Stress and My Fibro

Oh boy! Between the muscle spasms in my legs and hips, the intense feeling of broken bones in my face, and the undeniable brain fog – there is no doubt I am fighting a significant Fibro Flare.

By why? I am still taking my amazing USANA supplements that provide my body the nutrients it needs, I still maintain a clean, healthy diet, and I still exercise every day. What is the one thing over the past week that has changed and dumped my progress on its butt and slowed me down? One word – STRESS!

While ‘stress’ has a negative connotation, stress can be both good AND bad – its all in how we let it get to us that really matters. Stress is typically defined as a body’s response to the environments demands or pressures and can be physical or mental, actual or perceived. With the increase of Cortisol (the stress hormone) our bodies can begin to feel a variety of different symptoms including helplessness or hopelessness, fear or anger, or even cynicism and distrust of those whom you would normally be comfortable around. These symptoms are more associated with bad stress. Good stress is when our bodies receive that burst of energy that gives us clarity of mind and the ability to achieve an everyday task or goal. Working out at the gym is a good stress – as long as you don’t overdue it. This moderate stress on the body allows for the release of endorphins (Happy Hormones) which actually work to eliminate Cortisol from our bodies – lowering the bad stress!

Ok, so why am I stressed? You know, I am the WORST about creating mountains out of mole-hills! I can take something that is really quite simple, or ridiculously stupid, and make it into the biggest scariest under-the-bed monster on the planet! Unfortunately, this time, I don’t think that’s the problem.

I am also a full time student to accompany being a mom, an office manager/bookkeeper, a fibromite, and whatever other hats my life requires me to wear from time to time. I love school and would be a full time student for the rest of my life if I could get paid to that – but school adds a different kind of stress to my already busy life. While it is not physically demanding, sometimes I find the mental demands very hard to deal with. There were even times when I have taken Leave of Absence from my studies BECAUSE my fibromyalgia was so out of control I could not form a coherent thought, much less use my spasmming and painful hands to write a paper. Even though I am so ready to graduate (March isn’t coming fast enough) I know that to increase my schedule from one class at a time to two would be professional suicide – especially since I demand a certain level of excellence from myself. In the past year I have done better about expecting perfect grades from myself because I began to realize that I was doing my body and my daughter a severe injustice by expecting myself to make a perfect grade on every paper – I still strive do my best, but I no longer demand a 100% on every assignment (85% or higher though – what I still have goals?!)

But I finished class on Monday so why am I still feeling the stress? Because there are still stresses at work and in my personal life, and because I allowed my system to get run down at the beginning of the week by mentally fatiguing myself over my school, I am now PHYSICALLY struggling to keep up with the demands that come with being an administrator.

So what do I do for my stress? I cry. Ok, not usually, but sometimes it just happens. Actually, I have been working to turn my bad stress into positive results by taking that pent up energy (and often anger) to the gym. I let my body work it out and sweat it out. The mental clarity that comes from pumping out the bad energy and breathing in the positive usually helps me to make it through the evening whether I am watching a movie, playing a game, or reading a book.

Finding something that you ENJOY doing can make a big difference in your stress levels because when you can focus on something enjoyable, the little things don’t seem quite so big. Plus, when you take a few minutes to focus on something OTHER than whatever it was that is causing the stress – you can usually find a better way of approaching the situation and its not longer “stressful”. This time, my de-stressor, was writing this blog! Now that I have done something I enjoyed and ‘vented’ about what was agitating me, I am confident that I can go back to my work and get it handled efficiently and correctly!

Live Stress Free!  (don’t be hating on my goals)

Rachel P.

                               (Yoga is actually one of my FAVORITE de-stressors and is an excellent way to exercise!)