Does Emotional Entertainment Affect Symptoms or Trigger PEM?

[Wishful]

I was thinking of books today, and I was wondering whether some forms of entertainment affect symptoms severity or trigger PEM. I don't read/watch horror or thrillers, but they certainly can alter hormones, heart rate, etc. I'm just curious about whether such entertainments affect ME/CFS. If yes, it might even be of interest to researchers.

 

[Misfit Toy]

Yes. Music and movies can make me worse and yet I love it so much. Mostly music. I love horror films and reading was once very hard for me because I didn't want to put the book down. Anything that affects the limbic system and cortisol will affect ME, unfortunately. Even just being in love with someone can make people worse. It's awful. Enjoying being in love with someone and boom, you get sick.

 

[Pink]

I can't read thrillers or even mysteries any more because they make my heart race too much.
It's actually very hard for me to read at all, especially a long story so I try to stick w short stories.
Odd....

 

[matt321]

Anything that reacts with the central nervous system will affect it. It will be different for everyone. This is why recovery starts with learning what, how, and why you react to everything in your environment.

 

[overtheedge]

I can't read thrillers or even mysteries any more because they make my heart race too much.
It's actually very hard for me to read at all, especially a long story so I try to stick w short stories.
Odd....

Have you tried audiobooks? for me they have been a godsend, I've listened to like 300 of them since I fell ill 4-5 years ago. Plenty of them on youtube, just search the name of the book you want to hear and put audiobook in the search box with it and you may find the audiobook you're looking for. Actually, you probably want to get Adblock Plus or some other adblocker if you don't already, I think youtube audiobooks are full of adds for those who don't have adblocker, I've never had to deal with any adds but I've had addblock plus since I started looking at the youtube audiobooks.

A lot of sites that offer downloading of content have an audiobook section.

Audible, which is associated with amazon and can be searched through amazon, offers quite a number of books in audio form which I haven't been able to find elsewhere. If you sign up for a free trial of audible you'll get 2 free audiobooks out of it and while your trial account is active, one month, you will get discounts on audiobooks. Discounts will also be active if you buy an audible membership, though I must confess I haven't yet done so myself as I'm still reading the audiobooks I got and bought during the trial, I think they give you 1 or 2 free audiobooks per month for having audible and probably other perks aside from that and the discount.

 

[Pink]

@overtheedge , it would be a great idea except that I have very little noise tolerance nowadays. Even if my kids are all talking at once, or the tv is on, my ears and head can't take it.