Something I never really talked about was the wisdom teeth surgery and the riot of emotions that came with that. So I'm going to write something in hindsight and maybe some of you will want the information later cause it's something that I would've liked to know.
I had a wisdom teeth surgery a couple years ago and it actually went really well surgery wise. I didn't have pain and healed pretty quickly. Obviously still surgery and there's recovery and all that, but all in all it went really well.
In saying that...the emotional fallout was wild. I'm in general a rather emotional, bit-of-a-wreck, and dramatic wench that has my own sets of issues already, anxiety, my own weird struggle with on/off depression, family issues, (you know, the usual dose of cyanide really); so take all this with a grain of salt. What happens to me is not necessarily what happens to you. I'm only saying what happened to me. We all already understand this information so I trust your own intelligence for keeping that all in mind.
I swear all this information has a reason and will come into play later. But first, a list of general things that I learned that I would have liked to know at the time.
- The threads in your mouth are meant to dissolve. If they feel like they're coming loose or are even out in pieces, that's completely normal. They're supposed to do that. Side tip: if you ever think you're gums are physically falling out of your mouth and you're freaking out, it's just a noodle. You're fine.
- You're probably tasting a bad taste in your mouth. That's normal and does eventually go away. I don't know what causes it, but the salt water rinses are supposed to help you keep from getting infected. It's all good.
- The freezing takes WAY longer to come out than Google says it will. It will go back to normal, but the freezing will come out in stages. If one part of your mouth is still frozen way longer than the rest of it that's normal. If your lip/cheek feels tingly, that's just the freezing coming out. You'll want to keep using the cold/hot compresses that the dentist should be recommending you, but it's all okay. DO keep you're dentist/guy that did the surgery updated though if you're worried. They've done this thousand times. They know what they're doing, and they know that you're freaked out. They got you.
-I couldn't open my jaw much for the first few days. Like it was maybe able to open like a finger-width at first. I was worried that something was wrong and maybe I wouldn't ever be able to full open my mouth again. It took about a week/and a half I think but my jaw was back to my normal jaw range.
- If you thought you were going to be productive, believe me you won't be. Not because physically you can't, but you're focus is really weird.
-You're sleeping patterns are going to be messed up. Because you're recovering, it's a combination that you're body has been in bed mostly so you're just not really tired, and also you're freaked out more than your giving yourself a chance to be because you're thinking of all the ways this can go wrong.
-Smoothies will change your life more than they ever have before. You're very hungry and not having food properly is messing you up more than you think it is. Food in your system fixes everything.
-This surgery will activate what I call the 'cat instinct', after the surgery you're feeling kind of helpless and abandoned. But also, you're injured and want to be left alone. So you may find yourself doing the cat thing where they enter a room, hang around people for a few minutes and then just leave. This is normal. You're just feeling a bit helpless and raw and looking for connection. The moment you feel like emotional connection has been made you leave. These are normal injured introvert reactions.
Onto the more emotional content... *cracks knuckles*
Here's the thing. I don't know what the drugs are, or what those drugs do on an emotional level, but it's wild. I don't even know if those emotions are actually related to the drugs. Basically, the emotions that you feel are real. They are valid. They are genuinely things that you worry about. However, in saying that, being helpless and on drugs makes all the emotions you feel like 10x worse than they are and you feel really sensitive. You're running on drugs, nerves, and a serious lack of solid food. Bad combination. Just because you feel something, doesn't necessarily mean it's accurate.
Even if you have people checking up on you and people that care you're going to be feeling alone and abandoned. Basically you are feeling stressed and helpless and you're emotions are heightened because even if you feel like after everything you've been panicking about the surgery is actually not as bad as you were thinking and logically you know you're fine; all your body just knows that you're injured. Your body is panicked because it really doesn't know what happened. Your brain says you're fine but your body is in a weird fight or flight. Basically if you feel like someone is letting you down at all this is the moment it really gets to you.
On the flip side, if you feel like you're being let down, you also feel like you are letting everyone else down in a big way. This is also the time that you feel it.
Maybe that's just me though. If you do feel that though, I swear it's okay. You're okay. The drugs/lack of food just amp those feelings up to like an 11. Those feelings do pass. You feel like you're taking emotional damage at the time, but once you get food back into your system I swear things start to balance out again. Sounds dramatic, and it is, but like I go on emotional rampages when I'm hungry. Funny later, but rough in the moment.
Also you feel like you can't really complain because when you went into the surgery and you hear everything they tell you. It sounds like the worst thing that 'might' happen to you. And then you get the surgery and it's not anywhere near as bad as you were expecting because you were watching videos of other people and catastrophizing. You feel like you can't talk about it because you are aware that you're just freaking out and logically you know that you're fine. You compare what you're going through to what other people have gone through and you're like 'they have it so much worse' and you push those emotions to the side. It's okay. Everything will be okay. You can absolutely complain. It may not be as bad as you expected but the whole situation is not 'fun'.
Basically, if you feel like you're going crazy, you're not. Those feelings do pass. There is explanations for all of it. Everything will be okay. But seriously, do keep you're dentist/guy that did the surgery updated if you have questions and are worried. They really do got you.
The reason that I write this post, is that when I had the surgery, I never saw anyone talk about the emotional reaction to the surgery. It wasn't something (from my minimal research of mostly just watching funny videos of people high after their surgery. DO NOT google symptoms when you're already panicked. It's bad enough when you're sober.) It just wasn't something I saw even brought up, so I didn't think it was something that happened. I just thought, once again, I was just being ridiculous. Just emotionally bottle THAT whole thing and kick it under the rug with the rest of them.
Turns out other people do also have weird emotional responses to things and it's not just me. People really do appreciate the heads up of 'hey, I know, and everything is going to be okay.' Like who knew people other than me also had emotions and could freak out about things? Wild.
So this post is for the ones that think they're losing it. We're okay.
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| not mine. found off pinterest |
