My dentist has big boobs. It does help, especially when they are next to my cheek.
Second update: the couple of bigger things I’m having done are this coming Tuesday (Valentine’s Day oddly enough). But the pain I have been feeling ever since the initial office visit is off the charts! This was just the poking and prodding, but on a 1-10 scale my pain level is 127. Quite frankly if I had a gun I would be tempted to use it on myself. If I hurt this bad now, I cannot imagine how bad I will feel after actually having real dental work done.
Life= no fun for me right now. The doc gave me 10mg Hydrocodone and even said I could double up on them, but that just made me extremely nauseous. But taking them 1 at a time does virtually nothing.
Oh my goodness…
Yikes! Can they move you up in the appointment slots? That really sounds like an emergency that you would be feeling that level of pain, I would hope your providers wouldn’t want you in that situation.
Also, with the hyrocodone thing, I’m going to assume you go the route of having some nausea as preferential to being in off the charts pain. If you do, you will be about maxing out on the recommended daily dosage (something like 8 a day). Given your appointment is a ways off, I seriously recommend you pay attention to the warning they should have given you that using it causes (potentially severe) constipation. It can be remedied simply by doing something like taking a couple doses of Metamucil a day, or better yet Miralax which is designed for it (and not too expensive). I don’t want to see you end up like I did and will spare you the horrible details on a 3AM trip to the emergency ward that I went through when my neurosurgeon failed to mention this (though, I am sure the literature they give you with the med talks about it, and I failed to read it).
Good luck Divorced!
Lucky bastard. That has never been my experience.
Probably because it was a filling that had gone bad and so much of the drilling was already done? I do know that it was a much easier procedure than I feared going in, although even without much of a gag reflex I almost gagged a few times.
Thanks! I’m not maxing out the dosage and pretty much sticking with one pill at a time. I’m aware of the possible constipation problems and haven’t had that problem just yet. Normally I eat a fairly high fiber diet, but I’m really not eating much of anything right now. The right side of my mouth is just too damn sensitive and I’m afraid something might get over to the right side by accident. Had a couple of protein shakes earlier today which is sustaining me okay for now.
I am nervous that my pain might be even higher after the procedures on Tuesday. I’m not sure I can handle that! I don’t think I have a super low pain tolerance level nor is it super high, I think I am right there middle of the pack. I am getting pretty damn tired of always being in pain 24/7 I’ll tell you that!
For now I just play a game or two when I think I can stick with it. Actually tried Driver today after buying it about 3 months ago. I had heard it was surprisingly good and indeed it was. I was just initially put off by that Ubisoft presenter “Mr. Caffeine” at last year’s E3 and his description of it. Glad it ended up better than that!
Another day down. Getting a fair amount of sleep, but it is very hard to be comfortable when half of your face is killing you. It is VERY tender to the touch, so I can’t lay even a small ice pack on my face to numb it down some.
Sigh, is it Tuesday yet???
If you can avoid general anesthesia do try to. It is never 100% safe. Pain is bad. Dead is worse.
You sound like you are coping as best you can.
I think the gaming idea is a good one and can help take your mind off the pain, and help the time pass. I remember when my pain was the worst with my herniated disk (neck), I didn’t want to do anything but lie in a chair in the dark. I didn’t think I could game, but much to my surprise, I started playing Red Dead Redemption and found I could play a little more each time I tried. It helped me feel better too.
Say goodbye to my # 31 tooth, bad boy comes out in about 12 hours. Sorry you have to wait until Tuesday and I hope you get some relief then …
Just got back from the dentist now… I’ve also had a major phobia about going to one, but after 10 years my teeth are in a horrible shape. Today he pulled a tooth. (though I should rather say the remains of one)
I did a bit of research and read a few good reviews for this doc, and as he lives in the vicinity, I decided to go to him. I wouldn’t say he’s bad or anything, but like Nixxter said, bedside manner is lacking a bit. He’s extremely matter of fact and just digs in and does his thing. Not that he’s unfriendly or has caused any pain, so in that respect I’m fine with sticking with him. Its just that he seems so oblivious to my apprehension, that it has the knockon effect that I relax a bit more and just face the music. Sharaleo got it right when he said that its bloody important to just let the tension go and relax!
I’m glad you are facing the music and getting your teethses taken care of Cormac!
That tooth removal description is pretty much the way I remember it. I mean, we have to give them some credit for it being difficult to carry on a conversation with someone who has their face numbed up and your arms are stuck in them up to your elbows, right?
I think too that they have to use so much leverage to take out broken teeth, that it is actually hard to do and takes a lot of leverage (I remember thinking, holy shit, this guy is wrenching my head around like he is riding a rodeo bull!). It takes a lot of focus, energy and strength, so maybe these oral surgeon types who do extractions are more about the business and less about making idle conversation.
Clearly I am not getting my mind off what is going to be happening to me in 3 hours. Shudder.
paranoia over anesthesia?
as long as you have no history of problems with it, get it
Sadly, general anesthesia is not offered. They do conscious sedation but tell me I will be totally drugged up and will not remember any of it. I’ll take the assistant’s word for it, but if she’s wrong I’m coming back and killing her and her children!!
Just a tad bit of stress here. They gave me a Valium for the night before so I can rest and then some more serious sedation to take about 90 minutes before going in. Then I get even more before starting. I sure hope she’s right.
Then Percocet 10mg for the pain afterwards for a few days or so.
Man I wish this was over already…
Ouch!
Also, I miss my tooth. At least I have my gold crown to remember it by :(
Yeah… It was about time. Over the years there were numerous times I had toothache, but always ignored it / popped some pain meds till the pain went away.
Finally though I just decided to get my shit together and start to get my self sorted out and it wasn’t even in response to any new toothache or anything…
Really hope your pain gets less over the weekend divorced, I know what you’re going through.
Good luck!
So far the pain isn’t getting less, it’s getting worse. I took one of the Percocet 10’s and it seemed to help a bit.
One thing I have noticed is my jaw feels sore, almost like a severe fatigue. I’m wondering if a minor muscle relaxer will help with that as I think it really aggravates the tooth pain. Sure makes it difficult to relax and get some rest.
There was no sleeping tonight. Pain was just too bad and this jaw soreness was too bad. I cannot tell you how glad I will be to get this mess over with!
The wife and I are supposed to go to a Mardi Gras party at a friends house Saturday night as the parade goes right in front of his house. Unless there is a drastic improvement though I just don’t see it happening. If we get there and I start really hurting, we are trapped for several hours until the parade and traffic clear out.
I’m neither a doctor nor a dentist nor particularly knowledgeable, but I had a root canal done on a tooth that had had a big gaping hole in it for > 5 years where a filling fell out, and I never experienced anything like what you’re talking about. However, about a year after that I had an abscess at the tip of the root and it seemed right in line with what you were talking about… worst pain I’ve ever experienced, only time I’ve ever had something which actually hurt so much it woke me up. I think it was the swelling in a place with no room for it that did it. I found that I could manage it a bit not with painkillers alone, but with a strong regiment of painkillers (for the pain) and advil (for the swelling). If you’re not taking an nsaid right now, double check with your dentist that you -can- take one and try a regimen to see if it will help. It took about 3 doses before it even started to help with me. (Not all at once.)
(Of course after that I had to do oral surgery to cap that tip off which is how I knew about sedation dentistry in the first place… but seriously, talk to your dentist. They should want to help you be in less pain and should be willing to work with you to figure out what to do to help. Mention the jaw soreness; sure sounds like you have swelling in there somewhere.)
Good suggestion Mouselock.
My friend had told me that there have been studies where ibuprofen is just as, and more effective for dealing with toothache than other pain meds (like Tylenol 3, I think, was specifically mentioned).
Also, the guy who took my tooth out yesterday (who was very good and is an MD/Oral Surgeon/Dentist and the head of a major maxiofacial department at a good local hospital) reiterated this yesterday when he told me if Vicodin alone wasn’t eliminating pain, to use ibuprofen in conjunction with it and that they work well together.
For tooth related pain, take 600 mg (3 200 mg pills) ibuprofen every 3 hours (ibuprofen is the generic name for Advil/Motrin). This is what I’d routinely recommend for my patients, back when I was a dentist and not a soulless lawyer.
It’s well below the toxicity range, so it’s safe as well (highest you want to go is 3.5 grams over 24 hours for liver).
Good Luck for tomorrow divorced! Hope you’ve managed to cope over the weekend…
Well here is what happened and it is a weird tale to be sure!
I woke up at 6 and took the thee pills the doc wanted me to take. Those were to start relaxing me before I even got there. He said I would be pretty loopy, but they really didn’t do much of anything for me. No worries though, so I went in at 7:30, terrified and all.
They started me on some nitrous oxcide(?) and for the longest time it did nothing. I was reading my book on my Ipad waiting for it to take effect and that’s pretty much where my memory of the event ends until 5:30 this morning. But that is NOT all that happens!
My wife gets me home and sitting in my chair and all seems to be well. Literally in a flash of a moment, I jump up, start calling her all kinds of crazy names and insisting I have to leave. Not drive, but walk. I just have to walk to a friends house that is about 25 miles away. She is trying to get my calmed down and calls my Mom for some advice. While they are talking, I put on 2 pairs of socks (no shoes of course), my LSU pajamas (at least I didn’t lose my sense of style) and out the door I went. Unfortunately, with that many drugs in my system, walking is not such an easy thing. Robin is chasing after me and I keep falling into the ditches which are full of water due to some heavy rains the day before. After pushing her away a couple of times, she runs back, gets her car and goes around the block to block me from going any further. She then calls 911.
They responded very quickly and after asking if this was my normal mental state and if I had any medical procedures that day, they right away made what ended up being the correct diagnosis of severe medicine interaction. They took me to be the ER where I was hooked up to an IV which I proceeded to rip out twice. They finally got me to a room and somewhat settled, but they were hesitant to give me any more sedation because I was already acting crazy because of that. They called the dentist, got a list of all medicines used in the procedure and that was that.
Twice during the night I had the idea I was being kept in prison and I had to get out, but was talked down by a very skilled and caring nurse. I have vague memories of the second time that happening.
I finally woke up at 5:30 and was informed by my sitter all that had transpired over the past 18 hours or so. I was completely mortified and have not stopped apologizing to my wife. I had no idea what I was doing, but I know it had to be very scary for her. I’m sure she didn’t know if I was going to attack her or such.
I’m back home now, tired, scraped and bruised from the falling in the ditches, embarrassed, and yet minus two teeth. I can’t wait for my dentist appointment next Wednesday to see what he says.