Do you trust your doctor? If so, I know he will not let you go into the operating room while having an anxiety attack. They can give you something to relax you before being taken in. Let the doctors know ahead of time that you have anxiety attacks and are afraid of having one before being put under. I'm sure they will help you. Let us know how it all goes. Hugs

Hi, I had major anxiety over a minor uterus surgery (DNC & hysteroscopy I think they were called; to remove a polyp and thin the lining) and actually put it off for almost a YEAR. I am very scared of being put under (I try to control my anxiety by being in control which obviously I can't be when unconscious, lol) When I finally scheduled it, a few things helped. One was prayer; reminding myself I'm actually not the one in control; another was that they put something in my IV to relax me beforehand. Finally, it helped that I had a really great team there; they were all very reassuring. My guess is that most prep teams are like that and if you let them know you have anxiety they will probably be extra reassuring.

Remember that there are a lot of people constantly monitoring you; I remember the guy doing my anesthesia actually called the night before to go over things and remind me he'd be there the whole time, and that helped too. Good luck!

Thanks so much for the advice. I do trust my doctor. He operated on my son several years ago so I should trust him on me. :) I have and will pray a lot about it. I KNOW the Lord is in control. No doubt in my mind but it is still hard to let go of that anxiety. I wish I could be one of those people to just trust him and just let it all go. It's not that I don't trust him I just constantly think well what if its in his plan for something to go wrong. So tough being a pessimist!

Hi Leigh, I just wanted to say I totally relate. I often feel ashamed of my anxiety, like, am I not trusting God enough? However, I do believe we can put our trust in Him and due to the biological / genetic / physiological component to anxiety, which probably all of us in this support group have, we can still have paralyzing anxiety that we can't control or struggle to control. It doesn't speak at all to a lack of faith or trust, simply to a deep struggle within us. I believe God understands and doesn't take it personally when our anxiety manifests as a lack of trust -- who better understands our innermost angst anyway, right? :-)

If it helps, I'm going in on Monday for the same procedure kaylee described. I WAS terrified until I spoke with people.

I am okay with the procedure but the anesthesia freaks me out too!

I've spoken with a lot of people about this to soothe my nerves and here's what's helping me.

First, these people work with people very single day who feel exactly like you feel. It is not unusual to fear anesthesia, procedures, the hospital, pre-op, recovery or anything else. There are a lot of triggers for folks and one of the things they take very seriously is helping people feel less anxious.

Second, the anesthesia is there to help you feel calm and comfortable. That's what it's for. So it would be super difficult to have an anxiety attack.

Third, the anesthesiologist goes to school for 12+ years to know the exact science of this. They will speak with you before your procedure to see what YOU need. How do you feel? What are you worried about? How can they help? They typically give you an IV so they can adjust the anesthesia if necessary. I'm asking them for the minimum amount because I don't want to be too groggy afterwards. So they'll start with nothing. Then, if we get going and I'm like, "I can't handle this without some help" they can start a bit and do more as needed. Then they can back up at the end of the operation so I will come out of it.

From what I understand anesthesia has three components -
1) Pain medication.
2) Medicine to help you rest and feel less anxious.
3) Medicine to help you forget the surgery.

There's also typically a nurse specifically just for you. They sit with you til you wake up and just provide care and comfort so you're not scared.

Forth, there will be a whole team there taking very good care of you. They want things to go smoothly and for that to happen, they want you to feel totally cared for. Some people get addicted to surgery just because they're taken care of so well. They feel loved and pampered.

The place I'm going is pretty typical and my son can stay with me the whole time I'm in pre-op all the way up til I go into surgery. Then my doctor, who I trust, will be there. Then my son will see me as they wheel me out and then again once I wake up. Until I wake up, a nurse will stay with me.

If you're like most people, you'll be a BIT groggy for 15 - 30 minutes after and then you'll feel sleepy the rest of the day.

That's about it.

Finally, anesthesia and surgery has changed SOOOO much since we heard about it from our parents and grandparents. It's much more effective, far less scary and with far fewer side effects.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.