Dental Nightmare! Dont let this happen to you!

I've had most of my teeth taken out. I started getting root canals and crowns when i was 18, but eventually they didn't take and one by one i had to get them extracted. I didn't lose my teeth to the drugs though. I lost them to an eating disorder i've had since i turned 13. I use to be VERY heavy when i was a child. When i hit 257lbs at the age of 13 i got so sick of feeling inferior and being made fun of that i guess i kinda went off the deep end. Now I'm 132 and look grossly thin but its because i've been unable to chew. Believe me, after a while you get SICK of soft food and stop eating altogether. It wasn't like i hadn't tried other methods of weight loss, it just seemed that no matter how much or little i ate or exercised, i just kept gaining weight at a rapid rate and i didn't know what else to do. To this day i still can't explain why i was gaining weight like that. Anyway that's part of the reason i started using dope is to curve my appetite and stuff.
Any way, i had 8 teeth left on the bottom, but they weren't the right teeth for me to be able to get a partial and they were in really bad shape and causing alot of discomfort. So I had them taken out on the 25th. I requested to be put to sleep. I've always stayed awake for extractions but that was WAY to many for me to want to experience!
First off, the oral surgeon used Versed, TALWIN, and propofol to put me to sleep. Something in talwin causes detox symptoms because its like some sort of antagonist like suboxone. I told the dr i was a methadone patient and he said he wouldn't give me anything that would make me sick or interact with the methadone when i took it later (they recommended i take it after the procedure and after the anesthesia wore off). I started off having a horrible headache when the medicine started to wear off. When it got too bad i took my methadone. it helped for about 4hours and then the headache came back. I was getting hot and cold flashes, i was so nauseous i threw up once (It was torture after having that many teeth pulled), and on top of feeling like i'd been kicked in my mouth, my whole body ached. I tried to sleep it off as much as i could, and i didn't take the vicodin he prescribed to me even though i wanted to. When i dosed the next day the same thing happened. The day after i had to report to the clinic to dose and get my takeouts. After i dosed that time i felt normal all day. Thank God that only lasted 2 days! I'm proud of how i dealt with it. I had a bottle of pain meds that i could've taken and they may have made me feel better physically but i didn't touch them because i now have 269 days sober and i didn't want to mess it up.
I'm still quite sore but i'm sticking to aspirin and tylenol. My doc says if i take the pain pills as prescribed it won't mess up my sobriety, but then i wouldn't be able to say i've gone this many days without taking ANYTHING. I made it through my C-section with ibuprofin, so i can make it through this too.
In closing, if you ever have to go under anesthesia, make SURE you not only tell the people you're a methadone patient but also ask exactly what they'll be using to put you to sleep. I didn't. I trusted he KNEW not to give me something that would have adverse effects. He said he did. If i would have asked what they were using i would have been able to tell him not to give me talwin because they educate us at our clinic on what meds to stay away from and why. They have signs posted EVERYWHERE on what not to take while on methadone.

Oh iamme,
How horrible that you had to go through what you did. If your dentist would have taken the time to do just a little bit of reading it's possible that things would have turned out differently for you.
One thing you said that did catch my attention,

Quote :

My doc says if i take the pain pills as prescribed it won't mess up my sobriety, but then i wouldn't be able to say i've gone this many days without taking ANYTHING

iamee, there is a difference here. If you would have taken medication to help your pain which you obviously needed, you would not have messed up your recovery/sobriety. Now if you would have been out using and abusing those pain pills then I would agree with what you said.
The purpose of MMT is so that you can lead a quality life and not suffer.
A patient who utilizes methadone to manage their addiction is like any other patient who utilizes medication to manage other diseases or illnesses. I take Synthroid to help me manage Hypothyroidism. Without the Synthroid my body goes completely haywire even effecting my heart. I also take heart medication for heart disease and use inhalers to help with COPD.
I am proud of you for the way you handled the situation and at the same time I wish you would not have let yourself suffer.

Thank you for posting your experience. A shared experience often helps the next person.
Take care,
Dee

methadone is medicine just like Vicodin is medicine, that you are perscribed by your dr. so Dee is right, if you would of taken your medicine (vicodin) you would not of messed up your sobriety.. Theres a big diffrence, from Taking medication when perscribed and abusing medication.. Congrates on your 269 days,, thats really awesome

Thanks for responding. I look so forward to hearing replies from people. i understand what you mean about the medicine not hurting me if i take it as prescribed. My clinic doc says i have a decent mindset to keep myself clean while my councilor tells me i'm WAY to hard on myself. She worries that if i slip up i'll be in a state of complete devastation because of my overall outlook on using ANY type of narcotic. To be truthful, the reason i have tried to program my brain like this is because i have an addictive personality. All addicts do to a point i guess but i mean its BAD. I was diagnosed with that along with bipolar when i was just 16. The bipolar diagnosis i sometimes question because i've never had to stay on medication for it but the addictive personality i know is right. I'm afraid i won't be able to take that medicine as its prescribed to me. Initially i wouldn't even hold my own methadone. I was going to give it to my mom till i had to dose. That only lasted a few hours and i realized that i needed to be an adult and act responsibly if this treatment was ever gonna work. I held my husbands pain meds when he had his heart surgery and was never tempted to take one. I never broke the seal on my own pain meds that i got from the dentist. They were discarded at my clinic this morning. But IF I HAD taken any, whose to say i would've stopped at 1, or 5, or the whole 40? I didn't want to risk it. It's easier for me to stay COMPLETELY abstinent at all costs than to worry about losing everything i've worked so hard for. My family is still talking about how amazing it is that i made it through my c-section recovery AND the extraction of 8 teeth without using anything but tylenol and motrin. They think it's because i'm so strong willed but the truth is i need to stick to my guns because i know the drugs could very well get the best of me again. I now have (I think) 274 days of sobriety which is GREAT but it says nothing for almost 11 years of addiction. I act like it's not a struggle for me anymore, but some days a craving comes out of no where. When that happens, i think about all i have and everything i could have (and almost) lost.

iamme,
After 11 years of addiction, 274 days of sobriety IS most definitely great! And you should be very proud of yourself.
I understand having cravings. I don't have them very often and when I do they don't last very long. I remind myself of where I was, what I did and where I could be again if I decided it would be okay to use " just once" I've done the "just once" and it never ends at that. "Just once" leads to Just one more after this.

My mind set used to be, if I kicked this time, I can kick again. But I finally had to ask myself how many kicks do I have left in me. To be honest, I don't think I had anymore left. This had to be the last one.
I have to stay mindful of where I am and in the moment. I have the opportunity to wake up everyday and do the things I used to talk about doing. I hated not having any time in the day for simple things like taking a walk or watching a movie with my son. Simple things that mean so much when we don't have them.
It is always good to hear from you. Enjoy your weekend and come back soon.
Dee

I've went to counsiling(I know i spelled that wrong) all my life for addiction and eating disorder treatment. I was hospitalized twice for eating disorder- once here in michigan for 2weeks and once at rogers memorial hospital in wisconson for a month. I also recieved help for addiction while i was there but i wasn't ready to quit i guess, because i started using as soon as i stepped out their doors. I have a felony on my record for possession and driving on crack cocaine (which makes it hard to find a job. thank god i have a good man with a good job).
Those other methods of treatment didn't involve any type of medication, which is what i really needed. desperately. The methadone makes it possible for me to be the wife and mother i need to be. It makes it possible for me to look around me and see how much i have to be thankful for. Now days i notice how beautiful the sunrise and sunsets are, how great fresh cut grass smells, how green everything is after a thunder storm, and how wonderful the warm summer rain feels on my skin. These are just a few things that i never stopped to think about when i was using. SO many things make me happy now. I use to be miserable all the time. Now i feel like a huge weight has been lifted and i can breathe. I would NEVER EVER EVER want to fall back in to my old ways. I may have had a heartbeat, but in MY opinion, i was already dead. I had no joy whatsoever. I was always angry or depressed, lethargic, isolated, you name it. Now it's the opposite. When i was in treatment for about a month my husband said he felt like he was meeting me for the first time. He had tears in his eyes. That broke my heart. We've been together 4years and he's never seen this side of me. He said he stayed with me because he loves me SO MUCH and he knew that i wasn't myself. He said he knew his wife was in there somewhere and he's happy she finally came out. My husbands never touched a drug IN HIS LIFE except last july when he had his heart surgery and he would take one or two pain pills when he was hurting. he didn't understand anything about drugs and addiction until about two years after we were together. I'm so lucky he didn't leave me and take our kids with him. Brian said that when he said those vows on our wedding day he meant every word and he would be there for me "for better or worse" and "in sickness and in health", and he has been. I'm truly blessed.