Stress Center Peer Support

I am starting to obsess about my dentist appointment next week. I wrote this in my notebook as a negative thought and replied with the positive: I'll be alright, it is only anxiety and I will have a talk with my dentist prior to the procedure. This is probably not enough, but after writing it I felt a bit better.
It seems that most of my anxiety now is from anxiety itself. I fear fear. I am not afraid of the dentist but of having a Panic attack while there.
Anticipation is another big one. Is anticipation mentioned in the program. I just finished Session 3 and haven't heard it mentioned yet.
I'd feel a lot better if my dentist appointment was right now rather than on the highly anticipated Wednesday.
Any thoughts or words of advice would be appreciated.
Tony

OMG I could have written this post word for word. This is my biggest struggle. I am afraid of being afraid and that makes anticipatory anxiety so horrible for me.

I hope the program addressess it...I haven't received mine yet.

I totally can relate. The fear of FEAR is what's very difficult for me. I have a plane flight scheduled in 6 days and I am already obsessing about it. I have flown many times and it doesn't scare me, but having a panic attack while on the plane...that's terrifying for me.

I'm just starting the program and hope to absorb some skills beforehand. Take care.

I haven't received my program yet - does it address the fear of fear?

I sure hope so, shakysusie! This is one area where I need help.

week 8 talks about anticipatory anxiety and by the time I got to this session I could feel a real difference. I used to be this way before going to the DDS and would worry constantly days before and get myself so worked up over it I sometimes even cancelled appts. I went last week and for the first time had no fear, worry, or anxiety and didn't even think about canceling the appt. I still have a long way to go though and notice that if I don't go over the workbook assignments every day I start slipping.

Hi Tony!

Anticipatory anxiety is a tricky one, most definitely. I had a recent dentist experience that was actually quite positive! I scheduled the appointment 6 months ago, and I had actually forgotten about it, until the office called me to remind me about my appointment the next day. I said "Oh, sure, okay" but in my head I was thinking, "Oh great, how I am going to do this?" I spent that entire evening thinking of excuses to get out of it, but then I realized what I was doing. I asked myself, ok, what are my fears about going? And I could only think of one fear and that was having a panic attack. The thing is, we give that fear way too much of our power, and we are the ones who push our own panic button! It was just a cleaning, no big deal. I got up the next day and I was VERY nervous. You'd think I was having major surgery. But I went. I went and you know what? I lived. And I didn't have a panic attack. We scare ourselves so much.

The only reason we ever feel like we aren't capable of doing something, is because we convince ourselves that we can't! And that fear feels really real. But ask yourself... is your fear reasonable, rational, and real? No. If you do have a panic attack, big deal. They always end. You are 110% capable of going to the dentist. Just talk to yourself differently and give yourself permission to be anxious! Because the real truth is, out of all the people I know, only one of them actually enjoys the dentist. So you know what that means? That means that a lot of people are terrified of the dentist and the dentist knows that! You can talk to your dentist about your fear. That's what I did and it made me feel a lot better. She was very nice to me, asking me often how I was doing or if I needed to go outside to get some fresh air. You will feel much better if you just pull your dentist aside and say, "hey, I am very afraid to be here and I have anxiety issues, so if I need to get up and take a break, will that be okay?" and he or she will say 'definitely!' It's not as embarrassing as we think it is, trust me, a lot of people deal with anxiety. Even dentists. And I promise you, the dentist knows someone who deals with anxiety. People ARE understanding if you give them the chance to be. So, talk to your dentist, talk to yourself differently, say nice, calming things to yourself, do some slow, deep breathing, and don't worry about your appointment until you actually go. I promise you that you will go, it will be fine, and you'll walk out saying "oh wow, why did I make such a big deal out of that?" We ALL do that!

Let us know how it goes!

well I think your doing all the right things....journaling it, coming here to forum for advice and encouragement, and telling your dentist you have fear is the best. The pressure will be off. Lots of people have fear of anxiety....we just dont want anyone to know.

I take my relax cd with me to the dentist and I play that on my headset it distracts me from whats going on...I also tend to keep my eyes closed and then I really can get into the cd and not the proceedure. Wear layers, keeping cool is a big thing for me....I tend to get warm when I get nervous. So that way I can shed some layers if its too warm in the office.

The program will give you the skills you need to get through these episodes better...the carry along cards are wonderfull that first one with the 6 steps and those are crucial in feeling better.

Take them with you and read them while you wait they help me.
Good luck
Dodger

Thank you all very much for your responses and advice. It's not bothering me so much today. I think just posting it alone or talking about it helps. I finally told my doctor about my anxiety last week for the first time and that was a tremendous weight off my back.
I will keep you posted.
Tony

Success!!!Alright, I stopped obsessing after Friday, but the anxiety was still in the back of my mind about the dentist chair. Got through work today but as my appointment time approached the anxiety started to build. I went through all the steps of stopping the attack and it didn't happen. Then, the thought entered my head that I wouldn't be able to do the breathing while in the chair. I don't know if this is true but I thought I wouldn't be able to breathe out of my mouth with all that work going on. And then I got called to the chair. I immediately told my dentist I have an anxiety problem that I am working on and being in his office was very difficult for me. I think my anxiety dropped from a 4 to a 1 just by telling him. And as for my dentist, what a great guy. He knew exactly what he was dealing with and just said OK and started talking, getting me out of my own head.He gave me my shot, continued to talk and then worked on my tooth for about an hour. I was still a bit uncomfortable but the anxiety was minimal to none after a while. Thanks to all of for your words of encouragement. Especially Karilynn, you are very wise for your years.
Tony