Serious Impact During Stress

[lissy]

Last night I was under extreme stress (which I have been under many times throughout my life), maybe someone could read this and maybe get a "clue" of my cause or familiarize with this major problem of having dysautonomia and dealing with stress.

First I will say when I was 18, I stayed up for a few days crying, not eating well, very emotionally unhappy on the third day the reason for these feeling came home and I had a major argument, and I began showing some sort of dysfunction with out of control trembling for hours.

I went to the ER for the 1st time pretty much in my life, I thought I had MS or something the Dr. ran tests and send me home instructed to take 1/2 a zanax and was told it was a panic attack.

I was 18 and I'm now 33.

Anyway last night I am once again under extreme stress my body gets weak I start getting pains in various places (chest, muscles tightening) starts to hurt from deep breathing, the more I cry the weaker I become mentally and physically.

About an hour into this madness I start to tremble shaking from my feet to my neck. It last about 40 minutes during all this I decide to keep track of my vitals....

Before getting angry and emotional 90/60 Hr sitting 89

After 120/80 Hr sitting 127

Trembling 130/80 Hr laying 110

After my system calmed down 99/58 Hr laying 80

With all this, I began to think maybe I was triggered by stress all along, have I been set off balanced within from emotional trauma, is that where mine began and having baby after baby it just added physical stress on top of it. I have been through alot, every form of abuse and I have found that I am more "emotional" than the average person. I deeply feel everything I have alot of compassion for life in general and things tend to bother me very easily. An example: when I have to confront anything in life my heart starts to race and I get hot and dizzy even if its something exciting.

I can no longer handle any stress that includes kids just being Too loud...

Can mental health cause autonomic dysfunction? There are no ways to measure the brain chemicals at this point, alot of people are prescribed antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications based on symptoms not blood tests.But what if some of us are actually experiencing a true chemical imbalance. It seems logical its pretty much the only thing that cannot be tested.

I understand many on here have found their cause, in which there is a list of possible causes that are so random maybe one day a un-named mental health disease will be added. And by no means am I saying that our illness is not valid or physical, even brain chemicals are physical. With all that being said I still haven't started any meds yet * lol to myself...lexapro has been calling my name for awhile now hopefully I build the courage and release my fears to God .

Brainfog lifted for the moment:)

[kmichaelson]

Hi Lissy, Sorry you're having such a difficult time! I recently had a lot of stress due to the threat of losing my job due to my illness, and I had similar symptoms to what you described: shakiness, extreme tachy, dizziness, weakness, etc. Just like you said, I too have a very hard time coping with any sort of stress these days! From things I've read from other posters (and you may already know this!), our sympathetic nervous systems, which control fight/flight in times of stress, are a big part of our dysfunction, so in my case I feel like whenever I encounter a small amount of stress, my sympathetic nervous system fires up waaaayyy too much and makes me physically feel like I'm more stressed that I should be.

I don't know enough to say anything about emotional stress causing dysautonomia, but although mine seems to have started with multiple viral infections, I think that THOSE were triggered or at least aggravated by stress! I had moved 3 times within a year, started a new job several times, had major issues with my in-laws' behavior, etc. and I think that the stress just finally wore down my immune system and set this whole thing off. So while stress may not have been the direct trigger for dysautonomia, I'm sure it played a role in my getting to this point.

Lots of studies show a link between immune function and stress. I was actually a clinical psych major for a time during college and interned on a study that showed the effects of stress on caregivers' immune systems--here's a link to an article on the study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC39758/pdf/pnas01514-0427.pdf

Unfortunately I don't ever feel comfortable sharing with doctors any information about stress because for the first two years of my illness (before I had a dx), doctors were all too happy to try to blame anxiety, depression, or any other mental issues since they couldn't find a diagnosis themselves. Obviously there's a mind-body link, and I acknowledge that, but I feel that a lot of doctors would want to push my physical illness into the mental illness category rather than address it; however, I don't think it's so much an either/or question (physical or mental) as it is an interaction of the two.

[sue1234]

" when I have to confront anything in life my heart starts to race and I get hot and dizzy even if its something exciting.

I can no longer handle any stress that includes kids just being Too loud..."

Exactly how I feel if there is ANY stress in front of me! I don't think it is "just me", because I used to be able to handle stress. I also can't handle alot of noise, etc. This all came after my POTS began, so I think it is part of whatever caused my POTS.

[HopeSprings]

Same here - before POTS, stress did not trigger the types of symptoms it does now - most notably, I get a lot more dizzy with stress. I think the chemicals that are triggered during stress impact whatever the thing is that's causing POTS. (did that make sense?) We're hypersensitive to everything else, why not our own chemicals/hormones as well?

[sue1234]

(I wish we had "like" buttons!). I agree, Naomi, that we are now super-sensitive to the biochemical changes.

[Kirsti]

Too much stress causes the body to be stuck in the sympathetic nervous system mode. If you are stuck in this mode for too long, it causes illness. I learned this from the book The Healing Codes by Dr. Alex Loyd. I recommend you read it so maybe you can better understand your condition and try to heal.

[lieze]

Here too same effects.

I really have to monitor and try to limit exposure.

Like mother in law announced they'd be coming here for Christmas eve.

I thought about it and thought you know what even if I hired someone to do all the cleaning and cooking I still don't know that I could handle hosting the party and then turning around and facing Christmas duties for my family with stress of packages to wrap and Santa also coming for a visit.

So even though it wouldn't be negative and I would maybe even enjoy parts of it I had to say you know I don't think this is going to work.

I have to keep things really low key or I spin out of control with physical symptoms manifesting.

[puppylove]

I get much worse when facing any kind of stress also. My heart rate will go super high when get nervous about anything. I guess you could call this brain fog but when ever I get upset about something I get all confused and my symptoms act up more too.

[ramakentesh]

Same here - before POTS, stress did not trigger the types of symptoms it does now - most notably, I get a lot more dizzy with stress. I think the chemicals that are triggered during stress impact whatever the thing is that's causing POTS. (did that make sense?) We're hypersensitive to everything else, why not our own chemicals/hormones as well?

Exactly - same systems at play...