Fillings and Feelings

[BabyBlueberry]

Hullo!

I'm new here, and I made an account specifically so I could ask this, but...

This phenomenon happens to me EVERY time I get a filling. I go in, get the initial numbing shots, and then I get laughing gas. It's a grand ole time. I can't feel a thing, you know, and I'm just there hanging out in the chair waiting for my dentist to start working on me, and then the drilling starts. When my dentist starts drilling my tooth (or it's a filling replacement, my body does not discriminate, it seems.), my world disappears. It's like my brain shuts off and my body goes numb and I get REALLY tired, and to be frank I generally think, "Am I dying?" which is usually followed by an "I don't care" which is a little alarming but I'm just so relaxed that I genuinely don't. I freaked my dentist and the attendants out one day asking them why I felt like that (They didn't give me an answer, either.), so, my question is, why do I just want to sleep forever and go numb when my dentist starts drilling on me? Note it's not while I'm on gas or numb, which I am of course, but this only specifically happens when she starts drilling, and goes away soon after.

Is it vertigo? Am I in shock? I know I take a bit more numbing shot stuff (forgot the name) than most people and my nurses tend to give extra laughing gas, too, but I'm not sure if that matters or not. However I think that would eliminate shock. I've just always wondered why it happens.

Don't get me wrong, the feeling is GREAT, I've never taken drugs before but it's how I would imagine a mega load of morphine to feel. It's concerning, though, as I assume you'd imagine. So, I just want to know what it is, why does it happen, and if it's bad or a condition of something else, or something.

 

[Busybee]

Sounds like a reaction to the analgestics. I didn't even think they still gave laughing gas. I've never had it in my lifetime. So it's probably a reaction to that you describe. People use it as a recreational drug.

 

[BabyBlueberry]

It just makes me wonder why it only happens when I'm being drilled on, and no other time, though I guess it could also be the feeling my pain receptors are sending in place of, you know, pain, since that is numbed.

 

[MattKW]

A feeling of dying is sometimes associated with a high level of nitrous oxide. The ideal point with nitrous is to allow you to relax and dissociate from what's happening. the stronger the concentration, and the longer you use it, then greater the depth you will attain and the longer to fully recover. I'd ask for less nitrous. It can also depend on the nitrous machine. I prefer a standard scavenger mask with rebreathing bag, as I have greater control over what the patient receives. There is another version called Silhouette (by Porter) which is less obtrusive, but gives greater variation in flow, and some patients can get too deep all of a sudden, which gives the dying feeling, and maybe throw up.

 

[BabyBlueberry]

That's.. kind of cool actually. Thank you for finally solving this for me, ever since I was a kid, I always wondered why that happened and after digging and digging, never could find out. I don't mind the feeling, it was mainly a fear of what was causing it, but I've never felt nauseous, just would fall asleep sometimes. Pretty great, I guess. I'll see what happens next time if I cam request it be turned down. Thanks again. <3

 

[MattKW]

Sounds like a reaction to the analgestics. I didn't even think they still gave laughing gas. I've never had it in my lifetime. So it's probably a reaction to that you describe. People use it as a recreational drug.

Great stuff, and using it recreationally ("nanging") is relatively low-risk if used carefully. Unfortunately, people don't always understand the risks. A couple died several years ago in Aust when they opened up a cylinder in a car with closed windows - ran out of oxygen and suffocated.