• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Has this triggered depression or is it just fear/anxiety

R

redboo

Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2016
Messages
22
I made it to my fist appointment in 12 years this morning the dentist was OK don't think she fully understood my fear but kind all the same, conclusion was I need my 4 front bottom teeth removed and one at the back and a few fillings, have a referral to the anaesthetic clinic for extractions that fine been before, I have an appointment Tues for fillings picked the earliest available, when I came out I felt immediately relieved I had done it but as the day has gone on I keep crying, can't eat just feel full, head hurts and all I can think about is teeth and dentist my thoughts are completely limited, I have suffered depression in the past and I almost feel like I want to go to doctors and get some anti depressants, is this normal with today's trauma and impending appointments ?? Or has this triggered depression,my brain has had enough but I can't sleep, please help
 
Hi Redboo,

I just wanted to share my experience. (Of course we are all different.) For me, yes, dental phobia and anxiety triggered depression. In terms of mental health there is a very fine line between the two, in that they often go hand in hand.

I do hope it is not the same for you and that this is just a temporary state.

Best wishes
 
Hey redboo -

Well done for going, that's a huge achievement!

i get how it can feel, these things can seem totally overwhelming - don't panic just yet, it's only been a day, and I can tell you that it's not uncommon for it to feel this intense, but it will not necessarily mean that's triggered depression. Depression tends to be much more of a long game.

I've been depressed in the past, and now I've been struggling with dental phobia for about 4 years on and off, and there have been times I've feared that it's broken my head, but it hasn't triggered depression. For me, it's just ('just', hmm) been anxiety. So it can go both ways, all is not lost.

It's also not uncommon to have a massive crash after making it to an appointment, once the anxiety finally lets go and all the stress hormones wear off - I've very often experienced this, it seems like that's what you are feeling just now.

Be kind to yourself, take care of yourself for the next couple of days and let your body and mind recover, it can be disconcerting how hard these things can hit. Give yourself a few days and see how you feel, this is not your new state forever, it's just your "immediately post-appointment" state.
 
Thank you for you replies I seem to be able to drift from feeling totally depressed then to OK then to hey let's take this in my stride to omg I have another appointment Tuesday to hey I can do this and back to depressed in a matter of an hour then off I go into the cycle again it's like it's consuming me sorry to be negative, I booked the closest appointment to get it all done as quickly as possible it seemed logical to me
 
Hey, don't worry about being negative, totally get it! :XXLhug:

For what it's worth, what you are experiencing is normal, anxiety really does this. We've all been there x

Hang in there, not so long to go and it will be all behind you!
 
This is exactly how I have been feeling. Its anxiety. Your body is just recovering from the stress. You probably had so much stress hormones going around your body from when you first started thinking about making the appointment and then once you'd been and done it your body needs to recover.

i know it's hard but try to relax and think about other things as obsessing over it only releases more stress hormones (I wish I could take my own advice-it's not easy!)

you've done so well - you will be fine Just give yourself time to de stress.

good luck for your next appointment

???
 
Last edited:
It helps so much knowing I am not alone, I know there are lots on here with similar issues but you still feel like u are going literally stir crazy and alone as it's hard to believe anxiety can be so strong and change everything over night, I just feel like a totally different person
 
Back
Top