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extreme pain when stressed..happen to anyone else?

hurtingallthetimet

Senior Member
Messages
612
everytime i have alot of stress, and i have alot of anxiety problems, my muscles tense up and are so sore as if ive been doing something physical..

does this happen to anyone else? its just so weird that stress can do that...
 

Nielk

Senior Member
Messages
6,970
everytime i have alot of stress, and i have alot of anxiety problems, my muscles tense up and are so sore as if ive been doing something physical..

does this happen to anyone else? its just so weird that stress can do that...

I think it happens to most of us. I know it happens to me. Mental stress is as dangerous as physical stress. I have had quite a number of crashes from stress.
That's why they keep stressing (that word again:)) how important it is to stay away from stress-inducing situations. I know it's hard to avoid it totally, especially since many of us are very sensitive and therefore get stressed out easily. That's why people who can meditate or who can find some way to stay in a calm state, will avoid these pitfalls. I find it one of the hardest things to do, especially lately - to stay calm. I don't have the formula of watching my life, body, mind all fall apart and stay in a calm state. How does one achieve this?
 
Messages
13,774
I'm lucky enough to have have any problems with pain, and seem to have a relaxed enough life to not have problems with anxiety (aside from the spin around PACE!! And recent disability reforms/ATOS. And a casual drift towards pragmatism destroying everything that's valuable about Western society. And Santorum. The uncertainty of CFS. Global inequality. Political oppression... am I relaxed, or just so chronically stressed that I've forgotten what it feels like to be relaxed?)

I'd expect that stress can make people feel worse in all manner of ways. Have you tried getting any help for your problems with anxiety?

Anxiety is one of the few things for which I would recommend CBT, or reading on related approaches.
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
Yes, it sucks. As cavemen, we would see a hungry bear and get stressed, releasing those chemicals/hormones, to give us fight or flight energy. We're not supposed to get stressed without "burning off the energy". People always do it now, getting stressed in their office, car, home. I suspect PWCs feel the effects worse since we are rundown already. If I were healthy, I would run on the treadmill to burn off stress.

I get what you described. My muscles hurt more the day after than the same day. Just like with physical activity.
 

hurtingallthetimet

Senior Member
Messages
612
thanks for the replies im not happy anyone else feels like i do when i get stressed and anxiety...but it helps to know that others have this happen to them also so i know i dont need to bring up to doctor and worry about something else being wrong
 
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13,774
worry about something else being wrong

If you do think that you're having problems with anxiety, then I think that it would be worth trying to improve that somehow, regardless of other health problems. If it's not something you feel comfortable talking to your doctor about, and you cannot see someone privately, it could still be worth doing some independent reading on it. To me, it seems like a lot of problems with 'anxiety' can be helped by psychological techniques. A degree of anxiety is often reasonable, but if you find yourself getting caught up in it, or struggling to think as clearly as you'd like about things because of your anxiety levels, then learning about different management techniques could be a worthwhile use of your time.

I hope things start to improve for you soon. Good luck with everything.

edit: There is also, of course, plenty of quackery around psychological responses to anxiety.

I've read Jon Kabat-Zinn's 'Full Catastrophe Livining', and thought it was interesting and worthwhile - although I didn't agree with it all. I've seen a number of other CFS patients mention it positively too.

Someone I respect said that this website is pretty good, but with a few bits they didn't agree with: http://www.llttf.com/

Shinzen Young does online/over the phone mindfulness meditation retreats cheap, and I think that his ideas are interesting too.

I think that there are aspects of CBT/mindfulness type approaches which can be understood as an offshoot of philosophy intended to clarify thought and improve one's pursuit of truth, with some useful tricks for avoiding common errors/instincts/prejudices. Unfortunately, they can commonly be misapplied, and used/promoted by quacks (as we've often seen with CFS). Hopefully everyone will be able to find what is most helpful for them.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Stress dont knock me about in that way..but rather esp if long term and severe, can affect my immune system and cause a crash into my ME immune symptoms (sore throat, fever, swollen glands..usually I also get a heachache with those symptoms as well).

In my own case i more tend to get muscle pains in a crash which is caused by physical activity.

I rarely crash due to stress but physical activity, completely screws me.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
everytime i have alot of stress, and i have alot of anxiety problems, my muscles tense up and are so sore as if ive been doing something physical..
...

It is normal for people thou to get tense when stressed... so makes sense of some geting pain due to that.

My boyfriend tenses his body when he's under any stress without even knowing how tense he's become, he'll lock his jaw up and clench his fists.. patterns which hold onto anxiety and tension (sends his BP up at the same time).. This body tenseness has became like a habit to him almost a constant thing which he believed he couldnt change at 74? years old, as he'd been like that all his life.

Ive been working with him trying to get him to be more aware of his body and what its doing and after 2 years of me regularly bringing his attention to his body, he's now starting to actually know when he's subconciously tensing everything and starting to be able to notice levels of tenseness he wasnt aware of before and release his body stress.

Try to keep an eye on your body regularly (body awareness), if under stress as you can conciously work to release it ... eg practicing progressive body relaxation may be good.

Observing ones own breathing can be another way to help release stress... we breath faster when stressed so purposely slowly it down and taking deeper breaths can sometimes help.

I was getting bad panic attacks with the ME at one point (probably due to abnormal adrenaline rushes, on my lab tests I still have abnormally high adrenaline) and healed myself from having the panic attacks by such techniques (breathing throu them along with visualisation).

I taught myself how to stop them, if I observed what was starting to happen quick enough (the key was having enough body awareness there to see what was coming on, so react quick enough) and take action to stop it.