Can we get dental novocaine post GBS?

    • Anonymous
      October 3, 2008 at 10:38 pm

      I had several caps come off tonight (eating Cheerios and milk!)and need to find a dentist. ( Luckily they are on the bottom and towards the back.)But I need to know if novocaine brings back the GBS. Has anyone had any experience with this? I am hoping to avoid it, but just in case I would like to know so I can make an educated decision. Since it is a Friday night, will I be able to last the week-end without any discomfort? ( I am avoiding the word P-A-I-N so I don’t give my mouth any ideas!! ) Luckily there is none at the moment. And how does trouble know to come on a Friday night??

      Carolyn
      GBS 1986
      GBS 2006

    • Anonymous
      October 4, 2008 at 1:17 am

      I cannot think of a reason and have not heard of one getting a relapse of GBS from novocaine–meaning a new immune attack. What I have heard is that the effects of novocaine/lidocaine can be different after GBS because the nerves may have been affected. This may AT THAT AREA make it feel like the GBS has relapsed, but it should be only that area and transient.

      I have had novocaine twice since GBS. The first time was on the right side and was no different than any other time I have had novocaine. The second time was on the left lower jaw where I had had symptoms of GBS with prolonged numbness. The novocaine there lasted much, much longer than any other time I have had it–about 5-6 hours! And that area of my face felt just a little more numb than its baseline now for about two days and then it was the same. There was no worsening of the rest of me.

      I hope this helps.
      WithHope for a cure of these diseases

    • Anonymous
      October 4, 2008 at 5:25 am

      Shouldn’t be a problem – I had a tooth pulled last week, it was a piece of cake. No effects from the numbing agent… no pain from the tooth being pulled… no worsening of symptoms due to the stress of the procedure.

    • Anonymous
      October 4, 2008 at 1:48 pm

      Carolyn, Please do a search on posts made by Jethro. He has great information on this subject on a post somewhere here. I do believe there is some little problem with getting novacaine. I myself have heard of it not working as it would on normal patients. Please make sure your dentist knows about gbs before treatment. Take care.

    • Anonymous
      October 4, 2008 at 11:08 pm

      Nate’s dentist, both of them have said that he should use Carbocaine instead of Novocaine. It has something to do with blood pressure. Regular Novocaine has Epinephrine in it, Carbocaine does not have any.

    • Anonymous
      October 5, 2008 at 4:05 am

      I’ve been told by several dentists and oral surgeons that they don’t actually use Novacaine anymore, they use variations of it that are safer and more effective. That could be just this particular area of the US but I was first told that over 10 years ago and was told that when I got my tooth pulled last week as well. It’s always best to ask though – and I did refuse to be knocked out for the extraction. They thought I was brave – I was just wary of the effects of the anesthesia on my CIDP. :rolleyes:

    • Anonymous
      October 6, 2008 at 4:02 am

      I probably should have said before that I do not know that the novocaine lasted longer in me because of the previous GBS, I just suspect it might be so. As Julie pointed out, the type of drug used can vary over time or between dentists. Also the time that lasted so long, the dentist did “two shots” so it may have been a slightly different way to numb the teeth. The most important point I think anyone has said is to make sure that the dentist knows about the GBS and that everyone knows that damaged nerves might not act exactly the same are undamaged ones.
      WithHope

    • Anonymous
      October 6, 2008 at 7:04 am

      😀 What about Lidocaine? Don’t some dentist use this drug also? I hate seeing a dentist and getting teeth pulled. Those shots sting! I hate needles and always get a heart beat rush when they give me those needles in my mouth. Not to mention the high blood pressure that happens also. Linda is a big chicken when it comes to needles. I hate needles! LOL!

    • Anonymous
      October 6, 2008 at 10:30 pm

      Thanks all! I still have’t heard from the dentist although I left a message Friday night. I taught her when she was in middle school – she was a gentle soul and an A student. But I doubt if dentists know about GBS since alot of doctors don’t seem to. I am hoping it is a simple cement it back on. One thing I learned this year…..if you don’t like the answer, try another person. Piano tuner #1 said it was not worth tuning – I should sell it for parts. Piano tuner #2 said it would be no problem to tune and it was made from good wood. Had I listened to the first one, my piano would be gone. There are alot of people out there who don’t know what they are doing!!! It’s scary.

    • Anonymous
      October 7, 2008 at 6:02 am

      I had the information needed and told the Dentist not to give me Novocaine or Lidocaine and they did not listen and, ofcourse, we waited and waited and the shot of Novocaine never worked. I was given another shot and had the limit of what was allowed. I was sent home. One hour later I was numb but it wore off quickly. I went back in and told them that I should not take Lidocaine and they gave me a shot. It took a long time for it to take effect and my lip went numb but I could feel that area where the broken filling was to be repaired. Again, I said was that the other kind of shot and they said no it was the LIDOCAINE. I told them, I told you I could not take Lidocaine. Second time they did not listen to me!! We drilled without anything because it was a small filling. I had another either cavity or broken filling and went back in and this time they gave me a shot of Carbocaine. Guess what!! It worked. I might add that I told them all this in the beginning and they did not listen. I am not a happy camper! I am glad it was not something I was allergic to! I went in again in July and they gave me the shot again of Novocaine and it worked. I have come to the conclusion that they don’t read the patients records and we have to be our own advocate and make sure we double check on everything any more. I had even printed out the article that was on this forum for my records and had given them that. I don’t know what else I could have done, except read the label!. Knowledge is power but staff that listens to their patients too would be nice! 😮

    • Anonymous
      October 7, 2008 at 6:31 pm

      Hmm! I wrote this down about the Carbocaine. Might see when I go to the dentist to give me that instead and see how that works out. I know the last novacaine they gave me which I actually think he said Lidocaine and want to ask him next time caused my heart to race and it took me several minutes for it to calm down. It could have been nerves too for like I said.. I get all white and pale when I see those needles coming towards my mouth. LOL! I have been scared of dentist ever since my mom took me to a bad dentist. I was getting braces back then as a teen and they had to pulled two teeth. He gave me the shots in my mouth and left the room. By the time he came back in the numbness wore off. Told him I could feel things and he told me that I shouldn’t and it was too early for numbness to wear off. Well he got one tooth pulled and I jumped two feet out of that chair with a yelping hollow! Not to mention I bit my dentist pretty bad. I refused him pulling the other tooth. My mom ended up taking me to another dentist and told me this man was really good. I was frightened! LOL! This dentist let my mother come in the room with me. He gave me two shots and sat in the room with us and kept asking me how I felt. I think my mom talked with him before we came in there and he knew I was scared to death. But the second tooth did great getting pulled. But still every time I have to see a dentist and get a tooth pulled, I get petrified! Childhood thing I guess!

    • Anonymous
      October 9, 2008 at 5:00 am

      I had my followup yesterday morning from getting my tooth pulled and I asked the doc what he used – Lidocaine. I was surprised and said other people have had trouble getting numb from Lidocaine and he basically said it’s a matter of making sure you numb the nerve itself, not just the tissue around it. He hits me up first with a very small needle and just kind of dabs the skin around where he wants the bulk of it to go. Once that has kicked in he finds the nerve itself and poof, less than two minutes later I couldn’t feel a thing and never had any pain at all.

      A couple of years ago I had to have a root canal and that doctor told me that it sometimes depends on how dialated the blood vessels are in a person’s mouth – so I try to drink lots of hot water before I am planning to get numbed up to make sure the numbing agent can make it to where it needs to go.

      Good luck, hopefully I’m done splitting my teeth and won’t go through this again. 😮

    • Anonymous
      October 10, 2008 at 6:34 pm

      Carolyn, I found the post from Jethro about lidocaine and such. I just tried to post it here, but it still won’t go, so here is the place you can read it. Click on members list, go to the letter J, Click on Jethro, click on all posts by jethro, go to page 13, thread name is gbs id bracelets, bracelet info, you can read the long article he typrd in there and there are a few short ones there also. It is something you can print off and take with you also.
      My dentist did research on gbs/cidp, just for me:) He is just too cool, I guess. He started it while I was still in the hospital, and even informed his entire staff and other drs about it.:) There are some good ones out there, hope you have one of them.

    • Anonymous
      October 14, 2008 at 10:01 pm

      Thursday I went to the local dentist and she said I needed a root canal in #18 and recommended an endodontist who she wanted to put in a post to strengthen the tooth for another cap. I had to rent a car and drive an hour to get to him in Allentown, PA. He had not heard of GBS – good start. I explained that I wanted Carbocaine. He gave me that and then asked if he could put a few DROPS of Lidocaine on the tooth. I said OK – because he said DROPS. Then he comes at me with that humongous needle and I said, “You said DROPS!” He said the epinephrine would only last a few seconds. I think we GBS sufferers really try to protect ourselves and the medical profession makes it difficult. Anyhow….after an hour of doing the root canal he tells me I shall have to come back for him to finish it – (he only allows and hour and 1 5 minutes per patient.) BUT he said he had serious doubts that I could get a cap on it – there was not enough tooth there for a molar. NOW he tells me!!! WHy didn’t he mention that before he started? I am trying NOT to put chemicals into my body/nerves and he wants me to come back if I decide to keep the tooth and get more lidocaine/carbocaine.
      He suggested getting it pulled. But he was going to only charge me $200 for the visit if I decided to get it pulled and not the $895 if he completed it. What about us risking our nervous systems to undergo these procedures??
      I decided to try and keep the tooth so I have to go back to him next week. ..knowing what I have to go through AGAIN. I had been to an endodontist is Tampa and he was painless and gentle and looked just like Tom Sellick!! Why can some dentists give painless injections and others can’t??