MS Stress
can create a big problem for those of us, who have been diagnosed with
Multiple Sclerosis.
The effects of stress can contribute to setting us up for MS attacks,
exacerbations and relapses, which can appear much more often and much
more severely, than they would if the stress was not present.
Although we can not totally get rid of the stress in our lives,
especially when we are dealing with Multiple Sclerosis on a long term
basis, we can reduce, minimize or maybe even neutralize the way that we
respond to the stress and greatly reduce the way that the effects of
stress can have on the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.
Stress
doesn't affect every case of Multiple Sclerosis in the same way,
because it depends on several factors, such as:
--> how severe
the degree of stress that is
present
--> how strong
the emotions are that are
attached to what triggered the
stressful
event
--> how strongly
we are attached to the
person, place or thing that the
stressful
event included
--> what we feel
to us has been lost or
altered by the
traumatic event that
means something to us
The combination
of how we view and interpret the experiences and/or events in
our lives can affect the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis from
affecting it very little to radically influencing the MS attacks.
Finding ways to calm down our
over reactions to MS Stress can
go a long way to help improve our overall health, when it comes to
Multiple Sclerosis.
Once Multiple Sclerosis is
present, MS stress can contribute to the following:
* Weakening immune
system -- this is already a problem with Multiple
Sclerosis demyelinating the spinal cord and/or the brain, but stress
actually known to add to this
* increasing demyelination
-- this
is already a problem with
Multiple Sclerosis demyelinating the spinal cord and/or the brain, but
stress actually makes this even worse
* increase
number of MS relapses or attacks that are occurring
* increase
amount of nerve damage -- increases what appears
during the MS attacks
* decreases
degree physical functionality -- this can affect so many
areas of the body as to how well it can function.
* increase
anxiety levels
* increase
degree of insomnia -- excess stress can cause
more problems with insomnia, difficulties going to sleep or
difficulties staying asleep.
* adds to MS
fatigue
-- stress over stimulates the adrenal glands, making them run hard and
fast for too long with higher levels of the hormones adrenaline and
noradrenaline, leaving the adrenals in an exhausted state that
increases the MS fatigue.
When we stress out over
anything, especially if we are under much more severe stress, the
"fight or flight" hormones of adrenaline and noradrenaline are produced
in much larger quantities than they usually are and the body is
not meant to be constantly functioning in this way.
Thyroid function is often
reduced
because of being over stressed during stressful situations, which can
also result in more MS fatigue.
Lack of resting and/or
sleeping has been
found by the MS research to contribute to the degree of demyelination
in the MS
attacks that occur.
MS
stress is often fed by over reactive emotions, but
we can
retrain our response to stress to make it so that the stress barely
affects us at all.
This does not mean that we
should bury or hide how we feel inside, but it means that we change
whether we make experiences in our lives positive ones or negative ones.
If we take action and head
towards what we want, instead of avoiding what we don't want, this goes
a long way in starting to reduce the internal stress that we feel.
If we change to become a doer,
someone that does something about what we don't like in our lives and
find ways to change things for the positive, instead of worrying or
becoming depressed about everything, this can help those of us with
Multiple Sclerosis.
There are many therapies and
techniques that we can do or go through to help reduce the effects of
stress on our bodies, help relax
our nervous systems and help to improve our mental outlook that can
help in so many ways when it comes to reducing how we view stress when
it comes to Multiple Sclerosis.
The alternative to changing
how we think is to actually make ourselves sicker with the Multiple
Sclerosis symptoms by working and actually stressing out even more
about
things in our lives that we don't like about what is "happening" to us.
Ways that can help with
reducing stress can include:
* doing
physical exercises --
this can help to improve circulation, improve muscle function, help to
regenerate damaged nerves, help to boost stamina, help increase
oxygenation of the cells to help promote faster healing and recovery.
This can include doing yoga,
qi gong, tai chi, stretching and strengthening exercises.
* doing
meditation, breathing therapy or music therapy --
which ever of these method that you choose to use, they
can help to
relax the nervous system, in varying degrees.
Different forms of meditation
exist that can help those of us with Multiple Sclerosis to reduce the
degree of internal stress that we can often be feeling because of the
affect of the stress of living with so many things that are out of
control in our lives because of how Multiple Sclerosis has changed our
lives in how we can function from day to day.
Types of meditation can
include:
* yoga
meditation -- there are several forms of yoga, but the
majority of the types of yoga include some type of breath therapy that
includes meditation, which can help to calm the nervous system and
relax the internal chaos that can often be present with Multiple
Sclerosis.
* traditional
meditation -- this
method does eventually work for reducing stress levels, but it takes a
large amount of time each day to do this and it can require doing this
type of meditation for years.
* Tone
therapy/meditation -- this is a more specialized type of
meditation that uses tones and calming sounds of nature to help to
reset the way the brain interprets what is defined as stress to us.
This type of meditation really does work for reducing MS stress.
This is the type of meditation
that I do, because it is so much easier to do and doesn't require huge
amounts of time and effort to learn how to do it.
If you would like to learn
more about this type of meditation, go here:
meditation for reducing ms stress
** (This is an
affiliate link, where I do get a small referral fee for sending people
to their site, when they purchase, but I wouldn't be telling you about
this at all, if I didn't find that it does work for greatly reducing
stress levels with Multiple Sclerosis).
I myself,
all too often, have very big problem with
the adverse
effects of Stress on Multiple Sclerosis, causing my symptoms of MS to
become much worse, because all too often, I tended
to internalize the stress rather than find a way to "deal with it".
Although
finding ways to calm down how we can react to stress can be a challenge
at times, it is not as difficult now as it was when I was first
diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 13 years ago.
We do have
options now to help us to reduce the effects of stress on aggravating
our symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. It is important for us to find what
can help us to do this, since this makes such a huge difference to help
us to find relief to the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis that we may be
having a tough time getting under control.
But, in spite of all
that Multiple Sclerosis can cause with the MS attacks on our bodies, we
can find ways for us to function better and enjoy life more, in spite
of Multiple Sclerosis entering our lives.
To find out more information about Multiple Sclerosis
and about
ways to help reduce your symptoms of
MS, complete the form below to
subscribe to our FREE Multiple Sclerosis Report.