Neurodivergent on Yik Yak | any tips on dentist / needle anxiety.... i have to get cavities filled and i can barely sit still while they're doing a cleaning from how freaked out i am

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Neurodivergent 9w

any tips on dentist / needle anxiety.... i have to get cavities filled and i can barely sit still while they're doing a cleaning from how freaked out i am

Anonymous 9w

I had to have a surgery (which has basically a 0% mortality rate) and the only way I could do it was becoming fully prepared to die. I got right with God and told everyone I love how much I love them and got my will and shit put together and cried and cried and hugged my cats and cried in their sweet little faces and then finally I Achieved Calmness and went into surgery (and was obviously fine)

Anonymous 9w

bring everything you possibly can to feel comfy. blanket, stuffed animal, eye mask, headphones. my dentist has a menu offering all of these things and i wish that was standard

Anonymous 9w

I have anxiety for pain/potential pain. What I do is I either have the person constantly talk to me (a lot of the time I won’t answer or I’ll just hum but it still helps for shots) and I always have music/podcast/youtube in during the dentist! I put on my comfort videos or something very stimulating or distracting (don’t hug me I’m scared works for me)

Anonymous 9w

I try to distract myself with brain exercises, listening to the dentist’s conversation with their assistant, or redirecting my focus on some other part of my body For brain exercises I either try to build something difficult in my mind like a project I’ve been stuck on or something more straightforward like reciting the ABCs alongside counting numbers (i.e. A1 B2 C3 D4 E5 …). The brain sucks at multitasking so this usually works

Anonymous

#2 9w

That’s so awesome they accommodate!!!

Anonymous

#1 9w

right 🥹

Anonymous

#3 9w

I’m still really bad about blood draws but listening to music really helps and I think I’ve figured out how to convince my body to go into shock?? Not 100% sure but basically I’m shaking and crying and freaking out and then I just tell myself I’m having an out of body experience and then I go limp and actually do have an out of body experience

Anonymous

#3 9w

I haven’t had to have cavities filled since I was a kid but I basically screamed and cried so much that they agreed to give me nitrous to get through it, so you could try that too

Anonymous

#3 9w

why wld u say this 😭😭

Anonymous

OP 9w

You asked for tips🧍

Anonymous

#4 9w

Listening to the conversation is more straightforward. Sometimes I’ll say something in my head as if I’m part of the discussion. You just gotta be careful not to hone in on the scary tool sounds For physically distracting myself, I’ll do something like squeezing my hand or bending my toes. Just anything with some degree of pressure a so your mind checks it out

Anonymous

#4 9w

Just my personal insight, I would recommend against listening to the conversations because that always freaks me out more than anything else. I’d ask to put my earbuds in and focus on music that really makes me Feel Something. Whenever they say anything I don’t understand (“is that a grade three on incisor 83? Or a grade two?”) I start to freak tf out bcos wtf is a grade 3?? Is it bad?? Is a grade 2 better or worse?? And then I spiral from there; am I gonna need dentures??