Question:
I find that with me stress seems to be one of the biggest problems, to
aggravate symptoms.
In some cases the effects are immediate, legs start to ache and then
are very weak. I try to avoid stress as much as possible.
It isn't always easy but who said life was easy. I try to go with the
flow.
Answer:
I tend to find that stress doesn't make me go into a full-blown relapse,
but it does tend to make me somewhat fatigued & wobbly for a short
period of time. And, it doesn't do that on a consistant basis. Sometimes
I've been under reallty major stress, & it's just rolled off my
back....other times, I feel like I've been run over by a semi!! Why the
difference? I have no idea!
I cannot say for sure whether stress has ever triggered an exacerbation in my
case, but there is no doubt in my mind that symptoms can be profoundly affected
- and with alarming rapidity too. I recall especially a distressing telephone
conversation with my (now ex-) wife that occurred unexpectedly during my
divorce; I could scarcely walk for 24 hours afterwards, whereas up to that
point I had been decently mobile. There have been other instances of this sort
of thing (that was probably the worst occasion) in my own experience too.
I am not convinced that stress-related symptom 'enhancement' has any effect on
the outcome of the disease (unless a real exacerbation can actually be
triggered this way - which I have heard suggested by other MS patients; that's
another matter altogether) - but yes, I think stress can lead to some
unpleasant and frightening consequences, and is best avoided whenever possible.
Avoid stress like the plague. Both physical and emotional stress. Stress is
an insidious factor in MS. In my own case early in my diagnosis I ignored
the effects of stress because it was causing only mild exacerbations which I
did not aknowledge as being exacerbations at the time. However, I now
realise that they were in fact exacerbations and unnecessary ones. Now that
I've had MS for more than a decade stress gives me huge relapses. So again,
if you have MS avoid all types of stress.
I've been dx'd as having had MS since 82 and have done a lot of reading and
paid close attention to the course of my illness. While I make no overt
correlation between stress of a psychological nature and the course of my
illness, I have indeed witnessed it and it was remarkable.
What I saw was a man that was married with children finally admit to
himself and some that were close that he was homosexual. This person went
from being barely able to walk to walking a 10 kilometer (6.6 mile) charity
walk in less than 6 months (almost makes me wish I was really gay (not) :)).
My reading and experience tell me that more than 50% of exacerbations are
due to infections and the remainder are due to diet, stress and unknown
factors. Seems that anything which burdens or reduces the capacity of the
immune system MAY lead to an exacerbation while anything which reduces the
burden on or increases the capacity of the immune system MAY help.
