Reduce Stress and Reduce Your
Fibromyalgia Symptoms
Stress and pain are irreversibly linked in
fibromyalgia. For many
people, some kind of stressful event is what initially triggers
fibromyalgia. It often
shows up after a serious illness, some kind of emotional or mental shock
or with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
There is probably a genetic tendency toward fibromyalgia, and
many people believe that stress unmasks the disorder.
Fibromyalgia is thought to be a central
nervous system disorder in which either pain-sensing nerves are
excessively sensitive, or the brain is extremely sensitive to pain
impulses. People with
fibromyalgia have poor functioning of the HPA axis—hpyophysis-pituitary-adrenal
axis—which is our body’s system for responding to stress with
neurochemicals like adrenalin and serotonin.
We don’t know how pain sensation and an abnormal stress
response are related, but we do know that people with fibromyalgia
experience more pain when they are stressed.
Just having fibromyalgia is stressful.
Dealing with constant pain, fatigue and mental cloudiness is
stressful. Not being able
to accomplish things is stressful, especially if it affects your
employment situation. That
can lead to financial stress. The
fact that few people understand what you are going through and expect
you to behave “normally” is stressful.
Dealing with a chronic illness and lifestyle changes is
stressful. That’s the everyday stress load; adding anything to it
tends to tip the scale and cause the fibromyalgia symptoms to be worse.
Stress reduction is an important part of
managing your fibromyalgia. Here
are a few ways that may help alleviate some of your stress.
- Good
self care. Eating a
nutritious diet, getting the right amount of the right kind of
exercise, establishing regular sleep habits and giving yourself
grace are all part of taking good care of yourself.
They are important. You
will feel worse, and be able to do less if you do not take care of
yourself.
- Practice
body awareness. People
who deal with chronic pain, as in fibromyalgia, become accustomed to
ignoring their bodies; it’s one way they cope with the pain. If you learn to recognize your body’s cues that you
are becoming tense, you can use a relaxation technique or exercise
early on, before stress becomes unmanageable.
At the same time, you don’t want to lose that protective
lack of awareness about pain. Take
breaks every so often and just sit quietly and pay attention to how
you feel. Learn where
you feel stress first. Do
you get heartburn? Do
your shoulders get tight? Once
you learn that, you can periodically scan to see if your body is
showing tension.
- Change
the way you think. This
takes practice, but it gives you a chance to respond to situations
instead of reacting.
- Keep
a stress journal. This
has two purposes. You
can journal about stressful incidents and use the journal as a tool
to help you identify situations that are stressful to you. This can
help you either avoid repeating these situations or be better
prepared should they be unavoidable.
Journaling about a stressful event also helps you debrief and
de-stress after the event.
- Learn
stress management techniques, such as visualization, meditation and
breathing. These
techniques decrease the level of neurochemicals circulating in your
body, and help decrease both stress and pain.
- Physical
therapy, stretching and massage can help decrease muscle tension and
stress, and help minimize pain.
- Talk
to a counselor who specializes in stress management and pain
treatment. He or she
can help you learn new ways to manage stressful events.
If you decrease your stress, you will
probably experience less pain and fatigue from your fibromyalgia.
Changing your lifestyle so that you are taking care of yourself
can help prevent flare-ups and give you a better quality of life.
For more information on reducing the impacts
of stress on Fibromyalgia symptoms please visit EliminateFibromyalgia.com
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