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Stress OR Stress ???

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Posted 6/20/2011 5:50 PM (GMT 0)
I am finding out that stress can bring on a flare (and surely does) BUT when I read the board members saying like avoid stress etc, are you saying avoid stressful situations or say if I do something like bash my foot and feel the pain is this considered a  stressful situation then it would bring on a flare, you think? I guess I am trying to understand this crappy fibro?
Posted 6/20/2011 6:47 PM (GMT 0)
I think it means stressful situations, like:

I get home from working a full day and find dinner on stove half done, dishes in sink from the day, no laundry done, dog barking, two smallest grandsons having a meltdown and their mom (my dd) sitting on the computer like none of this is going on and doesn't concern her. I don't expect her to do everything just because I work but, get off the computer and tend to the kids.

I try to take it all in stride, blow it off and help finish dinner, start the laundry and dishes and hold the one crying the most. After dinner we take them for a nice walk and everything mellows back down. But, several days of this in a row really makes me stress and then I start with the "flu" like symptoms.........
Posted 6/20/2011 7:58 PM (GMT 0)
Mental stress can cause all kinds of ailments and also put you into a flare. I do meditation and deep breathing a lot. It really helps. Take life one day at a time. And try not to worry too much about what the future holds. Do not dwell on the past. This will just make you depressed. As fibro is enough to make you depressed anyway.

Try to keep a positive attitude. This really helps a lot. I, like Denita, take life in stride. It really does help. What else can you do? If you worry and think about it too much, you aren't living anymore.

Best wishes for a lovely day.

Hugs, Karen
Posted 6/20/2011 8:33 PM (GMT 0)
Hi nannoc, welcome to the fibro family :)

All forms of stress affect us, emotional, mental and physical. Life is full of stressors...there are stressors we can control and some stress is out of our hands. The way we react to stress is important.
The things we can't control we need to try and not worry about. If we can control a stressful situation, we should.

Exercise helps relieve stress along with relaxation therapy. The more we can do to help avoid stressful situations the better. Taking time each day to feel joy and being at peace with ourself is important. :)

Hugs, Robin
Posted 6/20/2011 8:41 PM (GMT 0)
Here is a thought about physical stress--

I often have to remind myself to drop my shoulders, because I tighten them up routinely, for various reasons. Daily stress, cold, fatigue, poor physical conditions, poor mental ones, whatever. When my shoulders touch my ears, that physical stress can cause pain, which can affect our bodies and cause a flare.

It's all about an excess of stimuli, and almost anything can fit this. Another example is when a room is too cold-I can take it for a while, but after a while my body responds to the stimuli.
Posted 6/21/2011 12:49 AM (GMT 0)
My back specialist told my daughter that to simplify FM your mothers nerves are totally shot. Every little thing bothers me and too many turn into a massive flare for me.
If my hubby changes the tone in his voice, if one of the grandchildren starts to make noise when another is speaking to me, my dogs barking when someone rings the doorbell, the list goes on and on.
If I get a cold or get chilled or overheated, if I over exert myself.
My list goes on and on.
Take care
Rose
Posted 6/21/2011 1:08 AM (GMT 0)
My major flare that I'm in right now was triggered by my mother-in-law passing away suddenly in May after we lost my father-in-law in January of this year. I woke up the day after her funeral with swollen joints and pain so severe I had my hubby take me to the ER. I was diagnosed with fibro a few weeks later. Stress, apparently, is awful for fibro. Of course, in my situation, it couldn't be avoided.
Posted 6/21/2011 8:07 PM (GMT 0)
I haven't put 2 and 2 together. Stress = flare! But maybe I am not paying attention
Posted 6/21/2011 8:09 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry, about the first post. Maybe I have not been paying attention to the stress making flares. They say it might take days from the stressful event to the flare. So I haven't put them together yet?????
Posted 6/21/2011 11:23 PM (GMT 0)
I find that when the stress has ended I feel the worse.

Don't know if that makes sense.

Maybe it's because I have time to think about how I'm really feeling.

 

Posted 6/21/2011 11:50 PM (GMT 0)

MeGoSun said...
I find that when the stress has ended I feel the worse.
Don't know if that makes sense.

makes perfect sense. When we are stressed we get adrenalin rushes. Coming down from the stress is when we "crash". At least, that's how I feel

I had a stressful night last night. Today I feel like total garbage.
Posted 6/22/2011 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
I couldn't agree more moonsinger...I seem to handle the stress when it is going on just fine...it's after when I feel my worst...like I have been run over or I just ran a marathon....
Posted 6/23/2011 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
Another example of after stress flare: This past Tuesday, hubby got up and when went to put his clothes on for work, he sd he felt dizzy and he felt like he could not hear for a minute or two. He sat up and felt better. He tried again and same thing. I knew he had been feeling real tired lately and had being suffering from a hurt shoulder. After the 2nd time he agreed to go to er. They sd his bp had dropped. He recently lost 60 lbs (since March 1) and had not changed his bp meds. Makes sense. That night he noticed black stools I worried but he would not let me call the dr. At one point while playing cards he started acting likehe was drunk and sd he felt he had a buzz. Still no going to er as he had dr appt next day.

She sent him for an gi scope that afternoon as she agreed sounded like internal bleeding. They found what the dr called a huge ulcer. The idiot had been taking up to 4 ibruprofen each dose. I did not know that. So of course an ulcer!

He is home today for rest and goes back to reg dr monday. They sd he has prob been bleeding for about 2 months. He felt no pain so did not realize it.

sorry so long but now I am having a very major flare. I am not as worried. I admit i was very stressed and to top it off power went off tuesday night at 8 pm and came on Thurs morning at 12.08 AM due to storm. I am hurting so bad but now we are headed to ortho in a few minutes for his shoulder. I hate to ask , but what next?

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