Discussing Options with Your Health Care Team Can Avoid Severe Pre-Surgery Anxiety

Even with seasoned surgery "pros", one bad experience can lead to overwhelming surgery anxiety, which in turn can lead to avoiding medical care when it is needed the most. Many people go into surgery for serious conditions and complicated procedures, where little can be done to avoid major anxiety or lessen post-operative side-effects, however, new technology is offering minimally invasive surgery options for certain conditions such as a laproscopic procedures, cystoscopies through the urethra, or colonoscopies. With these procedures, there can be more wiggle room for your comfort.

The first step in avoiding surgery anxiety is learning all that you can about your condition. After exhausting your doctor's wealth of information, the Internet is a good next step for more information if you go to the right place. For instance, the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov/) has information on most diseases, and you can decide whether to learn through the text of a patient, or the medical jargon of a health care provider. While some believe too much information is flat out scary, I believe it is empowering.

On the day of your surgery, if you are able to hold a conversation, you will see your surgeon, pre-op and recovery nurse (sometimes the same person), your anesthesiologist and the registered nurse anesthesiologist. This team is there to keep you informed and as comfortable as possible. If you have any questions at all (and keep in mind that no question is a stupid question), they are there to answer them and put your mind at ease. Most hospitals can provide pastoral care as well.

If you are like me and have a chronic condition that leads you to sever operating room trips a year, more than likely you know your disease inside and out. Your knowledge of the uses and effects of pre and post-op medications could give a seasoned pharmacist a run for his or her money, and above all, you know your body better than anyone else and you know what works and what doesn't.