Since I am very new to this forum I'm quite sure this topic has been address many times but it sure wouldn't hurt to bring it up again. I have noticed after reading as many of the post as I can that there are so many well informed and educated people here dealing with MS that I would be very interested in hearing their views on this subject. Thanks

Hi Rick and welcome to NeuroTalk.

Stress, anxiety, panic attacks and MS is a topic that I tend to be a little outspoken on

I do not believe stress impacts MS in regards to exacerbations (relapse, flare-up, attack). An increase in MS symptoms can be seen with stress and anxiety but even those without MS will experience neurological symptoms due to stress. Stress and anxiety can cause body wide symptoms for anyone.

Information on this topic:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002616/

I agree with Snoopy, for everyone regardless of medical condition, striving for as stress free a life as possible is the way to go. Far easier to preach than practice life has a way of ensuring that, but yeah learning to simply accept things as they are and as they come probably leads to better health than diet, exercise or medication combined.

For me some of the things I use to cope with stress is always having a plan (carved firmly in water), realizing not everyone is educated (no matter how many sheep were skinned to say otherwise), and the 'common sense' the world is in desperate need of is humor.

I still forget sometimes and let myself get spun up over things that aren't going to change, even though it causes very real palatable pain to my body and more than once has even led to furthering existing injuries. Even so, I still try to not let the world (my family) get to me.

It might be a bit easier if I just went ahead and bought myself a hug-me-jacket already and installed my bouncy room Yesterday would have been a perfect day for some self hugging time in a cosy asylum cell for me. Still feeling the after-effects of dealing with an overage of I-D 10 Ts issues.

During my 20 years of ms I have become very good at playing the mind game. Stress is just not allowed to be part of my life. I learned to ignore it at every turn. By the way I was always under the assumption that stress directly affected ms. Thank you again for educating.

First of all there are different kinds of stress. The every day stress of living,
working and playing, usually will not exacerbate a MS attack, but the stress
of an accident or major life incident may do just that. And I have had such
related attacks.

But then I am one who does not handle stress well and I do have GAD.
(general anxiety disorder), under control with meds.

Hi Sally,

Our experiences have been different in the area of stress

In my case Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is were my experience with stress lies. The extreme "stress and anxiety" that PTSD can cause did not affect my MS. Although my Drs., as well as my Psychotherapist, were concerned with the affects of PTSD on my MS those concerns never came to fruition. My MS stayed quiet during the 10 years that PTSD had ahold of me and my life, to which I am quite grateful for.

My MS seems to be more noticeable during those times in my life where there is little to no stress or anxiety in my life, go figure

Thanks Sally for your reply and I feel the same way. Being old school Italian family of course is everything to me. Now god forbid if anything would happen to my family that is for sure a level of stress well beyond my control but that will never happen

Definitely stress was a huge factor for me.

My first - and biggest to date MS attack was just after I had cared for my Mum round the clock in the last week of her life with fast, aggressive cancer.

It was stressful, sudden, brutal and agonising - I wouldn't wish that circumstance on my worst enemy (not that I have any). When she died (three weeks after diagnosis) the adrenaline (that kept me going 24/7) drop was massive, and I truly believe brought it all on. Thirteen years ago - and I still live it daily.

Just my thoughts and experiences, but it is an acknowledged fact that stress can cause so many health issues.

Lyn