Fibromyalgia and Stress
The link between Fibromyalgia and stress disorders was key to me finding my Fibromyalgia cure.
We all tend to lead stressful lives and throughout our life we will undoubtedly go through some very stressful experiences. The death of a loved one, moving house, divorce and job loss etc. are all major stressful events that many of us have to deal with.
But the daily stresses that may seem quite small to most people can be overwhelming to people with Fibromyalgia. This is termed sensory overload and many Fibromyalgia sufferers experience multi-sensory hypersensitivity. Basically having Fibromyalgia makes you much more sensitive to sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch. This hypersensitivity causes stress. For people who have Fibromyalgia and stress issues life becomes very difficult.
Linking Fibromyalgia and Stress
Linking Fibromyalgia and stress issues is crucial to understanding how you can recover.
It is believed that the main cause of Fibromyalgia is stress.
Recognising that stress, brought on by everyday minor events, was one of
the main factors that caused my Fibromyalgia was a light bulb moment –
pardon the pun – as bright lights cause stress.
Loud noises such as an alarm clock, a busy restaurant or supermarket, sirens or house alarms can trigger within the Fibromyalgia sufferer the release of stress hormones that flood the body. The noises, especially unexpected noises, can seem so loud and startling that you can jump with fear. This of course is the fight or flight response that we have to protect us from major threat and danger. So this disproportionate response or over reaction to noise makes us in an almost constant state of stress.
Similarly bright lights and/or flashing lights can seem brighter and many people with Fibromyalgia complain of light sensitivity. This again causes stress as we try to avoid lights emanating from supermarkets, stores, hospitals, clinics etc.
When I realised lights were troubling me and causing me stress, which in turn caused me to have pain and fatigue I began to wear my sunglasses when I attended appointments or went shopping.
Smells too can bother people with Fibromyalgia more than the general population. Crowded places too, often overwhelm the Fibromyalgia sufferer.
I simply had to give up going to crowded restaurants because the noise, smells, crowds and bright lights caused me to suffer extreme aching, pains, sobbing and fatigue for several days afterwards.
I took my grandchildren to an amusement arcade and nearly passed out with the overload of noise, flashing lights and crowds of excited children. I could barely get out of bed the next day.
Needless to say my trips out with the grandchildren now only involve nature walks or visiting quiet parks.
Being overly startled or frightened by something that is overlooked by the general population is also very stress inducing for those who have Fibromyalgia. I jumped out of my skin when someone would drop a fork in a restaurant or when a bicycle bell warned me they wanted to overtake me while out walking.
These
startled feelings were totally out of all proportion to the noises I
heard but to me they seemed as frightening as if someone had crept up on
me and threatened me with a knife. I was left feeling shaky with heart
palpitations and the hairs on the back of my neck would stand up.
Inevitably these ‘scary’ events made me feel very stressed. And of
course stress means pain, fatigue and mood problems to the Fibromyalgia
sufferer. Fibromyalgia and stress are inextricably linked.
Via research I discovered that when we get stressed, and as I’ve noted people with Fibromyalgia experience stress almost constantly, we lose the calming mineral Magnesium from our system. This constant Magnesium depletion causes us to become Magnesium deficient which makes us more susceptible to react to stress more acutely. Again another vicious circle of being stressed, losing Magnesium which causes even more stress and so on.
Low Magnesium levels makes us more hypersensitive to sound, light, smells and also pain.
In a study looking at women with Fibromyalgia it was found that they had significantly lower levels of Magnesium and other important minerals than women without Fibromyalgia.
I have written much more about Magnesium and also read more about Dietary Stress and which foods trigger stress.