DiligentSoul Nightmares of Memories It was two years ago, I believe. It was in October of 2001 that I had to have a Spinal Fusion procedure to cure my scoleosis. However, because it was so bad, there was the risk that I would lose the use of my legs. None of this bothers me, it's the hospital that did. It was during my 6 day stay at this hospital, events that I simply refer to as The Hospital Incident, that I had nightmares for two months. A part of myself wants to block out the memories, but the other part of me refuses to live in fear and wants to confront the memories. Truth be told, I am a needle phobic. One of the incidents that happened during my stay there was the fact that nurse hadn't taped down the chord that connected the IV in me to the medication dispenser. She tripped over the chord. Earlier, I was told not to move or it would cause me a lot of pain. Well, since she tripped and ended up falling forward, I had to lunge forward and shoot my arm around because I could feel the IV moving inside, trying to get out. Even now I find myself reaching down and brushing at my wrist, though logic would point out that the needles aren't there. There were a lot more events that happened during my stay there....Some I can't even think about without shivering. To speak honestly, typing that one incident out with such a lack of detail was bad enough. I'm actually shaking...I hate being like this. Lately, I've been having nightmares; reliving times at the hospital...So I guess my question is 'How do I conquer these fears?' It's very vauge, and to be quite frank, I'm somewhat reluctant to post this... Yomiko Readman Well, fear is like love. There's not really any logical rationale to it, it just happens when it happens. You can only really either become aware of your fear and put yourself in situations where you're not in a position to be afraid or you can accept it and just let the fear become a part of your life. Yomiko Readman I think it would be possible to get over fear... but it'd be as difficult as falling out of love with someone or something. Yomiko Readman Fear is just your body's way of trying to protect you from putting yourself in a situation where you can get hurt again. If you can figure out what hurt you so much or what you're really afraid of about the needles, you can hopefully learn from it and move on. And ultimately, all wounds heal, but psychological ones take the longest.