Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey everyone, and welcome back to Glow in the Chaos. This is episode six.
[00:00:06] Today I wanted to talk about something related to chronic illness that can potentially cause our symptoms to flare up.
[00:00:16] And I wanted to talk about stress.
[00:00:19] So episode six is how stress impacts chronic illness.
[00:00:28] I'm your host, Alyssa, and I have been diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, and hypermobile Ehlers Stanlos disorder.
[00:00:41] I also may potentially have mast cell activation syndrome, which those are actually known as the trifecta. So postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome, and mast cell activation syndrome. I know such a mouthful.
[00:01:01] Those a lot of times are comorbidities that go together.
[00:01:07] So let's dive into a topic that hits home for so many of us that live with chronic illness. Stress.
[00:01:15] So we know stress isn't just in our heads. It truly has a real effect on the body. And when you're already dealing with chronic illness or chronic condition, that can feel doubled or even tripled.
[00:01:29] So stress can trigger our fight or flight response, which we all know that releases cortisol.
[00:01:38] So cortisol is a stress hormone, which for a lot of us flares our symptoms. So emotional stress, physical stress, anything that can causes your body to go into that fight or flight mode can flare your symptoms. And we all know that your symptoms can be chronic pain, chronic fatigue, fever.
[00:02:02] For some people, anaphylactic shock, whatever your symptoms may be, stress can 100% bring out the worst in them.
[00:02:15] So a lot of people don't know that.
[00:02:19] So with chronic illness, a lot of times I will find myself saying, I really do not need to get stressed out about this. I really need to calm down.
[00:02:29] And of course everybody needs to try to not stress out, right? But when you have a chronic illness that is made worse by stress, this statement is even more so important.
[00:02:48] Different things that can trigger flares in our autoimmune conditions, our emotion, like I said, emotional stress, physical stress, anything that has your body working harder than it already has to.
[00:03:06] So with somebody with chronic illness, our body is already working harder than it has to. So when you add stress, that is adding a whole other level and a whole other load that our body has to handle.
[00:03:21] For me, I notice when I'm under stress, my joint pain seems to spike. I tend to get a low grade fever that will stick around.
[00:03:32] Sometimes I will get a rash, sometimes I will go into sneezing fits, Sometimes it will affect my gastrointestinal system in forms of constipation nausea, vomiting, migraines, all the symptoms.
[00:03:52] So we all know there's so much stress going on in this world. And some of the common stressors that can really trigger things for me are doctor's appointments, medical bills, family obligations, pacing our life.
[00:04:11] We really have to try to find a way to ground ourselves. Or if we start noticing that we are spiraling, we have got to find things that help to balance out the stress and relax us because stress truly is not healthy for anybody, but it really is not healthy for those of us who have chronic illness.
[00:04:34] Also things that people don't realize can stress us out.
[00:04:39] Sensory overload. If I am in a store that has a really crowded store that has a lot of people, there's a lot of noises around me, there's bright lights. So pretty much, you know, anytime you go to the grocery store, those things can trigger flare ups as well. Those can cause an overload in the sensory system and send you right into flare overdrive.
[00:05:04] Also lack of sleep, which a lot of us suffer from, lack of sleep, insomnia, circadian rhythm disruptions just simply from our chronic illness alone. So with that, and then so you add that on top of just maybe regular sleep deprivation from joint pain or whatever the issue may be, that could also flare up our symptoms. So it's so tough when we struggle with a disease or an illness that it really, everyday life flares up our symptoms.
[00:05:49] That is so tough, guys. And that is why we truly need to lean on each other. We need to learn from our own, our own experiences. We need to learn from people that we know that have chronic illness. We need to learn from their experiences and we really just need to lean on each other to help find different things that can help us in our community to calm down.
[00:06:12] I don't know any other way to say it, and that is extremely difficult right now.
[00:06:17] I have been finding myself all kinds of worked up about everything going on in social media right now that is, you know, happening with politics and the healthcare world. And I'm not going to share those things, I'm not going to share my opinions about those on this podcast because I do not feel like that is relevant. That is not what this podcast is for.
[00:06:39] I am trying to create a calming, relaxing space where we can all talk about our chronic illness in a safe space. And I do not believe that politics in any way, shape or form belong on this podcast.
[00:06:53] But that being said, I have found myself stressing out so much over those issues lately.
[00:06:59] And that is one thing that I am trying to steer away from. So I have deleted all of my social media posts in regards to the latest developments on things like Tylenol and different political things because I just don't want to be a part of it anymore.
[00:07:20] I can have my opinion, you can have your opinion, and we can all live in peace. In peace, you know, peacefully. That is the goal. That is the objective. So I encourage you, if you are someone that is struggling with politics and things like that that are stressing you out as well, find a way to balance.
[00:07:43] Find a way to balance that social media aspect of your life. Because it's hard. Because social media is how I reach people. It's how a lot of us reach people. It is how we connect with other people in regards to our chronic illness or our religious beliefs or our political beliefs. But sometimes too much is. Is literally too much and we need to be trying to do everything possible to keep ourselves in a calm state of mind for our health. It is truly bad for our health.
[00:08:17] So that is just one thing that has been really weighing on me lately that I wanted to share with you all and get your take on. What have you done to help yourself stay calm lately? What have you done to manage your social media stress? That's what I'm going to call it, social media stress, because that's truly what it is. I can be having the absolute best day in the world, open up my phone and look at social media, which is just filled with hateful politics, and it will send me into a complete rage or spiral that will then flare my symptoms for a week.
[00:08:54] So it's just senseless. There's just no need to put myself through that.
[00:08:58] So what are some things that you have done to help this?
[00:09:03] Here are a few things that I have been reading about that or things that I have implemented in my life. Some things I have. Some of these I haven't tried. Some of these I have. But if I have not tried them, they are definitely going on my list.
[00:09:19] Gentle movement, stretching, short walks, yoga and grounded breathing really, really does help me unwind and clear my mind. Which that brings me to my next thing. Breathing or mindful exercises.
[00:09:32] Mindfulness exercises. I love the Headspace app. If you have not gotten on the Headspace app, they do have a free trial. I strongly recommend everybody go on there and try the Headspace app because it can truly help you clear your mind and stay relaxed.
[00:09:50] Make sure you have a creative outlet like coloring, journaling or crafting.
[00:09:54] I have briefly touched on that before. I do have different coloring pages on my beacons website or my Etsy shop that I like to create.
[00:10:05] And then that also brings me into planning tools like doctor Visit Planners, Self Care, Bingo. Anything that can help you be more prepared or relaxed is a very good tool to have.
[00:10:18] I also would you would invite you to try to notice your stress patterns. What stresses you out the most and how does it show up in your body.
[00:10:26] Maybe make a journal, maybe make have a symptom tracker. Trying to track what causes your flare ups can try to help you prevent you from getting too far into your flare ups.
[00:10:41] So that is my rant for today.
[00:10:44] Stress management is such a huge importance in our life. When we have chronic illness. It's important for everybody, but even more so when we have a chronic illness that is worsened by stress. So I strongly encourage you all to find what relaxes you, find what your stress triggers are and get that under control so we can all just be happier and healthier. I also wanted to let you all know that I now can accept donations for the podcast, which I'm so excited about because I plan on using those donations to help bring more people onto the show to talk about their experiences and tell us their stories. I also would love to use portions of those donations if there are different products that are supposed to help chronic illness or help with stress and anxiety, help with chronic pain. If there are any products that you all have found that you want to try but maybe you don't want to invest the money in them, I would love to be the one that does that potentially with the donations that come in through the podcast. So the donation link is on the podcast page. So if you feel so inclined to leave a donation, that is what they will be going towards and I'm so excited that we are able to do that.
[00:12:06] Stay tuned because coming up on Sunday, October 5th, I will be having a special guest. She is a nurse practitioner and she is also somebody who struggles with chronic illness as well. So we will be getting the aspect of a patient and of a medical health care provider, which I think that is such an amazing aspect to have. So thank you so much for tuning into episode six. I cannot wait to see you guys back. Remember that donation page. Please remember to share this podcast with anybody that you feel could benefit from it. And as always, remember to continue glowing in the chaos.
