Post Operative Anxiety

[Dragonsblonde]

Afternoon all

Brief bit of history...I am a 38 year old married woman living near London. A couple of years ago I had a bit of a breakdown following the loss of my parents and other connected factors. I eventually went onto Citalopram 20mg daily and had some CBT and counselling and things settled and after a few months I felt ok.

This year has been a rough one all round with fears over job losses and some health issues with me - ending finally in hemorrhoid surgery 12 days ago which I got myself very worked up about obviously. Now for anyone who doesn't know this surgery is extremely painful and you get quite obsessed with toilet and eating habits and pain etc.

The thing that hass surprised and worried me though is a large increase in anxiety to the point when my husband mentioned he would be going out for a couple of hours later today I went into a cold sweat. He has been home with me since the Op taking care of me and I know logically I can care for myself now, but panic at the thought of being alone. He has to go back to work on Friday and Saturday this week and I don't know how I will deal with it to be honest.

I am due back to work next Monday and that scares me a little, even though it will probably do me the world of good

Does anyone have any experience of Post Op worry or just anything to chat about to help me keep grounded?

[Annie0904]

I haven't had that op myself but my friend has and I know he was in a lot of pain after. It is to be expected that your anxiety will be increased when you are in pain and feeling down. I am the same with my fractured foot, my anxiety levels have shot up. My husband works away a lot and I panic more when I am on my own. I have even started to write my Christmas cards to distract myself from the pain! Hope you feel better soon

[paranoidtree]

i haven't had the same op as you but last July i had my appendix removed, the whole thing was rather unexpected and although before the op i had returned to my normal self following a breakdown, afterwards i crashed. My anxiety was very high and i dreaded when my husband had to go back to work after a couple of days with me, i even had my mum sit with me as i didn't want to be on my own. After about 1 1/2 weeks i slowly had more time on my own and could see that nothing bad happened to me but was very scary. Same when i went back to work after 3 weeks off. i was so nervous but eventually i think it helped as distracted me from the worry about the op itself. Although i still have high anxiety, especially related to my health i know that when i proved to myself i could be on my own and even go to work that it helped.

I hope you find the strength to be able to do this, if you ever want to chat i'm normally about and hope you feel better soon.

[merlotsmum]

I'm 42 years old and up to March 2012 I lived on my own, my partner would come over on a Friday night and leave Monday morning. I then had a total hysterectomy that month followed by a number of complications, not life threatening but enough to delay my healing. During this post op reovery time he also stayed week nights, going to work during the day.

I then started to have terrible anxiety in June, followed by a day in hospital with a nasty tummy bug. From there I went downhill with depression and anxiety. I had a breakdown 4 weeks ago and a crisis team were called in to help me.

He has stayed each night since the op and in October he has to go away with work and I am terrified about the prospect of my waking at 5am each morning in a panic. While I don't wake him up each morning, it is reassuring to know he is there.

I used to be fine on my own, loved it in fact but somehow I have crumbled since my operation nearly 6 months ago.

I am on Sertraline - just over 3 weeks at 50mg and last 4 days at 100mg which is taking the edge off. I have started CBT and plan to privately fund counselling once this is complete.

I just wanted to say I totally understand where you are coming from and not sure what to suggest. I think the thing I am going to do is just feel the fear of being on my own and try to heal from this :(

Take care

[Dragonsblonde]

Hey Guys

It is so great to hear from people who understand and I have always found in the past that the start of healing begins with the honesty we have on here to admit we aren't feeling as confident as we would hope.

I have read up about somethings regarding post op stress and usually can only find thinsg about bad diagnosis, but there are some mentions of anxiety and depression being linked to it. The feelings of tiredness and phyiscal weakness open us up to anxiety and I think as we are already sensitive to it it hits us harder.

I will go back to work on Monday and I will get through the time that my husband goes away! It may not be easy, but have to bear in mind that it won't hurt me, it just won't be the greateast day of my life

Any spare strength I have I am sending to all of you

[merlotsmum]

Hey Guys

It is so great to hear from people who understand and I have always found in the past that the start of healing begins with the honesty we have on here to admit we aren't feeling as confident as we would hope.

I have read up about somethings regarding post op stress and usually can only find thinsg about bad diagnosis, but there are some mentions of anxiety and depression being linked to it. The feelings of tiredness and phyiscal weakness open us up to anxiety and I think as we are already sensitive to it it hits us harder.

I will go back to work on Monday and I will get through the time that my husband goes away! It may not be easy, but have to bear in mind that it won't hurt me, it just won't be the greateast day of my life

Any spare strength I have I am sending to all of you

Hi Dragonsblond

How are you getting on.

MM x

[iangenge]

I can sympathise with the forum members who have posted comments here regarding post-operative anxiety.

I had a hernia repair done under local anesthetic as a day case nearly 5 weeks ago. I started to get severe anxiety, panic attacks and generalised health anxiety (hypochondria) within 48 hours of getting home.

I've suffered with panic attacks & anxiety on and off all my life but I'd been well in the build up to the operation. It seems having the operation done has been a trigger for it to all come back again.

Since then i've had good days and bad & had a bit of deterioration again the last couple of days, despite seeing a pyscotherapist, doing relaxation, meditation, mindfullness exercises, CBT and eating healthly and getting exercise etc.

I'm trying hard to change my thought processess. and beat it again. I'm due to see a pyscotherapist again soon, so hopefully I can get on top of it.

Can anyone recommend any other ways of coping and getting through this please ?

Much appreciated - Ian

[Phuzella]

Hi Ian. I had umbilical hernia in September last year. Op went OK but 2 weeks later I had a complication. Although it turned out OK, I started to get panic attacks after 25 years of being anxiety free. Having surgery is a trauma for body and mind and I guess for susceptible individuals can bring about anxiety etc.
All the things that you're doing are basically the same as I've been doing, and i am mostly back to "normal". Lol whatever normal is.
Keep on with what you're doing and be kind to yourself