Prepare for Surgery,
Heal Faster

A Guide of Mind-Body Techniques
by Peggy Huddleston

Interview
with
Peggy Huddleston

English: MP3 10.6MB

Spanish: MP3 35MB

"I recommend Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster to all who require surgery and want to recover faster."

Andrew T. Weil, M.D.
Author, Spontaneous Healing
Director, Program in Integrative Medicine
College of Medicine, University of Arizona

"Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster and its Relaxation CD should be in the hands of everyone having surgery."

From the foreword by Christiane Northrup, M.D.
Past President, American Holistic Medical Association
Surgeon and Author, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

"Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster empowers patients to lead the way to recovery by allowing them to take their appropriate place on the surgical team."

Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.
Cardiac Surgeon & Host of the Dr. Oz Show
Professor of Surgery, Columbia University
College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, NY

"Patients with unusually high levels of anxiety use Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster to go forward with surgery in a confident manner."

Lawrence H. Cohn, M.D.
Professor of Cardiac Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Former Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital

About
Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster

Peggy Huddleston developed five steps to prepare for surgery using mind-body techniques. She guides you in using these steps in her best-selling book, Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster.

A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, her clinical work and research focus on the ways positive emotions and the human spirit speed healing.

The book is a quick read. Many read it in two hours. A new, updated, 4th edition was published in 2012.

The mind-body techniques in this book help you to:

• Reduce anxiety before surgery
• Use 23-60% less pain medication
• Heal faster

Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster is recommended in hospitals across the US, including Brigham and Women's Hospital which is a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital and NYU Langone Medical Center in New York.

Step One shows you how to use visualization to turn your worries about surgery into positive healing imagery. It calms preoperative jitters, showing you how to shift yourself out of the fight-or-flight response into feeling peaceful.

Step Two is listening to her relaxation CD or MP3. It reduces anxiety, guiding you into a deep state of relaxation. If you have insomnia, it will help you fall asleep. If you have headaches, they will melt away as you relax.

Research at a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital showed those listening to her relaxation had less anxiety and used less medication for anxiety.

Step Three shows you how to ask friends and family to wrap you with their thoughts in a "Blanket of Love" for the half-hour before surgery.

Many say, "I felt more loved then I've ever felt in my whole life as I waited in the holding area before surgery feeling the "Blanket of Love around me."

Step Four explains the "Healing Statements", words spoken during surgery which research showed reduced the use of pain medication by 23-60%.

Step Five shows you how to request use of the "Healing Statements", explaining it is your legal right to request them.

Using these five steps, you will reduce anxiety and feel profoundly peaceful in the days before surgery. In turn, this peace creates the biochemistry of healing that will dramatically speed your healing.

Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster Workshops are offered in hospitals and HMOs by nurses and therapists trained and certified by Peggy Huddleston.

Research documenting benefits of
Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster

A randomized controlled study with 56 patients having colorectal surgery at The Lahey Clinic, a Tufts University Medical School teaching hospital, documented that patients using Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster had significantly less anxiety before surgery and healed faster, leaving the hospital 1.6 days sooner than the control group. This resulted in a cost-savings for the hospital of $3,200 per patient.

By the second day at home, patients used 60% less pain medication, had significantly less depression, insomnia and had a significant increase in patient satisfaction.

A randomized controlled study with 44 patients having total-knee joint replacement at The New England Baptist, a Tufts University Medical School teaching hospital, showed that patients using Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster had significantly less anxiety before surgery and healed faster, leaving the hospital 1.3 days sooner than those in the control group.

A randomized control study with 23 hospitalized patients not having surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, documented that patients who listen twice a day for 25-minutes to Peggy Huddleston's relaxation tape had less anxiety, used less medication for anxiety and had a significant decrease in heart rate. Findings were published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, March 2007.

"This is the best book and CD I have ever seen showing how to prepare for surgery physically, emotionally and spiritually."

"This book is a great guide for anyone having surgery. It includes easy to follow steps that contribute to healing, self knowledge and self-care."

Jean Watson, Ph.D., R.N., AHN-BC, FAAN
Distinguished Professor, Endowed Chair in Caring Science
University of Colorado, Denver & Anschutz Medical Center
Founder, Watson Caring Science Institute

"Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster is a wise guide for anyone having surgery. If you want to reduce the fear of surgery and be an active participant, read this book."

"Every patient undergoing surgery should prepare for it. They will indeed heal faster with the techniques in this useful book. The attitude of the patient entering surgery is probably as important as the skill of the surgeon."

"If you have to have surgery, Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster shows you how to use five healing steps to make it easier."

"In easy and comforting language, Huddleston describes the steps a patient and his or her family can take to minimize the fears that emerge during the surgical process and the recovery period that follows."

Caroline Myss, Ph.D.
Author, Creating Health
Anatomy of the Spirit