Aa
Stay healthy with less stress!
While we're all panicking about Betaseron (at least those of us who take Betaseron) a new study has come out showing that patients with MS who have less stress, or who manage their stress effectively, have fewer lesions.
I'm not sure if I can link to the article, as it's a competitor with this website, but the article is on WebMD, and it's from Neurology (I wonder if the tags will work!)
"During treatment, about half (55%) of patients who received the stress management therapy remained free of brain lesions, compared to 77% of patients who did not have the therapy.
And only 43% of the patients getting stress management therapy developed new brain lesions closely linked to disease activity, compared to 70% of patients in the non-therapy group."
It seems like my really major flares in 2006/2007 happened when I was really stressed.
I'm not sure if I can link to the article, as it's a competitor with this website, but the article is on WebMD, and it's from Neurology (I wonder if the tags will work!)
"During treatment, about half (55%) of patients who received the stress management therapy remained free of brain lesions, compared to 77% of patients who did not have the therapy.
And only 43% of the patients getting stress management therapy developed new brain lesions closely linked to disease activity, compared to 70% of patients in the non-therapy group."
It seems like my really major flares in 2006/2007 happened when I was really stressed.
Thanks for some great reading links in your linked post! Lulu you are right a certain level of stress is good for us but maybe having a chronic illness provides that in bucket loads.
By the time you add in everything else in life including work related stress it can just tip us over the top. Mine was exacerbated by 4 years of promises of adjustments at work that just didn't materialise. I had loads of support at executive level but on the ground floor one guy made my life hell including lots of discrimination.
Well yes you can claim constructive dismissal, goto a tribunal, put in a grievance, but what does that do? It produces more stress! It's a vicious circle and one that my body no longer wants to fight.
I thrived on stress in a high pressure and high profile job which took me to the top in my field in places all over the UK and Europe for many, many years, but I have paid a high price for it in terms of my health. It has taken 2 years with a neuro psych to reach that conclusion.
So if anyone that can manage that I take my hat off and envy them, but my neuro psych and doctor have both pointed out that the years I have coped are down to my tenacious personality and not to the fact that it has not affected me.
This is of particular interest currently as I have been invited to join a small group of ladies to see how the group dynamic helps with discussions re emotions and MS with a neuro psych guiding - sounds interesting so I said yes.
Great discussion, see it's even drawn me in :)
Pat x
By the time you add in everything else in life including work related stress it can just tip us over the top. Mine was exacerbated by 4 years of promises of adjustments at work that just didn't materialise. I had loads of support at executive level but on the ground floor one guy made my life hell including lots of discrimination.
Well yes you can claim constructive dismissal, goto a tribunal, put in a grievance, but what does that do? It produces more stress! It's a vicious circle and one that my body no longer wants to fight.
I thrived on stress in a high pressure and high profile job which took me to the top in my field in places all over the UK and Europe for many, many years, but I have paid a high price for it in terms of my health. It has taken 2 years with a neuro psych to reach that conclusion.
So if anyone that can manage that I take my hat off and envy them, but my neuro psych and doctor have both pointed out that the years I have coped are down to my tenacious personality and not to the fact that it has not affected me.
This is of particular interest currently as I have been invited to join a small group of ladies to see how the group dynamic helps with discussions re emotions and MS with a neuro psych guiding - sounds interesting so I said yes.
Great discussion, see it's even drawn me in :)
Pat x
My job was a huge stressor for me and during particularly stressful times at work It unusually lead to a flare up. As the job continued to become more stressful, the more flare ups I was having. I ended up leaving my job on disability. Things began to get better once the work stress was gone but then life's stressors hit me like the perfect storm. Within 8 months my brother and my mom passed away. This threw me int 2 major relapses, which I have never really recovered from. Now of course the reality of becoming disabled and living with this crappy disease is. Like a permenent stressor ....ugh! I sure do believe that stressors exasperate my MSymptoms. I exersisise, hang with good supportive people and spend time doing quiet things I enjoy like reading and scrap poking. This all helps but at this point dealing with my family losses and my disability are out weighing everything :( I really am trying to stay positive and end this nasty cycle.
Deb
Deb
I think that feeling awful can make you feel more stressed, too - chicken or the egg question, really.
Haven't all our doctors been telling us for years to reduce stress... haven't we all realized that when we live with real stress, our symptoms just give us a heck of a time?
And there are differences in stress and stressors... my stress was the environment at my job... no longer there and do have less overall symptoms acting up...
Then there are stressors in life... for me in the last 6 months.... daughter's car needing to be replaced (can't afford it losing my stressful job :), hubby had surgery, my car caught on fire, one of our beloved horses had to be put down, car we bought for my daughter blows the engine and it needs to be replaced, 80 year old mother in law passed out in the garden.... these are all stressors, but none affected my symptoms, they were events that happen to all of us that we need to deal with, but its not something that daily wears us down or gets under our skin....
And by the way, one of the best stress relief activities known to man.... sex....
Having pets are another great stress relief. I also advocate yoga (great for balance issues too).... massage therapy also another means to make a bad stressful day go away!
My two cents again :)
Hope everyone is having some of this fantastic weather that showed up in the Mid-Atlantic region yesterday... talk about removing stress, sitting with the sliding doors open and enjoying such a nice breeze!!!
Jen
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hmmmm i dont know about that shell, we just had neighbours go nuttsoid, yelling and making demands of us whilst we were cutting back a vine and replacing the old fence extentions. DH and I are still scratching our heads as to how 'they' got so worked up, we didn't say much more than two words, mostly listened trying to work out what the problem was, still not really sure why anyone would go nuts like that. lol No doubt they were right royally unhappy over something, it seemed like they were just being confrontational, and they didn't really need us to say anything to escalate.
Stressful situation, i'm sure they were very stressed, they sure sounded like they'd been stressing over a vine for years, when they eventually let us know it was annoying to them, they were feeding off each other and didn't need us there. DH was only a bit stressed in the heat of the moment, its not everyday he gets spoken to that way, he was over it by the time they stormed off in a huff.
I didn't feel stressed at all, I dont ever feel stress long term and i've been in enough stressful situations to know, i always seem to get calmer in the moment and afterwards i annalyse what/how and why it happened lol I did use to experience a rebound effect, my body would be shaking from adrenaline overload if it was really dangerous but i'd be cracking jokes and feeling relieved no one got hurt. So i do believe how you respond to things makes a difference from my experience. Dh never use to be able to let things go, he'd only a few years ago, would of been stressing over it. I actually asked him if he was ok and he said he had more important things to stress over than neighbours going nutts over a vine.
I do believe long term stress can effect your MS, long term stress effects everybody negatively but I also believe how you react to things plays a part and maybe a big part to it too.
Cheers........JJ
Stressful situation, i'm sure they were very stressed, they sure sounded like they'd been stressing over a vine for years, when they eventually let us know it was annoying to them, they were feeding off each other and didn't need us there. DH was only a bit stressed in the heat of the moment, its not everyday he gets spoken to that way, he was over it by the time they stormed off in a huff.
I didn't feel stressed at all, I dont ever feel stress long term and i've been in enough stressful situations to know, i always seem to get calmer in the moment and afterwards i annalyse what/how and why it happened lol I did use to experience a rebound effect, my body would be shaking from adrenaline overload if it was really dangerous but i'd be cracking jokes and feeling relieved no one got hurt. So i do believe how you respond to things makes a difference from my experience. Dh never use to be able to let things go, he'd only a few years ago, would of been stressing over it. I actually asked him if he was ok and he said he had more important things to stress over than neighbours going nutts over a vine.
I do believe long term stress can effect your MS, long term stress effects everybody negatively but I also believe how you react to things plays a part and maybe a big part to it too.
Cheers........JJ
Thanks Jensy! Important topic.
I'm a firm believer that "stress" is not just how we respond. It affects the body with chronic disease even if we handle it well. Though some will disagree with that. Some feel it's only how we respond to it. But, us chronic types know all too well that it's just not so.
Our CNS is counting on us maintaining it - so, think this older discussion belongs linked here too.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Multiple-Sclerosis/Stress-and-MS/show/1557058
I'm a firm believer that "stress" is not just how we respond. It affects the body with chronic disease even if we handle it well. Though some will disagree with that. Some feel it's only how we respond to it. But, us chronic types know all too well that it's just not so.
Our CNS is counting on us maintaining it - so, think this older discussion belongs linked here too.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Multiple-Sclerosis/Stress-and-MS/show/1557058
Hey I don't often pop on to comment but I'm with Lulu in that the way we handle stress is what matters. However.... I am not sure how a Type A becomes a Type B and a once a week meeting would surely not do that! I can only speak from my experience (as can all of us) and I never felt stress impacted on my MS sx, in fact I told my whole family that and have maintained that since my dx.
Until... I had time off work - reccomended by my medical advisors to see how I felt and without the work stress I feel much better. You see, life stressors cannot be avoided and neither can the stress of living with a chronic illness. BUT a job or situation which throws stressors at you every day is probably not good for anyone with or without MS, and is often not possible to control as it is constant and in the case of an MSer it can manifest as exacerbated sx's.
Just my two pence worth!
Until... I had time off work - reccomended by my medical advisors to see how I felt and without the work stress I feel much better. You see, life stressors cannot be avoided and neither can the stress of living with a chronic illness. BUT a job or situation which throws stressors at you every day is probably not good for anyone with or without MS, and is often not possible to control as it is constant and in the case of an MSer it can manifest as exacerbated sx's.
Just my two pence worth!
somewhere in my memory, I am thinking that stress is necessary for humans to thrive. Something about it strengthens our bodily systems, but I may be making all that up.
It isn't having stress in our lives that is detrimental because we all have stress - it is how we respond to that stress that makes a difference. My DH is definitely type A and I am type B. huge difference of how we respond to stress - he lingers with it, while I get over it quickly.
before I hit send and sounded like a complete idiot about stress being good in small doses I did a quick google -here is the link to an article about why we need some stress....
http://www.oprah.com/health/Benefits-of-Stress-Dealing-with-Stress
It isn't having stress in our lives that is detrimental because we all have stress - it is how we respond to that stress that makes a difference. My DH is definitely type A and I am type B. huge difference of how we respond to stress - he lingers with it, while I get over it quickly.
before I hit send and sounded like a complete idiot about stress being good in small doses I did a quick google -here is the link to an article about why we need some stress....
http://www.oprah.com/health/Benefits-of-Stress-Dealing-with-Stress
check this discussion about the interferon B study....
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Multiple-Sclerosis/Disability-and-Interferon-News/show/1773483
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Multiple-Sclerosis/Disability-and-Interferon-News/show/1773483
COMMUNITY LEADER
I have to admit to rolling my eyes and groaning when i read that article, I'm not seeing anything particularly encouraging. It was only 121 MSers, study was only 6 months, lesion developement was only by MRI and when the study finished the research results were not sustained so only yeilded short term benefits. To me thats not nearly enough to be recognised as supportive evidence of anything, there are far too many holes which only makes me come up with lots of but questions. lol Did anyone else notice these bits?
"This is the best evidence, the clearest evidence, we have that stress affects MS pathogenic processes," Dr. Mohr said.
The results are especially encouraging since study subjects had relatively active disease, he added. However, the benefits of the therapy were not sustained after the sessions stopped."
Comment: Thats not encouraging!
"Of 60 participants assigned to the intervention, 50 (83.3%) were classified as treatment completers, defined as completing at least 12 sessions."
Comment: so of the 24 sessions in the research program, you only had to do half of the sessions to be classed as completing the program. I am assuming the drop out rate was high if doing only 1/2 the program still kept you in and of the 60 starters, 10 still dropped out so down to 50.
"However, in an interview with Medscape Medical News, Dr. Heesen said the study raised some "pressing" issues, including that the effect "was so rapidly diminished after cessation of counseling sessions."
A possible explanation for this, he said, is that active support and bonding are necessary to gain benefits from counseling. "Meeting a person once a week, being attached to someone, having a continued follow-up, and just having a person listen to you, might be the beneficial effect."
Comment: In my head this study could feasible claim MSers who do weekly one on one counceling sessions have less lesions.
"Dr. Heesen noted that two thirds of eligible patients did not meet inclusion criteria for the study (362 of the 777 initially screened), which casts doubt on the applicability of such interventions to the general MS population."
Comment: So the criteria was so restrictive, 2/3rds of pwMS were not desirable, um why is that if those in the study only need 1 active lesion within the last 12 months? Did this data stacking produce favourable results?
Theres more but you'll get the point, and after disecting it, i see it as being even less likely to be usable. I think realistically, high levels of stress isnt good for anyone, regardless of being a person with MS or not. If your trying to reduce your stress levels, you also need to think of cause, personality, situational and levels of support too, its not a one size fits all solution.
Off the top of my head, research identifying stress reducing activities are Yoga, meditation, ti chi, laughing, exercising and thats all i can think of, all good things imho.
Cheers.........JJ
"This is the best evidence, the clearest evidence, we have that stress affects MS pathogenic processes," Dr. Mohr said.
The results are especially encouraging since study subjects had relatively active disease, he added. However, the benefits of the therapy were not sustained after the sessions stopped."
Comment: Thats not encouraging!
"Of 60 participants assigned to the intervention, 50 (83.3%) were classified as treatment completers, defined as completing at least 12 sessions."
Comment: so of the 24 sessions in the research program, you only had to do half of the sessions to be classed as completing the program. I am assuming the drop out rate was high if doing only 1/2 the program still kept you in and of the 60 starters, 10 still dropped out so down to 50.
"However, in an interview with Medscape Medical News, Dr. Heesen said the study raised some "pressing" issues, including that the effect "was so rapidly diminished after cessation of counseling sessions."
A possible explanation for this, he said, is that active support and bonding are necessary to gain benefits from counseling. "Meeting a person once a week, being attached to someone, having a continued follow-up, and just having a person listen to you, might be the beneficial effect."
Comment: In my head this study could feasible claim MSers who do weekly one on one counceling sessions have less lesions.
"Dr. Heesen noted that two thirds of eligible patients did not meet inclusion criteria for the study (362 of the 777 initially screened), which casts doubt on the applicability of such interventions to the general MS population."
Comment: So the criteria was so restrictive, 2/3rds of pwMS were not desirable, um why is that if those in the study only need 1 active lesion within the last 12 months? Did this data stacking produce favourable results?
Theres more but you'll get the point, and after disecting it, i see it as being even less likely to be usable. I think realistically, high levels of stress isnt good for anyone, regardless of being a person with MS or not. If your trying to reduce your stress levels, you also need to think of cause, personality, situational and levels of support too, its not a one size fits all solution.
Off the top of my head, research identifying stress reducing activities are Yoga, meditation, ti chi, laughing, exercising and thats all i can think of, all good things imho.
Cheers.........JJ
Exercise is an excellent way to relieve stress. I used to exercise three days a week, no matter what. It helped me get over the grief from my sister's death, and got me to lose weight. It even encouraged me to quit smoking. These days I rarely exercise. I guess part of it is that I'm afraid I'll get fatigued, and when I get fatigued, it's like losing a day. But I have other outlets for stress - playing bass works wonderfully well.
It sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure how to put it into practice. What works? Meditation? Scripture reading (for the religiously inclined)? I used to crochet for stress management. If I can find a crochet hook that I can still hold onto, that would probably help. Delegating is also a way to reduce stress, as long as we can let go of the need to control the outcome. (Sorry, I am rambling again...)
I have been off the planet lately.. :-0 What is up with Betaseron? I know thatmost of my lesions appeared during Graduate school and anfter staying home with my children. all Major stressors!
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