There was a musician who started to suffer from stage fright. He would get this rush and begin to panic. With help he realised that other musicians had the same thing happen but they saw it as excitement and being ready to rock the stage.
So how do you calm your nerves in surgery?
When you are in surgery do your hands shake? Shaking is the affect of the adrenaline rush due to your stress levels rising.
Coffee will have a similar response which is why I have to reduce my caffeine intake before surgery – argh!!
The shaking happens to me when things are about to go pear shaped.
You can develop a pattern when the shaking starts, your stress levels shoot up dramatically putting your body into panic mode. It is a normal physiological response – the flight or fight mode.
For some people it doesn’t happen in times of crisis as they don’t have time to think about it. It will start after the emergency ends.
The key is to listen to your mind chatter when the nerves occur.
Does your mind chatter say ‘I’ve got this, I can do this’
or is it
‘Oh no, I’m going to have a panic attack, don’t have a panic attack, I can’t do this, etc’.
The latter mind chatter will set off a distress or high stress response in your body. For surgeries I am nervous about, I remember the musician story and reframe my nerves into being excited and prepared.
How you think about stress will determine the type of stress response your body has.
I have learned to stop and take a few deep breaths when I notice the shaking and it calms down. You can do the same thing. Taking slow, deep breaths activates your parasympathetic nervous system and will calm you. It will take practice. Mindfulness will help as well.
I tell myself that I’ve got this and I can do this.
Just take it step by step. You may also find when you finish a surgery you may need to walk off the adrenaline. It explains why you can feel jittery after surgery or totally exhausted.
It’s totally normal to be nervous in surgery in the early years or if you are doing a surgery for the first time. If you go into each surgery waiting for something to go wrong, you will always be on edge.
Don’t be nervous about things you can already do well. Be confident. Focus on what you are doing well to help build your confidence in surgery. If you complete a surgery, that’s doing well.
Natasha
