Franklin D. Roosevelt said this in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1933. The country was in the depths of the worst depression we had ever seen; up to that time. President Roosevelt was trying to remind us that our common problems concerned only material things; that the fabric of who and what we are had not changed. He told us that it would take hard work and sacrifice to build back to where we had been and that the only thing standing in our way was fear and fear alone.
When I re-read this speech and started thinking about my life with CRPS I realized that part of the problem with CRPS is that it is a fear based disease. When you first contract the disease you are afraid that pain is the only thing that you will ever know. You know nothing about what to expect or even how you contracted it; all you know is that you are in extreme pain.
As you continue your journey with CRPS you begin to fear that there is no treatment that will work for you. Each procedure is a bundle of new fears; what if it doesn't work, what if it causes me to hurt more, is it going to hurt to have the particular procedure done, what if the doctor doesn't know what he is doing and makes it worse? You begin to read about the disease and fear that the doctors did not diagnose you in time. In some cases you begin to fear that you are losing your mind because no one seems to believe you when you tell them that you are in pain. Person's with CRPS worry about finding a doctor that believes in them and that they can believe in.
Persons with CRPS fear that they will become addicted to their pain medication, they worry that they will never be able to do what they used to do, they worry about the cost of seeing a doctor, the cost of medications and how they will support their families on what workman's comp gives them or the amount they get from disability. They worry about the weather, about the disease spreading and whether or not they have run out of options to try.
CRPS is one massive bundle of fears. The question is are you going to allow the fear to take over your life or are you going to fight the fear and live no matter the consequences?
When I re-read this speech and started thinking about my life with CRPS I realized that part of the problem with CRPS is that it is a fear based disease. When you first contract the disease you are afraid that pain is the only thing that you will ever know. You know nothing about what to expect or even how you contracted it; all you know is that you are in extreme pain.
As you continue your journey with CRPS you begin to fear that there is no treatment that will work for you. Each procedure is a bundle of new fears; what if it doesn't work, what if it causes me to hurt more, is it going to hurt to have the particular procedure done, what if the doctor doesn't know what he is doing and makes it worse? You begin to read about the disease and fear that the doctors did not diagnose you in time. In some cases you begin to fear that you are losing your mind because no one seems to believe you when you tell them that you are in pain. Person's with CRPS worry about finding a doctor that believes in them and that they can believe in.
Persons with CRPS fear that they will become addicted to their pain medication, they worry that they will never be able to do what they used to do, they worry about the cost of seeing a doctor, the cost of medications and how they will support their families on what workman's comp gives them or the amount they get from disability. They worry about the weather, about the disease spreading and whether or not they have run out of options to try.
CRPS is one massive bundle of fears. The question is are you going to allow the fear to take over your life or are you going to fight the fear and live no matter the consequences?
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