Hi Everyone-Well here I sit with a tooth abcess which started Fri. and of course I have to wait till Mon. to see a dentist. This is stressful and has been a challenge to get threw this weekend so this is how I have done it. In between the pain and trying everything to help me out I just kept real busy. Today it is wearing on me and I could feel the anxiety coming on so I gave myself permission to feel anxious like of course I am anxious I am in pain, did my breathing and used compassionate self talk.My clue that I was heading to the internal anxiety mode was the scary thoughts and what if,s and I could feel my heart starting to race so hear I was standing up doing my breathing and then to a chair and in a matter of minutes I had it all under control so I am proud of me right now. What was interesting about all this was that the prolonged pain which is stress on the body took it,s toll and today I am wearing thin and counting the hours till I see the dentist in the morning and what excites me the most is that I knew I was in a stressful situation and had to get threw it and I recognized my symptoms pre anxiety attack coming on and diffused it.Anyhow just wanted to share this as we do learn so much from each others posts. Timber

Timber:
Ouch!
Anticipating going to the dentist is not fun, but good job on handling it well!!
I recently had some dental work, and it was right in the middle of when I first started getting the attacks. So I wasn't as good at handling the situation as I am now. I had a panic attack as I drove over and thought I would have to turn around and come home. But I used my techniques of deep breathing and distraction methods and I made it to the dentist. Then when I got there I just told the dentist that I had been suffering from panic disorder. It really helped to tell him because then I was not so self conscious if I started to shake or act "strange". They would understand what was happening to me. He was really nice about it and told me to let him know if I needed to go to the restroom anytime during the procedure to take a break. Well I ended up making it through without having to stop. So telling your dentist of your panic disorder may help the situation. It's your call. I found it very helpful.
It was nice of you to take the time to share.

Hi amethyst98-Thanks for your reply-Just to add a bit of humor about all this my dentist knows about the anxiety bit and when I had told him he said to me how do you breathe in a the middle of a panic attack cause he had apparently had a panic attack and of course we both laughed. I am actually pretty good at going to the dentist,s office it is the Doctor's office that I really have to work at!!!! Timber

Ok, it is always something, bad tooth, gyn visit, lab tests, worry, worry. Family too causes lot of it, ones live with . have adult son at home with ADHD, gets into trouble, cant cope with real world and will accept no help, thinks has no problem, ok, how can that not stress me out?????? Told had Menieres 13 yrs ago and on Xanax since, unable to drive, wonder if all along was from anxiety. Have heard many who got wrong diagnosis and on drugs for years like em. . Excuse bad spelling, been stressful day. This is a great idea , hope help a lot of us.

Timber,

Last week I had a root canal...did you read my post?? What an experience!

I have to go for the other half of the proceedure on Monday!!

I had some high anxiety because I haven't ever had a root canal before but I am ready to go back and get the second half done and overwith.
I don't have much anticipatory anxiety because I know what he is going to do. I am only concerned about having my mouth opened for so long and having it aggrivating my TMJ.

Proud of you Timber that you noticed your stressful situation , accepted it, and moved forward.

Life is full of so many practice opportunities isn't it??

Hi sunset34-Thanks for your reply and yes I read your post on root canal and what was so amazing to me was that I was getting pain in my ear prior to the abcess and my ENT DR. checked it out and said he could see nothing so I figure it was the tooth now. This is a back molar so I am getting it pulled when the infection is gone and I am fine with that like get rid of it. I had a tooth abcess years ago but this one has topped the cake for discomfort-in fact it has been brutal. Good luck with the second part of your root canal-Timber