I am so nervous because I need a root canal on a back molar and have been scheduled for one this Wednesday. I have CRPS II in my upper left extremity with a lot of symptoms throughout my body of pain, swelling, etc. I am so nervouse this will make the disease spread to my face. Any suggestions?

I have RSD in both hands and both feet .... had a root canal about 6 months ago and all went well. I understand your concern, I was scared too but didn't want to lose the tooth. Now I'm due for some more extensive dentistry..scaling and a couple back teeth removed.
I brought some information to my dentist about RSD so they could put it in my file. It's frustrating, every time I go and see a new dental specialist I have to explain it all over again but it's worth it, they numb me real good.
Good luck...hope this helped some to put you at ease
Jeanne

Arent we supposed to have Nerve Blocks before procedures? That's what I thought...you might want to check in with someone. I would it hate it to affect your face as well.

Please find out and let us know.

Good luck!

I would advise you to talk to your dentist beforehand.. theres a big chance of spread if you don't take precautions, here are some of the ones I follow since researching it.

)1 pre sedation ie: atavan 1 hr prior or laughing gas durring. not so essential.

)2 numbing cream used before first needle punctures. not so essential

)3 freeze very well before AND AFTER the procedure is done. VERY IMPORTANT!

)4 limit the time of dental work each visit. all at once is not good. Important.

Some don't follow all 4 but #)3 is very important to do at the least because you want to keep the area as painless and relaxed as possible soas not to irratate (wake up) the sympathetic nerves in the face.

For a root canal I would do all 4.. actualy I would not do the root canal.. thats already messin with the nerves.. If it was me I'd get the dentist to just pull it.. but thats me.

Have you discussed your condition at all to the dentist CB?


Sandra

I am scheduled for the root canal today at 3:00 p.m. and no, I have not even spoken to the endodontist. However, after reading the responses, I am going to talk to him before I let him start the work. I have a lot of referred pain in the right side of my mouth due to this tooth so I either go with the root canal or pull it. I will discuss my options with this guy today. I am so nervous I feel sick. The recommendation to take Ativan is a good one. How much do you think? I have .5mg pills and I take one a night to help with swelling and pain. I wonder if I should pop a .5 when I pull up in the parking lot(?)

It is so frustating because I never gave any dental work or blood draws a thought before this disease. Now it seems I am apprehensive of every medical test or dental procedure.

Back in October 2006 I had a small dental procedure done, had taken all the information from the RSD.ORG gives out. The dentist followed them to the letter, but my body decided it wanted to go haywire and it did.....So now I have full body RSD where it was limited to my left leg and hip. I am not telling this to scare you or anyone else, just letting you know that everyone's body is different so they all react a bit differently to all things when it comes to RSD. Just get the guidelines recommended by rsd.org , take them to your dentist and stay strong mentally.
Let us know how things go for you and I will keep you in my prayers.
Love, Peace & Blessings,
Marla
RSD Coach TM

Marla,

I did not have to root canal yesterday. Instead I took the information from the rsds.org website and the endodontist looked it over very carefully. He decided to reschedule the root canal so that I can take a sedative to calm the sympathetic system. Then he said he would make sure to keep it numb. However, I am nervous about a spread so I went to the grocery this morning and loaded up on what I gather is anti-inflammation foods. I plan to try this for the next three weeks, along with fish oil pills and cutting out all chocolate (oh boy this one hurts) so see if I can calm down the inflammation a bit.

The endodontist said I do not have an infection, just a very inflammed nerve. That seems to be the story of my life - my ulnar nerve was not impinged like the surgeon thought, but was very inflammed. My gallbladder was extremely inflammed so I had it removed. My arm is all inflammed from RSD. My eye is always inflammed from dry eye. I think this inflammation is making me sick so I tried to figure out where to start with some anti-inflammation changes and I implemented them first thing this morning. Already I am missing my sugarless gum I chaw on and the large quantities of coffee. I just hope this helps calm my system down. I was eating a lot more chocolate than I realized. It seems so innocuous.

Hi

Please think long and hard before having a root canal done. My pain Doc said people with RSD shouldn't have them but pull the tooth instead. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Pam

I am so glad you took the information with you and he looked it over before doing any procedure. *phew* I totally understand your fear of it spreading as it did in my case. Taking care of yourself is one step you can take, another is learning to take at least 10-15 minutes out of your day to just sit in silence and concentrate on nothing but your breathing, in through your nose and out through your mouth, slow and deep breaths. It makes a HUGE difference in the calming of your Sympathetic Nerve and keeps you feeling relaxed as well. Give that a try along with your healthy eating, and include some "GOOD" Vitamins for a week and let us know how it goes. Would you do that for us? I am sure we all would be very interested in your results. Do you keep a journal? If not, I would suggest you keep one while doing this trial showing what you ate, your exercise, your relaxation time, etc., I think that would be an awesome documentation of what helped and what didn't, don't you?

Take Excellent Care!!

Love, Peace & Blessings,
Marla