SVT Ablation... 2nd attempt, Scared stupid... Help

Ciera , Hello my new friend and please know I understand your fear 100%.  Do you have any medication to help you with the anxiety?  Perhaps your Dr. could give you something to take for a couple of days before the procedure as well as the morning of the procedure to help you tolerate the anxiety.  Once your  ablation  is done, hopefully the anxiety will cease to be so devastating. Paralyzed with fear is a phrase I know well.  I do have medication for anxiety however I also have depression so I get stuck in anticipatory anxiety when facing procedures etc. Let me see if I can help a bit more.  Anticipatory Anxiety is the anxiety that we experience in anticipation of exposure to our frightening triggers. First, anticipatory anxiety is not a true predictor of how much anxiety we will feel in the actual situation.  Although it is impossible to predict with total accuracy, the fact is that 95% of the time, anticipatory anxiety is much greater than the anxiety we experience when we actually make contact with what frightens us. Anticipatory anxiety generally becomes more pervasive as we get closer to the feared activity, as we find it harder to just “put off” thinking about it.  The anxiety we feel often makes us waiver in our determination to pursue the activity.  So, for example, the closer you get to the date of your procedure and remembering how you walked out of the OR with your last attempt your anxiety will climb the closer you get to the date. The best way to overcome anticipatory anxiety is to understand that this anxiety bluffs you into believing that you won’t be able to handle your fear in the upcoming situation. Once you gain confidence that you can handle the anxiety that arises there, you will be able to treat anticipatory anxiety for what it is--real anxiety that has it’s own life, but has nothing to do with the fears you are anticipating.  A couple of things I do: First of all I practice positive affirmations which is a   great tool to reprogram your unconscious mind from negative thinking to positive. Probably the best way to harness positive affirmations is to repeat your statements out loud over and over and especially when you start to anticipate the worse case scenario. A few of mine:   "I am drawing on my inner strength"   "I have done this before, I can do it again" "I lay aside the battles within my own mind, and grant myself peace."   We have a great anxiety forum so do consider posting your concerns in that forum. also.  You will find me there too.