Hospitalization/General Anesthesia - Page 5

[Clarity]

I have heard acupuncture can help clear the afteraffects of anasthesia...it generally wears off me pretty quickly so I didn't notice the effect...

[Smilemomma]

Michele, I'm so glad all went well and most importantly, is BEHIND you now! They bounce back faster than we do, I think. In the archives I tell the story of when my dd had minor eye surgery of about 5 minutes duration. I about gave myself a stroke, and had to go to bed when we got home! DD was bouncing all around, happy as a little clam! I'm happy Daniel's fine, and LOL on Dad!

Snugglemama and Michele, I apologize for not getting here soon enough to answer! There is quite a long thread in the archives about general anesthesia, I was hoping maybe that would help!
There's also a thread that may still be on here where I am asking for advice about my own little smoochie, so it's never clear cut.

I'm with you and waiting on the skin tag. He may be the one telling YOU he wants it off, you never know. Or he might like it! Non-health related things are really up to the owner of the afflicted part, imo.

What a great, supportive thread! Yay mamas!

Debbiemom, thanks for the tip on the book, I will get it! I want to empower my boy, but not make him an aggressive, my-own-way kid, either.

[snugglemama]

Thanks, Debbie and Smilemomma, for your support. That book sounds interesting, Debbie, I think I'll check it out. Not reading anything right now, and was looking for something different to read. And to answer the question about the size of the skin tag, the doctor said it is larger than many and would require a couple stitches.

Smilemomma, that's an interesting perspective, that he might not even mind it. And when I think about it my first reaction is that I don't want it removed because it is part of who he is, and I like him just the way he came out at birth. I guess I am sentimental about his body parts! When my family members all thought it should be removed before school age, I guess I thought if they all thought that way they must be right. I'm going to hold off and consider it for a while longer, though. Thanks for your insight!

[Smilemomma]

Oh, hurray, hurray! Yay, simonee, and Audrey, too!

Wow, it sounds like she did just great! "we go there again sometime"; how cute! It's wonderful that she's all set now, AND with no lingering dental fears. AWESOME! Woo hoo for you, mama! I'm so happy there wasn't as much as you thought.

And you're so welcome on the archive thing. I'm glad it's working so well! It's easier for everyone to find stuff, AND I don't answer the same thing 25 times! Win-win! It's so much more calming, no matter what you're going through (think back to childbirth, can you imagine our poor grandmothers, who knew nothing?), to at least know what to expect, and that's why I'm here!

[Alexander]

Did she agree to have the work done?

She could be feeling violated and well pissed off!

a

[Debbiemom]

Chevy974, how is your baby now? Has she gotten better?

You mentioned that she is hand-flapping. What exactly do you mean? Can you describe that a little better?

[Arduinna]

Chevy, I'm so sorry you and she are going through this ((HUGS)). Is she feeling better yet? I hope she is.

I wonder if the reason she was acting that way was because she was in pain? From your post it seems like she had a root canal? I had one of those about a year or so ago. I was in so much pain still the next day the dentist ended up pulling my tooth. The problem was that it was infected and was a little swollen. So when they did the root canal it closed up the area that the sweeling had to go. Which left lots of pressure and pain.

I don't know if that could be her problem, but thought I would share just incase. I hope she is better and my post was not needed.

[chevy974]

she is some what better hand flapping i mean standing and flapping her hand really fast alot of autistic kids do it. She didnt have a root canal. 2 pulpotomies 1 stainless crown. My homeopath thinks it is a reation to the anestetic. Those drugs sometimes will effect the central nervous system I really dont know what to think. I will say this she is by far NOT the same. She didnt consent to the work she is only 17 mo old but she wsnt happy when they come to take her from us so yes she may be pissed but she goes and sits in the corner with head down like she is depressed. I called the dentist and he has NO idea said he never seen this happen before. UGGH i just dont know:

[Debbiemom]

You must be getting so worried about her! Did the homeopath say anything about whether this reaction will have long-lasting effects?

I asked about the hand-flapping because my oldest son does it & he's most likely high-functioning autistic (we've yet to pursue a definite diagnosis) and I wondered if it was similar to autistic hand-flapping. Have you done much reading about autism? I know there are a lot of theories out there about the different causes, but I've never read about an anesthesia trigger. Have you considered taking her to see a neurologist?

Have you been able to find any information online about this type of reaction to anesthesia? Is it possible it's not the anesthetic but something else used during the procedure? I've also read about the preservatives used in anesthesia sometimes causing allergic reactions, maybe this is something similar?

(((hugs))) I hope you get some helpful answers soon, from someone.

[simonee]

Thanks for your sweet responses, ladies.

You get to see the tooth soon, Frankenstein's bride
I bet it looks better than yours, or mine (I had the tooth from hell pulled today and got a big hole now)
I love your new signature! Give them watermelon when they start yelling!

Smilemomma, about your extra #D: One word ~ EBay

The good thing is, she always wants to brush her "tooth that the kid dentist fixed." That's a couple of long arguments a day less!

[chevy974]

At this point we are using some remedies to try and rid her system of the CRAP they use. Also one concern is the stainless crown And the nickel content. The dentist OF COURSE said its completly safe YA right and also told me the mercury fillings were safe and had to fight with him NOT to use it. I just got done sending him a package full of info on the dangers of them filling with silver fillings (MERCURY). I am sorry if i sound hostile I am just angry, sad, scared and mad the medical community doesnt recognize the dangers of the stuff they use for our kids. And i have watched her change and all the dentis could say is OH i am sorry i have NEVER seen this before i dont know what to say. So i am gonna give it alittle time with the homeopathy and then move on to other treatment. I can say this i dont care if all her teeth fall out i will NEVER do it again I would have rather had her toothless.
thanks for letting me vent

[Debbiemom]

Have you talked to the anesthesiologist? Maybe he/she would be more knowledgeable about this type of reaction. I tried doing some web searches last night to see if there is anything out there related to this but I couldn't find anything at all. However, I did find I lot of articles about side effects and reactions (none of them neurological, though) at a website for a anesthesiology journal, so maybe the anesthesiologist would have more resources.

[MamaInHarmony]

What kind of anesthetic did they use on you daughter? Was it through an IV? My dd is going in on friday and they are using oral sedation for four fillings and I am so worried about it. It is interesting what you said about your instinct and not following it. I feel the same way, my instincts are telling me not to, but I can't help but feel that her teeth are part of her overall health, and I want them to be healthy and start with a clean slate. I am torn. I took Smilemomma's advice and got some Young Living's Peace and Calming and some Roman chamomile oil so I hope that eases some of my dd's anxieties. I am going to use some too as well as some rescue remedy for the both of us. Pray for us this friday. Thank you.
And Chevy, I will be praying for daughter as well.

[chevy974]

She was sedated by IV. We tried to prepare her but she is so young i am not sure she understood. We are alwasy telling her how pretty her teeth look and she will smile and stick her tounge out at me. Again I do also feel that it was important for her overall health but its hard to see your child act like this after a procedure. I must add that Chaela was always a HIGH need child very hard to please and nursed every 20 min the first 6 mo of life and still doesnt eat a whole lot of solids she is very needed on me still today at almost 18 mo where as my other kids at this age were like "leave me alone mom"

She may just be mad but its been so long already i figured she be over it by now.

MAMAINHARMONY I will pray for your sweet on I am sure she will be fine. I think chaela is a rare occurance. But i do believe in mommies instict and i will be sure to follow it more closly but sometimes its hard to decide the differ between it and plain fear.
I wish you the best please update me.

[Debbiemom]

It is interesting that you said she is high-needs to start with; my son who had IV anesthesia also didn't react very well to it. He wasn't acting exactly like your daughter, but he is older, 4.5. I wonder if they are simply very sensitive to the stress and trauma of it all, due to being high needs/spirited to start with. I have heard other reports, from friends with high-needs/spirited children, that their children had unexpected reactions to being anesthisized.

My son is still showing some effects of his procedure (it's been a couple months); the most obvious being his reaction when he skins his knee or breaks the skin in any way. He absolutely will not let us LOOK at it even (seriously, if we even glance his way, he starts screaming!) and insists he is NOT hurt. He seems to be afraid that we will take him to a doctor. He also talks about "tooth pullers" a lot (he had extractions) which just gives me chills. We have a pair of scissor-type tweezers that I think I'm going to replace because he is absolutely convinced that they are "tooth-pullers." I have no idea if that is what real tooth-pullers look like and I've been afraid to find out.

Anyway, I agree with smilemomma about re-connecting with her as much as she will allow. When my son gets hurt & freaks out the way he does, the only thing that will eventually calm him is to quietly talk about how he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to and that no one will touch him if he says no. When she's not terribly upset you can talk to her about how it's okay for her to be mad and angry about what happened. I know she's very young but she can probably comprehend a least a little.

[AnnMarie]

JMO, but I wouldn't take the risk just for something cosmetic. It's far better to teach our children to love ourselves the way we are and to be accepting of other's differences too. I wouldn't do it.

[Tamarack]

i.v. sedation vs general anesthesia for a 20 month old

Hi,

I've been reading these forums for a few months, but just registered so I could ask this question. I searched through the dental archives but didn't see this particular question addressed directly; please forgive me if I missed it!

A few weeks ago, I noticed brown staining on my toddler's molars. Since my older son had a regular scheduled appointment coming up, I brought both of them in. To my huge shock and dismay, we discovered that my younger son has four cavities -- one on the back of a chipped front incisor, one on a molar chewing surface, and two on the cheek sides of his bottom molars, where I had noticed the staining. He also has an area of weak enamel on another molar that the dentist would like to fill preventatively. The dentist is calling this defective enamel.

The dentist originally wanted to do the work in the hospital under general anesthesia, but when I mentioned that we don't have dental insurance and have a huge deductible for regular health insurance, he suggested that it would be cheaper to do it in his office, bringing in an anesthesiologist to perform i.v. sedation. Both the dentist and our pediatrician are telling me that the risks of general anesthesis and iv sedation are comparable. The cost difference is about $500, certainly a good chunk, but not enough to me to justify ANY increased risk.

This is a large pediatric dental practice; they bring in this anesthesiologist twice a month, and they're about five minutes away from the hospital. Are there any questions I need to be
asking? If cost were no consideration, what would you do?

I'm also assuming that we actually NEED to do something or risk even bigger problems lster; the dentist is planning to do a full exam and x-rays while my son is under, so there's always the possibility that he'll find more decay when he's not trying to get a screaming toddler to open his mouth and cooperate! My husband wants to try to delay treatment if possible, but I know that the cavity on the back of the chipped tooth is already fairly large, so I don't think we can arrest the progress. He's sooooo little, and he's going to need these baby teeth for so much longer...

Sorry this message is rambly. I'm really just freaking out and wanting to know the safest treatment option for my baby.

Amy

[Smilemomma]

Amy, breathe, breathe! I can see that you have thought this out very thoroughly, and clearly you are a loving, well-researched mama who wants the best for her baby. I agree totally that the work needs to be done, and I admire your strength in pursuing good health for your baby, even at discomfort for yourself. That is truly mother love.

Blessings to you, Amy, and welcome to the boards! It's a wonderful place.

Best of everything to you and your little one, and please come back and let us know how it went. So many moms are looking down this same path with you, join hands -- you have a sisterhood of strength here.

[Tamarack]

Thank you so much for your reply, Smilemomma! You really targeted the kinds of questions I have about the sedation and its safety; unfortunately, when I do a web search on the topic, I end up with all sorts of technical articles with information on mortality and morbidity that leave me absolutely hyperventilating. It makes me feel a lot better to realize that the setup they have in the office is the best possible design.

I'm going to ask for a phone consultation with the anesthesiologist, and I'll prepare a list of questions, then I want to get this scheduled as quickly as possible. I was reading through the dental archives and you have provided SO MUCH information on decay, its causes, and prevention; I hope that once we get everything fixed, I can apply all of it so we're never in this situation again.

It is clear from the archives that you devote an extraordinary amount of time and energy to these boards, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate this your efforts and this wonderful resource! My computer time is usually limited to reading because I am usually nursing while online and I'm the world's slowest one-handed typist, but I'll definitely let you know how everything turns out. Thanks again!

Amy

[milesmom]

I have a similar situation with my son who's 30 months. I got a second opinion first. We've decided to take him for check-ups every few months, watch very carefully and hopefully hold off until he's able to cooperate and fully understand what's happening. The only thing we are doing is brushing religiously (we weren't before) but we are doing this without flouride. I would get a clear answer on if you can take some steps (ie. brushing more) and keep a very close eye on the teeth. I'm not doing anything that requires sedation for something "preventative". If it beomes timely I will. I may be off target re your question but I can relate.

Good Luck.