Medical Update*

How often do you feel stressed? Some patients tell of feeling too much stress during the time when their arthritis flares. A recent survey found that 16% of those questioned felt stressed "all the time" and could not seem to relax, while 52% of those questioned felt stressed "most of the time."

Every week an estimated 95 million Americans suffer a stress-related problem and take medication for their aches and pains. There are estimates that as much as 80% of all illness is stress-related, and 85% of all industrial accidents are linked to personal worker behavior that includes adaptation to stress. In new data from a study done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Analysis Group, researchers estimate that depression, which can be triggered by ongoing stress, costs American businesses $43.7 billion a year – as much as heart disease.

Because stress can show itself through a wide variety of physical changes and emotional responses in arthritis related diseases, it is important to identify what causes these feelings. Stress symptoms vary greatly from one person to the next, and learning to identify the ways in which your body and mind show stress is an important step in treating and managing your disease.

Some early warning signs of stress:

Stress can be viewed as positive or negative, and the way we interpret the stress creates differences in our personal responses. However, whatever your problems with arthritis, fibromyalgia or other diseases, too much stress does not have to be one of them. You can learn to manage your reaction to stress just as you do other areas of your life.

A future article will address some suggestions on de-stressing your life.

Reference: The Fibromyalgia Handbook, Harris H. McIlwain, MD, Debra F. Bruce, Henry Holt and Co., NY, 2003

Additional information coming soon:  DIET FOR A PAIN-FREE LIFE, McIlwain, HH & Bruce, DF, Marlowe/Avalon, NY, in press, December 2006