Does It Traumatize You?

[d's girl]

....a visit to the dentist, I mean.

 

It does me. I've had some bad dental experiences & it's made me anxious & uncomfortable about going to the dentist. So my solution has been not to go. For years at a time. I decided to try & get a handle on that & return to the one dentist I really liked. Years ago I used to drive across town to see him. Then I moved out of state for several years. Now that I'm back, I actually only live about 5 minutes from his office!

So, I went for the initial appt. & X-rays a couple weeks ago. I was anxious, but did okay. But.... as feared, I needed this involved procedure that I've had done 2 previous times over the years - both by Periodontists, and both very uncomfortable experiences that contributed to my dental-work-phobia.

This time, it was scheduled w/the hygienist right at my dentist's office, instead of w/a Periodontist, and they've scheduled it to be done in quadrants, instead of all at once. AND... no shots this time. They gave me literally dozens of shots the other times I had this done. That alone was awful.

So.... today was the first one. mr. hottie informed me yesterday, w/out my asking (I'm too independent & self-sufficient to ask for something like that) that he was going w/me. And that he was even going into the ROOM w/me while I had the procedure done. Wow. Well, he did. It was kind of weird, but it WAS comforting. And it went okay! Yay! 

 

So, tell us... what are you afraid of? The Dentist? Needles? A Colonoscopy? 

Does your fear keep you from taking care of yourself? 

How do you face your fear & get through it? Or don't you?

[d's girl]

....he didn't really mean it, did he? '-)

 

[Quinn]

The Dentist doesn't bother me. Sometimes I don't even get Novocain for a filling.

Needles don't scare me either. Although, I don't look when they draw blood.

The colonoscopy isn't bad--they knock you out, it's the prep the day before. I have to have one done every year since they found pre-cancerous polyps a few years ago. One year is not enough time to forget how bad the prep is :(

Hate, hate, hate the OB-Gyn! There are three in my little burb and I dislike them all. I guess I could drive 30 minutes, but I’ve never had any issues so I just go and grit my teeth…

I guess my HUGE fear of mice makes up for everything else. And being trapped in a car with snow all around and a semi bearing down on me…

[d's girl]

I don't mind needles either. Not at all - as long as they're not in my mouth!! :-(

I'm w/you on the Colonoscopy, too. I had a Colonoscopy, Endoscopy & biopsy of my small intestines all done at the same time, and it was no big deal at all. Even the prep wasn't bad for me. You do the pill thing now & not drinking the yucky liquid prep, right? I didn't see the big deal in it.

 

Sorry about your mice fear. I hate having to kill them, but that's the worst of it for me.

 

Trapped in a car w/a semi bearing down on you - I'm w/you!! :-(

[funesthememorious]

Oh, it is beyond traumatic. He subjects me to a non-stop assault of mindless chatter and bland stories - all the while I am sitting there hoping he will drill into a nerve so at least some physical pain will come into the foreground and I can let loose a scream.

[d's girl]

[funesthememorious]

I have an annoying gag reflex so getting my teeth x-rayed is always an adventure. One time the hygienist was having fits getting the film positioned in my mouth - as soon as it was in I spit it out. After about 6 attempts she runs out of the room and returns with my dentist ( a demure Oriental woman ). She grabs my cheek and waves her finger at me and says "Now you know what we women have to go through"

 

Just never expected that statement from her.

 

[P.A.]

Going to the Dentist does not bother me. My dentist calls himself "painless" like in the movie MASH.

[Quinn]

Doesn't the word "suicide" finish that lyric? ;-)

[d's girl]

Yes, it does, Quinny. ;-}

[P.A.]

Yes but it has nothing to do with dentistry.

[CWO3ROBBIE]

Back in the 50s the dentist I went to did not believe in using novicane when filling cavities. I wasn't to fond of that theory. I've had root canals, Many fillings, extractions, TMJ treatments etc. Hate them all, but go. I have come to believe that oral hygene is probably the most important health preventative that you can follow. Since I had a total gingivectomy. Where they cut your gums, lay them back, polish the roots and then sew the gums up and pack them with cement. This was done in two visits to the chair, two hours each time.  I have had very few medical problems or sicknesses of any kind. I attribute this to using a sonic toothbrush and extensive flossing and rinsing and gargling with listrine. I do all that out of the fear of ever having to have another gingivectomy. But it works.

 

Colonoscopy! Another fun filled medical procedure. I had my first in 1987. The prep was no fun at all. Had to drink about five gallons of salty tasting liquid and go to the bathroom a few hundred times.

But then they shot you up with a mixture of Dimerol and Valium. WOW!!! I ask for another one as soon as I recovered. They found poylops so I've had about six since then. They are no where near as much fun anymore. The prep isn't as bad, but for some reason they no longer shoot you up with happy juice. They give you some crap that makes you not rememember what happened. 

Endoscopies are hard to spell and no fun at all.  Barium enimas were no fun at all. Even though the lab attendents claimed that they thought they were.

 

[Quinn]