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How do you handle stress? What helps?

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 7/12/2010 11:39 PM (GMT 0)
So I have been off and on flaring for the last year. With my last run of steroids and sulfa I was making real progress in June. However my job has gotten extremely stressful, in the lat 2 weeks it has been a nightmare! To make matters worse I am in middle management and sit right next to my boss with no personal space and she is the majority of the problem for me and my team right now.

Usually I do alright with stress and making sure I don't let it get out of control because of my Crohn's but I am having trouble. After the last couple weeks I am back in a full flare, I am super tense at work, and it just keeps getting worse. I am so thin at the moment my once skinny / flare clothes are now loose and baggy.

The kicker is I can't quit, my other half doesn't have a job right now and we need the health insurance / money.

So anyone have any good advice for trying to relax, especially while at work? Today I tried to stop and just relax and take some deep breathes. I was so tense I couldn't even get a good deep breath. I am worried between work and my colon I am headed no where good!
Posted 7/12/2010 11:57 PM (GMT 0)
Exercise and eating right are my top two. Even a quick half-hour bike ride around the hood helps a lot. Stress eating, especially junk food, is a quick downward spiral.
Posted 7/13/2010 12:07 AM (GMT 0)
I feel for you; that does sound like a horrible situation.

I can't even think of anything useful to say. It seems like the boss is the biggest problem and she needs to change whatever it is which is making you and your team ridiculously stressed out. Does she know the effect she is having? Does she care? Anybody above her that you could approach? At the least could you not get your own desk? It sounds pretty stifling, having to sit right next to somebody all the time.

I hope somebody else can come up with some better suggestions :-/
Posted 7/13/2010 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
Grab any moments you can (breaktimes, lunch) and go someplace else in the office or building.
Outside maybe for a short walk and fresh air. Sit in your car, close your eyes and listen to a relaxing tune or two.
Posted 7/13/2010 6:10 AM (GMT 0)
I know that meditation helps me a lot. I found a free meditation class and learnt the basics, and from there you can practice it for ten minutes a day
Posted 7/13/2010 11:19 AM (GMT 0)
I work in a high stress job also - and for me it is a process of intent.  I choose not to be upset with the sheer humanity that I either work with or encounter on a daily basis.  Alll of life's events and our responses to those events are about choices - including our emotions.  I choose not to be a "right" fighter (my view is right and everyone else's is wrong).  In a conflictual situation I'll mull over how I feel about a situation and when I take a stand, its done very quiety and with confidence.  Martin Luther King believed in taking a stand for righteousness - one doesn't have to enter into the wrong - you take a stand on a position and let others be exposed for who and what they are.  If I make a mistake  or say something inappropriate (mouth often runs away with me) then I am quick to acknowledge that, appolgize or somehow clean it up). 

And planning vacations . . . .wonderful, beachy sand filled, swimming and warm vacations!  And finding friends who let me vent . . .safe friends! 

Hope you find what works for you! 

 

Posted 7/13/2010 12:40 PM (GMT 0)
+1 on vacations! They really recharge the batteries and refresh the mind. Play is as important as work.
Posted 7/13/2010 1:51 PM (GMT 0)
 

Vitamin B complex-seriously it keeps me on an even level and I (or everyone else around me) soon knows if I have stopped it(as in run out and not got around to getting any more)

Posted 7/13/2010 3:34 PM (GMT 0)
I agree with what everyone says but relate to Phoebe's suggestion. Google "mindfulness meditation" and "the three minute breathing space".

It may help although I know when I am totally overwhelmed it can be difficult to practise this. Tell yourself that everything is impermanent and tomorrow is a different day. Things change. I've just thought of another meditation you can look up............mountain meditation........I like that one. It has a bit of visualisation going on and is good. wink
Posted 7/13/2010 4:08 PM (GMT 0)

I second the B complex vitamin route.

B vitamins are found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and beans. Specifically the foods alot of us crohnies can't eat or digest. I think they make a huge difference in managing my stress level.

Many years ago, I tried the Depo Provera birth control shot. It prevents pregnancy for up to 3 months and then you get another shot. Within a week of getting it I had become a stark raving lunatic b**ch. I called my Dr up and told him that I felt like I could kill people without blinking an eye. I was seriously afraid of what I was feeling and that I might hurt my child. He is the one that told me to go get B complex vitamins and double up on them for as long as I felt I needed them. They helped me deal until it was out of my system.

Posted 7/13/2010 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for all the suggestions! I feel like usually I can keep myself grounded and let things go, but lately I am just so overwhelmed and stressed out it is like I can't find my way out, even when I remind myself, this isn't worth it, let it go!

Thanks for the meditation tips, I am going to look those up tonight! And we have some B-complex in the medicine cabinet, so I am dosing up tomorrow!

On a bright note my boss was out of the office today so it was a good day!
Posted 7/14/2010 5:12 AM (GMT 0)
Haha cupcakespinkgal I know that feeling! Such happy days at work when the boss is away. It just makes a world of difference.   You have re-motivated me to get back into meditation – I think I might even go to a class tonight!   I find my mind is always ‘chattering’ away, and sometimes having a guided meditation is better than doing it on your own, because for that next hour or so you are forced to relax – nothing to distract you, nowhere you can go etc. I first started meditating back in February when I was going through a breakup and it was an enormous help, just to give yourself some perspective on the world.
Posted 7/14/2010 7:19 AM (GMT 0)
Phoebe has it right, proper breathing is used by most relaxation methods as a start or the focus of relieving stress.
Posted 7/15/2010 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
Can you work with headphones? I find some peaceful, instrumental music helps during the day (Yanni, Enya, other "new age" music). I have to be listening for clients, so I usually just use one ear bud so the other can hear things. I also give myself little treats throughout the day (I buy one bag of skittles a week and keep them in a bottom drawer. When I feel stressed I take one out and put it in my top drawer. Then I try to go as long as I can without eating it.) Works for me!

-ZZ
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