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Anxiety control when facing surgery?

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Posted 8/16/2009 6:59 PM (GMT 0)
Most of you seem to have had many surgeries.  How do/did you control your anxiety right before the surgery?  My last two surgeries for an abcess were not too bad physically, but were the anxiety was horrible.  My surgeon/anesthesiologist would not give me anything until I was literally in the operating room.  The panic was so bad I thought I was going to die and I was hyperventilating and could hardly breathe.

Do any of your surgeons give you something in the hour before your surgery to help the anxiety, or if not, how do you try to control it?  I may be facing number three this week and was wondering if everyone went into their surgeries "cold turkey" or if my surgeon was just clueless and maybe I could get her to give me something - it's just so scary and it makes it hard to face more surgeries.  Thanks for your help.

Posted 8/16/2009 7:52 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Bluemom,

I usually tell them I get anxious and they give me something like benadryl in the pre-op room. My anxiety is more about post-op -- having to deal with another incision. I have no fear of death or dying on the operating table. I wasn't as anxious for the third surgery. I was just sad to be dealing with another incision, but happy to get the infection out. I think it is natural to feel anxious before surgery. It isn't pleasant to feel out of control.
Posted 8/16/2009 11:37 PM (GMT 0)
I know that they give me SOMETHING other then IV fluids before I go into the OR while Im in the pre-op room, what it is I dont know. I'm not completely relaxed when I'm going in, but once I'm in there they do give me something before Im actually alseep.  All I know is I feel really weird like I want to talk or move my arms or legs, but I litterally can't.

I'm not a religous person at all, so prayer doesnt really work for me. But I do find myself repeating things in my head like "I'm ok" over and over again until I'm alseep, it calms me down a lot. One thing Ive learned is, once I'm in there if I just close my eyes I think its much better, rather then looking around at all the people in there, at this point I'm usually loopy from something and all the stuff going on around me just confuses me and I feel like I want to go in to a panic state.

Posted 8/17/2009 5:13 AM (GMT 0)
yes they give me something they call the anti nerve medicine..but its on the way to the or..that i finally get it.. i took valerian to calm me down days prior..like a more than a week prior..you are supposed to stop all before..ask your pcp for ativan..that would help..and you are talking the most anxious girl
Posted 8/17/2009 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
you have to tell them that you feel that way...and that you need something right away..i say demand it and they will give it to you
Posted 8/17/2009 5:59 AM (GMT 0)
I think the way a lot of anastesiologists give versed in the per-op room. But Ive never really been anxious for a surgery beyond my first one. So Ive never really asked for anything to have or anything like that.
Posted 8/17/2009 1:01 PM (GMT 0)
I always ask for something to calm me down beforehand. Usually they give you Ativan. I usually am already asleep before the surgery, because of the Ativan. Hope that helps.
Posted 8/17/2009 6:08 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, the last surgery i had in Jan i didn't have anything but wish i had! i was ok till i got down to theatre in the room where they send you to sleep and i could see everyone in the main theatre waiting for me!!!!!!! i had a really bad urge to get up and walk away  that freaked me out. The way i controlled it before was watching everyone coming back from their ops and thinking that will be me in 4 hours or so, ill be having some sort of med before my next op in Nov I think everybody gets anxious at times like this its a natural reaction just ask for meds when you go in good luck with your op. Bev x  
Posted 8/18/2009 1:37 AM (GMT 0)

They gave me something to calm me down before the procedure so I felt ok but I will still anxious.

 

When I came out of the operating room and started to wake up, I started hyperventilating and freaking out, my monitor was going beserk! The nurse ran over to me and asked me for ‘slow, deep breaths please’. I found the anxiety post-op much worse than before-hand. I was crying which the nurse attributed to the morphine.

 

I remember asking the nurse after she took a look at my abscess ‘what does it look like, does it look scary?’, I was in tears, and she was great, she told me what to expect and how it looked. After my 1st seton surgery and discovering the gaping hole I wanted to be a bit informed before I took a look!

Posted 8/18/2009 2:23 AM (GMT 0)
Aww, those nurses saying "that looks so good"
(Me thinking "thats a crapload of staples")
Posted 8/18/2009 2:28 AM (GMT 0)
When I have had surgery , I am not nervous . Fact is I wish they had filmed my bypass. I know I have good friends and family waiting on the other side should my time be up and I'm not having such great fun on this side so why worry.. Now when my wife has surgery, I'm a basket case , but I hide it very well.
Posted 8/18/2009 3:09 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah I had a mushroom drain inserted but it was exploratory surgery and I didn’t know what I was coming out with…… I asked her what had happened (“How many holes, is it scary?”) and she explained the size, length etc of the tube, and how the stitches looked, it really helped because I was a little more prepared than I was when I had my seton put in and was left with this enormous gaping cavity on my butt :)
Posted 8/24/2009 3:48 AM (GMT 0)
Hi there. My anethesioligist was awesome. He talked to me in the prep room and asked if I was scared. He then ordered a Valium for me. He asked me if I was worried about not waking up, ect.....Explained everything,,,,
Posted 8/24/2009 5:19 AM (GMT 0)
I've only had 1 surgery to have my gallbladder taken out. I was so incredibly nervous! Thankfully, there was a student nurse there to observe. Just having her to talk to before the long wait to get into the OR helped me so much. So if you can have someone sit with you and chat, I'd highly recommend it.
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