Sunday 30 July 2017

Fear and Anxiety





If you’ve-ever been stressed, depressed or ill, you’ll know that along with it can come fear and anxiety.
And it’s fairly common with a balance condition too.  Even if the condition improves , sometimes what can hold you back is the fear and anxiety.  “But because I was really dizzy when I did this, it’ll happen again if I try to do it now” so you fear the worst even before you’ve tried it. You put yourself off, you let the fear take control. Natural for the mind to do really I think.  You have a bad experience once , your brain automatically assumes the worse and you go into fight or flight mode…. With me it’s normally flight mode.
 That’s why it’s important with conditions like Labrinthytis, BPPV, Vestibular Neuritis and Vestibulopathy with visual preference to try do as much as you can ( without putting  yourself in danger of course) EASIER SAID THAN DONE HOWEVER…..
I’ve spoken to many people whilst writing this blog that have a balance condition and fear going out, fear getting hurt, fear going to work, basically they’re just living in fear of what might be or might not be- that includes myself!!!

Each time I’ve been to or spoken to my vestibular physio she’s said – if you need psychological help , get it!!! So after being  on a waiting list with NHS for help for the last 7 months,  I’ve now decided to see if I can get some help elsewhere. I’m truly fortunate to have found a lady who’s offered to help me for free.
Nagina Parwez is a psychotherapist , clinical hypnotherapist and provides stress management for organisations to help with the well- being of their staff.
She’s a contact I’ve made through a mutual friend.

I met up with her recently to ask her how you might deal with fear and anxiety . What follows is an extract of a much longer conversation I had with her.




Key points Nagina makes are – focus on the positive, look after yourself, and find a form of exercise that can help you and don’t be so hard on yourself.
As I said -  this was just part of a longer conversation with her.
I took some of the advice on board this weekend . We had a wedding reception to go to , out of town . The first real big event I was going to go to in a long time and I’d been dreading it for months
And even though I was nervous and scared of how it would be and
how I would cope,  I kept focusing on the positives and telling myself how well I was doing. My husband was with me so I didn’t need to worry. He was there to help if I needed it.
There were hundreds of people there, lots of noise , flashy lights and loud music. And even though I had some dodgy moments of dizziness and panic I was able to enjoy the evening much more than I think I would have done otherwise.

 I’d love to know how much your balance condition has affected your state of mind and if counselling or mindfulness or whatever you’ve tried has helped you. So please leave comments below.
If you want more info about NAGINA – she can be contacted on 07414846897 or of course you can speak to your GP and ask them to refer you to a service suitable for your needs .

 http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/free-therapy-or-counselling.aspx