Your relationship with stress

[ChronicPancAdmin]

Happy Monday everyone - I hope you are all doing well!

Stress can impact many areas of your life and it is well known how impactful it can be on your health and the management of chronic illnesses.

Does stress play a factor in your flare ups?

[KarenB12 Ambassador]

Does stress play a factor in your flare-ups? 😂

Does it ever! Stress has always been a number one factor in my flare-ups. I can relate attacks and the 'stress' factor that caused them!

Funny how we most often think of stress as a negative term. But when it comes to PC attacks, it doesn't have to be 'negative' stress. Stress causes a release of Cortisol.

When cortisol production increases beyond a healthy baseline, it blunts your body’s sensitivity to insulin. This means you need more insulin during those hours in order to keep your blood sugar in your goal range.

For those of us with Chronic PC, who can no longer produce that insulin, it can cause serious problems. But it isn't just the cortisol.

Adrenaline in any form (for any reason) puts an extra load on the pancreas.

Adrenaline causes the liver to release glycogen - the stored glucose in your liver.

The Pancreas is responsible for regulating/releasing 4 hormones, but 2 in particular: Insulin & Glycogen.

When we're stressed, that surge of adrenaline triggers a surge of glycogen accompanied by a surge of insulin, too. Since both of these hormones are regulated by the pancreas, you have an undue load put on the pancreas. Glycogen raises your blood sugar levels and the insulin counteracts it to level things out. (My simple terminology)

Those of us whose pancreas is damaged by Chronic PC, are unable to produce those hormones or enough of them, particularly, insulin. And so blood sugar levels spike. When they do and our pancreas cannot produce the insulin needed, it works overtime trying to do what it's 'supposed' to do. And we can end up with an attack.

As I said, it doesn't have to be 'negative' stress. I once ended up with a major pc attack from watching a football game! I was really into that game! 🤣 The stress was killing me.

By the 3rd quarter, I was well into a painful attack.

I had an attack another time on the way to an auction. We sell classic car parts and purchase most of our products for resale at auctions or estate sales. They can be extremely competitive and there's always a huge adrenaline rush the morning of. We were on our way to a large and important (to our business needs) auction and I started feeling the pain & nausea. An hour later my husband was driving me to the ER in that town.

Looking back over the years, I can honestly say that close to half my attacks have been brought on by stress, in one form or another.

[ChronicPancAdmin Administrator in reply to KarenB12]

Hello KarenB12 ,

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences of how stress impacts your CP flare ups. I am glad to hear that you have now been able to identify what the primary cause of your flare ups is.

What are the ways you have found that help you to best manage your stress, thus prevent flare ups?

[KarenB12 Ambassador in reply to ChronicPancAdmin]

Wow, if I knew how to do that, I would be famous! 😂

For me, just being aware of that fact, helps. Knowing that it doesn't matter if I'm upset over something horrible or extremely excited/amped up, the effect on my pancreas is (basically) the same. It causes stress and flare-ups.

It's not that I try to modulate my joy LOL - but I do make sure I'm grounded, in either emotional direction. Also, a few minutes of extreme adrenaline is one thing. It's keeping it active for hours is what causes me the most problems.

Having a partner that is both emotionally and physically supportive is another huge part of my management plan. He's there to help remind me as well.

For the last few years, I've been working on mindfulness or being more present in my body. Trying to listen to what it tells me more closely. Learning to S-L-O-W Down has been a great help.

For me, acceptance has been a big part of stress management. But believe me, it hasn't been easy.

I've fought against my disease for most of my life. If anyone ever told me I couldn't do something because of my PC, I would force the issue to prove them wrong. (and usually paid the price) I am a stubborn student.

Possibly it came with age, but I've finally accepted there are some things I just can't do, can't eat, can't participate in, etc. Just accepting that fact has lowered my stress levels immensely.

I can't eat nuts - I just can't digest them well anymore

I can't eat a bunch of greasy food at one sitting

I can't eat a bunch of sugar

Those are all things I told myself for years. Then I decided to change my mindset.

I can only walk so fast without causing pain

I can participate in most everything in life, but it may be to a lesser extent than I used to.

I can eat ANYTHING I want in moderation. (For some foods that may mean a single bite just to take the craving away, but generally, that's enough to soothe the craving, and prove to my subconscious that I'm not denying myself things) 😂

Reframing my mindset has made a huge difference in the stress I put on myself.

I manage daily stress by writing, usually. I'm a writer and I can lose myself that way. I also garden. That has been a HUGE stress-reliever (except for those years we're attacked by cucumber beetles)

I color or embroidery, or paint, or read.

[Signingfun]

Stress has a negative impact on my pancreas flares. My pancreas pain and nausea increases with stress.

[ChronicPancAdmin Administrator in reply to Signingfun]

Signingfun what have you found to help with your stress levels?

[Signingfun in reply to ChronicPancAdmin]

I do a lot of different things... reading, crafts, play the piano, light exercise, fun movies, playing board games with friends, puzzles, ...