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I/V Sedation for wisdom tooth - everything's ok :)

H

hatemyself

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2017
Messages
79
Location
UK
Hi everyone! This may be a bit long so sorry in advance :cool: I just had a wisdom tooth taken out at about 11 this morning.

Before the surgery - ever since I got told I would have to have it out really - I'd been so so nervous, to the point of getting panic attacks and thinking I'd rather be dead than go through with it (I have depression too which really doesn't help :(). I was so nervous, my doctor offered me a sleeping pill for the night before!! I didn't like the idea of that so just took a couple of valerian (herbal) extract pills which worked pretty well.

I woke up early and strangely felt excited about the surgery!! I guess now that the day had come I was just like 'Ok, bring it on then! Come on!' I felt strong and ready for it.

I got up and had some toast, and felt a bit more nervous. The hospital is a long drive away (my older brother drove me) and on the way I was feeling a bit sick with nerves but not panicking thank goodness.

Got into the hospital, signed in and waited for my name to be called. At 10:45 on the dot (when my appointment was) a nurse came out and took me to a room with a dental chair in it. She was very very sweet, as was the doctor, she was very kind and gentle.

She talked me through the procedure and said 'I understand you had a bad experience at your consultation' which was a very kind thing to say (see my last post for the fun that happened at the consultation...). She said she'd look after me and make it as pleasant an experience as possible.

I asked her about the sedation - I said that I had read online (here of course, with you lovely lot!) that people sort of fell asleep and she said it was more like being drunk. I got given a drink of ibuprofen (?) then she put a cannula into the back of my elbow which stung a bit but it really wasn't too bad.

Then she said 'Ok, I'm going to give you the sedation now, are you ready?' I said I was. I felt in good hands, and I just wanted to get it over with tbh.

I remember looking at the clock opposite the chair and seeing the time which read 10:53...

After that my memory stops and the next thing I (vaguely) remember was my brother asking me if I wanted some water in the recovery room and the nurse asking me to walk a few steps. I felt really groggy and tired, and kind of confused at what I could and could not remember... like I knew what I couldn't remember but didn't know what I could remember if that makes sense? Probably not :giggle:

As soon as I could walk a bit, I was discharged. We drove home and I felt sleepy and tired, and my mouth was a bit bloody but I felt ok. Thank God I did not say anything loopy!! As soon as I 'came to' I felt in control (of my mind... my body was a bit weak and I kept stumbling and my balance was off initially :giggle:) but I honestly felt ok, I wasn't super out of it, I wasn't going on about how awesome unicorns are or anything like that... it felt ok. Like GA (kind of) only I was in more control and it wore off more quickly.

I even got out and went to Tesco before we got home and bought some Ben and Jerry's ice cream and loooooooooots of soup. When I got home I watched an animated movie (I'm 20 but I'm a child at heart!) and ate the icecream then went upstairs to my mum's bed (she has a heated mattress!!) and had a nap.

I slept quite deeply - I only felt slightly sleepy at that stage and honestly felt like I could have stayed up but I'm glad I didn't.

Afterwards I played some video games and had my soup for dinner. Right now I feel a bit tired but ok, a bit grumpy tbh :giggle:

I am in a bit of pain (the LA wore off during my nap) but I have taken the ibuprofen and 2 paracetomols too. I'm not bleeding or anything and feel ok.

I'm not going to lie and say my fear of dentists is completely cured and I will never be afraid again. But what I will say was an experience I was having suicidal thoughts over was much, much less traumatic than I thought. The whole thing went very smoothly and the doctors were lovely. If I had to have it again (to take out more wisdom teeth for instance) it would be a pain in the arse but I wouldn't panic as much as I did. It's very routine. Dentists have become less like monsters in my mind, more like kind people who want you to be as healthy as possible and have a pleasant time under their care :)

My advice if you are getting your wisdom teeth out under I/V sedation -

- Please don't worry about it. 90% of my anxiety was expectation/apprehension. What kept me going was the thought that on the day I WILL BE FINE and I WAS. At the end of the day, however nervous you are beforehand, the only time you have to directly deal with it is on the day itself. Please enjoy your life before then, try to forget about it as much as you can!! Don't do what I did and live in abject fear for two weeks... It's all just the fear of the unknown.

- If you are nervous, ask for diazepam (valium) - but ask your oral surgeon if you can take it first! I wasn't allowed to unfortunately :(

- If you think you won't sleep the night before, please don't hesitate to take a sleeping aid, whether it's a sleeping pill or some Valerian or something. It's good to get a good night's sleep before these things.

- When you get home have a nap if you can you'll feel better afterwards :) also ICE CREAM

Very very best of luck to you. In my lowest moments I called Samaritans and talked to them about it (I can get very bad depression) and a lovely man told me to imagine myself 'as a hero, walking in the light'. You are all heroes. We are all heroes, walking in the light, beating this phobia one step at a time. You are strong and amazing and very very brave.

Walk in the light and be at peace. The hospital knows what they're doing and they'll take special care of you.

One more thing to add - THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN TEETH! Now that it is over I am free to do anything! Go back to uni... work at my part time job... play some video games... life goes on...

Hugs to you all, you lovely lovely people, and please let me know if you would like to chat about anything.

:bear::bear::bear::bear: <---- I love that emoji ;D
 
This post makes me so so happy! I’m so glad that you went and got through it. Next is the good part where you can just get on with your life. I used to have awful anxiety because of my teeth and now I actually have to stop sometimes and think oh my I have a healthy mouth now!!

Congratulations!
 
This post makes me so so happy! I’m so glad that you went and got through it. Next is the good part where you can just get on with your life. I used to have awful anxiety because of my teeth and now I actually have to stop sometimes and think oh my I have a healthy mouth now!!

Congratulations!

Thank you!! So pleased you have a healthy mouth and are happy too!

:bear::bear::bear:
 
Thank you for sharing your experience! It help calm me down a bit. Im so sacred to get my wisdom teeth out and fearing that I won’t wake up again. Never went under iv sed (not that i remember) I’m terrified of having some complication with it. My app is next month, and this worry has been haunting my mind since I made the appointment so thank you much for sharing.
 
Thank you for sharing your experience! It help calm me down a bit. Im so sacred to get my wisdom teeth out and fearing that I won’t wake up again. Never went under iv sed (not that i remember) I’m terrified of having some complication with it. My app is next month, and this worry has been haunting my mind since I made the appointment so thank you much for sharing.

Hey serenitystar!

Sorry to hear you're worried about it! It it hugely worrying, isn't it, to put your trust in someone else so they can perform surgery on you... you've never met them before (or maybe at the consultation). It's a hugely brave thing to do. I would say a few things about it -

firstly, iv sedation is safe as fuck. Safer than GA and more pleasant than just LA. Literally nothing can go wrong with it. Probably the worst that will happen is they give you too much and you come to feeling a little sleepier than usual. They will NOT give you too little as you are hooked up to this beepy machine thingy which tells them if you are distressed or calm. You can't not wake up from iv sedation - it isn't that sort of drug. It's just something that calms you down enough that you stop making memories for a while then you come to, walk about a bit then go home and eat icecream.

secondly, it is just one day of your life. Calm yourself, it will be alright I promise, you have the whole month to work, go out, see friends, see family, make awesome memories. Don't let it control or dominate your life, please. Enjoy yourself. When the day comes it will be a bit unnerving, maybe, but you'll do it then afterwards you'll be back how you were before, none the worse for wear, only with more ice cream!

You got this man, and if not, we got your back.

:) :bear::bear:
 
Last poster made my anxiety go down ten times, you’re so right it’s only one day. And it’s much safer than GA!
 
Thanks for sharing! I recently had mine removed under IV sedation as well...went pretty much the same as yours from what I understood from the post. No pain, no memory, and wasn't as groggy as I initially expected myself to be. Glad to hear everything went good:)
 
Hi everyone! This may be a bit long so sorry in advance :cool: I just had a wisdom tooth taken out at about 11 this morning.

Before the surgery - ever since I got told I would have to have it out really - I'd been so so nervous, to the point of getting panic attacks and thinking I'd rather be dead than go through with it (I have depression too which really doesn't help :(). I was so nervous, my doctor offered me a sleeping pill for the night before!! I didn't like the idea of that so just took a couple of valerian (herbal) extract pills which worked pretty well.

I woke up early and strangely felt excited about the surgery!! I guess now that the day had come I was just like 'Ok, bring it on then! Come on!' I felt strong and ready for it.

I got up and had some toast, and felt a bit more nervous. The hospital is a long drive away (my older brother drove me) and on the way I was feeling a bit sick with nerves but not panicking thank goodness.

Got into the hospital, signed in and waited for my name to be called. At 10:45 on the dot (when my appointment was) a nurse came out and took me to a room with a dental chair in it. She was very very sweet, as was the doctor, she was very kind and gentle.

She talked me through the procedure and said 'I understand you had a bad experience at your consultation' which was a very kind thing to say (see my last post for the fun that happened at the consultation...). She said she'd look after me and make it as pleasant an experience as possible.

I asked her about the sedation - I said that I had read online (here of course, with you lovely lot!) that people sort of fell asleep and she said it was more like being drunk. I got given a drink of ibuprofen (?) then she put a cannula into the back of my elbow which stung a bit but it really wasn't too bad.

Then she said 'Ok, I'm going to give you the sedation now, are you ready?' I said I was. I felt in good hands, and I just wanted to get it over with tbh.

I remember looking at the clock opposite the chair and seeing the time which read 10:53...

After that my memory stops and the next thing I (vaguely) remember was my brother asking me if I wanted some water in the recovery room and the nurse asking me to walk a few steps. I felt really groggy and tired, and kind of confused at what I could and could not remember... like I knew what I couldn't remember but didn't know what I could remember if that makes sense? Probably not :giggle:

As soon as I could walk a bit, I was discharged. We drove home and I felt sleepy and tired, and my mouth was a bit bloody but I felt ok. Thank God I did not say anything loopy!! As soon as I 'came to' I felt in control (of my mind... my body was a bit weak and I kept stumbling and my balance was off initially :giggle:) but I honestly felt ok, I wasn't super out of it, I wasn't going on about how awesome unicorns are or anything like that... it felt ok. Like GA (kind of) only I was in more control and it wore off more quickly.

I even got out and went to Tesco before we got home and bought some Ben and Jerry's ice cream and loooooooooots of soup. When I got home I watched an animated movie (I'm 20 but I'm a child at heart!) and ate the icecream then went upstairs to my mum's bed (she has a heated mattress!!) and had a nap.

I slept quite deeply - I only felt slightly sleepy at that stage and honestly felt like I could have stayed up but I'm glad I didn't.

Afterwards I played some video games and had my soup for dinner. Right now I feel a bit tired but ok, a bit grumpy tbh :giggle:

I am in a bit of pain (the LA wore off during my nap) but I have taken the ibuprofen and 2 paracetomols too. I'm not bleeding or anything and feel ok.

I'm not going to lie and say my fear of dentists is completely cured and I will never be afraid again. But what I will say was an experience I was having suicidal thoughts over was much, much less traumatic than I thought. The whole thing went very smoothly and the doctors were lovely. If I had to have it again (to take out more wisdom teeth for instance) it would be a pain in the arse but I wouldn't panic as much as I did. It's very routine. Dentists have become less like monsters in my mind, more like kind people who want you to be as healthy as possible and have a pleasant time under their care :)

My advice if you are getting your wisdom teeth out under I/V sedation -

- Please don't worry about it. 90% of my anxiety was expectation/apprehension. What kept me going was the thought that on the day I WILL BE FINE and I WAS. At the end of the day, however nervous you are beforehand, the only time you have to directly deal with it is on the day itself. Please enjoy your life before then, try to forget about it as much as you can!! Don't do what I did and live in abject fear for two weeks... It's all just the fear of the unknown.

- If you are nervous, ask for diazepam (valium) - but ask your oral surgeon if you can take it first! I wasn't allowed to unfortunately :(

- If you think you won't sleep the night before, please don't hesitate to take a sleeping aid, whether it's a sleeping pill or some Valerian or something. It's good to get a good night's sleep before these things.

- When you get home have a nap if you can you'll feel better afterwards :) also ICE CREAM

Very very best of luck to you. In my lowest moments I called Samaritans and talked to them about it (I can get very bad depression) and a lovely man told me to imagine myself 'as a hero, walking in the light'. You are all heroes. We are all heroes, walking in the light, beating this phobia one step at a time. You are strong and amazing and very very brave.

Walk in the light and be at peace. The hospital knows what they're doing and they'll take special care of you.

One more thing to add - THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN TEETH! Now that it is over I am free to do anything! Go back to uni... work at my part time job... play some video games... life goes on...

Hugs to you all, you lovely lovely people, and please let me know if you would like to chat about anything.

:bear::bear::bear::bear: <---- I love that emoji :)
This post is great. I have to get all four of my wisdom teeth removed this Friday. I'm very anxious but I am ready to pull the trigger and get this stress off of my back. Please wish me luck. So glad to hear your success story, congratulations! ?
 
Best of luck at your appointment Historian! Let us know how it goes!! :grouphug:
 
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