# Laughing Gas and Heart Palpitations



## lavender

This past week has been stressful for me because of a non-thyroid related issue; a tooth that I have had two prior root canals had been causing me a lot of pain. I finally got into the dentist, and the endodontist who ended up agreeing that the remote possibility of saving my tooth at this point was not worth the cost of further treatment, and that it needed to be pulled. I had it removed yesterday.

I have never had a tooth pulled before, and this was a molar in the very back of my mouth. I was more terrified of getting it pulled than I was of my thyroid surgery. The thought of having to be awake and alert while someone ripped this thing from my mouth had me totally freaked out. Not to mention the fact that novicaine does not work well on me. They have to give it to me without epinepherin (which is supposed to make it work better) because the epinepherin makes my heart race and makes me very anxious, and I never get totally numb. I react strangely to a lot of meds, but I suspect the epinepherin heart racing has to do with the Graves.

I told the assistant at the oral surgeon's office about my anxiety, which just seemed to make her an anxious mess (thrilling). If I had the choice to wait, I probably would have gone elsewhere, but I just wanted the darn thing out. So, I opted for the laughing gas (nitrous oxide) sedation, which I have never had before. Well, after a few minutes, I was starting to feel pretty sedated, but then my heart palpitations started up and just got worse. (Thankfully they had not yet started the extraction.) I ended up pulling the mask off because I was too far gone to talk. The assistant said my heart rate was "only in the 80s," but ended up giving me straight Oxygen until my heart rate went back down and then lowering the concentration of the nitrous oxide to a point where I could tolerate it and still feel relaxed through the procedure.

Through all this, I got the chance to watch the pulse monitor and to actually see where my heart rate was when I started to feel uncomfortable. Turns out that when I was at rest with no gas, my heart rate was in the 50-60s, and I felt good. As it started to go into the upper 70s and 80s, I felt like it was racing. Which could explain why all this past year, I have felt extremely uncomfortable with heart palpitations when my doc thought my heart rate and BP were just fine.

I don't have a record of what my heart rate was before the Graves kicked in, but I am wondering if I just feel more comfortable when it is a bit lower. I know that I am just really super sensitive to any sort of change in my heart, and I wonder if this is a result of the Graves disease.

The good news in all of this is that my heart palpitations have finally stopped since my Armour dose was decreased a couple weeks ago!!!

After the extraction, I felt pretty lousy all day. The pain was tolerable, but I was dizzy and out of it for the rest of the day. (I'm really glad I had someone drive me even though the oral surgeon's office told me I would be safe to drive). I haven't taken any narcotics, and I am wondering if there is a lingering effect from the nitrous oxide.

I managed to get to class today, but still felt pretty drowsy, and laid around this afternoon. I know that recovering from this on-going tooth infection and now extraction is taking a toll on my body. I just hope I continue to feel better, and that I won't have any other big medical things for a LONG TIME! I am so sick of being a patient!


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## Andros

lavender said:


> This past week has been stressful for me because of a non-thyroid related issue; a tooth that I have had two prior root canals had been causing me a lot of pain. I finally got into the dentist, and the endodontist who ended up agreeing that the remote possibility of saving my tooth at this point was not worth the cost of further treatment, and that it needed to be pulled. I had it removed yesterday.
> 
> I have never had a tooth pulled before, and this was a molar in the very back of my mouth. I was more terrified of getting it pulled than I was of my thyroid surgery. The thought of having to be awake and alert while someone ripped this thing from my mouth had me totally freaked out. Not to mention the fact that novicaine does not work well on me. They have to give it to me without epinepherin (which is supposed to make it work better) because the epinepherin makes my heart race and makes me very anxious, and I never get totally numb. I react strangely to a lot of meds, but I suspect the epinepherin heart racing has to do with the Graves.
> 
> I told the assistant at the oral surgeon's office about my anxiety, which just seemed to make her an anxious mess (thrilling). If I had the choice to wait, I probably would have gone elsewhere, but I just wanted the darn thing out. So, I opted for the laughing gas (nitrous oxide) sedation, which I have never had before. Well, after a few minutes, I was starting to feel pretty sedated, but then my heart palpitations started up and just got worse. (Thankfully they had not yet started the extraction.) I ended up pulling the mask off because I was too far gone to talk. The assistant said my heart rate was "only in the 80s," but ended up giving me straight Oxygen until my heart rate went back down and then lowering the concentration of the nitrous oxide to a point where I could tolerate it and still feel relaxed through the procedure.
> 
> Through all this, I got the chance to watch the pulse monitor and to actually see where my heart rate was when I started to feel uncomfortable. Turns out that when I was at rest with no gas, my heart rate was in the 50-60s, and I felt good. As it started to go into the upper 70s and 80s, I felt like it was racing. Which could explain why all this past year, I have felt extremely uncomfortable with heart palpitations when my doc thought my heart rate and BP were just fine.
> 
> I don't have a record of what my heart rate was before the Graves kicked in, but I am wondering if I just feel more comfortable when it is a bit lower. I know that I am just really super sensitive to any sort of change in my heart, and I wonder if this is a result of the Graves disease.
> 
> The good news in all of this is that my heart palpitations have finally stopped since my Armour dose was decreased a couple weeks ago!!!
> 
> After the extraction, I felt pretty lousy all day. The pain was tolerable, but I was dizzy and out of it for the rest of the day. (I'm really glad I had someone drive me even though the oral surgeon's office told me I would be safe to drive). I haven't taken any narcotics, and I am wondering if there is a lingering effect from the nitrous oxide.
> 
> I managed to get to class today, but still felt pretty drowsy, and laid around this afternoon. I know that recovering from this on-going tooth infection and now extraction is taking a toll on my body. I just hope I continue to feel better, and that I won't have any other big medical things for a LONG TIME! I am so sick of being a patient!










Sent you a PM.


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## blady329

I have this same problem. It was so bad once (I had 16 baby teeth pulled, developed Grave's at 19) the hygienist had given me my mouth wash afterward and I spilled all of it all over because I was shaking uncontrollably. Hang in there.


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## desrtbloom

I'm so sorry you had to go through all this with your tooth. It's not like we don't have enough crap going on with us that we need anymore medical stress. I have never had a tooth pulled without being knocked out (wisdom teeth), but I can imagine the anxiety it would cause if I knew I would be awake while someone was yanking a tooth out of my mouth. Unfortunately, I'm finding that situations where I didn't have any anxiety previous to my diagnosis, now cause me more anxiety. Hopefully, you'll start to feel better very soon. Hang in there!

:hugs:


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## lavender

Thanks, my tooth is healing, and the pain is gone. I just hope I can keep the rest of my teeth. If I ever need laughing gas again, I know to warn the person giving it to me ahead of time. Just wondered if anyone else had experienced heart palpitations from laughing gas. Maybe it's just my weird body! It did seem to take a few days to clear the drugs from my system, and I'm feeling a lot better now.


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