Beethovenite here.
I am interested that people think stress is a cause of temporal arteritis. I am baffled as to why I got it - more than a year ago now. I wondered if it was caused in my case by separation from grandchildren, a kind of bereavement. Then I thought this was silly but is it really? Bereavement is a profound feeling. I have noticed in friends that it sometimes results in illness. So why not in my case too?
Stress, whether it be physical or mental can very often be a major factor with our illnesses.
You may have had other issues, that you weren’t aware of, and the separation from your grandchildren was the final straw that broke the camels back..
Anecdotal evidence really. A lot of us seem to have endured a period of sustained stress prior to becoming ill with an autoimmune disease like PMR,GCA and LVV in our case. This can be bereavement, work stress, financial worries, caring responsibilities, or personal problems. It isn’t the only factor but it certainly doesn’t help. In my own case caring for my mum with dementia precipitated PMR then my daughter and her family decided to join her sister and family by emigrating to Australia. This meant that all 4 of my grandchildren were on the other side of the world - then the Pandemic struck. I was diagnosed with GCA and LVV in spite of doing well with PMR and getting down to 3 mgs of Pred. I think most of us have a similar story. It could just be driving yourself too hard in your working life. We have a number of athletes on the forum too.
🥲… too much to handle … brave girl. xx
That's a tremendous amount on your plate, can't have been easy to deal with . Xx💕
Yes, why not in your case? We grieve for all sorts of things that are important to us and then are lost and not necessarily only people. We can get busy or tell ourselves to stop being silly, but the body and soul feel it. Sometimes we dodge the bullet and sometimes we don’t or it’s one too many. It time to be kind to yourself.
Yes that is real stress. I have GCA (Australia) and when we have put so much into our Grandkids and to have them taken away from you. It is just terrible . When they get over the age of 11 they have no time for Grandparents Why Why Why. I am trying to cope with the same thing I never thought it would happen to us . We have become Great Grandparents and I don't think we will ever see our Great Grand Daughter Do we put photos up or is it going to remind us of the heart ache We have to get other interests and try not to take it out on the younger ones. I tell myself it is not their fault . I have gone on Plant Base foods and it certainly helps the pain from GCA. All the best from Australia and there are a lot of us trying to cope with the same problem.
So sorry Goldie. I send a lot of presents. It keeps me as a bit of a legendary figure to them. Eldest is 12 and he cries on Grandparents Day. Xx
I believe stress could be a contributing factor. In my own case bereavement and sustained work related stress were precursor to my being diagnosed with PMR. It is all anecdotal though. I’m so sorry you were separated from your grandchildren-that must be very difficult.
Easy not to recognise stress - I tend to go into coping mode. But deaths, divorces and mental illness in family preceded my GCA diagnosis and it wasn’t until I wrote them all down that I finally acknowledged it! Since then, another death caused a flare and now I’m learning to pace and anticipate what will cause a problem. What you describe - bereavement - certainly would be enough, the body registers even if it takes us a while to catch on!
Bereavement can do terrible things to your immune system. My husband died, I moved house, then I was diagnosed with GCA all in 3 years. Now the Steroids have contributed to my knackered back (GP’s term!)
One thing leads to another, I suppose.
My new blue Rollator is a blessing!
Any form of stress can impinge on the immune system. There is no single cause of either PMR or GCA - it is thought to be the accumulation over the years of the effects of stress that affects the immune system - it can be environmental, chemical, physical or mental stress, illness or injury. Eventually one is simply too much and tips the immune over the edge and it becomes deranged, unable to recognise the body as self and so it attacks various tissues. causing damage and inflammation.
So the stress you experienced a year ago could well have been the factor that achieved the tipping point. I've been in a flare of my PMR since January 2020 when my husband was very ill and then Covid came along and complicated his recovery which simply halted.
Absolutely stress is a factor and long term stress too. All my life I have been thrown into stressful situations through no fault of my own. It started with infertility, moved through children and husbands illnesses, my son nearly died because of a drunk driver, etc etc. So I think I “ran out” of the fight and flight hormone. So along comes PMR. All well for two years, down to 3 mg . Then my daughter bless her has stage three breast cancer. Hello severe PMR flare. I have tried all kinds of stress relieving techniques but I am not good at dealing with situations where I have no control. There is a philosopher who says that people who are “thrown” into horrible situations either react by moving into the dark or the light. I try to be the latter. Sorry, this is a bit of a downer. I shouldn’t ever start to reflect 🤪🤪
Your learned wisdom is valuable.🌸
How can we tell?We don't know.
From beethovenite:Thanks all for responding to my thoughts of bereavement and stress.Once we were allowed to see family again when pandemic rules allowed I felt better in myself but of course was still dealing with temporal arteritis so am still gratefully on steroids and counting myself lucky every time I see a grandchild.
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