Stress! ACK!!

Something (or nothing) has triggered a stress attack! Now what? As a result of both my Fibromyalgia (which leaves me with constant low-grade anxiety and ever-present nausea) and my arthritis, I am often struck by anxiety or stress attacks where my carefully cultivated equilibrium is thrown to the wind.

WHAT NOW??!! WHY NOW??!! why me…

I often have trouble figuring out the trigger for the increase in anxiety. It may not be an anxiety trigger in itself, but an increase in pain, neuralgia, myalgia, fatigue that make me less able to compartmentalize the anxiety/stress and I notice it more. But what to do with that tightness in the chest, the fear, nausea, the “hyper-brain” that starts firing on all cylinders sending things out of perspective and out of control.

Today I realized I made a dumb mistake at work. It is not the end of the world but a stupid mistake that I will now need to fix. The anxiety went from mild to chest pain quite quickly. The drive home from work was spent trying not to end up in tears. The mistake is fixable, it will take time and effort, it is somewhat embarrassing but the reaction I am forced to endure is out of proportion to the scope of the problem. I can recognize that my anxiety is caused in part by my disappointment with myself for making such a stupid mistake, in part with having to tell my boss that I made the mistake and hoping it will not cost money to the organization, but other than those issues, my sense of panic is far and away off-kilter.

Let’s get it fixed…

So what helps me? I write out the issue, I read the issue, I pretend someone else has called me to tell me the same problem and what would I do if I was counseling a friend with a similar problem. This helps take it out of my head and look at it from a different point of view without my fibro-hysteria-brain taking over and running amok!

I might call a friend and work it out with that friend and am often imbued with some sense of calm for looking at it through someone else’s eyes and mind to be able to manage options and realize the next steps or actions required to resolve the issue. I don’t have a lot of friends but we are all pretty much in the same profession and we have all done something we need to fix so, it helps to know or hear that you are only a total idiot in your own mind and a mildly annoying one in real life?

Take a hot bath and try some herbal tea? My favourite is the Keep Calm blend from Sipology which contains: St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum, herb), Valerian (Valeriana officinalis, root), Catnip (Nepeta cataria, leaf). Chamomille is nice too. A nice hot bath (not too hot) with Epsom salts or foam bath (or a little bunch of fresh lavender) to help with some aromatherapy can also do wonders to reduce the stressed out muscles and kinked up neck muscles from a clenched jaw!!

Other stress reductions methods can be out of reach or not practical for all of us, but some examples might be:

• Exercise- I am all for exercise to help relieve stress but I find it impractical as it sends the pain from the arthritis in my joints, feet ankles etc into overdrive and that is hardly soothing to one’s soul… but before arthritis I did like to get on that treadmill or out for a nice long walk with the dogs to clear the head
• Aromatherapy- I have already mentioned my luxury bath to pamper myself out of a funk but… I also love my candles, incense and mini-mister with my lavender essential oils
• Humour- I have to say that watching funny Youtube videos helps me a lot- old episodes of favourite TV shows from my childhood like Carol Burnett sketches, or funny animal videos (right now I cannot seems to get enough Otter Videos) or epic fail videos… also really funny are videos of large vehicles going under low bridges!! Whatever tickles your funny-bone
• Soothing Sounds- Depending on my mood and energy level I can find singing loudly or humming softly very diverting. It may be a pan-flute or Celtic kind of a moment or a Queen “We Will Rock You” moment. To help calm before sleep I have found several Youtube channels that have the sounds of rain, thunder or crackling fire, that help calm and the white noise helps to distract.
• Snuggle with the critters… with 2 dogs and 2 cats I am never too far away from a ‘therapy’ animal (and with all the darned pet hair I have to vacuum or swiffer I do need therapy some days!!) (Check out Al and Amy’s FB pages if you’d like, links in pictures)

Conclusion

Stress is often ‘inflicted’ upon us but takes a will and an effort to manage once it becomes a presence in our life. Many of us find it difficult to muster that needed mental, emotional and physical energy to put towards putting down the anxiety rebellion thrust upon us…

And spending time creating this blog post has helped reduce the anxiety… helped me remember all of those tools I have at my disposal… and remind me to leave my work and not bring it home because it sure will still be there tomorrow and I need the break from it tonight!

I would be interested to hear of how my fibro friends or chronic pain sufferers juggle these incursions into their carefully managed equilibrium? I would be interested to know so please comment below!