Hi Everyone,

Until I was 43 I had never undergone surgery, that I could remember anyway. August last year I had a rhinoplasty, the surgery nearly had to scrubed because  I started to have a panic attack. A nurse had to cuddle me for about 5 minutes to bring me down.
Sometime between July and October I'm going to be having GRS and I'm already starting to get very nervous about it. I have tried researching the techniques used but it hasn't helped. When I tried to read up on some personal experiences of GRS,  things have just gotten worse. I'm considering hypnosis, does anyone else have any suggestions that might help me.

Love and hugs for you all.

I was going to suggest hypnosis. Most fear abatement involves confronting the fear in increments - eg fear of spiders means increasing the number of spiders one has to look at and handle. You can't really do that with surgery. So yeah, meditation or hypnosis. It's reasonable to have some fear of surgery but not to the point where it cripples you.

Hi Ms Grace,

Thanks Babe.
Its really odd because I don't feel I would be as bad if the surgery was for a life threatening condition. People say they are especially afraid to die by drowning or being burned to death but they have no power to decide. My fear of my upcoming surgery is all the harder for me because I'm having to face my fear on a purely voluntary basis.
Whilst reading some of the accounts on this site today I had an anxiety attack, I vomited, had cold sweats, 20 minutes after, my pulse was 108bpm and blood pressure was 164 over 115, I was still shaking an hour later. I have never had anything like this before. o lordy this is going to be hard.

As always, Luv & Hugs for everyone.

I've found it helpful to try to stay in the moment and take things in pieces.

Ie, now I am putting a hospital gown on. I can handle a hospital gown...
Now they are giving me an iv, I can handle a little iv...
Now they are giving me anaesthesia, I can handle anaesthesia and then I'll just be sleeping...

Not sure if that helps you at all, my nervousness at surgery has never been phobia-type levels of feelings.

I'm terrified of surgery. I don't know how I'm going to deal with top surgery, but I kind of have to.

My fear is anaesthesia -- I could probably try and see if I can do something other than general.

*cuddles you and speaks softly into your ear* Everything's going to be just fine, sweetie. The people you're going to are experienced professionals. Everything's going to be okay and you're not going to feel a thing. When they give you the anesthesia, you'll start to feel a sort of calm, fuzzy feeling, and then shortly drift off just like you're drifting off to sleep after an exhausting day. You may even have nice dreams while you are under. And when you wake up, you'll have what you always should have had down there. You'll be sore and you'll need to take tender care until you heal, follow your surgeon's instructions, get lots of rest and don't do anything strenuous, but then it will be all better and you'll see there was nothing to get so worried about. *smiles sweetly*

Maybe take your closest friend with you to cuddle until the anesthesia kicks in?

Have you talked to your GP about this? Maybe they can make a recommendation. You're going to have to keep calm somehow. If the surgeon see's that your BP is so high, they may not proceed with surgery. I know, easier said than done but you WILL be ok.

I recall reading about people going for SRS having medication prior to the operation to help calm them.

I believe the technical term is premedication, and you'd get it from the anaesthetist or surgeon beforehand. You'd not get it from anyone else as it would be dangerous to take drugs like that before surgery if they didn't know.

There's heaps of results if you search for premedication sedative, but here's one

http://www.allaboutanaesthesia.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97&Itemid=134#S

Personally I'd not risk trying to keep calm as you might not succeed, and then what would happen? I'd suggest contacting the surgeon ahead of time and discuss it.

My GP put me on BP medication to take for 2 months prior to surgery because it was always high. No one in their right mind will perform surgery on someone who is not healthy. There's also anti-anxiety medication if you have a psychiatrist.

Quote from: JenJen2011 on February 22, 2015, 02:47:40 AM
My GP put me on BP medication to take for 2 months prior to surgery because it was always high. No one in their right mind will perform surgery on someone who is not healthy. There's also anti-anxiety medication if you have a psychiatrist.

I think you still have to confirm everything with the surgeon beforehand though. I believe its a big deal about stopping various medications before surgery, and not just HRT but vitamin E for example. I can't find the reference I was looking for but this one is relevant.

"I should note however that if you take antidepressants you MUST inform the clinic and you MUST NOT take them with tramadol – that mix can potentially kill you."
https://thailandsrsexperience.wordpress.com/tag/dr-suporn-clinic/

Quote from: AnonyMs on February 22, 2015, 04:12:06 AM
I think you still have to confirm everything with the surgeon beforehand though.

Yup, of course.

Yeah, I would think an anti-anxiety medication shortly before  might help considerably. I'm afraid I don't have any good ideas for handling it psychologically, but I can at least tell you that I didn't have anything scary happen during GRS? (I'm not sure what you found worse about personal experiences, but mine was - as someone else said - basically that they put me to sleep and I didn't really wake up/become alert enough to know what happened until at least the next day. The first 24 hours are a blur of napping and really good pain medication.)

I remember the day of my surgery, when I knew I was one of six having surgery that day, but I didn't know who was first. When the surgeons assistant came in my room and said "Nina, you're first", I almost wanted to say "no, she can go first."
Other than my tracheal and GRS, I hadn't been in a hospital for almost 45 years.
I cannot watch operating shows and I almost faint at sight of blood.
The only thing I did, was say a quick prayer, smile in a mirro, and say to myself "it's time."

I've had surgery under general anesthetic. Nothing to serious and I think I was home the next day. It ridiculous, but I was fine with the surgery but had a lot of stress over the cannula beforehand. I can't stand injections (or blood), and its not because they hurt. I think I'd be the same with SRS.

Practically speaking, I don't think there's much to be done about irrational fears like this. Its not something you face often so its not worth the effort of trying to get over it, and in this case not worth the risk of failing to get over it when you really need to.

I have a tremendous general fear of surgery as well. I have discussed this at some length with my therapist. I had surgery for colon cancer 5 years ago, and I almost got up on my feet and ran out of the hospital during the prep. My anesthesiologist sensed the level of my stress and mercifully gave me some sedatives. The surgery went about as well as it could have, but that event is burned into my memory. I had to do that to avoid a painful physical death. I am going to need to find a similar level of courage in the future, if I get SRS or additional cosmetic procedures.     

Quote from: April Lee on February 24, 2015, 07:56:50 PM
I have a tremendous general fear of surgery as well. I have discussed this at some length with my therapist. I had surgery for colon cancer 5 years ago, and I almost got up on my feet and ran out of the hospital during the prep. My anesthesiologist sensed the level of my stress and mercifully gave me some sedatives. The surgery went about as well as it could have, but that event is burned into my memory. I had to do that to avoid a painful physical death. I am going to need to find a similar level of courage in the future, if I get SRS or additional cosmetic procedures.   

Hi April.

I've jotted down your name. I'm going to be looking into this alot from now until my GRS in October. I'm trying out hypnosis and de-sensitisation and of course meditation. I will let you know if anything helps. Strength in numbers Flower.

Regards Heather.

Luv and Hugs for everyone.

Thanks Heather, I would love to hear about how it. I wish you absolutely the best!

Hugs, April