Intra-vascular injection (injection directly into a vein or artery) or over-administration of local anesthetics can result in a range of problems from relatively small to catastrophic.
People tend to experience exposure to local anesthetics most frequently in dental offices and so tend to experience most of their side-effects and complications in dental offices.
Local anesthetic systemic toxicity occurs when local anesthetic medications do their "thing" on the nerves in your brain and/or the nerves in your heart. Enough local anesthetic makes it slow way down or stop. Long or short-acting local anesthetics don't discriminate and perform as advertised and can make for a long or relatively short resuscitation. Oddly enough, IV lipids (fat) is bacon saver in these situation.
Local anesthetic medications can also can induce a seizure or more when enough hits the brain in a short time.
Anesthesia and surgery folks use it in very large doses/volumes and can also have a Maalox moment if things go unintended directions.
More information here:
Medscape: Medscape Access
Quote:
Originally Posted by rfloz
Several years ago I went to the dentist for a routine deep cleaning. The idiot dentist injected "Novocain" directly into a vein. I passed out and then came back. Then everything just went black (sorry, no angels).
This was not like the afore-mentioned passing out, which was a fade to red, narrowing of vision kind of event. It was just near instant blackness.
I woke up to find a paramedic pounding on my chest.
The EMTs, luckily at the hospital across the street, got there very quickly and hooked up a heart monitor as they were treating me. They gave me a printout showing my heart going Bradycardia (very fast, uncontrolled heart beat) and then flat-line for 15 seconds. I still have the printout for any doubters.
The Bradycardia was caused by the epinephrine in the "Novocain".
Granted, 15 seconds isn't long, but, without the EMTs, it would probably have been forever.
FWIE, "Novocain" in the old-time name for topical dental anesthetic. I forget the current name. Brain damage maybe.
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