C
coupondiva827
Junior member
- Joined
- May 3, 2014
- Messages
- 14
Hello,
Quick background. I have some medical problems and am prescribed vicodin 10mg to help with chronic pain. I also suffer from a severe case of dental anxiety and have not had an exam or cleaning in 8 years.
As a child, I never liked the dentist but I wouldnt say I had any horrible experiences until years later. Three years ago, I had a toothache and went to my husband's dentist. He gave me two shots of local and I was in horrific pain while he was drilling. I dontknow if he injected the wrong spot or what happened but he told me I shouldnt need more than two shots and kept going. Needless to say, I have never returned to him. In April, I had a molar crack and found a sedation dentist. During the consultation, the dentist said IV sedation would be best because of the level of anxiety but he is not comfortable doing it because I take vicodin. I ended up seeing his partner who removed the tooth under NO. He did 8 injections of LA and even with the NO I still felt some pain (I truly believe if I had some oral sedation ahead of time, my anxiety would not have been so bad and I would have dealt with the pain better). After the extraction, I was told the vicodin I normally take would take care of any post extraction pain. Well it didnt. I read some research that said medication for chronic pain does not work well on acute pain but I do not understand why. I basically had several days of post extraction agony. I wasnt able to eat any solid food for several days even though I took vicodin, 800mg of advil every four hours and used icepacks.
A little off the topic of my question but I wanted to give some background to my problems. Does anybody take pain medication for a chronic condition? How do you handle dental pain? I know a dentist is not going to prescribe me a strong pain killer, nor do I expect them to, but there has to be some way to handle the pain for patients who are in my situation. Dentists, once you see how severe a patient's anxiety is, would you prescribe oral sedation even though they take other medication? My anxiety is so severe that low dose sedatives do not work (documented by my family doctor after witnessing a full blown panic attack after taking 5mg valium and 1mg ativan - 2 seperate procedures, not at the same time
I am really trying to get the motivation to schedule an exam/cleaning. I know that Im going to need some work done and am terrified about the actual procedures and even more so about the pain after procedures.
Quick background. I have some medical problems and am prescribed vicodin 10mg to help with chronic pain. I also suffer from a severe case of dental anxiety and have not had an exam or cleaning in 8 years.
As a child, I never liked the dentist but I wouldnt say I had any horrible experiences until years later. Three years ago, I had a toothache and went to my husband's dentist. He gave me two shots of local and I was in horrific pain while he was drilling. I dontknow if he injected the wrong spot or what happened but he told me I shouldnt need more than two shots and kept going. Needless to say, I have never returned to him. In April, I had a molar crack and found a sedation dentist. During the consultation, the dentist said IV sedation would be best because of the level of anxiety but he is not comfortable doing it because I take vicodin. I ended up seeing his partner who removed the tooth under NO. He did 8 injections of LA and even with the NO I still felt some pain (I truly believe if I had some oral sedation ahead of time, my anxiety would not have been so bad and I would have dealt with the pain better). After the extraction, I was told the vicodin I normally take would take care of any post extraction pain. Well it didnt. I read some research that said medication for chronic pain does not work well on acute pain but I do not understand why. I basically had several days of post extraction agony. I wasnt able to eat any solid food for several days even though I took vicodin, 800mg of advil every four hours and used icepacks.
A little off the topic of my question but I wanted to give some background to my problems. Does anybody take pain medication for a chronic condition? How do you handle dental pain? I know a dentist is not going to prescribe me a strong pain killer, nor do I expect them to, but there has to be some way to handle the pain for patients who are in my situation. Dentists, once you see how severe a patient's anxiety is, would you prescribe oral sedation even though they take other medication? My anxiety is so severe that low dose sedatives do not work (documented by my family doctor after witnessing a full blown panic attack after taking 5mg valium and 1mg ativan - 2 seperate procedures, not at the same time
I am really trying to get the motivation to schedule an exam/cleaning. I know that Im going to need some work done and am terrified about the actual procedures and even more so about the pain after procedures.