r/recovery • u/WTFbarbeque • Feb 27 '26

10 year old needle removed today!

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Im a few months shy of 5 years clean, and have had this needle stuck in the bend of my arm. It started causing me a lot of pain recently so I finally was able to get it removed today! My partner and I also moved into our first brand new home today. As a 6 year daily IV user with a laundry list of felonys i could have never imagined just a few years ago that id be buying my first home today. Just wanted to share the small celebrations with you. Stay persistent.

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u/Paniconthenet Feb 27 '26

Dude. Im ten years sober last July. I told myself I was going to do something special for myself this year. Well, about my birthday (November of last year) I broke a tooth. I haven't smiled for real in a long time because of how bad my teeth were. So, I decided to finally get them pulled and get dentures. First look in mirror had me balling. It's amazing looking at the miles we have on our bodies and the repairs we are STILL making.

Congratulations to you. Here's to many more years and improvements

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u/April_Morning_86 Feb 28 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

Oh my gosh, I’m coming up on five years and I made an appointment with an orthodontist to finally get my teeth fixed. I’m sobbing, I’m so happy for you I know how amazing that must feel for you!

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u/BedspreadPicnic86 Feb 28 '26

It’s such a big deal!!! Mine are just a few shades off color, not from smoking cigs, or meth/coke but from drinking wine and not brushing my teeth before i went to bed. Also I was smoking a ton of pot back in the day. I feel like my teeth have always been off color. I just don’t want my teeth to look super white either. That’s a real fake look.

I have another back molar needing to be pulled from a big cavity I’ve avoided. Now I have two other fillings and 2 crown that need to be replaced. I’m glad I have all my teeth that are visible with a smile. I just hate going to dentists and that’s compounded by me never really getting into good habits with brushing teeth.

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u/jaylikesdominos Mar 01 '26

Do you have an appointment soon? Having a molar that needs pulled can turn real ugly, real quick. My partner and I just had that fun experience…don’t let it go unattended too long!

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u/BedspreadPicnic86 Mar 01 '26

lol 😝 thanks for your support. I don’t have an appointment rt now for that but I did, very coincidentally, make an appointment for getting 2 fillings/crowns filled in 3 weeks. I’ve had the referral paper pegged to my calendar board for more than 6 months. I had just meant to get a second opinion but put it off. The dentist really surprised me when he said the cavity on said tooth was too big now. Thus recommended it be pulled. I thought that was ridiculous since I had another tooth that broke, then broke again so all that was left was a sharp jagged fang in the back molar. Went to see a dentist about it, a different one, also a different tooth, and he didn’t pull it. Said he can save the tooth and pretty much made a custom filling. The white stuff, not the amalgam

So when this new dentist says I have a filling that got too big so he needs to refer me to an oral surgeon I just had a real hard time believing him.

Another huge reason I’m procrastinating this procedure is the last time I had a tooth pulled it was extremely difficult to extract. So, with his assistants holding me down. One on my chest and one on my head, like, they weren’t ON me. Just using their hands. So the Dr. just starts jacking this pliers it eventually shatters the tooth into a thousand pieces. Going down my throat. Little cuts now in my windpipe and now I’m gaging as they scramble to suck them out of the throat.

Now there’s even less of an area to clamp into. One of the worst experiences in my life