My wisdom teeth saga

[Anxious_gal]

I thought I will try and keep this to just one tread :)

I've needed my wisdom teeth removed for years now, so I spent two years waiting on the medical card list.
Never even got as far as an appointment!

I replied this year using my health insurance.
I met a dentist who was sent by the oral surgeon, she took x rays and examined my teeth.
She felt the lumps in my neck and said infection, my own doctor said swollen glands.

I asked how the nerves looked, you know the ones near the wisdom teeth, you can be left with numbness if these get damaged.
She said one of them looked ok, never mentioned the other one!!

Because I need some of my other teeth fixed, I needed to see a specialist dentist too, she said this would take two weeks.

a few weeks later I get a letter from the oral surgeons office saying I'm scheduled for surgery.
It was then canceled, this happened 3 times.

I rang up the dentist who saw me, and asked about the specialist dentist , as it had been way more than two weeks.

Then a few months later I get a letter saying I need to go to my hospital for a pre operative assessment!
No one had told me I needed to have this done, and I had been booked in for surgery 3 times!!

I went for my assessment, had blood work done, weight, height, and an ECG.

I told the nurse I hadn't yet heard from the specialist dentist,
I finally received an appointment for two months away with the dentist. He also stated he may not be able to work with me for a year or two due to waiting lists.....

This is when I found out that I was still down as a medical card patient! and not as a private patient!
I was crushed, 8 months of my time had been wasted, I had told every one I wanted to go private and they some how messed up info.

I rang up the health board people, they tried to tell me to stay on as a medical card patient.

I went through 8 whole months of pain, infection and horrible symptoms as well not so pretty looking teeth!

I will be getting all work done under general anaesthetic.

I can't even explain to you how disappointed I was, I have been fighting with the health service for over 2 years now to get my wisdom teeth out, despite being terrified of the actual surgery and healing.

So I went and found a brand new private dentist.
He seemed nice, he said he would refer me to a surgeon, that works in the next town, but the nurse said he also comes to my local hospital too , so to ask him if I can get it done in my town.
The dentist too said he could do my cosmetic work, It looks like it will cost about 1000, but then I have to add in follow up work and visits which is about 50 euros just to see the dentist.

I am not working, but I should be able to take out a loan.
so this is where I am at , at the moment.

[Anxious_gal]

MY LIST OF SYMPTOMS

TMJ which I have had for years so , some of the symptoms will over lap.

Tight , tense jaw which makes it hard to talk, as my jaw is being pulled back in.

Muscle cramps and spasms in my jaw and neck. Which can feel like someones trying to strangle me.

Tense muscles on the left side of my face, that side can look a bit frozen when I talk.

Tense tongue and throat on the left side.

When I smile the corners of my lips jump and twitch, I can feel it with my fingers but not sure if any one can actually see this.

Twitching, I get this all over my face, mainly on the sides of my face, jaw, eyes and very painful ones on my tongue .

Numbness, mainly in my right ear and right side of face including lip and eye. This comes and goes, I think it's due to that nerve under the tooth being irritated.

Head pressure, this I believe is coming from my very tense jaw and neck muscles. I occasionally get a head jerk where my jerks all of a sudden.

The tense jaw, causes a sensation of pressure , it feels like the pressure will break my jaw.

Crawling sensation on head and neck.

Pain, pain in my right ear which is sharp, travels down my jaw to my neck and into my chest.
Other pains, general aching face, jaw, ears, constant headaches.

Lumps in my neck, you might want to read this post http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=98837
at the moment it's the only symptom that's really scaring me!
lots of swollen lymph node, I think they are, mainly on left hand side of neck.
Swollen glands, an odd lump that is soft and I can grab it with my fingers, so can my doctor!! on the right hand side, he seems to think it's a swollen gland.
I believe the lump in throat sensation is caused by this, I believe the part I can feel is only half of it and the other half is the bit I can feel inside.

I also have painful lump in my ear, another doctor thinks this too is a gland. My ear feels so too hot as well.

dizziness, which I believe is caused by TMJ/wisdom teeth.
My ears feel too full and I get noises, such as buzzing, high ringing and low wooshing.
It's worse in my right ear.

[Anxious_gal]

My Fears Regarding The Surgery!

I fear being anxious before hand, panicking and not going thorough with it.

Getting the numbing injections , I think they may do this while I am awake.
I know from experience they will make my eyes numb, my nose so I can't breath through it, my tongue and throat which will make me panic!
Have a fear of my throat closing up.

Waking up during surgery and not being able to move and no one knowing I am awake.

Something going wrong.

waking up afterwards, a few people say it feels like something is stuck in their throat!

Swelling, as I know I will over react to that. I do know it should go down on the 3rd day.

My health anxiety is more about sensations and me overreacting to them.
So I fear any odd or unusual feelings .

Taking the antibiotics, I fear reactions, I had a bad panic attack on one antibiotic, but I don't know if it was just a panic attack as I have never experienced anything like that before.
Taking the painkillers, I fear new medications, again same reason as above but also I don't enjoy feeling drugged up, hoping for codeine as that helps with the anxiety too.

Fear of my very extreme anxiety coming back which took me months to snap out of and I lost over a stone at that time too and spent most of my time shaking and scared and feeling very detached and odd. I pretty much lived in the chatroom lol so thanks again for your support x x x

Fear of the symptoms in the previous post not getting better even after I get my teeth out.

Fear of the surgery making my TMJ worse.

Fear of night time lol. the ER here is day time only, so that means If I panic at night I know I would have to go to the ER an hour away..... Not that I would, it's just I take comfort from the fact the ER is open here in the day but at night I don't have that comfort.

What I Am Looking Forward To
No more pain!
Pretty teeth
Being able to smile
Gaining more weight
Being able to chew better
Being able to talk and to talk louder, at the moment my jaw doesn't open wide enough fr this.
I want to start taking driving lessons.
Doing a computer course , Which is starting in 2 months, so not sure how that's going to work out.
Going back to therapy, I stopped going due to my pain and feeling that there's no point working on my anxiety until i get my teeth fixed .

What I have done to prepare
Read almost every article and watched ever youtube video about wisdom teeth,
Tried to mentally prepare my self.
Did up my room so it would feel relaxing, actually it really does! It's a great little room now to go and calm down in!
Stocked up on soft foods and drinks,
Have a list of helpline numbers in my phone, never managed to ring them even at my worst, but it's nice to know I could if I wanted someone to talk to in the middle of the night.
Wrote my self a very long encouraging letter.
Writing this post.

I know I won't get many replies, but I do hope this can help someone, I have such a long list of symptoms too, which might help others :)

I wonder if any one goes into as much detail as me?
I have been told I am over thinking it lol but it's my health anxiety so I am trying to work with it :)

[Anxious_gal]

Update: Oral surgeon is on holidays until this Thursday :(

[Anxious_gal]

update oral surgeon on Wednesday, It's an hour away, I'm struggling with throat tightness and lump in throat feelings and anxiety. But has to be done.
I hope I manage to cope ok with the trip.

I also have to have an x ray, hate that thing that goes around my head, only takes 30 seconds but I find it scary!

Total cost of consultation is 200 euros.

[Hazel B]

Well done! You can get through it and you're doing the right thing.:hugs:

[M155anthr0p3]

Go Mishel!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you must buy yourself a very expensive pair of shoes after to congratulate yourself.

[Anxious_gal]

aw thanks everyone, your support really does mean a lot to me :hugs:
It's only a meeting with her , the oral surgeon but it's a step in the right direction lol

[Anxious_gal]

UPDATE
Met oral surgeon twice so far, she's really nice :)

Met the anasesiologist once, he seemed nice too , he took some blood for ANOTHER Thyroid test!! Because of my constant fast heart rate, and my weight loss.

Also had an ECG, the nurse was nice but she forgot to protect my modesty lol I felt fine being naked from the wait up, I have had enough ECGs to know that they should at least cover you up with a sheet! I couldn't move as I has wires on my arms too.
But in fairness she was rather rushed off her feet.

The hospital isn't a proper hospital it's more of a surgical day unit, it is old and I saw some water dripping down one of the walls so cue my paranoia attack!

I felt so uncomfortable there, wishing I was back in my house.
I felt very scared after I had my blood taken, I was paranoid I would faint! So I know that was all in my head but it was very hard for me to keep it together, more so than normal.

It's made me worried about how I'll react on the day of surgery.

I also have to travel again for an hour for my x-ray, I found that very hard last time and ended up crying in front of people which I used never do.
The constant lump in my throat feeling is what is causing 90% of my anxiety these days and fear of suffocating.

So I mad a doctors appointment, I have to be frank with him this time much to my embarrassment, the sensation has been getting worse so I need to get him to take another look at my neck and feel the lumps :(
The lumps have gotten slightly bigger, also when I swallow I have a lump that comes up under my Addams apple as it goes up.
I haven't been able to find anything on the internet that would explain it, other than maybe a thyroid nodule or some kind of cyst or tumor but that can only be seen with a scan :(

[Anxious_gal]

UPDATE:
Getting impressions done today, surgery has been changed to next week.

[Anxious_gal]

UPDATE
Had impressions done, was fine but for the pain, I have sensitive teeth but the pain went away the minute he took the cold stuff out of my mouth :)

Surgery is on Tuesday, I may make a separate post as I am so scared about the whole thing!

[Anxious_gal]

Update,

I'm very tired, so sorry if this ends up making no sense :)

Got two hours sleep, then was at the hospital by 8:30 am.
The worst part of the waiting was feeling really hungry!
I had shared a room with two other ladies, but separated by curtains.
I had to wear a blue paper gown, totally naked underneath eeek
I met some lovely nurses, they were sorta pushy/busy cause they had to get their job done, but I liked them as there manner relaxed me and they were very sweet and reassuring. I guess what I really mean is they were firm yet reassuring.
They took me to a room, weighed me, took my blood pressure and pulse , asked questions.
In fact I was asked the same questions lots of times, when I went for the pre-op and again on the day by every nurse I came in contact with and again by the oral surgeon.
Just making sure what I was allergic too and which teeth were coming out.

There is one antibiotic that gives me a rash, so they wrote down the name on a red tag and put it on my wrist.

I spend a lot of time walking around the bathroom, standing by the open window, splashing my face with cool water.
I didn't worry so much, more just kept telling my self I have to do this and I will be ok.

The woman on my right side of my bed, had surgery first.
Then I was next.
This mice nurse came down and got me, I swear I felt like I was walking to the green mile, It felt like this is the end :(
I hopped on a table, there were a few nurses there, they kept trying to distract me by asking me stupid questions.
I told them I am getting confused with all the questions.
some nurse stuck the needle/IV in me which I didn't feel.
I was over come with the worst headache, I think it may have had something to do with lying right down on my neck and all the anxiety and tension.
Then the anestelogogist guy who of course was behind me so I could not see him, tells me to take a few deep breaths and puts a mask over my face.
worst moment ever! I never had it done that way before and I had assumed it would be an injection, that white milky stuff and the poof you fall asleep.
I got scared and the nurse held my hand, I took 3 deep breathes, it felt more like I was trying to breathe rather than breathing. But sure it only lasted 3 breathes.
Again I felt that was the end!
I don't remember waking up in the recover room, where they monitor you.
I do remember two nurses and talking to them though.
I finally woke up back in my bed in the first room I was in, I slept on and off and my face was not numb at all, I actually wondered if they even took out my wisdom teeth!
At one point I knew I was going to be sick, I didn't have a way of contacting the nurses though, they were in a room next to mine, so I was gagging and I banged on the bed to get their attention, they brought me a mental bowel and I threw up blood, which was from the blood I had swallowed during surgery.
Slept on and off again.
Then realized I was naked under my gown, and found my clothes beside my bed and manged to put on my undies.
The woman next to me came back from her surgery and she was doing much better than me, she was walking around lol I couldn't even stand up , my legs wouldn't work and they felt drunk.
The girl on my other side, was crying, it's a common reaction really caused by all the drugs. When I was lucid enough to talk I would ask her if she was ok but not sure what she said !

The worst part of the surgery is being put to sleep, not because it's scary or uncomfortable, it's just the this is it moment, For me I feared I may not wake up and the loss of control over what happens to me while I'm out. I also was worried I would not actually fall asleep and be aware of everything around me.

So I did not wake up numb or swollen!
Waking up was pretty ok, I took deep breaths, actually at some point the nurse took off my oxygen mask, I was complaining about some thing, maybe it was my nose hurt.
It was weird cause I didn't even know I had a mask on for her to even take off!

My oral surgeon came to check up on me, I got a nose bleed, my first nose bleed in my whole life. Turns out the breathing tube went down my nose and not my throat like I had thought. By nose bleed I mean a few drops of blood, not really a proper full on one.

Swelling, um I dont feel swollen. My lips feel puffy , My mum said they look bigger but I am not too sure haha.

When I was back home I was looking for my phone charger and sat on the floor as you do, but I couldn't get back up! The general anaesthetic really made my legs feel drunk.
Of course I had my mobile on me, so I rang my mum who was in the sitting room.
She almost freaked when she saw me sitting on the floor, she thought I had passed out.
But no I just needed her to pull me up.

I will add more tomorrow I guess :)

[Anxious_gal]

So managed to eat a wheatabix with milk, warm.
I am drinking coffee now.
Swallowing is award but much easier than yesterday.
Not in much pain which is weird lol
Not much swelling but my face feels hot which is setting off my health anxiety.
I have been using ice but it's cold and not that nice.

Next up is I need to take Augmentin 250/125 , last time I was on penicillin I got a panic attack and my chest and back felt like they were being crushed, I couldn't breath and though I was going to die.
So I am scared to take this tablet, more because I might convince my self I am having a reaction.
Also Augmentin makes me vomit but hopefully I will keep it down.

Next up then is Voltarol which is for swelling and pain, a bit paranoid about these too but not too bad, as the tablets are small and they also gave me them while I was in the hospital.
I have read they are also great for migraines, so if I get on with them ok, I might ask my own doctor for more to test out on my migraines.

ya so thats it for now, ugh I had the med phobia, because I can't just take a tablet with out getting freaked out by every little symptom for the rest of day, worrying that I am having a reaction :(

Also have some insane acid and indigestion, woke up this morning with the worst trapped wind and tummy pain.

have a little bit of sharp pain along my left jaw but hopefully the Voltarol will take that away .

[swgrl09]

Hope you feel better soon! Before you know it you will be 100% back to normal.

[Anxious_gal]

thanks :)
Day 3:
Woke up with a bit of swelling on face and neck.
My lips are also swollen but seem to have calmed down a little bit, they are also sorta numb but have dry skin on them too....
So I'm not totally sure of the cause of the numb lips yet.

Throat feels too tight, at the moment the right side it bothering me, it just feels swollen and tense, also have the sensation of a lump there.

Been getting random tight sensations in my throat that go all the way down to chest.
Not sure what this is, but I do have a lot of acid in m tummy.

Also the skin on my face forehead has been feeling too warm, and is red. Almost like I drank too much or am really tired.
Not sure why it's red and hot though.......

Still feeling very tired, today is the worst day so far.
Have only managed to eat one wheatabix, not manage to drink much either.
Feeling rather weak.

the swelling and tightness, lump in throat feelings have been freaking me out the most :(

Pretty worried about infection and my throat closing up, the antibiotics make me throw up so going to the doctor tomorrow hopefully.

[allergyphobia]

hi mishel, i hope you get to the doctors and feel better today, and i hope you have somebody looking after you at home?

just think how much better you will feel when this is all over :)

try to think of all these tablets as magic pills that are going to help you... they are nothing to be scared of cause they are going to reduce swelling and pain, not make you feel worse, i promise!

i always try to turn around my feeling about tablets by thinking like that. you are going to be just fine!

x

[swgrl09]

The good thing is that once you feel better - that's over forever! I was actually very happy I had mine done young, so then it was one less thing to worry about having to deal with. I hope you are doing ok, and like allergyphobia said, that somebody is looking after you!

[Anxious_gal]

haha true , I wished I had mine done before I knew too much!
Yes my mum took a few days off work to be here with me :)

Update, well I am eating a lot more and gained weight, in fact I am hungry a lot which is great :)

Downsides, one off the holes started to get a bit tender, not sure why though.
it has stitches and is also stitched into my cheek, so maybe they are a bit too tight.
I haven't looked and I am trying not to until the morning, because I might freak out.... stupid health anxiety.

So will try and wait until the morning to see whats going on. Until then salt water lol