Anxiety and stress before surgery is inevitable, especially for those who have to go through a dangerous surgery. However, excessive anxiety can cause high blood pressure or other problems to delay surgery. Getting enough rest, relaxation, breathing fresh air, and doing positive things can help calm people down.
Why is there anxiety and stress before surgery?
Surgery is a surgical procedure that is applied in medical treatment today, applied to many with many cases such as disease treatment or beauty treatment. Because the surgery will use specialized tools to open the body and suture, it is necessary to carry out anesthesia and water infusion. Depending on the purpose, the patient may have to have general anesthesia or only some anesthesia to make the surgery convenient and safe.
The fact that pre-operative anxiety is completely obvious, most patients are prone to this state. Especially for people who have just had surgery for the first time, people who have to undergo a major surgery, people with weak psychology, easily become nervous before all situations.
Anxiety and stress before surgery often stem from the potential dangers of performing these procedures. Because whether it’s minor surgery or major surgery, no matter how big or reputable the hospital, there will always be the vague dangers of potential complications. The person may worry about these things and worry that they won’t wake up again.
With that said, it’s normal to feel nervous before entering the operating room. However, if it can’t be controlled, leading to excessive anxiety, some people also experience conditions such as dizziness, vomiting, high blood pressure.. This may inadvertently affect the surgery and time. must be back until the indicators are stable to ensure absolute safety for the patient.
In addition, it is not possible to ignore the cause of excessive stress and anxiety that comes from the patient’s health condition such as having an underlying blood pressure condition, diabetes, anxiety disorder, heart disease or diabetes. variety of other diseases. Therefore, doctors always ask patients to perform a full range of professional tests, complete screening before surgery.
How to overcome anxiety and stress before surgery
Usually before surgery, the doctor or nurse will come to examine and inform the patient to gradually prepare mentally. Even before surgery or anesthesia, the doctor will reassure through conversation to direct attention, thereby gradually controlling excessive anxiety. If the condition is still not good, the surgery will still be delayed.
So for those who are in a pre-surgery situation, to overcome these excessive stress anxiety states can refer to the following simple measures:
Get enough sleep before surgery
Insomnia can increase stress and make you more negative, more prone to anxiety, and more prone to high blood pressure. So always make sure to get enough sleep before surgery. Normally, doctors and nurses will inform you in advance of your planned surgery time, so you can also sleep close to waking up. Getting enough sleep will help you feel more optimistic and positive, so you will no longer have to worry about stress before surgery.
Discuss details with your doctor
The patient’s anxiety will not be eliminated without a clear understanding of the prognosis in his surgery, so will discuss in detail with the doctor any issues that you still have. In fact, most of the time before surgery, the doctors and nurses will always inform you in detail about the surgical procedure. If there is still something unclear, you should ask immediately, to avoid wondering and worrying about it.
In addition, you should also avoid going online to learn too much about the surgery. While this can give you more confidence in the surgery, it can sometimes backfire. Because as said any surgery always has some potential complications such as infection or bleeding, if you accidentally read this information will make you even more worried.
To overcome anxiety and stress before surgery, put your trust in the doctor. Only when you trust your doctor, in the future, can you control your anxiety.
Do something to distract
Lying down and doing nothing will make you easy to think about and inevitably worry and stress before surgery. However, if it is close to the time of surgery, the nurse will also ask the patient to stay in the room, not go out, and most of the patients are also given intravenous fluids, so it is quite difficult to go out. So you can lie down and read a book, surf the internet, watch a movie or simply sleep.
When you do something that requires high concentration, you can temporarily forget about the impending surgery, so your mind is also more stable. Doing other jobs until the time of surgery will be received by a doctor, so the risk of high blood pressure is also reduced too high or too long. If your room has a window, don’t forget to breathe in the fresh air to help calm your mind.
Relaxation measures for people with anxiety and stress before surgery
Relaxation measures are also a way to stabilize the patient’s mind, control blood pressure or stable heart rate so that surgery can take place normally. Patients should pay attention to the use of measures that do not involve eating because they may affect surgery.
Some simple measures to help relax the mind, release positive energy can also be applied to people with anxiety and stress before surgery such as:
- Listen to your favorite music and immerse yourself in the tune, but don’t dance too much because it also affects blood pressure.
- Breathing in the scent of chamomile, menthol, or other herbal extracts can also help calm the mind.
- Breathing deeply, gently, performed several times in a row will help gradually stabilize the heart rate and blood pressure. This is also a simple measure that doctors often ask patients to perform when on the operating table
- Meditation or yoga are also simple measures to help people with anxiety and stress before surgery. In particular, you can practice meditation or yoga anywhere, especially movements towards controlling breathing to keep calm.
- Massage the body, gently massage to help blood circulation, improve the condition of the head, numbness of the limbs caused by excessive anxiety.
Chat with loved ones
Patients who undergo minor or major surgery are always encouraged to accompany their loved ones to feel safer and avoid excessive anxiety. Sometimes just a handshake from the people next to you can help you feel more confident, dispel all stress despite the dangerous surgery ahead. On the other hand, because after surgery, the patient often suffers from the side effects of anesthesia, so it is also very necessary for people to take care of them.
If you do not have relatives to accompany you, you can also choose to text or call to share with everyone about your worries. Surely you will always receive attention from everyone, who encourages and comforts you. It is this positivity and warmth that helps you feel more secure and confident about your surgery.
Immediately notify your doctor
If the patient’s emotional stress cannot be controlled, it is best to immediately notify the doctor for timely control. Depending on the condition, if the doctor cannot control the patient’s psychology, he or she will be able to prescribe some supportive drugs, usually antidepressants or anxiety relievers, to stabilize the patient’s psychology. If it still doesn’t work, some people may have to postpone surgery.
In addition, in some patients who need to undergo major surgery, especially cancer patients, doctors are encouraged to meet and discuss with psychologists. The surgeries are difficult to avoid, the emotions of excessive anxiety combined with the declining health status make the psychology of these people prone to stagnation. Talking with a psychologist will help reduce some of the negative thoughts and focus on more positive things in the future.
Anxiety and stress before surgery is inevitable, but as long as you firmly believe in the future, trust your doctor and take appropriate rest measures, you can completely avoid it. Hopefully these shares have brought you useful information, helping you to be more mentally stable in the future surgery, if any.
