“IT’S NOT JUST CAUSED BY STRESS!!!”
Is something I've seen hurled about, angrily - sometimes at me - by people with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia in comments sections of social media posts.
There's a lot to this anger and the whole idea of "stress" in this context needs a bit of unpicking to be fully understood.
So let's have a look at all this.
I understand the anger some people have around the suggestion that stress is to blame for their physical illness. It has often come from years and years of not being taken seriously by those who are meant to be helping but, sadly, don't have a clue.
To be belittled, demeaned and doubted by medical professionals and - at the same time - breadcrumbed with tiny bits of hope that someday, they might discover a truly physical cause and create a magic pill to make it all go away… coughs not gonna happen coughs...has to be fucking infuriating.
So, I get it. I get the anger - at this as well as having your body say “no” to all the things you’re trying to do.
But there’s more to this anger… it’s been building for longer and been caused by more than all of this. And it’s likely joined by a lot of frustration and feelings of being unfulfilled.
Because there have been things that have happened in life to bring people to this point; the point of having a debilitating condition often characterised by aching joints and muscles and ongoing fatigue – the likes of which many of us will never experience, therefore, never truly understand…
So let me be clear - when I link stress to these chronic health conditions, I don't mean that your job was more demanding for a few weeks or that you moved house and the stress of it caused you to become chronically ill.
We can all go through periods of acute stress like this and, when we do, chemicals are released into our systems by the brain which can actually help us get through them. And this is generally fine, because it's a system which is designed to be short-lived, so the chemicals get switched off again, allowing balance and normal function to return.
But, if we are chronically stressed - stuck in stress mode for longer periods, which is what happens as a result of ongoing emotional stress - it means that these chemicals continue to be released, involving and affecting virtually every tissue in the body, because every single system in the body is linked.
So, no – it’s not “just stress” causing chronic illness. What’s causing it is the body being under perpetual stress and hormone secretion, due to ongoing emotional issues and suppression, involving unfair treatment situations and not meeting emotional needs, first, with enough balance and variety (which includes physical needs like movement and nutrition).
The good news is that when we learn to stop suppressing emotions and instead deal with these issues effectively, we feel emotionally safe and so the stress response can switch off, putting an end to the biochemical marathon causing the physical symptoms.
How can I be sure? I've been helping clients do just this for the last decade!