Health anxiety

[amyecpa 33]

My surgery date is coming up on the 28th. My biggest concern is absolutely my crazy mind. I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder with panic attacks that is pretty well controlled by my anti-depressant and occasional Xanax. As I get older though, my anxiety definitely centers more around my health. I wouldn't say I'm a hypochondriac, I just think the worst when there is a problem.

My husbands main concern post-op is that I won't be able to logically process the different pains/sensations and I'll keep running to the ER. Honestly, it's my biggest fear also. Most of the time I am completely level-headed, but my mind seems to get the best of me when it comes to health issues. I'm educating myself as much as possible so I'll have a logical argument/reason for the different pains and feelings. Has anyone else dealt with this?

[BitterSweet* 835]

This is a good post. Perhaps it would help to write down a short list of the top possible complications and then list the signs and symptoms based on info from your surgeon.

If anything were to come up, you could easily and logically refer to your list, determine if you in fact have any of the symptoms, and then do as instructed by your surgeon. Having a plan like this would hopefully ease your mind a bit and provide reassurance if and when you should seek medical help for any problems (God forbid).

Even without the diagnoses that you have, others like myself have the opposite problem. I try to solve stuff at home and only go to the ER when I have exhausted all other options. So, I appreciate your post. It shows that we should have a good balance of healthy worry juxtaposed with treating ourselves at home.

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

My surgical center was great because I was very educated and supported. I talked to the nurse or assistant quite regularly and it helped alot.

I actually felt more angst after my band removal. I felt feverish(but wasn't) and the port site was sore and left a freaky empty spot that took awhile to fill. In hindsight I recognize it was the final grieving for that epic failure and my emotional state impacted how I perceived my recovery. I mean I felt horrible,was hungry, sickly obese and gaining weight while l awaited the sleeve....no wonder I felt so awful.

[AWholeNewMama 34]

As someone who also suffers from anxiety, my advice would be to do as BitterSweet suggested and create a list of the possible complications and symptoms. I would take the extra step of dividing those complications into those that are imminently life-threatening (i.e. go to the ER immediately) or those that are more in the "cause for concern but not an emergency" category. My guess is that you'll see that the life-threatening complication column is much shorter than the cause for concern column. Also, take the time to look up the percentages of patients who experience each complication. For me, seeing the small percentages in print really helps ease my mind.

[prairie 34]

I too have GAD and have been weaving disaster scenarios worthy of a Peter Jackson trilogy. My biggest fear has been that it won't work at all, that I'll gain weight or won't change at all.

The bariatic psychologist gave me the best advice - He suggested I concern myself with the things that have a higher percentage of happening.

For example, sure there's the chance that you go to the ER worried that your staple line is leaking. Do you really think you'll go in 10 times for that or similar things? What are the odds - maybe 1 in 50? What is much more likely is that you won't drink enough Water or get enough Protein.

You can definitely control the latter. AND your husband can be a partner to you in reducing the risks associated with the real issues - rather than feeding your anxiety about disaster scenarios.

You are no more likely to run amok after surgery than you are right now.

Another thing the psychologist told me was "Stop thinking and start doing!" The more control you take over the things you can control, the less space you have to worry about the things that haven't even happened.