STRESS ILLNESS  What is stress?  Simply put stress is: "Facing a situation where you feel the demands outweigh your resources to cope successfully"  When we are stressed we commonly feel an uncomfortable emotion. Are you feeling unhappy, overwhelmed, resentful, fearful, trapped or powerless in some way?  Perhaps you are aware of underlying feelings of frustration, anger or enragement? Evidence suggests that many of the illnesses / pain symptoms we experience can be due to emotional stress. This can manifest itself in many areas of the body often leading to chronic / repetitive conditions. What The Mind Possesses The Body Expresses                                                                   Ron Eslinger Common Stress Illnesses Musculoskeletal: Back / Neck Pain including prolapsed discs  Shoulder Pain Sciatica RSI Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Tendonitis Knee Pain Foot / Ankle Pain Complex Regional Pain Disorder (CRPD) TMJ (Temperomandibular Joint Syndrome) Trigeminal Neuralgia Tension Headaches Fibromyalgia  Stomach and Bowels Abdominal Pain Ulcer Symptoms Hiatus Hernia / Heartburn / Acid Reflux            IBS / Colitis Unexplained Pelvic Pain Unexplained Frequent Urination Skin and Hair Eczema Psoriasis  Alopecia Heart and Lungs Unexplained Chest Pain Palpitations Hyperventilation Other Migraine Difficulty Swallowing Frequent Infections Dizziness / Vertigo Food Sensitivity Tinnitus M.E / CFS Mental Health Equivalents Obsessive Compulsive Thoughts / Behaviour (OCD) Eating Obsessions  Body Dismorphic Disorder (BDD) Anxiety Panic Attacks Self Harm or Self Cutting It is not unusual for a person to develop one symptom and then to notice as this clears up they develop a different symptom. This is because the manifestation of 'tension' can move around the body, showing up first in one place and then in another as a stress illness equivalent. For example, a person may have suffered from IBS when they were younger, then as that appeared to clear up, they developed back pain or panic attacks. Many people also have a combination of symptoms at the same time, for example fibromyalgia and tension headaches, or neck pain and eating obsessions.  Our innate personality and also our life experiences to date will shape our thoughts, feelings and behaviour which will in turn have an affect on our stress response.  Everything we experience right from a young age is held in our memory. Past experiences that have left us feeling hurt, angry or traumatised in some way can leave their mark and these stress memories can build up throughout our life time. Even if we think we have dealt with them, often subconsciously we haven't completely. On top of this every day life's challenges for example problems at work or at home, relationship problems, financial concerns and negative emotions manifest themselves in our body as listed above as we generate day to day inner tension. We are all unique and will all respond slightly differently to the same situation, depending on our self induced pressures and personality traits as listed below. These are often at the root of our stress illness / chronic pain problem. Common Self Induced Pressures Bottling  up / suppressing emotions of frustration, anger, fear, hurt, upset etc Low self esteem The need to be good / liked Having an analytical nature  Being highly driven Being a perfectionist Having high expectations and standards of self / others Being self critical Being too conscientious Being overly responsible Feeling overwhelmed with responsibility Being resentful Being competitive Feeling guilty Having difficulty making decisions Personality Traits Being highly sensitive Feeling shy / cautious Difficulty in expressing thoughts and feelings Harbouring anger / frustration  Being a worrier Being non confrontational Not standing up for yourself Being overly dependent on others Needing to be in control Having difficulty letting things go There is also something to be aware of called the Conditioned Response. This is anything that automatically seems to trigger your symptoms or pain. These may be things that you are actively aware of consciously, but can also be due to' triggers' that you are unaware of on a conscious level and therefore subconscious. Usually it is due to a combination of both conscious and subconscious. Conscious Triggers can be:  The time of day, a belief due to something that someone has told you or carrying out an activity which you fear. For example perhaps you have developed a fear of bending forward because the last time you did this your back went into spasm. The next time you go to bend forward, even before you bend, you are already most likely tensing up your muscles and telling yourself fearful thoughts, worried that the same thing will happen again with no actual evidence that it will. Subconscious Triggers can be: A specific person, a place, an activity, a deep routed belief, a painful repressed or negative memory.  Perhaps you have noticed that whenever you are with a certain person or in an environment where you do not feel so confident, relaxed or happy your symptoms increase. By dealing with the 'Root Cause' of what is bothering you in life both consciously and subconsciously your stress illness can greatly dissipate and more often then not clear up altogether! If you are struggling with a chronic stress illness or painful condition, having ruled out a fracture, cancer, tumour etc and you are open to believing there is an emotional connection, plus if you recognise some of the listed self induced pressures and  personality traits in yourself, there is a strong chance that I can help you eradicate your stress symptoms altogether! Further information can be found by visiting the link page below and the full Stress Illness Recovery Website  Link Page Full SIRPA Website Below are just two examples of my past patient success stories with SIRPA. Click on the names to read more: Debbie   Roberta   Why settle for learning to 'manage' your pain when you can learn to eradicate it! For recommended self help resources click Here
						Site Map