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Dental work; tolerance to numbing after drugs?

Jamie J79	Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs Every time I go to the dentist it takes sooooooo much Novocain or lidocaine whatever it is to numb me up. I mean huge amounts. It was never like this before I became addicted to drugs. Anyone else have this problem? I'm sitting here in pain after having a root canal and a extraction yesterday. I refused the pain meds because I'm pregnant so it's just Tylenol for me! I'm happy I was able to refuse, in the past that wasn't possible.
Replies...
mary mary1	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs I'm not an addict, but it still takes me a long time to get numb at the dentist and a lot of Novocain also. I also tell my dentist to numb me from the waist up because I am a really BIG chicken when it comes to dentists!!
guest who	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs I got all my wisdom teeth pulled 2 weeks ago. I have the same problem as you do, takes so much to numb me. This time they knocked my a** out. Damn I loved that. Didn't feel a thing. That's the way to go if you aren't pregnant. I hate the dentist.
silly veronica	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs I'm not an addict and I have the exact same problem. No memory of having any issues with it when I was younger ... but now when I go in, they give me shot after shot after shot and I can still feel it. Maybe we just change as we get older?
Jamie J79	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs I would love to be put out for dental work. That's my plan after I have my son. I've had two boob jobs and I was put under for both of them. When I woke up I didn't remember a thing, it was so nice. I was really sick to my stomach though after waking up. Weird. Right now I'm getting one dental procedure a week because my insurance covers a lot more dental procedures while pregnant vs. not pregnant. So I'm trying to get as many teeth fixed as I can while my insurance pays for it. As a result of my drug use I will require partial dentures, this makes me so sad! I used to have beautiful teeth, my parents paid a lot of money to have teeth worked on growing up. I had braces and everything. Now I've had to have all of my back teeth removed because they were completely broken off at the gum. The front teeth I have are the ones I'm trying to save. I have a lot of root canals and cavities that need to be filled. That's what the weekly appointments are for. I hate what drugs did to my teeth.
Saved inillinois	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs When I had my son, the anesthesiologist said he'd NEVER given anyone that much medicine during child birth before. I was sober during my pregnancy, but my son's father was still using. He thought I was a stud. I didn't feel that way so much. I just wanted to be numb.
Penel0pe	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs During the labor and birth of my first child, the doctors and nurses begged ME to PLEASE, PLEASE let us give you an epidural... I think they wanted me to STFU - LOL... I was an insane bytch during labor - it went on entirely too long, you know? Nine pound kids... both got stuck half way through the trip to earth... I had to apologize to the medical staff the next day. I was so embarrassed. I called everyone in the room every name in the book, my dad was in the waiting room threatening to start kicking holes in walls if they didn't do something... haaha - that was 20 years ago... I wonder if they still remember that "Foul mouth @#%$" from so long ago? PS: the epidural worked for about 10 hours - then it stopped working - LOL - poor doctors.
Kell happy	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs My doctor explained it to me like this: I have: a) a high tolerance to drugs/narcotics, meaning I need more to get the same effect as someone else taking less b) a low tolerance for pain (I felt a little hurt when they said this part, because I always thought I was so tough, and could stand more pain than most people. When I thought harder, I realized I had really been numbing up my pain with drugs and alcohol for so many years that I wasn't even feeling much pain ever, physical as well as emotional. Then the idea made more sense. Now that I'm clean, I guess I just have a lower pain tolerance. It makes sense to me now. I was usually loaded on something before going to whatever doctor/dentist where they'd give me more drugs for pain or whatever. Now, I only get what I'm supposed to. My body thinks it needs more, and responds to pain more. I wonder if I will learn to tolerate pain more again as the years go by??
UCL Angel	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs In the past year, I've had nearly my entire mouth of teeth restored. Root canals, crowns, extractions, fillings. A year of weekly or bi-monthly dental visits. I had repeated problems with not getting numb or not getting numb enough from the Novocain shots. And I'm completely sober. The only thing I take is 300 mg Wellbutrin daily. Here is what I know to be true: 1. Metabolic rate affects the way Novocain affects you. I have a high metabolism, so my body metabolizes Novocain faster. Therefore it takes more Novocain to keep me numb. If I have caffeine, it's even worse. 2. Some dentists will "skimp" on the Novocain amounts, to keep their own costs down. Hate to say it, but it's true. They will give you a shot in the gums, you think you're getting a normal dose, but, not so. It's often enough for the average Joe to get numb. But for others, it isn't. Anyway,...that's my two-cents on the issue.
Jamie J79	Re: Dental work, tolerance to numbing up after using drugs My first child is due on 11/05/06. Since I have trouble with Novocain when I get my teeth worked on do you think I'll have a problem getting numb down there when I get a epidermal or whatever you call that shot they give you in your back? It sounds like that's the case for some women who have used in the past.