Submitted by pajamajammer t3_1261gwp in LifeProTips
Certain medical and dental procedures trigger cold sweats, lightheadedness, anxiety, and tunnel vision as if I’m about to faint. I have an upcoming procedure that I’d like to prepare myself for. I’m thinking I may try to bring headphones and blast classical music. Any other ideas for me?
ETA: pain/anxiety meds are not an option for this procedure unfortunately
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Close your eyes and take deep breaths
Learn how to do breath work, practice at home and then do it when in the dentist chair.
Tell them your nervous, I did for my last surgery I had and they gave me drugs. Calmed me down to the point I was talking football with one of the nurses.
Edit what procedure?
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Drugs. They're Dr's, they know how to administer drugs. Life's short, there's no time to needlessly "tough it out".
Just FYI - dental local anesthesia can cause palpitations, sweating and dizziness in some people. It can be pretty severe, too.
First, tell the nurse/doc ahead of time that you are nervous. . You can also ask any questions at this time. A good doc/nurse will tell you all about what their doing so you will know what to expect
Look up breathing exercises that trigger the "relaxation response", which can help knock down that adrenaline.
Also remember that it is your body; you have the right to stop the procedure at any time.
Good luck.
For dental procedures go somewhere that does the laughing gas thing, that stuff is pure gold when it comes to keeping you calm or at least it is for me. For other procedures that aren’t done under general anesthesia make sure you eat and drink well that day and tell the doc you are extremely anxious, any good doctor should be open to prescribing you a valium or something similar to take prior to the procedure.
I'm like this too. I literally have impending doom level anxiety attacks when taking blood where I am so light headed, ready to pass out that I think I'm dying and its so terrifying I think about actually wanting to die to get it over with. I have very bad anxiety and take benzos usually before getting blood work done, its that bad.
I learned something invaluable from my doc and have been fine since. It takes practise, but holy fuck trust me it works magic.
Breath out through the mouth longer than you breath in through the nose and on each breath out, focus on 1 of each sense, 4 times and repeat if necessary. It seriously works!!!
Normal breath in, long controlled breath out 1: Focus on one thing you can hear, really focus on it
Normal breath in, long controlled breath out 2: focus on one thing you can see, really get curious
Etc etc Breath out 3: focus on something you can feel, wiggle your toes, feel your shoes or wiggle your fingers and feel your skin
Etc etc Breath 4: focus on something you can smell, smell the fresh air, the perfumws
Etc etc Breath 5: focus on one thing you can taste, even if its just your saliva, or imagine what your fav food tastes like
All things NON surgery/hospital related
The breathing out through the mouth is important because it equalizes your heart, the senses are a distraction to the brain.
This sounds great and doable, thank you!!
For me, what finally made a difference during blood draws, injections, etc. was to not hide from it or get embarrassed. I simply tell them that my body reacts in an over the top manner to these things and kind of make a joke out of it. I know it's ridiculous. I know I'll be perfectly fine, but my body still gets the cold sweats, I feel light-headed and dizzy. If they ask how I do with blood draws, for instance, I tell them it depends on the day, but I'll do my best.
About 99% of the time now it's over before the sweat gets too far down my head. I ask for a paper towel to wipe it off, laugh about it, and get the heck out of there.
Another thing that works well for me is to ask them about their day or something and really listen to their answer. If you can focus on learning about them, it distracts your mind enough that it's over before the body has time to react.
I've gone from literally passing out in the past to sitting through regular 3 hour infusions without a problem. If this guy can do it, I know you can too.
I sing Queen Songs are you ready? I'm standing alone lalala. Standing on my own two feet.
Not sure if those are the actual lyrics.
I just repeat those until it's done. Not for dentists because I bob my head.
Guided meditation, try It in advance but sometimes the sound of a person talking to you and telling you what to do over rides the anxiety or pain signal.
I mean in headphones, and specifically the relaxation type that go in order from head to toe so you lose track of what's happening elsewhere.
Thank you! Any apps/podcasts in particular?
I love this 😂
Thank you! Good tips
Unfortunately I can’t ask for drugs bc I’m pregnant. I’m having an amniocentesis, where basically they will guide a giant needle into my belly.
4-7-8 breathing and I go to my happy place. Remember how it smells and sounds really helps me get there
Tell them you’re nervous, ffs. This has nothing to do with life tips.
Recently underwent dental procedure with local anesthesia. I was so petrified with the dental procedure tools they use.(movies)
In my case, trick that helped me is, I literally started investigating the focus lamp that dentists use. I started counting the vertical lines around the bulb and then in reverse and many more time 😂.
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