart condition myself but my mother had a heart attack she survived it but it was scary . That heart attack was not at the dentist.

 

[Dr. Daniel]

Hi,

Please allow me to share with you my video about dealing with of pain. Hope it is helpful.

 

[krlovesherkids777]

This says so much Dr Daniel, love it. when you know your dentist is patient, gentle and will listen when you put the stopsign or have concerns than you will fear less about the pain because you are more comfortable of the care. I completely attest to this.

Chaosdeal, I hope your root canal will go well. I can say I've had 3 root canals in the last 3 months about, and none were painful , the first one there was some mild discomfort after which nsaids helped me but no pain during. I know both times that the dentist and endo cared for my comfort and made sure to communicate that to me in their care.

Also, I"m thinking If I remember, both for myself and a friend the heart racing feeling might have had to do with the epinephine in the shot. Not sure if they can use less or do shots without Epi for a root canal but might be worth asking?

 

[Enarete]

Hi
At feb 26 i have my first root canal. From past experinces with cavities and cleaning i noticed my heart rate go up that bouncing heart feeling. for a root canal i am much more fearful . So i think more fear then my heart will pump faster and maybe its to much and i will get a heart attack and die

Hi Chaosdeal,

sorry to read about your mom and I think I can understand that you are worried about this.
Being really afraid can cause a bouncing heart feeling as such, but for a healthy fit individual 'just' being afraid won't cause a heart attack, even if it might feel as such (you can read a good explanation about how our bodies work under stress in our article about panic attacks). If there is anything that would help you lower your anxiety about the visit, let your dentist know. Asking questions about the procedure, letting your dentist know what you are afraid of and make him/her explain to you what can be done about that is what often works. Agreeing on a stop signal (and using it) is another thing that helps and I can only encourage you to use it if you notice your anxiety getting too high. A short break can help you to calm down a bit and cope with the treatment better (this works for me very well).
If you feel that this bouncing heart feeling is related to getting numbed, you might want to tell your dentist and let him suggest solutions, for example using another type of anesthetic as krlovesherkids suggests or just making sure not to use too much at once.

All the best wishes and keep us posted

 

[cjswitch88]

Hi
At feb 26 i have my first root canal. From past experinces with cavities and cleaning i noticed my heart rate go up that bouncing heart feeling. for a root canal i am much more fearful . So i think more fear then my heart will pump faster and maybe its to much and i will get a heart attack and die

The second fear is that i will have pain during the root canal

You and I are in quite the same boat. I fear the same things, people here are so helpful but it looks like you have a date set for the procedure already. I wish you the best and I hope you can get me some feedback on how it goes, as I'm terrified and probably going to need to the procedure in the next month or two if I don't want my life to completely crumble. When they work on my teeth and I'm coherent to it, I'm sweating, shaking, cringing.. Heart pounding, but one thing I do is try to breath better in those situations. I had a weird nitrous experience as a kid and it freaked me out. Still freaks me out thinking I'm gonna do it again, hoping it will be better and maybe they overdosed me as a small kid..

 

[SallyUK]

Scary for you that you have seen your mum have a heart attack and naturally that might set up a fear about your own well being. As others have said, if you have no medical reason to think your heart isn’t healthy, anxiety is the most likely cause of your physical sensations. I would also agree that the anaesthetic might be contributing to this feeling as the Adrenalin can do that. I realised this many years ago and I now have anaesthetic that does not contain it, I had a root canal recently with this type of anaesthetic so it’s worth asking about it.

 

[Chaosdeal]

Hi
its February 26 so it means it was the day for the root canal and i did it , i need 3 of them at least this year (2 premolar 1 molar). we started with a premolar , 55 minutes for the first part the dentist did most of it , the infection needs to clear the dentist say he did some medicine like stuff in the root , need to come back at march 21 for 30-40 minutes in the chair and the first tooth is fixed , i had just very very lite pain Scale 15/100 at the worest point, Its now 5 hours after treatment and i start feeling a litte post treatmant pain now take some paracetamol now and a bit later some ibruprofen before going to sleep.

sorry if there are any mis spellings they gave me anti anixty medication dizepam 6 miligrams so im still a litte bit drowzy of it but i wanna give you an update

i want to thank everyone for their support here , the fear is a bit less but i am still a bit nurvos for the second part of the root canal , because i dont know what exactly is going to happen is it like the first part or much worse or better?

 

[ReginaPhalange]

Well done?
I'm supposed to get 3 root canals too but I don't know when or how many appointments etc. Glad to see it wasn't too painful. If mine is like yours I think I'll be OK!

 

[MountainMama]

Good job getting through it! The second part is much easier. No drilling.

 

[comfortdentist]

I have had patients tell me about their heart reactions and blood pressure changes from anticipation of treatment and anesthesia with epinephrine. I have used anesthesia monitors on these patients and I will say that will they will get anxious the fact they their numbers don't change much goes a long way to calm them down. For some I have done this once and have changed their mind while others need more help.

 

[Mugz]

I have had patients tell me about their heart reactions and blood pressure changes from anticipation of treatment and anesthesia with epinephrine. I have used anesthesia monitors on these patients and I will say that will they will get anxious the fact they their numbers don't change much goes a long way to calm them down. For some I have done this once and have changed their mind while others need more help.

That’s a great idea!