Anesthesia

[valleymist]

Hey everyone! It's been awhile since I came on here. I feel like I was
doing really well coping with my phobia and haven't had any anxiety
attacks related to it in some time - until now.

I'm getting all four of my wisdom teeth removed as they are impacted
and there is simply not enough room for them. I'm getting anesthesia
because I can't stand the thought of being awake for it. A lot of people
who have no idea about my phobia have related experiences about how
much they hated the anesthesia they got for their wisdom teeth
extraction because they never v* so much in one day.
So as you can imagine I've been experiencing anxiety all month as
Oct. 2nd approaches because I'm worried about how I'm going to react
to the anesthesia. I know I could just not get it and stay awake for the
extraction but I'm a huge wimp and can't bring myself to stay awake for
it either. What are your experiences with anesthesia? Can anyone say
something to make me feel better about this? Thanks.

Laura

[scubally]

I'm getting mine out tomorrow at 2pm! In 24 hours I should be just about
waking up from getting all 4 teeth chiseled out of my head haha. The
panic has not yet set in completely. The only thing that makes me
nervous is reading other people's stories.... but I keep doing it anyway lol.
I'm getting completely put under (my own decision) cause I think it will
just go smoother for both me and the doctor. I'm kind of embarrassed
about asking the doctor for anti-v* meds, but I think I'm gonna ask if he
can make sure that they suction the blood really good during the
operation so not too much gets in my stomach. The high iron in the
blood can irritate tummies, and this is usually the reason someone feels
s* after an oral operation. But I have been under anesthesia twice before,
both for an upper endoscopy, which is basically just sticking a camera
into the stomach to look around. Both times I was fine, just dazed and
tired. The second time I was so hungary from the 24 hour fast before
(required) that I scarfed down a bunch of food when I got home and felt a
little n* but I think that was my own fault for eating so much post
surgery, and just plain anxiety (ha funny how many times I've made
myself feel n* when I wasn't already.)

But yea, everyone is different and has different reactions to anesthesia.
Plus depending on the amount of anesthesia there could be completely
polar reactions in the same person. But I have been told that an IV is
usually "safer" (in terms of not v*) than gas or other inhalant sedatives.
Most of the time they just give gas to people for anxiety, but once the IV
is in you you can almost immediately feel the meds, and then boom,
you're waking up in the recovery room (although you might not even
remember that much.)

A friend from school told me that when she had hers out, she woke up
during the operation and v*.... but she doesn't remember it at all, the
nurse just told her. Otherwise she would have no idea. But she also said
she completely ignored the doctors instructions and ate a few hours
before the surgery so that might have been the easily avoidable cause lol.

But yea I'll tell you how it goes for me, but if it's bad don't panic cause
like I said it's completely different for each person. Part of me is almost
like "okay, well if I do v* maybe it'll be like therapy and I can tell myself
it's not that bad." You see, I haven't v* in about 10 years so maybe if it
happens I will realize my fears are ridiculous and start to heal this
phobia.... or maybe not haha. If it's gonna happen I'd rather it be because
of a surgery than a virus, cause that means i'd be s* for a few days rather
than just once after an operation!

Okay well I'll report back to you after, maybe I'll do it high on pain meds
if I remember lol.

[alwaysafraid]

I had my impacted wisdom teeth out using only concious sedation. They have me versed which puts you in twilight sleep and has a super amnesia effect. I don't remember ANY part of the procedure! It was great!! I couldn't believe how great it worked. Why don't you get that instead? You would get a really light general anesthetic anyway if you're doing that. Just ask for antiemetics if you want. You're unlikely to v* from that light of anesthesia. But with concious sedation you wouldn't need a breathing tube down your throat like you do with a general. Honestly I was fine. Never v*, never even felt n*. Good luck!

[icealstar]

I had my wisdom teeth (all four of them) removed about 6 years ago and I had absolutely no problem. I made sure not to eat the night before and took my weight the night before. (I was kinda paranoid about them over/under using the anesthesia)
They just injected the anesthesia through my wrist and within a minute I felt the weirdest feeling and the doctor just told me to close my eyes. I woke up to what felt like just a few seconds with the procedure done. The only thing I did not expect from the surgery is how much I ended up sleeping! I ended up stumbling to the car to have my mom drive me home and slept about 20 hours.
I wish you the best of luck with the surgery, I'm sure you will be ok

[scubally]

okay! Yesterday I had all 4 yanked! And absolutely no v* or n*. I told the
nurse to make sure they suctioned the blood really well, and she said of
course they're always very careful about that. I am very prone to panic
attacks (as I feel most emets are) and I thought I would wake up from the
surgery, freak out, and make myself feel s* even if I wasn't. Well, I don't
know WHAT they put in that IV but I didn't have a care in the world. In
fact I woke up while they were still working on the last tooth, and was
awake the entire time they were putting in the stitches. I was kinda doped
up, and couldn't see very well, but I was completely aware of what they
were doing and I couldn't have cared less haha. They could have been
taking out all of my teeth and I wouldn't have cared. I only remember brief parts of it, I'm sure I was awake longer but the meds make you
forget. I do remember trying to wave at the nurse and thinking it was
rude that she was ignoring me haha. The anesthesiologist said that he
intentionally tapered off the meds during the end, cause the less
anesthesia the better. Now if he told me that before, I would have
punched him. But now I realize that it was much better, and being awake
for part of it didn't cause me any trauma or panic. The car ride back
didn't get me n* at all, I even was able to walk to the car only 10 minutes
after everything was done. Yea there was blood, but that's expected. I
took the pain meds first thing when I got back with some apple sauce. Defiantly take some food with the meds, it really does help. Plus after that
12+ hours of fasting your gonna be hungry. I would highly recommend
apple sauce cause yogurt has milk and sometimes that's not to easy on a
tummy right after surgery. But don't refrigerate the apple sauce! I know
cold things may seem like they would feel good, but hot/cold both hurt!
Eat everything room temperature if you can. Oh, and pack on the ice
cause yes you will swell! If you're bleeding a lot just use a paper towel to
pat up the blood, don't spit cause the pressure from spitting will hurt.
Just dribble the blood into a paper towel, try to swallow as little as
possible. I'm sure I swallowed a good amount but still no tummy
problems. I think it helps to get food in you as soon as you can.

Oh, btw, I have bad acid reflux and even with that the meds didn't bother
me (but remember I did have a little food every time I took them!) Don't
be afraid if you wake up at night and there's blood on the pillow,
happened to me about 4 times haha. You'll do fine hun, all you gonna to
is lay there and let the doctors work. The first few hours you might not
swell but put the ice on anyway, you'll swell more in the next few days.
Oh yea and it's hard to brush your teeth very well so expect your mouth to
taste like something died in it lol. Salt water rinses the next day, they
don't hurt at all.

And one more thing: put chap-stick on before the surgery! My mouth was
so dry and when I woke up I had all these little cuts/rips on my lips from
my dry mouth being open for and hour! Those little cuts sometimes hurt
more than my stitches haha.

[valleymist]

Hey thanks so much for your replies.

Scubally, kinda nice you were getting yours done right when I posted this
because now I know it's fresher in your mind. It did make me feel better. I
keep telling myself everything is going to be fine too but I'm still
struggling with anxiety. I'll just have to keep working on this.

Thanks again.

[scubally]

Hey no problem, the timing was pretty convinient hu? Well, I hope you can keep your anxiety to a minimum. From my very recent experience, hearing about people's surgery would make me nervous even if they had no problems lol. But the procedure is inevitable, no matter how much you panic about it before hand the results will be the same. So just try to relax a bit and remember that the procedure will prevent future problems like tooth infections.

Just remember what I said about the chapstick! My cracked lips are the most annoying part of this whole ordeal!

[kristin1980]

All four of mine were impacted as well and I was put to sleep for it. That was like ten years ago when my emet was not AS bad. So basically at that time I didnt know about anti emetics they can give you so I didn't get anything. I think I got some for the pain meds but that was it. I woke up and had horrible heartburn but that was it.
I didn't have n* nor did I v*... I actually was pretty hungry by the time I got home...

I am sure you will be ok.. ask if they can give you an anti emetic! it helps wonders...

good luck!

[valleymist]

Thanks again for replies, much appreciated!

Scubally, I know you mentioned apple sauce, especially for taking the pills.
What other foods did you find easiest to eat while recovering? My
appointment is getting closer and I'm just making sure I'm as ready as
possible.

[scubally]

haha well, the first day was ALL applesauce. I was too tired from the
anesthesia/meds to even bother eating something else. I would say for
the first 2 days don't have anything with solid pieces, you don't want
anything getting stuck in those holes while they're trying to heal. Hmmm,
pretty much I had the obvious; yogurt and pudding! No ice cream because
it was too cold and hurt as much as hot things. Mildly warm soup is great,
especially if you can find something like a creamed vegetable soup where
everything is pureed to pretty much baby food. Honestly after the first 2
or 3 days, you can eat whatever you want as long as it's not hurting your
mouth. If you're really craving pizza (I was!) there's nothing wrong with
carefully eating it, but you'll probably be chewing mostly with your front
teeth, and it's going to take you about 30 minutes just to eat one slice lol.
It's been a week now and I'm still on soft foods because one of the
sockets just doesn't seem to want to close up, and solid food keeps
getting caught (gonna go tomorrow and have an extra stitch put in so it
closes faster.) But if you heal faster by all means eat whatever you can
manage. Be sure to rest a lot though, two days after mine I went to NYC
and almost fainted at an art museum because I was already weak from
the surgery, and had probably only eaten 1000 calories in the past three
days so yea I definitely misjudged what I could handle.

[valleymist]

Yay it's done! I had it done at 7:45am this morning and it's 5pm and I still have gauze in my mouth because it's bleeding. My mom called the office for me and they told me to put tea bags in my mouth which really slowed it down. So it's not serious right now, but enough to need the gauze. I still haven't had anything to eat and I've had T3's now as well as my antibiotics. I'm hoping the bleeding will stop soon so I can take apple sauce with the dexamethesone (for swelling) but surprisingly my stomach is doing just fine. I didn't even fall back asleep after the surgery, I've just been out of it and high all day lol.

The whole time I was waiting to be put to sleep I just thought about everything you said and it brought great comfort so thanks. Oh and the chapstick, great tip!

[kellybeth]

I'm glad it went welll for you. I had mine out about 4 years ago or so. I did feel a little n* but I think that was from the pain pill I took. I only took that one pill then after I just took Tylonal. Just think, you will never have to worry about your wisdom teeth ever again!! Great job!

[scubally]

So glad it went well! T3's? Wow they gave me percosets haha. Maybe
because mine were all impacted and the top ones went into my sinuses. But
yeah, it's definitely and interesting experience. So now you pretty much
know how you react to anesthesia if you ever have to get it again just
remember 2 days after the surgery is usually the worst (with swelling) so be
careful! One of mine seemed to bleed no matter what, so I just kind of
stopped putting gauze in there and it clotted up soon after. I think what was happening was that I would chew or bite hard on the gauze and it would
move around and prevent the clot from forming. Take pictures of yourself
with chipmunk cheeks, they're fun to laugh at latter!

[valleymist]

Sure is nice to have it over with, no more wisdom teeth headaches ever again!

My sister took a pic of me yesterday with my chipmunk cheeks but I looked really jaundiced in the photo. Probably from a bit of bruising. So far the swelling hasn't gotten worse but it was really painful sleeping on my side last night because I can really feel it when my cheeks touch the pillow.

I think that's what happened with me too, it seemed like I wouldn't stop bleeding but then I thought maybe the gauze was just irritating the stitches so I took it out and it finally stopped.

My sister bought me baby food, I didn't realize that stuff tastes so good. It's better than apple sauce, I had one yesterday that tasted like strawberry rhubarb pie filling. I had some potato soup earlier today at room temperature but every time I took a bite I felt like I was pulling at my stitches so I took more T3's and slept all afternoon. I can't wait until I can eat solid food again. Or even just enjoy a really hot bowl of soup without pain.

[cattamu]

You guys are brave! I have been told since high school that mine have to come out and I am now 37! I REFUSE! I even get infections from time to time, but the horror stories I have heard about ppl who can't stop throwing up just make me crazy!! I am so glad to hear you all had good experiences. Maybe someday I'll get brave!!

[driftinggoddess]

i was scared too but i had mine out about a month ago, now problems, the gave me the best anti-emetic they had plus something else along the lines of it, and the stuff they gave me lasted 24 hours they said, i did not need to take any pain killers my mouth really didnt hurt never got puffy cheeks nothing.i had one thath ad stitches

[kaiyla]

I had it done last May (there's a thread about it somewhere). It was a HUGE ordeal for me and I had been dreading it since 23 years old (and I'm 31). If it had not been for taking ativan, I would have not even been able to get my butt into the surgeon's office. It went EASY though! No v*, no n*! If I had known it was going to be that simple, I would have had it done YEARS ago!!! Don't listen to the horror stories!!

[cattamu]

Thanks for the good stories. I guess I could do the anti-emet thing and take severe percautions. Maybe sometime in the future. Hopefully before I am so miserable with some infection or something and am forced to do it.