Does anxiety and stress affect your symptoms?

[ExploringPanda]

Hello everyone,

I'm recently diagnosed and I also have anxiety. I've read that anxiety and stress can make symptoms worse. Do you find this? If so, how do you relax and stay calm?

[Cat00]

It has been shown that low mood opens the pain pathways in your brain so you literally feel more pain than if your were happy, my neurologist told me this. So anxiety and stress certaintly make pain worse.

Mindfullness is the relaxant du jour but personally I hate it but the NHS would recommend it, there are many online courses, books on the subject. I was taught to do it at my local buddhist centre. It is essentially meditation. For me something like swimming works better, but I have to swim in a relaxed way otherwise It serves a different function.

Avoiding stressors is important but not always possible so you need to try and reduce them as much as possible. I would have thought it was near impossible to heal if you were in a stressful relationship for example.

[Patdoyle]

Yes stress and anxiety make me worse. I do relaxation on YouTube The Honest Guys. It’s very good

[OMALI]

They say that laughter is the best medicine.. And it’s so true, try watching your favourite comedian or comedy

[Yassytina FMA UK Volunteer]

Hello , I differently think stress and anxiety will make you feel more pain as your body is churned up and not relaxed , so I always take myself away too my room put on a favourite tv programme or film and immerse myself in this ,away from noise and some nice peaceful quiet time, I do use lavender balm and sometimes candles .x

[JayCeon]

And nr. 3: I've listed various relaxation types. You'd need to try "all" to find the one that helps you best.

If you think it's not just a certain amount of tension but more deeply your mindset is an issue, e.g. trauma, social anxiety, depression, grieving vs. not able to accept your situation then some kind of talk therapy / counselling, like CBT, DBT or praps best ACT = acceptance and commitment therapy may be best for you if you are open-minded about it.

[worried4me5]

I'm very much into fantasy books, lol. I like taking myself off to a different (ish) world and getting immersed in it. I did meditation and mindfulness but couldn't keep it up.

I'd love to get back into swimming as I enjoyed that but am conscious of my weight, so, so far I haven't tried going back to it.

There are all sorts of things like crafting (crochet, knitting, making cards, sewing etc). I like listening to music, particularly whilst going for a short walk on good days, it cuts out the loud noises and no-one bothers me much when I have my headphones on.

Learning a new language is always a good one. It's so much about concentration that you don't always feel the pain and it doesn't take any physical effort. All ideas mentioned so far are good, try some of them and see if any help.

Good Luck x