Let's Talk Stress~~~

Many things can contribute to stress in our daily lives…..unexpected company showing up at dinner time comes to mind, work, a cranky spouse, an emergency of any kind, a health matter, several things happening at once such as the phone ringing at the same time you hear the doorbell while you’re in the middle of putting together a new recipe, interactions with others, a looming appointment, family problems, etc…   We all have our own levels at which the stress becomes intolerable to us or reaches a point that it’s doing harm to our physical well being.  In this crazy, wild, fast world we live in today, stress is almost second nature to everyone.

Stuff happens…….Usually we have no control over what causes stress, but we do have some control over how much we let it run rampant. Most people with health problems of any kind live with constant stress. It’s a vicious circle, the illness causes stress, the stress causes illness. It’s a hard battle to rise above, let alone win.

The following paragraph is taken from a paper released for publication by the Mayo clinic staff……..When one is stressed a physical response occurs automatically. Your pituitary gland begins to release it’s adrenocorticotropic hormone (ATCH), which signals other glands to produce additional hormones. When the pituitary sends out a burst of ACTH, it’s like an alarm system going off deep in your brain. This alarm tells your adrenal glands, to release a flood of stress hormones into your bloodstream. These hormones including cortisol and adrenaline - focus your concentration, speed your reaction time and increase your strength and agility. When you begin to de-stress, the levels of cortisol and adrenaline in your bloodstream decline. As a result, your heart rate and blood pressure return to normal and your digestion and metabolism resume a regular pace. But, if stressful situations pile up one after another, your body has no chance to recover. This long- term activation of the stress response system can disrupt almost all of your body’s processes, increasing your risk of all sorts of health problems. Stress develops when the demands in your life exceed your ability to cope with them.

As with most older people, I’ve had my share of stress through my life and at age 65 I’m just learning to recognize it. I believe that before you can control stress you must first learn to identify when it rears it’s ugly head.

Some physical signs of stress are headaches, muscle aches, oversleeping or insomnia, bowel changes, rashes, stiffened muscles, higher heart rate or pounding heart, tiredness, overindulgence, angry outbursts, feelings of being overwhelmed…..

Learn to recognize when you are stressed and only then can you begin to learn what to do to control it. Often times stress underlies what we “worry warts” consider normal. It’s like we’re riding a constant high and we don’t even realize what we’re doing to ourselves. 

All this to say that this morning I got online and made an effort to locate others like myself who have cancer, are on watch and wait, with back problems, and had a heart attack…. I’m afraid I didn’t have a lot of luck.   I hope that wanting to discuss having these ailments does not make me seem “self serving” or make it sound like I’m looking for sympathy. That is not my purpose at all. I know there are many other’s who have it much worse. There are a lot of positive things about my condition and I very much appreciate those. For instance, because of my type of cancer I have not had to have treatment of any kind. I am so fortunate in that regard. I have very few symptoms, and am living with it quite well. The heart problem has been fixed. I choose not to dwell on what might have happened, but rather that it did happen and I lived through it, and it’s up to me to get past it. There is hope for my back problem, when able, we’re hoping a minor surgery can relieve the pain. 

It’s just that I want to learn how other’s cope with having various problems at the same time. It is multi tasking at it’s best, both physically and mentally.

Stress has been said to be the “silent killer” . I’m not ashamed to admit that I have yet to figure out a sure fire way to control stress and just hope to find others who are dealing with the same type of challenges, and what kinds of tricks they have to cope.

I am known to a particular circle of acquaintances, including this connection, as “tarzan”. As explained in my profile, I embrace that image because I choose look for and give credit to the many vines available to me as I swing through life. However; one friend calls me “turtle woman” in order to remind me not to swing through too fast…. It does strike a chord in me to “look before I leap”, and give thought to what I am doing before I do it. To take things as they come and stop trying to outrun life in general.

In the introduction of “The Way to Rainy Mountain" by N Scott Momaday …he wrote: ”Tortoises crawl about on red earth going nowhere in plenty of time.” Very wise words to remember for someone who is always in a hurry, but that does not change my desire to be alert for any vine available when I need it, nor does it change the outcome of the race between the tortoise and the hare…   There is much to ponder and learn in Mr. Momaday's statement.

Putting yourself “in the moment” does help, both in realizing that you are stressed, and it gives you an opportunity to do something about it. Several times a day, stop, take time to think about what you’re doing, where you are, what is going on around you, and how you’re feeling. Make it a habit. Once you realize when you are stressed, there are ways to turn it around. There will be so much more on that to follow…………