Stress
Your heart pounds, your breathing quickens, your muscles tense, and you start to sweat.
Stress.
It comes from anywhere and affects us entirely, physically and mentally.
Our bodies are built to deal with it.
It's the fight, flight or freeze hormones from when our bodies were first produced, but dealing with the everyday stresses - even those that are slightly more than normal - don't really need a fight or flight response.
Still we are left with the body, now with additional stress hormones.
And the leftover from the stress that causes; migraine, physical aches and pains, dizziness/lightheadedness, sleep disturbance, overwhelming tiredness and disturbances in appetite, depression..
I live with an imbalance of anxiety and stress: a condition known as PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) following a serious attack 7 years ago that left me with epilepsy due to the head injury.
Before that I was a successful Head of Department in a large secondary school with more than 30 staff to manage.
We had a large circle of friends, we holidayed and socialised, we did additional hobbies, we lived in a beautiful home.
The assault left me not able to leave the house; unable to function at more than my basic level; unable to work; unable to communicate with people. My brain shut down more than basic function. The effect of severe stress.
Stress causes symptoms that are just like physical injury to the body. It needs time to recover, may need medication, and different levels of support.
It could necessitate a complete change of lifestyle.
One thing is for sure, we are not alone and there are always people to help.
Stress.
It comes from anywhere and affects us entirely, physically and mentally.
Our bodies are built to deal with it.
It's the fight, flight or freeze hormones from when our bodies were first produced, but dealing with the everyday stresses - even those that are slightly more than normal - don't really need a fight or flight response.
Still we are left with the body, now with additional stress hormones.
And the leftover from the stress that causes; migraine, physical aches and pains, dizziness/lightheadedness, sleep disturbance, overwhelming tiredness and disturbances in appetite, depression..
I live with an imbalance of anxiety and stress: a condition known as PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) following a serious attack 7 years ago that left me with epilepsy due to the head injury.
Before that I was a successful Head of Department in a large secondary school with more than 30 staff to manage.
We had a large circle of friends, we holidayed and socialised, we did additional hobbies, we lived in a beautiful home.
The assault left me not able to leave the house; unable to function at more than my basic level; unable to work; unable to communicate with people. My brain shut down more than basic function. The effect of severe stress.
Stress causes symptoms that are just like physical injury to the body. It needs time to recover, may need medication, and different levels of support.
It could necessitate a complete change of lifestyle.
One thing is for sure, we are not alone and there are always people to help.
Tracey xx
I developed PTSD due to the difficult delivery of our first child. It lead to post partum depression and two of the worst years of my life.
ReplyDeleteI first "met" you via a defunct blog when you had a different name. I think that you have turned out to be the most normal of the writers.
Take care.