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How can I defeat my anxiety about medical tests and surgery?
Just Want to Talk | Last Active: Nov 20, 2023 | Replies (35)Comment receiving replies
@mguspixi25 I think one of the differences in the music therapy for the combat veterans is that they are learning to play the guitar and then writing a song about their life with the help of a professional songwriter. It is a creative act and they own the song which is shared with the professional musician. During this workshop, all the participants perform and record the songs and I think they may even have them available later on CDs.
Creative work heals the parts of the brain that have been affected by trauma if you work at it. Art therapy doesn't have to be professional art work; it can be anything like flower arranging, scrap booking, making quilts, pottery, photography... basically anything that involves creative decisions and that accomplishment feels good. It builds confidence, and is something positive to talk about.
When I waiting for spine surgery, one of the stressful things was not knowing what would walk through the door when I met a surgeon at a spine consultation appointment for the first time. I had spinal cord compression, and there is no way out of that except surgery. I started drawing sketches of them from any pictures I could find online so I could be familiar with them and like them and try not to fear the surgery. My husband was making funny pictures with them by pasting pictures of their heads onto other people to make me laugh, and that helped too. I never mentioned that, but I did show a sketch to surgeon at an appointment, and he giggled. That was valuable because at that moment, he was no longer a god to be feared, but a human just like me. He ended up dismissing me because he didn't understand my unusual symptoms. That's OK too, because you don't really want a surgeon guessing during an operation.
This is the music program I mentioned. My friend is the guy who started this program after becoming a music therapist. He gave me a few tips too when I was anxious before my surgery.
https://musictherapyoftherockies.org/
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Yes it’s very nice - works for many 🙂
My degree is occupational therapy and I used to work a lot with trauma and music, diversional, and art therapists as/when indicated.
I personally don’t find it helpful for two reasons: I have a brain that doesn’t work as well as it used to due to chronic inflammation, and a former TBI (along with concussions over the years), so I find creative activities very distressing to attempt. When I’ve worked with others who’ve sustained similar damage to their brain, they have also reported the same distress when being engaged in creativity activities.
What is much more effective for me is doing a task I am already proficient in, which puts me in zen mode/find somewhat ‘healing’ (I’d just need to do a ton of this to have the desired long term/lasting effect. When something is traumatic/PTSD inducing, I jump in my car in the middle of the night and take winding mountain roads at a significantly fast pace to give that same calming/soothing/healing effect that some get from creativity tasks), like motorcycle riding on a race track as fast as the machine will go, truck driving at night in wet stormy conditions, or skydiving/flying (none of which I am doing of late due to losing function in my body). These things were my therapy. Movement of entire body and biofeedback help some better than creativity. Anyway, the music program looks lovely.
Sounds like the spine surgery was a bit scary for you?
One of the surgeries I’ve had was emergency on spine due to multiple disc compression throughout my lumbar, compressing the cord which prevented me from walking and controlling my bowel and bladder.
I ended up catching a cab (imagine someone in that state) from one hospital to another, hoping someone would scan and help me - some of the ERs treated me like I was seeking attention. It was incredibly painful. I eventually got to the third hospital where an ortho surgeon assessed me, and took me straight to surgery to save my leg movement. But because there was extra damage from having to go from ER to ER, I ended up with much worse problems/much more complicated surgery required.
To be honest, I didn’t care what was done, and who he was, just that someone was going to help me. The surgery was partially successful, and good enough.
By that time I had already had other surgeries where I was significantly chopped up and put back together, so this wasn’t really too far on the radar.
Anyway, I’m glad the process of art and laughter helped you in your situation.
I just wanted to get the pressure off of my spinal cord, and that was all I worried about.
I woke up the next morning, and went home the morning after that to rehab myself for the next three months alone (there isn’t any system support in some instances, and I didn’t qualify, so I did it all on my own while cooking, cleaning, etc..was a bit challenging at the beginning while waiting for my legs to play ball, but I got there).
I had a look at the link - very nice 🌺🙂