Fear

Hi. Anyone have any suggestions on getting over fear? I realize that is one of my biggest obstacles. Sometimes I am fearful to move. I'm fearing that the back pain will worsen and I'll have to live like this forever. I try not to think about it but I fee like sometimes I'm obsessed with my pain. And I see that my fear is not helping. I am so young and I don't want to live like this for the rest of my life. Any words of wisdom or support?

 

Hi, Lettherebe.. I have identical fears myself and though I've been working on recovery, even with the help of a counselor, I still fight the fear with every movement, especially bending or squatting.. I wish I knew the remedy for this, and hopefully someone with more experience will have some wisdom to offer.. But I did want to let you know that I certainly empathize with how you're feeling and hope it helps to know someone understands..

 

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/fear-the-most-destructive-force-in-life.3610/ (Fear: the Most Destructive Force in Life)

 

A great book to read addressing fear is Claire Weekes Peace from Nervous Suffering. She really helped me to overcome a lot of my fears around pain when I was at the beginning of recovery from 15 years of back pain.

A quick summery of her main points are Accept your panic/agitation/what if's - this is just a wave that will pass - try to stay relaxed through it. Float through it by going with the feelings "offering no resistance", loosen your body while going through the wave until it is done and let go. Then just let time pass. This helped me to expand my life while the pain was still around.

Because I was not adding more panic to it with this method, I was able to recover more effectively.