My doctor recommended weekly injections. I stalled him by trying an 8-week course of a brand new product, transdermal B12 patches. I thought using them would be much less traumatic than closing my eyes and blindly stabbing a needle into myself.

But Kathi Harris, a reader of Pain Health News, chimed in through the comment box and told me she'd been giving herself weekly injections for years. "The first time I tried to do it," she wrote, " I sat there holding the syringe over my leg for like 20 minutes before I got up enough nerve to stick myself. Then I started laughing so hard, I pulled the needle back out before I actually injected myself…LOL! After the first time, I've never hesitated to give myself that shot. Really, after you've made yourself do it once, you'll never be scared to do it again!"

8 weeks later I reported to my doctor for new blood tests to see how I was doing on the transdermal patches. Alas, they didn't work for me. My B12 level was even lower! "You're risking nerve damage," my doctor said. "You need weekly injections. It's possible to do it at home. Do you think you could handle that?"

I thought of what Kathi Harris had written and said, confidently, "Sure I can! After I make myself do it once, I'll never be scared to do it again!" My doctor nodded. "That's good," he said. "It will save you a lot of time if you don't have to drive all the way over here ever week. And save you a lot of money, too."

So a nurse came in, gave me a few simple instructions and watched me take my first stab at injecting myself. Sure enough—I can do it! But only because I had it on good authority that someone much like me had already done it.

By being a positive role model, Kathi Harris helped me overcome some fears and move on with my life. That life has changed dramatically since 1989, when an auto accident turned me into a chronic pain patient. There were days, months, even a whole year when I didn't think I'd ever get better.  When I didn't think I could live with it another day. I just couldn't see a brighter future for myself.

But then I began reading books about people that had overcome impossible odds to achieve a life worth living. They'd overcome cancer, blindness, abuse, imprisonment, disability and illness of every kind. I read every book I could find in my local library about people who'd faced every situation that can stop a human being dead in their tracks—and overcome it. With those positive role models before me, I found the courage to overcome my fears and fight for a life worth living.

That's why I write Pain Health News. Because if you know that I overcame crippling pain and deep despair, you'll know it's also possible for you.

That's why you should add your own thoughts and comments to Pain Health News,  just as Kathi Harris did. You never know who is looking in on these pages. You never know what they struggle with or what they fear. You never know how just one positive comment or suggestion from you can turn a life around and point it in a new direction. What you can know is that when you reach out and make even the smallest effort to contribute advice, information and personal experience, someone, somewhere is helped. And you did it!

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to share information, motivation and conversation with people living with chronic pain. To  stay in touch with her, use the subscribe form in the upper right corner.

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