"Novocaine" reaction????

[whippetgirl]

I'm a dentist, so I will start out by saying that we don't use "novacaine" anymore. We have at our disposal an assortment of very safe local anesthetics with varying amounts of epinephrine or not...The epinephrine (adrenaline) is what caused your reaction. We use the same locals that physicians use. The epinephrine helps make the anesthesia more profound.
Informed consent is something that should always be given as this is a not uncommon, though unpleasant, reaction. Some people even hate the idea of being numb so much, they do without anesthesia. (I don't recommend it). I think that your reaction most likely was associated with the pump as injections should always be given with aspiration (that way you know if you are in a blood vessel).
I have had reactions to the epinephrine myself, so I know how scary it can be.
As to the jaw problem mentioned....it would be helpful to have a bite block. That way you close down on the bite block instead of opening your jaw and holding it there. Much more comfortable and less possibility of jaw problems.

[lph]

What whippetgirl said makes sense. I had some dental work done over a period of time by a student at the dental "college", supervised by his professor of course (and gawped at by tons of other students, but that's part of the game), and anyway - to begin with I was pretty tense and disliked getting the anesthetic, but after a while I got pretty relaxed about it.

That's when I noticed that sometimes I'd react as if I'd been really scared - jittery, heart racing, "weak" elbows and knees - even though I felt mentally fine. I mentioned it, and when I was told that there was adrenaline in the anesthetic (helps reduce bleeding, I believe he said) it all fell into place. I get the exact same "rush" when I almost slip on my bike, for example See, even got this bike-related.

I've never had the eyesight problem, though, and I can imagine it must be quite scary.