What a great site Don....I do many of the ideas listed and always look for new ways to de-stress. I saved it to my "favorites" list for future reference...
(like when ds calls to say he is getting out of jail and "what should i do?"
)
Traci, i havent had my corisol levels checked but i too had a doctor, one of the best in our area for neurological disorders tell me that stress does not "cause" auto-immune problems.
I have one mild auto-immune d/o inherited on my mom's side of the family. fine.
BUT By the time my oldest/worst rad left home at age 18, at the age of 40-ish, i developed full-blown asthma and almost died during my first (and last) attack while doctor's tried to figure out what i had...as asthma didnt seem likely. During the tests they discovered that my lymph nodes were HUGE and i was diagnosed with another more serious auto-immune d/o.
That's when i saw this doctor (my 4th one thru all this)....he was GREAT and figured out what i had in one visit....after the others trying to do so for 4 MONTHS of pain and weakness. During that visit, i mentioned my life with my "emotionally ill" children and the huge stress levels...
And he dismissed it! But i didnt. I began to slowly change my life. I never had another asthma attack and take very very little asthma meds as i am weaning my self off them and have virtually no symptoms left. I had only one other attack of the more serious d/o but that was 3 plus years ago. I am praying that it was the last....
So obviously, I dont buy that stress doesnt cause physical ailments. The site Don referenced even mentioned "immune" problems as one result of high cortisol. When my son went to jail, i had physical heart pain/palpatations and often couldnt catch my breath several times a day for about 3 weeks. I HAD to deal with the stress, and i did. the symptoms went away within days.
We all here need to take seriously finding ways to lower our stress levels....even in the midst of radland crappola. I would love to here if others here have had their cortisol levels checked!
Eat well, exercise, pray, pray, get enough sleep, say NO to anything that is not essential in your life right now.... Your raddishes ARE your ministry, your contribution to society, your community "project", your school support project, your fund-raising project, your....well, you get the idea!
When i was pressured into working more hours at my job, i bluntly, kindly told my boss about my "other job" in radland. He was blown away...and gave me his blessing!
As our mantra in radland goes, "take care of yourself, take care of yourself, take care of your self." (should that go on the daffynitions post as "TCOY3"? )