Disclaimer: I am not a weirdo, nor a psycho, and not easily freaked out by Dentists or Dr's or anything like that. I was not apprehensive or nervous going into this, thinking it was fairly routine and they had told me everything I should expect. Everything I'm about to type is 100% how I imagined it.
I had a wisdom tooth extracted on Friday, which involved getting Nitrous Oxide. I had never had Nitrous before, so didn't know what to expect, but everyone told me it was just like feeling a little drunk. But, that is not the experience I had.
First, when the nurse turned it on, she said I would melt into the chair. I didn't at first, but after closing my mouth and breathing through my nose, I quickly got there. Just felt a little loopy and relaxed. As she started prepping stuff, my mind started wandering from intently focused on what I would do this weekend, including making to do lists and shopping lists in my head, to not giving a damn about anything, then back to super focused. Then I started getting a little paranoid, like the nurse was screwing with me. (Part of this could be due to the fact that the Dr. was a friend of a friend, and she had already teased me a little). Anyway, nothing too extreme. The nurse started talking to the Dr. when she walked in, and the Dr. joked that the Nitrous was leaking. (I really do think she was joking because she laughed afterward and patted me on the shoulder.)
This is when it gets weird....
(The following is as it happened from MY point of view)
The nurse asked the Dr. a question, then repeated it, then repeated it, then repeated it, then repeated it faster, until she was just repeating the last word like it was a broken record skipping.......then it went black. I woke up (no idea after how long, but definitely less than a minute), and the Dr. asks if I'm doing ok. I'm suddenly back to feeling a little woozy, but nothing too weird. She gives me the Novocaine shot, then pulls the tooth, then stitches up my gum, all while I feel basically normal (maybe a little more loopy than earlier) other than numb mouth. Then the Dr. asks a question, then asks again, then asks again, then asks again, until it's like a broken record skipping again, then it goes black again. After what felt like just a second, I come back to, but am super paranoid now and feeling like they are either screwing with me or something has gone terribly wrong. I felt like I was conscious, but "frozen" in the sense that I couldn't move or blink or say anything, but knew what was going on around me. I fade between blacking out and consciousness for a bit, but it feels like someone is poking me in the chest. But then some movie pops in my head, where that's how they simulated getting "the paddles", where every time they poked my chest it felt like a burst of consciousness and spasm for just a second, then back to black, repeated by chest poke, then flash/spasm, then back to black. This happened several times, and I felt like there was panic in the room. Then I had a sense of panic where I thought I was in serious trouble.
And then.......... it honestly crossed my mind that I was about to die. It was like this rush of emotions, from disbelief, to sadness for my Wife and Kid, to panic, to being pissed that I was going to die in a freaking Dentist chair just trying to get a wisdom tooth extracted, to trying to bargain that I want to go back and just keep the tooth if it meant I could live, to trying to jump out of the chair or yank the mask off (which I didn't actually do.) It was NOT like my "life flashing before my eyes", just this flood of thoughts of how the people I care about will find out, and how will they take it, how unfair it is, sadness for my little boy.... (In summation, I was ABSOLUTELY convinced that I was about to die in this dentist chair). Then,...... this sudden comfort and warmth, like I had no worries in the world, and then this super bright, white light started as a small circle and then expanded all around me, like I was being washed with light. (I would compare it to stepping out of a freezer into bright sunshine, and feeling like you thaw instantly and are washed with light).
Then I woke up. The Dr. was sitting over me, completely normal,no panic or like anything had happened. She said, "Alright, you did great.", and got up and left. The Nurse sat me up in the chair, also with no sign of panic or like anything had happened, and told me to just breath in the Oxygen for a second. She removed the mask, and told me to sit there for a minute before I tried to stand. Then, after a minute or two, I got up and she walked me to the front desk. I am, understandably, REALLY freaked out. It kind of crossed my mind that maybe this was my imagination, and I had really died in there. Then I talked myself out of that, as it was crazy. No one there acted like anything had happened, which actually made me feel even weirder, because in my mind, something had DEFINITELY gone wrong.
Anyway, I was so freaked out, I just sat in my car for a bit. I actually googled nitrous oxide and reactions or hallucinations, but couldn't find anything like that. I called a buddy of mine who is a Dentist and asked if he had ever heard of anything like that. He kind of busted my balls, and said patients had told him some pretty crazy stories, but nothing like that. He kind of convinced me it was just a wild hallucination and that I was fine. I went ahead and drove home, but couldn't sleep. I slept like crap that night, and every night since. I do now believe that nothing really went wrong, but it still has me freaked out because it felt so real. Freaked out may not even be the right phrase, more like fascinated.
Have any of you ever heard of anything like this? What kind of hallucinations are "normal" under nitrous? I want to call the Dr. and ask if they noticed anything from their point of view, but don't want to sound like a crazy person. Especially since she's a friend of a friend. Just wanting feedback on if anyone has experienced anything like this.
I had a wisdom tooth extracted on Friday, which involved getting Nitrous Oxide. I had never had Nitrous before, so didn't know what to expect, but everyone told me it was just like feeling a little drunk. But, that is not the experience I had.
First, when the nurse turned it on, she said I would melt into the chair. I didn't at first, but after closing my mouth and breathing through my nose, I quickly got there. Just felt a little loopy and relaxed. As she started prepping stuff, my mind started wandering from intently focused on what I would do this weekend, including making to do lists and shopping lists in my head, to not giving a damn about anything, then back to super focused. Then I started getting a little paranoid, like the nurse was screwing with me. (Part of this could be due to the fact that the Dr. was a friend of a friend, and she had already teased me a little). Anyway, nothing too extreme. The nurse started talking to the Dr. when she walked in, and the Dr. joked that the Nitrous was leaking. (I really do think she was joking because she laughed afterward and patted me on the shoulder.)
This is when it gets weird....
(The following is as it happened from MY point of view)
The nurse asked the Dr. a question, then repeated it, then repeated it, then repeated it, then repeated it faster, until she was just repeating the last word like it was a broken record skipping.......then it went black. I woke up (no idea after how long, but definitely less than a minute), and the Dr. asks if I'm doing ok. I'm suddenly back to feeling a little woozy, but nothing too weird. She gives me the Novocaine shot, then pulls the tooth, then stitches up my gum, all while I feel basically normal (maybe a little more loopy than earlier) other than numb mouth. Then the Dr. asks a question, then asks again, then asks again, then asks again, until it's like a broken record skipping again, then it goes black again. After what felt like just a second, I come back to, but am super paranoid now and feeling like they are either screwing with me or something has gone terribly wrong. I felt like I was conscious, but "frozen" in the sense that I couldn't move or blink or say anything, but knew what was going on around me. I fade between blacking out and consciousness for a bit, but it feels like someone is poking me in the chest. But then some movie pops in my head, where that's how they simulated getting "the paddles", where every time they poked my chest it felt like a burst of consciousness and spasm for just a second, then back to black, repeated by chest poke, then flash/spasm, then back to black. This happened several times, and I felt like there was panic in the room. Then I had a sense of panic where I thought I was in serious trouble.
And then.......... it honestly crossed my mind that I was about to die. It was like this rush of emotions, from disbelief, to sadness for my Wife and Kid, to panic, to being pissed that I was going to die in a freaking Dentist chair just trying to get a wisdom tooth extracted, to trying to bargain that I want to go back and just keep the tooth if it meant I could live, to trying to jump out of the chair or yank the mask off (which I didn't actually do.) It was NOT like my "life flashing before my eyes", just this flood of thoughts of how the people I care about will find out, and how will they take it, how unfair it is, sadness for my little boy.... (In summation, I was ABSOLUTELY convinced that I was about to die in this dentist chair). Then,...... this sudden comfort and warmth, like I had no worries in the world, and then this super bright, white light started as a small circle and then expanded all around me, like I was being washed with light. (I would compare it to stepping out of a freezer into bright sunshine, and feeling like you thaw instantly and are washed with light).
Then I woke up. The Dr. was sitting over me, completely normal,no panic or like anything had happened. She said, "Alright, you did great.", and got up and left. The Nurse sat me up in the chair, also with no sign of panic or like anything had happened, and told me to just breath in the Oxygen for a second. She removed the mask, and told me to sit there for a minute before I tried to stand. Then, after a minute or two, I got up and she walked me to the front desk. I am, understandably, REALLY freaked out. It kind of crossed my mind that maybe this was my imagination, and I had really died in there. Then I talked myself out of that, as it was crazy. No one there acted like anything had happened, which actually made me feel even weirder, because in my mind, something had DEFINITELY gone wrong.
Anyway, I was so freaked out, I just sat in my car for a bit. I actually googled nitrous oxide and reactions or hallucinations, but couldn't find anything like that. I called a buddy of mine who is a Dentist and asked if he had ever heard of anything like that. He kind of busted my balls, and said patients had told him some pretty crazy stories, but nothing like that. He kind of convinced me it was just a wild hallucination and that I was fine. I went ahead and drove home, but couldn't sleep. I slept like crap that night, and every night since. I do now believe that nothing really went wrong, but it still has me freaked out because it felt so real. Freaked out may not even be the right phrase, more like fascinated.
Have any of you ever heard of anything like this? What kind of hallucinations are "normal" under nitrous? I want to call the Dr. and ask if they noticed anything from their point of view, but don't want to sound like a crazy person. Especially since she's a friend of a friend. Just wanting feedback on if anyone has experienced anything like this.