Fear Of Surgery Affects Both Students and Adults

Yoloxin Tapia Melena, Staff Writer

People often have a fear of surgery. That is because there is always a risk going under anesthesia. There is never an absolute guarantee that you’ll wake up.

Usually, if your surgery has been scheduled ahead of time, there is a good chance that everything will run smoothly. If it’s a trauma case, on the other hand, there are more risks.

Anxiety is a huge factor when having surgery and it is completely normal to be anxious. There are times, however, when the anxiety can get the best of you and cause more severe things such as nausea, a racing heart, panic attacks, and many other medical conditions. The anxiety usually starts when the patients are getting ready to go into surgery. When the IV drip has been put in, that’s when many patients start feeling their nerves that this is actually going to happen. Patients with severe anxiety disorder can also try to avoid or postpone surgery as long as they can.

The fear of surgery can be caused by a number of reasons. One reason might be having lost somebody close that died during surgery. Another reason can be that it will be a very risky surgery. Other reasons include that it can be someone’s very first surgery, or that the patient can also be a child.

A trauma surgical team performing an operation

Something that has many people frightened these days is that they’ve heard of patients waking up in the middle of surgery. Yes, this is very scary, but it is also very rare. This is due to the anesthesia being light.

Children often have a huge fear of surgery, which ultimately leads to crying. Children, on the other hand, are more resilient than adults. They have been proven to recover faster and survive harder surgeries. Parents can also prove to be a huge factor on why children are more scared of surgery. The parents tend to share their fear, which passes on to the child and that makes them scared of surgery.

Risky surgeries are a major reason why patients might be scared. For example, cardiology and neurology are some of the most riskiest types of surgeries to have involving the most important parts of the human anatomy: the heart, the brain, and the spine.

This fear can often leave patients terrified because there is a higher chance that they might die on the table. The heart controls your ability to stay alive, while the brain controls the person who you are, and the spine controls your mobility to do literally anything.

Overall, life-changing surgery is something most people find overwhelming.