Tuesday, 29th March 2005

Morning: 10.30am

D-Day.
I can’t believe I decided to be brave and take all 4 wisdom teeth out at the same time. But then again, I don’t really have much of a choice because my assignments are all gonna be due soon.

Sigh …

Noon: 12pm

Ok I went to the clinic and they gave me 2 yellow pills known as pre-med. I took the pills at about 11.52am and surgery is due at 12.30pm. That’s the last thing i remember.

Wednesday, 30th March 2005

Upon some research … this was what I was issued … (to skip all this crap, just scroll down till you see the “WHAT HAPPENED TO ME” bit.

Sedatives

Like alcohol and tranquilizers, sedatives depress the nervous system. They have a calming effect and help induce sleep.

These are divided into 4 groups.

The first are known as barbiturates are the most commonly abused and the most addictive. Tolerance develops rapidly, so large doses are often taken and sometimes result in a life-threatening overdose. All sedatives require prescriptions.

The second group consists of benzodiazepines, a class of tranquilizers with strong sedative qualities that are frequently prescribed as sleeping medications. The ones that remain in the body the longest can accumulate, causing poor coordination and sedation during the following day. Tolerance develops more slowly to these drugs, so while they are addicting, longer exposure is needed to become addicted.

The third sedative group consists of barbiturate-like drugs that are highly addicting and are no longer prescribed regularly.

The fourth group of sedatives consists of newer drugs, not benzodiazepines or barbiturates, that are now being prescribed.

Types

Barbiturates

The most commonly abused barbiturates are Pentabarbital (Nembutal), Secobarbital (Seconal), and Amobarbital (Amytal). Larger and larger doses are needed as the body accommodates to regular barbiturate use. When alcohol is used along with sedatives, particularly barbiturates, sedatives have additive effects that cause excessive levels of depressants in the body. This is one of the ways that overdoses occur. Depression of the respiratory center of the brain causes death from an inability to breathe.

Benzodiazepines

Many doctors prescribe the sedating members of this group of drugs as modern sleeping medications. Although these medications are relatively safe, some people do become addicted to both types of benzodiazapines, the sedatives as well as those used as tranquilizers. Temazepam (Restoril), flurazepam (Dalmane), and triazolam (Halcion) are the most frequently used.

Barbiturate-Like Sedatives

Members of this group such as Placidyl, Miltown, Doriden, Noludar and Quaaludes are often abused and are very addicting. Many states have prohibited prescription sale of these drugs.

Other Sedatives

Newer drugs are being used that are not as addicting as other sedatives but can cause problems similar to those of sedatives. Zolpidem (Ambien), the first of the newer sedatives, is a valuable, mild, short-term sleeping medication, but a few individuals experience nightmares or amnesia the morning after taking it. Zaleplon (Sonata) is the newest of these medications. Its action occurs for a short time, approximately 3-4 hours, and helps people to fall asleep but not to stay asleep for a whole night.

Trazadone (Desyrel), an older antidepressant, is more effective as a sedative than as an antidepressant. It helps many people get a healthy night's sleep, but it has a slow onset and may leave people mildly sleepy after awakening the first time they use it. Desyrel has almost no addictive potential, which makes it a possible medication for addicted individuals who have severe, chronic insomnia.

Methods Of Use

Sedatives are usually swallowed or injected.

Effects On The Central Nervous System

Barbiturates seem to have direct depressant effects on the brain areas that regulate wakefulness and alertness, and they also act directly on nerve cells in the spinal cord. They enhance the action of receptors that inhibit stimulation of the central nervous system and, conversely, they inhibit the action of the receptors that stimulate the nervous system. In other words, if the nervous system were a car, these drugs help use the brakes but make using the gas harder to do.

Intoxication

Sedatives are powerful drugs designed to be used in medical contexts for only short periods of time and in limited contexts. Abusive or improper use may result in unpleasant and/or dangerous side effects such as:

Dizziness
Mood swings
Depression
Anxiety
Confusion
Changes in vision
Increased sex drive
Nausea and vomiting
Failure of reflex responses
Depressed blood pressure
Depressed heart rate
Depressed breathing
Abdominal pain
Low body temperature
Weak pulse

Life Risks

Increasing depression of respiratory (breathing) functions by sedatives may cause death. These drugs are particularly dangerous in combination with other depressants, including alcohol, and are also dangerous in overdose. Newer and safer anti-anxiety medications were developed partly because of the danger of these drugs and their unpleasant side effects.

Withdrawal

Essentially, withdrawal symptoms for sedatives feel like the opposite of the therapeutic effects. Withdrawal may be especially risky medically and uncomfortable. Symptoms include jittery, shaky feelings and any of the following:

Rapid heartbeat
Shaky hands
Insomnia
Nausea and vomiting
Hallucinations
Anxiety
Seizures

WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?

Ok so I was given a sedative, the one known as Amobarbital (Amytal), which belonged to the group known as Barbiturates. It was basically just 2 yellow coloured tiny pills which I swallowed with water. The effects were tremendous though, with me feeling sleepy after about 20 mins. I remember going in-between bouts of consciousness and unconsciousness. There were moments where I was truly awake and knowing what was going on, while there were other times where my eyes could process familiar images but my brain couldn’t recognise any of it. It was almost as if my brain was completely dislodged from me. I was in limbo, between sleeping, dreaming and waking.

First, I got into the dentist chair and I felt him clipping the plastic thingy over my neck and placing a pair of sunglasses (yeah you heard me … sunglasses, now that’s a first). He was wearing surgical gloves and dressed like any ER doctor you catch on television. I would have thought “OMIGOSH I’m being operated on!” but of course, I was too sedated and far off in laalaa land to be able to understand what was to come. I don’t particularly remember being injected (I must have be asleep when this happened) but when I woke up, I felt some gentle tugging on my lower right jaw, after a bit, a needle and surgery stitches being cut. He watched me as my eyes opened and said “now, the right side’s all done” and I tried to smile and my hands did a “good job” sign before I fell asleep again. Sometimes I can really be a bit queer.

Everything thereafter was a blur. All I remember is that I had mistaken my lower lip as my tongue and kept trying to push it into my mouth. My friends watched me in amusement and probably thought it was funny. Yeah they are a bunch of twisted morbid people (haha … just joking). But after I got home (somehow) I slept all the way through till night time. When Loy and the team tried making me drink water, my tongue got in the way and everything drooled outta the sides. They all took one look at me, shook their heads in unison and called me spastic.

If I’m not mistaken, there was one point in time where Adrian and Loy tried stuffing the painkillers down my throat. But my mouth (which I still couldn’t feel) didn’t let it and the pills got stuck on my tongue. I could taste it dissolving on my tongue and though I couldn’t feel, I could still taste and let me assure you the taste was FAR from pleasing. It was almost torture, tasting the bitter bitter pills just refusing to drop into my stomach. To make it worse, I didn’t have much saliva and so, it was taking an even longer time to dissolve. UGH … makes me sick just thinking of it. Oh me oh my, so poor my life.

Well, I didn’t have to suffer for that long because I fell asleep and before I knew it, it was already 9pm. By then, all sensation had returned to my mouth, and I no longer mistook my labials for my tongue. If you think things couldn’t get any worse, well think again. Aloy called me out to eat the porridge he made.

Unfortunately, after having 2 mouthfuls, I puked everything out. EVERYTHING in my tummy, even the yummy chicken breast ham sandwich I had for breakfast. Well, no it wasn’t his porridge that had such an ill effect on me. It was actually (surprise surprise) the sedatives that I took. One of the after effects of taking the sedatives was it causing me to feel extreme nausea and naturally, vomiting just completed the process.

Well, the worst was over and I started feeling better. The only disgusting thing was that my vomit came at such a force that it splattered all over my newly carpeted floor and other stuff in my room. I washed myself up and sat by the side of the bed at a loss of what to do. Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for him), Loy walked in. I snuck one look at the puke and as I saw him enter the room, I closed my eyes halfway and stumbled around in a woozy fashion. To make the whole thing look more convincing, I made some gurgling noises and lay back onto the bed. He of course had to abide by the code of ethics and therefore, went about taking the carpet cleaner, buckets and things like that. I of course, kept one eye open while he worked through it all. Luckily for me, my mouth was still a bit weird or he might have heard me snigger to myself. Oooh … I’m a sneaky one I am.

Hehehehehehehehehehhehehehee

I slept away through the night and before I knew it, it was Wednesday Morning. The teeth don’t hurt as much as I expected it to as well. I wonder if this is normal. I mean … I’ve heard way too many horror stories about wisdom teeth extraction and this lack of pain seems like a let down. Not that I want to endure pain but it’s almost disappointing that I don’t get an awfully exciting wisdom tooth fable to exaggerate about.