Allergic to Novacaine?

It's completely possible to be allergic. Anesthesia is the most difficult specialty in medicine some would argue because you're administering things (usually into the central nervous system) that can have varying effects. A friend is an anesthesiologist and basically says they bring people to the brink of death and back for a living.

I'm really surprised they administered it a second time after having the reaction the first time. Have you asked them to send the medical records to your primary care physician to be in your permanent medical files?

Have you mentioned this to your primary care physician? If not, you should call them immediately and see how they want to move forward. They may refer you to a specialist to verify the allergy to make sure you're not administered the same ingredients again.

Because of one of my chemo drugs, bleomycin, I have to make anyone administering anesthesia aware so they adjust doses. Otherwise, I could die. I probably should wear a medic alert bracelet in the event I'm in an accident.

Good luck.
http://www.drugs.com/pro/novocain.html

Sometimes when I get novocaine, I get dizzy, heart races, throat goes numb, etc. but other times I'm fine. I think it depends on where they put it and how much. Sometimes they have to give me multiple shots. Once at Monarch dental, they had to give me 8 shots until a different dentist had to come in and put the needle directly into the tooth root to numb it up for a root canal! Yikes! I think some people are just resistant to it. And some dentists just suck. :)

Hi Corylee,

Of course you can have a reaction to it. Call them and ask specifically what they gave you in case you have in more problems. You need to have that information.

Also, when novacaine or any med doesn't act right away it can be caused because your blood sugar is low and you have to wait a little while longer for it to kick in. I always eat a big meal a couple of hours before that just to balance my body. My dentist used to bring a coke into the waiting room for me because it always took me longer. Not waiting and giving you more is probably why you had the reaction. It was probably a slight overdose on his part.

Keep a very close eye out on your symptoms and don't overdo until you feel back to normal.

Regards,

M.

.

It's possible you have some sort of intoleranceor sensitivity to the medication. I would caution you on using the word allergy until you have actually had some testing done and have a doctor diagnose you with an allergy. The reason I say this is because so many people are so quick to diagnose themselves as allergic to something when in fact they instead have an intolerance or a sensitivity. I say this as someone who has multiple life threatening allergies to medications and foods. Unfortunatly, I learned the hard way.

That being said, I agree that you need to your primary care doctor immediatly for a referral to an allergist, or possibly an endocrinologist. An endocrinologist might be able to look at your internal system and figure out what's going on.

Good luck with this! You must have been uncomfortable. :(