{"id":38,"date":"2020-01-05T07:37:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T14:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/painvalley.com\/?p=38"},"modified":"2020-03-04T20:55:25","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T03:55:25","slug":"stress-and-its-affect-on-physical-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/?p=38","title":{"rendered":"Stress and Its Affect on Physical Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2<\/a><\/p>\n

Emotional pain can be more excruciating than physical pain.\u00a0 Having been going through a very difficult time, I have realized that the pain in my body is a welcome change to the one in my heart and mind.\u00a0 But what kind of toll can the stress of emotional upset take on the body?<\/span><\/p>\n

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When you are stressed out or very upset, the body goes into \u201cfight or flight\u201d mode, pumping adrenaline, cortisol and increased blood to the muscles in expectation of what the mind perceives as danger.\u00a0 This is a temporary response, but if the stress is ongoing, the process continues to repeat itself over and over.\u00a0 The result of this constant \u201cfight or flight\u201d is an imbalance in the nervous system. This imbalance can lead to:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Muscle tension<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Anxiety<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Depression<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Insomnia<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Headaches<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gastrointestinal problems<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Respiratory problems<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lowered immune system<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Increased pain in pre-existing condition<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hormonal imbalances<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Decreased liver function<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Weight loss\/gain<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And more\u2026<\/p>\n

So, for someone in chronic pain with a true biological illness, this means that already painful conditions can become worse.<\/p>\n

There are numerous techniques for reducing stress, such as meditation (which I do not do well), medication, hypnosis, therapy, etc.\u00a0 There are thousands of websites dedicated to stress reduction, but what happens when real life trumps the self-help websites?\u00a0 When the stress is greater than the ability to cope? What happens when true emotional pain cannot be avoided?<\/p>\n

Most of the time, if you are going through a stressful time in life, you have no choice but to fight through it.\u00a0 Stress is unavoidable and when it becomes too great, the only thing that can be done is to grit your teeth and push your way though.\u00a0 The most important thing is to stay as active and healthy as possible and to try and maintain some sense of \u201cnormalcy.\u201d\u00a0 For me that includes my physical therapy and as many walks as my body can handle.\u00a0 By staying active you can try to burn off all that excess adrenaline that continues coursing through your body.<\/p>\n

Living with physical illness, I understand that stress levels are already high, what with chronic pain, doctor visits, medication issues and insurance companies that are trying to give us heart attacks with every EOB, denial and appeal request.\u00a0 I understand that our bodies are already \u201cunder attack\u201d on a daily basis.\u00a0 So, for anyone dealing with additional emotional stress on top of living with chronic pain, I feel for you.\u00a0 We are all fighters, that\u2019s why we are here reading, writing and supporting each other, so keep the boxing gloves on and square your shoulders\u2026we will eventually come out stronger and braver (I hope!).<\/p>\n

Resources:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/ohwhatapain.wordpress.com\/2012\/07\/24\/pain-and-meditation-i-e-i-cant-sit-still-for-one-darn-minute\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.losethebackpain.com\/stressaffectsmindcausespain.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of\u00a0<\/span>\"Creative<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Amy McTigue<\/a>\u00a0via\u00a0<\/span>Compfight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emotional pain can be more excruciating than physical pain.\u00a0 Having been going through a very difficult time, I have realized that the pain in my body is a welcome change to the one in my heart and mind.\u00a0 But what kind of toll can the stress of emotional upset take on the body? When you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pain-care","tag-dbtag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}