How to deal with pre-surgery anxiety/panic attacks?

[booniedog 7]

Hi all,

I'm one week away from flying to Mexico for surgery. I'm normally a pretty laid back person but today I started noticing myself getting short of breath, feeling my neck and shoulders clenching, and having a constant headache. 800 mgs of advil every four hours has done nothing for my headache! I'm sure it's due to my surgery date coming up.

I'm not so nervous about the surgery as I am returning home after my surgery - I live 7000 miles away from mainland USA on an island with horrible healthcare. I'm worried about having complications and being alone once I get back here. My mom is meeting me in San Diego and will accompany me to Mexicali and I'm staying close to the hospital for 7 days after surgery before flying home. But I'm so scared of getting back here and having issues and not having decent doctors nearby to help me if I need it.

I'm not telling anyone where I live that I'm having the surgery.

Does anyone have any advice on how to talk oneself out of anxiety/panic attacks? I've tried deep breathing but it's not helping.

Any help/words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

[KittyKat848 93]

I was pretty scared before surgery, too. You have some added concerns because you have the unknown of going outside of your comfort zone and home for your surgery. For me, visualizing positive outcomes, dispelling negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones and focusing on relaxation really helped me get through that last week. It was still hard.

I did notice that you are taking advil (an NSAID) -- does your surgeon know about this? I ask because most of the time surgeons ask that you discontinue all blood thinning meds a week or two before surgery.