Anxiety and Chronic Pain

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Hi Anxiety Slayer.

I love your meditations and soundtracks, for relaxation and sleep.

I was in a car accident 2 years ago and am suffering chronic pain in head and neck and various other areas in my body, strange sensations, tingling, cramps etc. I never thought I had anxiety but apparently I have anxiety attacks when I feel like I can't breathe and my heart beats very fast, often physical pain in my heart. This is only since the accident, but I don't seem to be healing from my neck/head injury (not sure why and that is driving me crazy!).

I was wondering if your anxiety help could combine with help dealing with physical pain. There must be others who have anxiety due to accidents and trauma to the body, and who are dealing with chronic pain, chronic pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, dizziness and so on, I thought this would be an interesting tangent to explore and you would be great at. Or maybe you already have done some of this and I don't know.

Anyway, thank you for your kind, gentle voices, Aloha

Anxiety due to accidents and trauma to the body

Bach Flower Remedies

We recommend Bach Flowers Rescue Remedyfor any trauma, even if it was a while ago. If you are still suffering the effects then it’s still current and relevant.

Rescue Remedy is available from Nelsons, Amazon and in most health stores.

Oil Massage

For chronic pain, including fibromyalgia pain, oil massage and warm showers can be very helpful.

Daily is ideal, but two or three times a week can make a big difference. Use raw organic sesame oil, or an Ayurvedic massage oil suitable to your body type.

Here’s how to do self oil massage: make your bathroom warm and inviting - you might want to light some candles or play some gentle music to settle into your oil massage as a self-care practice.

Sit or stand on an old towel in your bath or shower to prevent slipping.

Pour a little oil in your cupped hand and allow it to warm for a moment then rub it thoroughly into your skin.

Massage your body all over with warm oil. Use long strokes for your limbs and circular strokes over joints.

When you have finished your oil massage spend a few minutes under a warm shower to relax your muscles further. Then towel off with an old towel.

Pain Easing Bath

Taking a warm bath with Epsom Salts or Magnesium Flakes is a great no-effort way to relax and ease pain. When alternated with oil massage you get the best of both treatments.

If anxiety makes it tough for you to be still or alone in the bath try reading or playing relaxing music. It's also a great time to practice a guided meditation which will deepen your relaxation and help you sleep well if you choose to take your bath before bed.

EFT Tapping for Emotional Distress

If you are experiencing any emotional stress from an accident or injury, or from living with long-term chronic pain EFT Tapping can be very helpful.

Listen out for your words when you think about or describe your situation. In this question there are some good starting points for using EFT Tapping in the words: “I don't seem to be healing from my neck/head injury (not sure why and that is driving me crazy!)”

It would be very helpful to tap the EFT sequence through  using the words “Even though I’m not healing from my neck and head injury and it’s driving me crazy, I love and accept myself.”

[Find out how to use EFT Tapping in our Introduction to EFT Teleclass]

Another suggestion for a tapping statement from this question would be “Even thought I don’t know why I’m not healing from my neck and head injury, I accept myself completely.”

I would recommend tapping on one of those statements morning and night for the next couple of weeks and seeing what that does for you. You could pick one statement in the morning and the other one in the evening. Or use one statement one day, and the second one the next.

When we start discharging any emotional intensity around physical pain, the pain often begins to settle too.

Supportive Reading for Coping with Chronic Pain

I would also recommend reading Living Well with Pain and Illness: The Mindful Way to Free Yourself from Suffering by Vidyamala Burch. Her book is available on Amazon in print or Kindle format.

Relaxation is important

Finally relaxation is essential in reducing stress to assist healing; for that you could try gentle yoga or qigong with some assistance from someone who can assess your condition and help you choose safe and supportive routines. You can also use a guided breathing practice to help you relax and release pain.

For chronic pain and recovery I recommend Priyanka Shanbag's 

Gentle Beginning

 video on Vimeo. The practice is free to follow and just 12 minutes long. It's entirely seated and very easy and supportive for beginners or those challenged by pain and restriction in movement.

Step softly

It’s important to understand that pain is exhausting and when it continues long-term it can really cause us stress so we need to allow time for supportive practices and try and settle into a mood of surrender and self-kindness rather than regret and resistance. It’s very challenging but the more we can be soft in our response the less we suffer.

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