Topic: Stress affects us much more than others in a physical way
springshowers
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19863
posted
Do you all find stress affects you physically much more than before you were sick?
My family is not understanding this and I keep telling them I have to balance my life out and not be around or involved with stress.
I have asked people to even please stop stressing around me or about things that are not important in fear of my body reacting.
And sadly and worst is when you feel your handling stress and your doing all the right things but then you body does start showing the signs and increase of symptoms etc. IT creeps through and is quite difficult to completely block out.
I know that many techniques are meditation and positive thinking and overall looking at the larger picture.
What do you all do when others are you can not do that or are not willing or wanting to do that. Even after sitting them down and telling them what I said above.
I bet you all might say do not be around them?
Of course in my case its family and close friends.
Yeah this is kinda not medical but really is.
How do you all handle stress during your efforts ro recover when some of it is not in your control or is around you and you can not control it.
Some of it I can just "leave" where I am at and not talk to the people and some of it is not that way.
I am thinking
Counseling Meditation Bathes Walks Anti Anxiety meds? (I have not ever leaned on thme before but I am going through a lot right now and have actually felt what I thought was anxeity which has not ever been an issue really)
Any other ideas.
This is a current challenge for me in my status of recovery which is a very important time for me too as I went off abx a few months ago.
Sleep is becoming an issue again only due to stress and not in the Old LYME way.
I have fears that I am going to end up regressing if I do not get this under control..
I respect and appreciate all of your wisdom an ideas and I want to tell you all that I am totally thankful to all of you who have helped me in my process of healing and were there for me during the darkest times and through the better times. Thank you Thank you..
God Bless You all
And I am always thinking of the group here and wishing everyone the Best at All TIMES.
Posts: 2747 | From Unites States Of America | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged |
randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i thought i was handling things -- NOT!!!!!
now i have shingles. geez, this sucks.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
quote:Originally posted by springshowers:
I bet you all might say do not be around them?
This is how I had to handle it. It's not easy, but in some cases it's necessary for some separation. I handle stress much better now that I'm well .... you would think I would reassess these relationships, but I like not having the drama .... I realize what a good move it was eliminating it.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
Read the article in my thread that I just pushed to the top about psychiatric manifestations of LD.
You have to treat the mental side. Symptoms improve if you do. Many psychiatric disorders can cause more fatigue and pain.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged |
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Cognitive therapy helped me 25 years ago when I was going through a very hard time - the skills I learned then still help me today.
Most therapists have a blend of styles, some use only one. A good therapist will help you to identify thought patterns that sink your ship and open a world of new skills that can work better.
Qi Gong, acupuncture and massage also are excellent tools to move energy and relax. So is playing a musical instrument - or just singing. Joining a song circle for the kind of music you like. Very NON-judgmental.
We need to be around non-judgmental people for many reasons. And, by learning to drop our own judgments and attachments regarding others' thoughts & actions - we can start to let go of the outcome.
While so much about the toxicity of lyme does create physical stress, no doubt at all, there is still much we can do regarding how we think about certain situations. Sooner or later, that process needs to be explored. Some simple shifts can turn our world to the light. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Stress definately aggravates my symptoms. Getting rid of stress can be challenging. For me, stress comes from relationships. Some are more stressful than others. When you manage the stress, the symptoms seem to abate quite a bit. But if the way you manage the stress is by removing yourself from the people who stress you, you can end up lonely.
Posts: 152 | From West Palm Bech, FL | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Stress (epecially from my job) makes my lyme symptoms flare, and in addition to that I get the joy of a herpes cold sore on my lip - just to complete the misery. It then takes me a week or so to deal with the 'aftermath' of the flare.
Posts: 234 | From BC Canada | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Stress seems to make my cortisol spike a lot, even when the event is minor, and then I get angry and want to cry and can't fall asleep. I try to calm myself down, but it doesn't help much until time passes.
I try to avoid stress, but some of it is just forced on us by life, so I don't see how we could avoid it all.
Last night one of my neighbors parked his car so mine was blocked in, then left the property. Meanwhile I was in urgent need of a prescription and then sleep, because it was late at night.
I had to argue with the neighbors for 20 minutes standing in the parking lot, until they figured out how to push the car out of the way so I could leave.
The agitation from that made me get mad, cry, I got shaky, my head hurt, my stomach hurt, and it robbed me of several hours of sleep that I desperately needed. I'm sure my neighbors have no idea that their thoughtlessness caused that much misery to me. (They also smoke next to my front door and don't notice when they give me asthma attacks.)
Of course I could always move, but that would be stressful.
My family doesn't get it either--they urge me to do things that I know will cause me enough stress to make me really sick, and don't understand why I can't do them. Sometimes I let myself be pressured into doing stressful things anyway, and then I pay for it, but nobody sees that so they still don't know.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hi Spring. Yes, this is the same for me. Today, for instance, I'm teetering on the edge of getting by and being bedridden. I said to my boss, "I'm really hoping nothing comes along to tip me over." By that, I meant, some sort of stressor.
I've learned so much about myself in this regard over the years.
First I needed to identify what stresses me. I'm still learning this. Today I learned it was a friend telling me about her dog's surgery.
Second is being conscious all the time. If I'm conscious I can have a little conversation with myself like, "ok, she's telling me this story and I'm stressed by it. I don't think I'm so stressed that I need to leave. OK, I am safe, I am ok. After this I am going to chill for a couple of minutes. This takes a lot of self-discipline, which took a while to learn.
Third is taking breaks to breath and release (or do some other technique like EFT, neck stretches, etc etc)
Fourth, saving my real stress energy for my toddlers.
Fifth, keep explaining to family. My husband is a talker, a question asker and a LOUD talker. All of these things are very stressful to me right now. I feel badly, but we both agree that I need to do what I need to do to get well. So, if he asks one question too many or speaks to loudly, I simply use our code: "I need to power-down." That could be breathing for a couple of minutes, changing the subject, taking a nap or just putting on the tv. It's all really super sad for us and I don't want him to change the way he is, but I do need a break, so that's what I say and he accepts that.
Sixth, I do take anti-depressants. These are mostly for a sound sleep, which helps, immensely.
Good Luck
Posts: 252 | From New York | Registered: Apr 2010
| IP: Logged |
glm1111
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 16556
posted
Spring,
I remember my body reacting this way around stressful situations. It used to scare me. Two things come to mind. One is that your body is still fighting these infections.
The other is that you would need more adrenal support. Pantothentic acid (b-5) helped a lot. Really don't want to see you relapse.
Gael
-------------------- PARASITES/WORMS ARE NOW RECOGNIZED AS THE NUMBER 1 CO-INFECTION IN LYME DISEASE BY ILADS* Posts: 6418 | From philadelphia pa | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[kiss]](graemlins/kissing.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic