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230262 tn?1316645934

Scared/Tooth Extraction

Ive only posted here a few times, mostly about 3 months ago or so I think, and Im sure no one remembers me or my story. THe very short version is I was prescribed MS Contin and Vicodin by one doctor for my bad back/discs, arthritis and fibromyalgia, and the pain clinic i was going to was giving me darvocets as well. I got flagged by my insurance co. for having too many doctors prescribing me stuff.  ANyhow ever since then Ive jsut been using the MS Cont and Vics which run out way too early every month. I wouldnt consider myself a full blown adddict, however I am definitely dependant on them and use way more that Im suppose to, but cannot help it. I have so much pain every single day particularly with my back and have 2 small children to take care of (one of which is an accident prone little guy who had to have stitches recently, this kid worries me to death and keeps me running non stop!!) ANyhow, I also have a lot of tooth probelms recently which means.......taking even more vics-- the pain wakes me up in the night its so bad, radiating into my ear, jaw, neck and throat even. GOd awful pain that makes me want to bang  my head through a wall.  Soooooooo of course my whole months supply of Vics (60) are long gone after 10 days into it. And i went to my dentist friday and this tooth is so infected to the root/nerve it has to be extracted. IM scared to death because Im already out of my meds, and this office only gives you 8, yes eight, tyelnol 3's for extractions. I told them this wouldnt work for me, I have such a high tolerance to meds, this would be like taking candy. But of course they wont change protocol for me. Its my problem.  OH i forgot to mention, I can no longer take the MS Contin. Its always sorta effected my breathing to begin with. Depresses it too much (Im slight asthmatic) and since I got bronchitis about 8 or 9 weeks ago and still cant shake it, I havent been able to use the MS. It tightens my chest up bad, makes me wheeze, not be able to get a deep breath, cant cough etc.  So thats another eason my Vics go fast, Ive been relying solely on them for all my pain control instead of using them as a breakthrough for the MS.

ANYHOW, what the hell am I going to do? Im supposed to have the tooth pulled on tuesday and did I mention I always get dry socket with every extraction Ive ever had?? (if you dont know what that is, its a very painful thing where the blood clot doesnt stay in the hole and air hits your nerves and bone causing excrutiating pain). I am going to my regular doctor tomorrow, monday, to beg him for some percocets or something to take for the extraction but i very highly doubt he will oblige. He's probably gonna send me packing for using up all my Vics already. Any suggestions? Im so scared. If he doesnt give me anything, Im gonna have to cancel the extraction and suffer more with the toothache until god knows when.....    
14 Responses
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Avatar universal
Thank you so much for asking, I didn't think anyone would remember who I was. To tell you the truth, It's not going great. My current situation is this. I am on 120mg of methadone per day which I pick up on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If I take the whole dose at once it doesn't seem to cover me for a full 24 hours so I am currently trying to find a suitable way to split the dose. Of course there is always the temptation when receiving a few days at a time to just say to hell with it and take a big dose to get high but I am fighting against this. The main problem for me is making myself split the dose as I know I have to as I have become severely psychologicaly addicted to the calming effect I get when I take the dose all at once (even though I know I will be feeling crappy by the next morning). I'm also having severe sleep problems at the moment aswell but I'm seeing my doctor this evening to get something to help with that. I know what I need to do it's just that I'm finding it hard to let go of the urge to constsntly want to be high. I'm sure this is a problem all us addicts face as the psychological nature of addiction can be just as severe as the psyical side sometimes. We develop a mental need for the calming, soothing effects that opiates have on us and this makes it difficult to let go and successfully start to taper. Unfortunately as anyone on methadone will tell you, going cold turkey just isn't an option for most due to the severe drawn out nature of the withdrawls (4 - 6 weeks as oppose to 4 -6 days withother opiates such as heroin or oxy). If you are trying to hold down a full time job then taking 6 weeks off work isn't an option for most. My other problem is that I'm facing this totally alone. I am single and have no family I can turn to either. Like I say, I know what to do, I just pray for the strength to be able to go ahead and do it.
God bless all,
Graeme.
Helpful - 0
228686 tn?1211554707
Another thing you'll find is dentists in the U.S. are fairly immune to malpractice. I looked into taking mine to court but was told unless they do disfiguring work to structures OTHER than the teeth, it's impossible to pursue a malpractice suit. Which means they're pretty free in the clear. (Unless your dentist accidentally cuts off your foot????
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
ive had lots of dry sockets and yes they hurt, do you smoke after the tooth is pulled? if so, dont. thats the main reason for dry sockets. that and any kind of sucking like a straw or something. ive had teeth pulled and didnt have to take narcotics. youll be ok. tell yourself youll be ok.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
How are you.  Haven't seen you out here in a while??  did you start your taper??  whats happening.????

Nauty.................
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
One thing I have noticed from this board is how readily dentists in the US give out opiate painkillers compared to here in the UK. I have had all 4 of my wisdom teeth out and never received more than an asprin. In fact when I had my bottom right wisdom tooth extracted, the anesthetic failed but he decided to continue anyway and just told me to "be brave". To cut a long story short, the tooth broke in two and it took 30 minutes of pulling and twisting (all without anesthetic) to get the tooth out. He then came out with "mmm that was a tough one, you might want to gargle with an asprin when you get home. Now go an see my receptionist and she'll give you the bill." Honestly, you couldn't make it up. Not that it mattered though as I was getting plenty pills from my doctor at the time.
God bless,
Graeme.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
How many doctors have prescribed you stuff.  More than three.  I never though about that But I guess I have quite a few doctors who have prescribed me stuff too.  I don't want to get flagged by my insurance
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I manage a dental practice and have been in the field for 15 years.  If you have the root removed your pain will be gone (no root, no nerve).  People never need pain meds for root canals.  If the extraction is a simple extraction (all teeth are besides wisdom teeth) you will not have much pain either.  Typically very few people ever need pain meds.  I understand your worried and addicts need more meds than other people.  If you try taking Ibuprofin and alternating it with tylenol (800mgs Ibu evey 4-6 hrs and taking the max amt of tylenol every 4) it will help a lot because they will be working two different angles.  Also there is homeopathic medication you can take and you can get it at health food stores.  I'm at the point where I may need to go in for surgery in the week or so and I'm in a ton of pain.  I have managed to work (this has been going on for a couple weeks) and deal with the pain by taking some supplements and trying to stay calm (calming down makes it easier to deal with the pain).  Anyways, I hope that helped and if you have any other questions about the dental procedures or the names of the homeopathic meds let me know.  Take care and good luck
Helpful - 0
228686 tn?1211554707
Are you smoking? You shouldn't be getting dry socket every time. I had a number of teeth pulled a while back, and I mega dosed on ibuprofen for it. (600 milligrams). It works MUCH better than vic's or perc's or other opiates. Especially if your an addict. Once your addicted to opiates, they no longer work effectively for everyday pains like this.

Otherwise, if you're getting dry socket from dry mouth while sleeping, I use a trick where I tuck a lozenge in my cheek before I go to sleep, and during the night when/if I wake up, pop in another. This is a great way to cure a sore throat over night, by the way. Just DON'T sleep on your back! :)

I know what I'm talking about with this. I got my dental work done for this stuff at the Dental School, so I know ALL about dry socket, gouging, poor extractions, and the little "oops!" that students who have no clue what they're doing cause.

I don't go there anymore...you can only hear "Where is all this blood coming from?!?!" so many times from the instructor...
Helpful - 0
233181 tn?1235183152
How were you flagged did you run all the meds through your insurance. you paid cash for none. When your flagged what does that mean. In the case of dentist I had 6 teeth pulled all while being under anesthesia, I was als taking suboxone. I told my pain management doc and she told me I was being proactive. That if pain developed she would handle it. the dentist is going to give you antibiotics for the infection and the main cause of pain is being removed. So be reactive if you develop a dry socket because you started smoking to soon after he extracts the tooth then call your doctor and explain whats going on. After a tooth is pulled  you will feel relief almost immediately. Post op pain will only last 2 days at most. Girl stop trying to use this as an excuse to score more pain pills. Dont foret the people you are talking to. WE've been there done that  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I think that you'll be surprised that your tooth pain will be much relieved when it is pulled out, and that infection goes away. The infection needs to get out of there, it's what's causing the worst pain. And also, try very hard to not let yourself get the dry socket, I know how painful those are. Try not to smoke cigs, or suck to hard on a straw, or to have the gauze packed too tightly. I feel for you and your kids, please try your best to do whatever you can to get yourself off of these pain meds,(or weaned down) and if you can't stop taking them due to chronic pain, try your hardest to ask your doctor to  help you wean down a bit, at first, so the pain meds work better later on, so you can get more relief from smaller amounts. This physical addiction to pain meds just snowballs so fast, and sometimes we have to go ahead and go to extremes to get off of the med or get weaned down to lower amounts, like get ourselves admitted into a rehab. Please try not to cancel the extraction. Sometimes teeth hurt so bad from the infection that having it pulled with no meds or novacaine or anything at all is better than to keep that infection going on. Like, for instance, My son's toe was so infected once, they couldn't get any numbing meds around the infection, and he sat there and let them pull his toenail off with no numbing meds at all, and was relieved as soon as it came off and that swelling that caused the pain was gone---it hurt me more than it did him!
Helpful - 0
230262 tn?1316645934
thanks for the fast responses... yes I do get worked up about these things, Im generally high strung by nature no matter what the situation. However I have had dry socket everytime but once. (Ive had 3 wisdom teeth pulled, and several back molars and 1 or more towards the middle) over the years. The last tooth I had pulled was about 1-2 months ago. It was the worst one yet. It didnt want to come out, he had to really work at it a long time and my whole face swelled up from the trauma, my jaw bone was traumatized and bruised on the outside, my gums got gouged and cut etc. And then the dry socket got infected also. He had to do a wound debridement, and the novacaine wouldnt work at all due to the massive infection, and I felt every single bit of him raking his metal hook through my socket. I almost puked and passed out from it. It hurt even worse for days after this. So Im horrified of this happening again =(
Helpful - 0
199177 tn?1490498534
trouble, I agree with IBK you already have yourself so worked up. Tooth extraction pain is at  its worse in the first 24 hours then it really lets up.As for the dry socket if you do happen to get it pain meds arent going to do a thing for it.It will need to be packed with clove oil ,very easy thing to take care of.
Relax breath you have OTC pain meds you can use with the t3s as well like advil.It will be ok.
Avis
Helpful - 0
273135 tn?1195006870
have them numb you up really good .. i had the same thing happen about a year ago and wz sooo scared of the pain wz only given 10 vikes 5/500's .. gone in a day and a half ... i was going to be put under to have it pulled but that wz going to cost an extra $200.  They put about 8 shots of novicaine in me and no pain at all ... if novicaine doesn't work, which in most cases it does not for me - i'm usually unnumb w/in 15 minutes ... i cannot remember the name of it but its what they numb w/for oral surgery ... supose to last at least 8 hrs instead of the normal 4 hrs w/novicaine....you don't want to let your tooth get any more infected than it already is, so don't cxl your appt ... hope this helps...not sure ... but ...
Helpful - 0
271792 tn?1334979657
Morning.

First off, you are projecting. You have yourself convinced that you are going to be in pain from the extraction.

If you don't get it done...you will suffer in pain. If you do get it done, it will take 5 minutes and the pain will be gone. Once the tooth is removed, what is there left to cause that much pain? I am familiar with dry socket, but that does not mean you will get it THIS time.

Good luck.
Helpful - 0
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