No doubt genetics and environmental factors are the suspected causes of Parkinson's, one of the most important catalyst is chronic stress. This is the least discussed area among the available literature. The stress may be due to bad relationship, bad working environment at job place, financial problems etc.
Chronic stress alters the physiological interplay between the brain and biological systems, leading to long-lasting negative effects (allostatic overload) on the nervous, immune, endocrine, and metabolic systems, affecting stress resilience and health.
I bet that most of the Parkinson's patients were exposed to some sort of extreme stress before the diagnosis
Yeah makes sense. But if this is the case than would it be able to reverse the process once the stress is gone? I live almost a stress free life since the end of 2019.
I have enjoyed a significant improvement of Parkinson's symptoms via the practice of Qigong. My Qigong teacher, Mingtong, emphasizes the importance of relaxation. Qigong Meditation:
Ironically the psychological stress of dealing with my Dad with PD, I firmly believe, was the accelerator pedal that worsened my health to the point that I had to face that my myriad of symptoms all pointed towards Pd. I could handle all other life stressors comparatively well. It is the verbal cruelty brought on by his PD that was my tipping point. As his PD has worsened he has gone from witty, to sarcastic, to unkind, and now, cruel to the point of being unbearable. He has alienated himself from all his friends and family, everyone.
The stress of overseeing his care was too much.
It took PD for me to insulate myself from his abuse.
I share this in hopes others will consider verbal abuse as a source of stress that needs to be avoided.
Most definately a factor. I was under so much stress. I now live alone with my dog ( best pal ever never a cruel word). I no longer work i hv no mortgage and life is easy. If i feel stressed i just stop the activity.
I know it doesnt work for everyonej but for me its gd.
Totally agree with your assessment. I was going through a divorce, a highly stressful job and was confronted to a very toxic culture at work. I believe this accelerated the development of PD for me. I have worked a lot to remove stress in my life and practice meditation for 45 min most days (autogenics, qigong etc). Definitely helps a lot, including for keeping anxiety under control.
I have dealt with high stress jobs for over 20 years, and raced off- road motorcycles for 26 years at a semi-pro level. Didn't realize what I was setting myself up for!
I certainly agree! I unfortunately spent a lot of time being anxious and stressed over things I had no control over. It came to head at work where long hours were needed to meet a deadline. Dealing with stress today is my biggest obstacle in relieving my symptoms but I am working on it.
Because we are all dealing with an illness that is caused largely by stress, that is a very good reason to create a supportive and kind environment here on this forum. This forum could be a refuge and more of a source of hope. It can be hard for some to put themselves out there on this forum especially when they see others ridiculed. Stress is not a situation. Stress is a response. For some people, myself included, this forum is stressful. Why do I post so prolifically then? Because I want so much to help my Dad, myself, and the thought of getting to a point where I can help others is deeply motivating. But it needn’t be stressful. It could be more collaborative.
Yes, it is at times, even for me. Some forum members use sarcastic and unproductive comments. I have ignored these comments and carry on, but they add stress to most of the forum's members. That is not the reason of this forum's existence. It should be educational, supportive and exchanging health protocols.
These problem children are obsessive and vengeful. They get banned and come right back with different usernames causing havoc and stressing out their targets just flying under the radar. The best thing to do is to ghost them and not give them a second of your precious time. We should feel sorry for them for their mental illness.
Go back to park bear and his Quigong, that is something everybody can do, does not depend on somebody else to do something for you, and gets past all the confusing speculation about which level of chronicity and acuity and individual circumstances and history and cause etc etc etc etc. He's talking, without getting into all other potentially significant variables, something that seems to make a meaningful difference while available and practicable to all.
I tend to agree that stress is certainly a trigger for to 'develop' and has significant effects on symptoms ongoing.
I ended a business with a toxic partner which took a couple of yrs to complete the separation and was diagnosed approx 8 yrs after, which does seem to fit the theory of it taking 10 yrs approx to manifest itself.
If I come across anything even vaguely stressful now my symptoms very quickly escalate, within minutes. I have never really been one for Yoga or mindfulness however have found these things very useful now, particularly a very quick and easy Vagas Nerve technique to de-stress
Love the graphic you included. Chronic stress isn't specific to Parkinson's disease. Neuro-inflammation is the underlying factor in all neurodegenerative disorders.
I think it was a significant factor for me. My straw that broke the camels back was a boyfriend followed by a boss both of whom were full blown narcissists.
25 years years ago I reviewed which jobs (Canada) were more stressful and compared them to the jobs listed as the longest and healthiest after retirement.
The job that had the longest living pensioners and had been number one many times was "United Church Minister", and the worst job resulting in a short retirement was Dentist.
A few years later the United Church was in trouble and debate raged and United Church ministers to my knowledge never attained those heights again. Meanwhile dentistry was being made better by new equipment and material and help from dental assistants and Dentists rose up and up in job satisfaction.
I think it was an Insurance company that published the results based on their own data. I will try and find this information brought up to date.
However I do not believe any one tried to analyze if More Dentists than Ministers had Parkinsons. I would love to see results.
It's well known that dentists have the highest rate of suicide among medical fields. But that's not really true. Veterinarians have a higher rate of suicide than even dentists. Maybe because I had IV euthanasia solution in my vet clinic and also had a gun for shooting horses. I never got to the point of suicide but was close.
That would break my heart. I used to work with a marginalised community. Their suicide rate is three times higher than the general irish population...it broke my heart too. Perhaps breaking my heart was what needed to happen...
After the pd diagnosis I lost my job, my home and had to move 1000 miles. That's stress. The article says psychotherapy can treat this. Along with meditation. Anyone know what psychotherapy means? I guess I could pay the $25 to read the whole article.
Not all therapy is what is needed for every person. Ive had free therapists that were amazing and paid ones that didnt work for me. One needs to "shop" for what one needs and whats available. At times even mediocre( not negative)is just enough...at times all that one needs is a friend, a witness so ones pain is seen and accompanied.
But we also know that you probably had PD several years before diagnosis perhaps as much as 5 to 7 years and that at the time of diagnoses a great deal of damage to the brain had already been done perhaps as much as 70%.Your high period of stress may have been a PD symptom.
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