This morning, I had a dentist appointment. One of my fillings had fallen out and it was being replaced. This involved the ever popular needle which, as you all know, is always fun. The reason for me mentioning this at all is that I was very tired when I went in there this morning. My son had woken me up at 4:50 am and I was groggy to say the least.

So I lay back in the chair and waited for the work to begin, taking advantage of the empty room to close my eyes. The dentist arrived with the anaesthetic needle and I stiffened up in preparation for the unpleasantness which was, unpleasant. He told me to move my mouth around to let the freezing spread to my lower lip (the filling was in the lower front) and then he walked out. I closed my eyes to quasi-nap for a few more minutes.

Suddenly, I had this massive rush of energy. I was wide awake and alert with the kind of kick you just don't get from coffee. It was kind of awesome, actually. Now, perhaps it is always like this when you get the anesthetic, but it's not like I'm getting a filling every day so I didn't really remember.

When the dentist returned, I described the feeling to him. He pointed out that the anaesthetic contains adrenaline. In response to my "Really?", he explained that the adrenaline serves as a vasoconstrictor, which slows down bleeding, but more importantly, it extends the anaesthetic effect. In short, you stay frozen longer. He told me that most people complain about increased heart rate, not increased awareness. All I knew is I would love some of that in my morning coffee. [ insert appropriate smiley here ]

Eventually, the rush of energy subsided and I dozed off every few minutes in the chair and now, more than an hour later, I'm still waiting for the freezing to wear off. So I guess the adrenaline did its job. 

Still, that kick . . .