Support during major stress.

[minkeygirl]

I'm going to be majorly stressed for 2 weeks, then maybe 2 months more then maybe a few months after that. I'm trying to keep myself calm but just after one day of dealing with this situation (I have to go through it and it will be helpful in the long run) I can barely walk or breath.

I'm resting as much as I can but I'm wondering if anyone can suggest something I can take for support so I don't have an epic crash. I am currently taking Jarrow Methyl B. I'm looking at adrenal support just because I know stress clobbers them.

Suggestions please. OTC is good and not anything that costs a million bucks. I just don't have it. Most ayurvedic stuff gives me headaches so that is out also.

Thanks

 

[maddietod]

I can't offer you any help at all! But I read your post, and just want you to know that I'm sorry you're going through this difficult time. It looks like there are chunks of stress-times. Can you negotiate breaks where you completely rest?

Good luck with this.

Madie

 

[minkeygirl]

Hi Madie, Thanks for your support. After tomorrow I can rest, and for me resting is flat out on the sofa only getting up to eat, but I have an appointment on the 20th regarding financial assistance so I'll stress out before that. Then there is a 2 month wait to see if I qualify where I'll be in limbo and stressed. WHEN I get approved then I have to relocate so I have the stress of looking for an apt. and then the actual moving. That will do me in.

So it's more of the mental stuff, not sleeping, anxious.. stuff like that. Because I went for almost 6 hours Friday doing physical stuff I was just totally creamed. Still was today. I have to make a bunch of phone calls tomorrow which will do me in THEN I can rest.

I have to get my head in the right place for all this. I wish more PWC's would address the issue of no support, no money, no help.

Thanks again. Jan

 

[caledonia]

Besides adrenal supps, I do sea salt dissolved in water along with some vitamin C powder and magnesium glycinate three times a day. If you have weak adrenals you will be deficient in these, although I recently learned some people need more potassium than they do magnesium.

Magnesium, in general, is calming. If you get too much, the only symptom I know of is it will make your stools very loose (aka diarrhea) - in which case, you would just back off some.

You can just start out with sea salt and see how it goes. I use 2-3 pinches in 8 oz. of water, enough to make it pleasantly salty.

If I'm out doing stuff, I always carry some sea salt with me so I can pour some into whatever water is available and drink it. It really helps revive me.

For general stress you can do things like meditation or EFT (emotional freedom technique). You can go to YouTube and learn EFT for free. Meditation is nothing more than getting relaxed and then paying attention to the breath coming in and out of your nose for 20 minutes. This triggers the relaxation response, and if you do it daily, it trains your mind to stay in the present and not to worry so much about the future or the past.

It would be great if we PWCs had a charity/non-profit which helped homebound PWCs, similar to the MS Society.

 

[Gavman]

What Caledonia said makes sense. Meditation is important, especially to notice our bad thoughts and let them go. You know, like putting the crystal ball away where we predict the future before it happens. Magnesium is a good one. Epsom salt baths are great.

Also i'd recommend getting a diary and pouring out your feelings into it. If you have any friends who are supportive, they are also useful. Don't know where you live but a psychologist would be good (in Australia we get rebates so its cheap) - talk to your doctor about it. An online diary can work too.

As its a broad question, i'm just brain storming some ideas. Go with whats right for you.

 

[minkeygirl]

Hi Caledonia. I was thinking C would be good. The sea salt makes some sense too so I'll give that a shot since I already have some. Actually magnesium glycinate is the one that doesn't cause diahrea but for me that would be ok since I have IBS-C.

What adrenal support do you use? I'll see about the EFT. I have some serious concentration problems so I don't know if I can do it, added to my crazy OCD.

I was thinking last night that there is nothing in Californa set up for PWC's. There are tons of organizations and agencies that help people with aids who in many cases are much more functional than I am. Seems like things are out of wack somehow.

Thanks.

 

[minkeygirl]

Hi Gavman, didn't see this at first. Well, I appreciate your suggestions but for reasons I won't bore you with most of these are not feasible for me. This current situation is something specific and once it's over then this stress will be over. I just want to support my immune system and HPA axis while I'm going through this so I don't have an epic relapse.

I do appreciate the brainstorm. Thanks

 

[aprilk1869]

I'm not sure but you might want to consider taking fish oil supplements or eat tins of sardines. The healthy fat should give you energy and there's evidence it helps with stress. Apparently you want to be getting about 1 or 2 g of EPA/DHA so make sure you pay attention to the labels of fish oils. You can buy triple strength caps which means you only need 1 or 2 a day.

Fish oil prevents the adrenal activation elicited by mental stress in healthy men.

OBJECTIVES:

A diet rich in n-3 fatty acids (fish oils) is associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, but the mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Sympathoadrenal activation is postulated to be involved in the pathogenesis of these diseases, and may be inhibited by n-3 fatty acids. We therefore evaluated the effects of a diet supplemented with n-3 fatty acids on the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system and of stress hormones elicited by a mental stress.

METHODS:

Seven human volunteers were studied on two occasions, before and after 3 weeks of supplementation with 7.2 g/day fish oil. On each occasion, the concentrations of plasma cortisol, and catecholamines, energy expenditure (indirect calorimetry), and adipose tissue lipolysis (plasma non esterified fatty acid concentrations) were monitored in basal conditions followed by a 30 min mental stress (mental arithmetics and Stroop's test) and a 30 min recovery period.
RESULTS:

In control conditions, mental stress significantly increased heart rate, mean blood pressure, and energy expenditure. It increased plasma epinephrine from 60.9 +/- 6.2 to 89.3 +/- 16.1 pg/ml (p<0.05), plasma cortisol from 291 +/- 32 to 372 +/- 37 micromol/l (p<0.05) and plasma non esterified fatty acids from 409 +/- 113 to 544 +/- 89 micromol/l (p<0.05). After 3 weeks of a diet supplemented with n-3 fatty acids, the stimulation by mental stress of plasma epinephrine, cortisol, energy expenditure, and plasma non esterified fatty acids concentrations, were all significantly blunted.

CONCLUSION:

Supplementation with n-3 fatty acids inhibits the adrenal activation elicited by a mental stress, presumably through effects exerted at the level of the central nervous system.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12909818

 

[minkeygirl]

Thanks but I cannot take fish oil. It gives me serious brain fog. don't know why but it's been a problem for years.

 

[aprilk1869]

Thanks but I cannot take fish oil. It gives me serious brain fog. don't know why but it's been a problem for years.

Are you sure it's the fish oil and not something in it like mercury? Sardines are supposed to be very low in mercury.

Other toxic metals. Toxicity with mercury, aluminum, cadmium, lead or other metals may also cause symptoms of brain fog. Most everyone has some of these metals today. Mercury toxicity is extremely common, as it is found in large fish like tuna in high amounts, and in dental amalgams. Aluminum is added to table salt and drinking water, and found in anti-perspirants, anti-acids and many cosmetics.

http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/brain_fog.htm

 

[caledonia]

I did Adrenal Cortex Extract for a year (through my local naturopath) and now I'm working with the Clymer Healing Center on further adrenal treatment. This includes cod liver oil, vit. D3, pregnenolone and will soon be adding another form of ACE that is modulating instead of just stimulating - in other words, it lowers or raises cortisol as needed, instead of just raising it.

There is an adrenal thread where I'm giving updates on my treatment.

EFT is very simple and easy to learn and apply, especially from a video. I can zap anxiety within a few minutes with it. Well worth learning.

It basically involves stating your complaint, and then tapping on 9 different points on your hand and face. It always in the same order no matter what the problem is, so you'll learn it quickly.

 

[minkeygirl]

Hi Caledonia. Well the major stress is done for this week for the most part. Next will start next week before a Wednesday appt. After that not sure but will have to wait 2 months for a decision which will affect my life forever.

You're lucky you have a doctor who can help you. There just isn't anyone around me, that I know of and that I could get to that has a clue. I just refuse to pay $500 to walk in someones door. But this decision I'm waiting for will help me financially so I can take care of some things I haven't been able to afford. When I first got diagnosed my adrenals were a mess, actually a misdiagnosis messed them up and led to my CFS so I don't want to mess around too much.

Thanks for reminding me about the EFT. I totally forgot! I'm gonna rest until Friday when i have to go out for maybe an hour. I'm gonna look into some adrenal stuff. I had one I was looking at but cannot remember what it was. I don't want to do too much on my own. Just need some support.

 

[Misfit Toy]

I went to the Clymer Research Center. It's in my back yard. It's amazing how what can help one can make another sick. I did pregnenelone and ACE as well as progesterone and due to being on that for 2 months, I was laid up...sick as a dog for about 6 months. The adrenals are touchy.

I wish I could offer some advice, but the good news is, it sounds like you are not too bad if you can deal with the stress and then be somewhat ok. I am finding, I cannot deal with much stress at all and when something really goes wrong, I am probably going to be hauled up in my bed. And..for a long time.

 

[minkeygirl]

I went to an environmental medicine guy a few years ago. He wasted a lot of my money doing things "out of order". But the DMPS chelation did help me with some stuff.

I use an OTC progesterone for estrogen dominance. My hormones are still completely out of wack but at least I don't get the nausea and migraines. Isn't it crazy how things screw us up so much?

I'm pretty surprised right now that I don't feel horrible. All the stuff I did today will hit me Wednesday. What is crazy is mid May I had an epic crash until the end of June. I know know idea what caused it, there wasn't much really going on. I mostly came back from when this stuff happened which will be good in the long run.

But the result of this is I have to move so there is the issue of trying to find a place, packing (maybe I should start now), the move. That'll do me in for sure. I've been losing ground every year which is sad.

But I should be in a better position to look into alternative things or doctors willing to look outside the box so it should be worth it in the long run. There are docs around here but I've never heard anyone say great things and I think they are out of the loop with what is happening now.

I'll see. Not gonna make any decisions now until I get through this current thing. Thanks so much for chatting.

 

[Dainty]

One thing you might want to look into is eleuthero root; it's an adaptogen, which means it helps the body adapt to stress. Here's a link with more info on it.

There are other adaptogenic herbs, but I haven't tried them or researched them. Since we're so sensitive to stress it seems worth investigating.

 

[Misfit Toy]

Yes! Progesterone helps and it has helped with migraines, tremendously. Progesterone is also helpful to the adrenals. I am estrogen dominant.

 

[minkeygirl]

Most doctors, when presented with a woman with migraines would give them estrogen. I could not manage without my progesterone. But my hormones are still not balanced. I know they can be because for a few hours they were but I had an allergic reaction to something in the estrogen so I stopped. My next thing is to get myself balanced. I don't have to feel this way, as in feel nothing.

 

[minkeygirl]

I have the same problem. Glad it's not just me. Wonder why?