As a psychotherapist and a clinical musicologist, patients tell me on a regular basis that they are filled with anxiety about upcoming medical procedures. Anything from an injection or blood draw, to major or minor surgery seems to evoke a level of fear that is significant. You don’t have to have a car crash, or near-death experience to perceive trauma in an upcoming procedure.

And remember, trauma is in the heart and mind of the person having the procedure.

I must admit that I get pretty worked up myself over procedures large and small, medical and dental. Recently I had to have some thyroid nodules biopsied and I was very anxious about the potential pain.  This is one of the many procedures that a local numbing injection is all that they can give you and of course, this one is right in the neck. After 20 minutes, the doctor came in and gave me 8 more needles in the same area!  Seems cruel but that’s the only way to sample and test the nodules.

As it turned out, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared and all of the nodules were benign. But the places my mind went were scary and things could have turned out much differently.

So what do YOU do when you know you’re going to have to have a scary medical procedure or a big dental procedure, or even surgery?  There are SO many medical and nursing research studies that document the powerful calming and sedative benefits of music. Not just ANY music though. Some people (even Doctors and nurses) think that something fun and upbeat will be just the ticket.  Others believe that relaxation music, i.e. nature sounds or binaural beats, (slightly different frequencies played separately in each ear) will do the trick.

Instead, through my own readings, and verified through my research, I have discovered my proprietary, patented  system of music that effectively reduces anxiety and pain perception. The principles I use can be applied to any genre of music and I created five playlists in five different genres so that the patient can choose their favorite.

Patients who used this system needed less anxiety medication, they needed less anesthesia (which means they wake up sooner and easier) and less pain medication afterwards. Pain medication in particular can be a problem because patients can get addicted to opioids.  It’s not a moral issue at all.  When people are in pain, and pain is very subjective, all they want is to be out of pain.  Opioids will do this, but if you take them longer than 5-7 days, it is possible to build up a tolerance and then the problem starts.

Using music before, during and after your procedure will decrease the need for AS MUCH anxiety medication (xanax, valium), anesthesia (propofol, etc–the one that killed Michael Jackson), and pain medication afterwards (opioids). On my website, you can ready many of the best recent research studies about the power of music with surgery and other medical procedures. www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/research.

One of the main reasons I created Surgical Serenity Solutions was for myself. I do not like pain but I do LOVE music. When I discovered how well-documented this intervention was, I tried to find a simple way to provide music for all patients who are fearful of upcoming procedures. After trying several other methods, I came up with the idea of putting the ideal music (I am also a clinical musicologist) on cordless  headphones that would not interfere in any way with the surgical team or dental staff. Since 2009, we have continuously improved the delivery method and added four new genres of playlists.

The patient can now purchase the preloaded headphones or the hospital can purchase them in bulk and have them waiting for the patient! Our 5 playlists (Classical, Jazz, New Age, Lullabies, or Memory Care) can be streamed to bluetooth headphones that patient or hospital already owns, or the patient can bring their own AirPods and stream from their cellphone or an iPad already in the operating room.

This patient is waiting to go into surgery. and is feeling no pain!  He’s waiting to have a cataract removed and is listing to the Jazz playlist.  When it was all over, he reported “that was such an amazing experience, have easy but steady jazz music playing while the surgeon went about her business and I heard none of it. I will take these headphones to every medical and dental procedure I ever go to!”

Do you want this for yourself or for your hospital and patients.  ORDER NOW!! Go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/hospitalheadphones or

www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/patientheadphones.

P.S. These headphones contain no metal so they are safe in hospital or surgical settings that don’t allow any metal! 🙂

Get YOURS today!