Have a Dental Appointment Tomorrow - Anxious about Injection

[Ulti]

I'm having a hard time getting myself to write, but I have a cavity filling scheduled tomorrow and I'm anxious about the numbing medication. I have a fear of medication in general, and I'm afraid of feeling bad. I had a filling before and I remember freaking out at some point between the injection and numbing.

 

[Enarete]

Hi Ulti ,

numbing must be a scary thing if you have a fear of medication in general.. I was wondering what exactly you mean by being afraid of feeling bad. Was it the same thing that made you freak out last time?

Generally speaking, reactions to numbing are very rare. The numbness as such feels really really weird, but that‘s pretty much it. There are few people who get a weird reaction to it, such as faster heart beat or feeling a bit shakey, but that can be avoided by using another kind of anesthetic. You can read a lot about it here.

 

[Ulti]

Hi Ulti ,

numbing must be a scary thing if you have a fear of medication in general.. I was wondering what exactly you mean by being afraid of feeling bad. Was it the same thing that made you freak out last time?

Generally speaking, reactions to numbing are very rare. The numbness as such feels really really weird, but that‘s pretty much it. There are few people who get a weird reaction to it, such as faster heart beat or feeling a bit shakey, but that can be avoided by using another kind of anesthetic. You can read a lot about it here.

Had trouble sleeping last night and woke up shaking. Been feeling anxious and nauseous all day.
I freaked out lest time at some point between the injection and becoming numb because I thought that I had done something life threatening.

 

[fearfulinvirginia]

I can sympathize with you. I’m the same way. I’m terrified mostly of the injection. The needle doesn’t bother me, but the thought of having a reaction or something to the actual medication is what gets to me the most. Just wanted to chime in and say that you’re not alone.

 

[Ulti]

I can sympathize with you. I’m the same way. I’m terrified mostly of the injection. The needle doesn’t bother me, but the thought of having a reaction or something to the actual medication is what gets to me the most. Just wanted to chime in and say that you’re not alone.

Hey! After long hours of anxiety and peppering my dentist with lots of questions and wanting to walk out, I'm finally on the other side of it. My dentist decided to use lidocaine without epi but stressed that he's never seen anyone have a bad reaction in 36 years of practice. He also gave me a test dose to allow me to see if I would have any side effects, which I was told would show up in 30 seconds if there were going to be any. There weren't, so I got the rest of the lidocaine with no problem. I need to get him a gift to make up for all those rescheduled appointments though.

 

[Enarete]

Congrats and well done Ulti,

so glad all went well. Sounds like you have a great dentists, it must have been very reassuring to get all those information, an anesthetics without epi and then also the test dose. That's great!

 

[jsn9491]

So for fillings, I was nervous too. The day of, I accidentally smacked my foot into some furniture and I realized that the pain in my foot definitely hurt more than an injection. That calmed me down ironically enough.