I'm sorry to hear about your bad dental experience! As the others said though ... at least it is over now and you got through it!!

I had a root canal at the beginning of this year when I had the abscessed tooth and it was really painful! The Dentist had to inject me 7 times before the anaesthetic began to take affect! With my RSD (which is similar to MS), I often need more anaesthetic otherwise it doesn't take effect. My Pain Management Doctor said that I need twice as much anaesthetic as a normal person.

The Dentist kept hitting my nerves and it was really painful! She said though that a normal person would just scream and go running out where as because I have chronic pain, I don't feel it as much and can sort of 'tolerate' it as it's not as bad as the pain I deal with on a daily basis!

Once the root canal was over though and everything settled down, everything was OK and I felt a lot better for it!

I hope you feel better soon!

I actually feel a little bit better than I did after my last post in this thread.

I just noticed that the sensation of numbness in my left hand has let up. It's been a sort of constant sensation in my ring finger and index finger since Christmas, and it's been getting better all week since I started taking antibiotics, and it's feeling a lot less numb than it did this morning. It's still there, but not as tingly as it has been.

I wonder if it works that fast? Taking away the infection by having the dentist clean it out? That would be amazing if it works that way. I doubt it does. It's probably from the antibiotics I've been taking to kill the infection.

The anaesthetic feels like it's starting to metabolize out of me too. The numbness has let up in the last half hour.

I'm just afraid I'm going to damage the temporary filling. I'm scared to eat anything. I think I'm having spaghetti tonight.

It's weird. It felt like I had pressure in my jaw around that tooth for the longest time. Now that the dentist cleaned it out, it feels like someone let some of the pressure off. I guess I didnt realize just how bad it had gotten. I think that tooth has needed a root canal for a loooooong time...like since before I got diagnosed with the MS. (diagnosed in 2007. I've had soreness there for years) I wonder if that tooth is one of the reasons my MS appeared when it did.

I'm blaming that tooth for why the MS gremlins have been so active, screwing around with my body for the past few months.

I thought I felt better (MS-wise) after having the dental work last month...that only lasted about two weeks. I was feeling kind of weak and unsteady the last week and a half.

I cant wait for this tooth to get it's little crown. Then I wont be so scared of damaging the tooth.

I hope that finally getting all this dental work finished the MS will calm down some more.

a heating pad will help the novacaine wear off.

Cool, I'm getting my heating pad out. I still have a couple of spots in my mouth that are so irritatingly numb.

And then I'm going to go pop an Aleve...and maybe a Baclofen. The dentist said I was shaking because there's adrenaline in the novocaine/lidocaine anesthetic. My muscles are all sore now from all the shaking.

I did take a two hour nap that really really helped (I'd only had maybe 5 hours of sleep) I slept thru a lot of that numbness wearing off.

Now I'm just terrified that I'm going to damage the temporary filling. Starving right now, but I'm afraid to go eat anything.

you can chew on the other side, or eat soft foods. Mash up your dinner. Eat soup, or puree style foods if you really cant trust yourself. tomorrow you should be fine to eat normal foods.

Carbocaine is novacaine without the epinephrine in it. They use epi because it restricts blood flow to the area, and creates less bleeding in the surgical field. If you are extra nervous, and your in mid panic, you can cause the stuff to flush right out, almost as fast as they give it. Its important to relax, meditate, go to your happy place. It hurt so much because the area was so infected, and swollen. tender tissue is very tough to numb.

Im glad its all over.

I just had soup. (it had okra in it...ewww! had to be selective in whatever green stuff I was scooping up) It wasnt bad, and I ate some Ritz Crackers with it, so I'm not starving to death any more.

I'm going to haul out a jar of Prego and some spaghetti noodles for dinner later tonight.

Right now I'm rewarding myself with the last Hershey bar from our stash. Just letting it melt in my mouth and enjoying the taste of the chocolate. (I can still taste the Oil of Clove that's on the teeny tiny cotton balls under the temporary filling...weird mixture with the chocolate)

I wanted to eat these cookies that my parents buy at Costco that have cranberries, almonds and raisins in them, but they're crunchy and kind of chewy, and thought that maybe I should save those for some other time.

Erin
Here is a tip for the future, when the numbness seems to be hanging on forever.
Drink some hot [not scalding] coffee or tea and the numbness will disappear fairly quickly!
At first I thought he was pulling my leg and just wanted to watch me drool the liquid all over, but I have done it and it really does work!

Glad you survived the root canal and hang in there the worst is over.


Take Care
Risby

I think Dej's post about the Carbocaine is good for people with MS to know about. I was having a wisdom tooth pulled a few years back and the regular Novacaine caused my heart to race and for me to have nerve pain in my neck and arm. Ever since then I've requested Carbocaine ( after reading about it on another MS board about someone having a similar effect from Novacaine) when I need dental work done and I like it much better!


I hope you're feeling better today, Erin!

I find regular novacaine makes my heart race, and tends to ramp up my anxiety. I always ask for carbacaine. its been my saving grace. I take a xanax or two before I go, and try to find my happy place. I used to sweat, and my BP would go crazy.

They can give you ONE with the epi in it to keep the field clear of blood, and the rest carbacaine to keep YOU clear. hehe.

You know what's worse tha a root canal? Half a root canal.

I went for mine two weeks ago, after a week of anti biotics - due to infection (which triggered a UTI and kidney stones).

Doc #1 started, but I still had a lot of pain. He gave me another shot and the pain went away, but my BP dropped and I almost fainted.

They were freaked and stopped.

I had to go to an edodontrist, who had to use 2 different kinds of shots to numb me. He kept oxygen tanks by the door, he was so scared I was gonna get all funny on him.

Took him 4 hrs to finish that tooth. My whole jaw still aches.

Never again. They can PULL em if they get that bad!