Stress MS patients often feel 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 stress MS has trouble dealing with 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.

Stress MS patients may be experiencing 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 Stress MS symptoms can be aggravated by.

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.

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