Avoid Stress at all Costs!!
 

Just a friendly reminder to my TBI friends. Please avoid stress at all costs. It will flare up your symptoms to the max, and cause you to relapse. I've even dealing with stress my entire recovery and always wondered why I never started to feel better. Once I removed myself from the stressful situation, my recovery started to head in the right direction.

After two years, I was finally starting to feel the old me coming back. My personality came flowing back to me. I was able to communicate myself fluently to people. My problems with overstimulation started to let up. Then, I hung out with my son's mother for a few days. Over a three day period, she's caused me to have multiple anger outbursts. These fits of anger have set me back MONTHS now and I feel very discouraged.

I don't want this to happen to any of you. So, stay away from stressful situations. I know it's hard to with "emotional lability" as a common symptom of TBI, but you'll be glad you did (and not too happy if you don't).

Oh, and try not to hit your head. That's a big no-no in the PCS world. I've done that at least 3 times in the last 2-3 weeks and it didn't turn out well.

Stay away from psycho exes and protect your brain.

This is your friendly neighborhood TBI buddy "SpaceCadet" signing out".

Nick

Amen
 

I agree 100% ANY people that cause stress.It can be hard because some of the people could be people that you love but cannot be around them for your health!Nick I am happy for you that your brain is feeling better.

I can relate I was with a guy for a year and half of PCS and he did the BEST thing for me by moving away!He still tries to haunt me by phone lol I blocked him off my phone and my LIFE!Along with a list of other's....sad but true!We aren't being selfish.We are trying to heal ourselves.:grouphug:

Stress
 

Stress

It's horrible yes -- bad, horrible stresss -- it's poison for our bodies

OK, maybe poison goes a bit far, but it's bad

Getting worked up, mad, angry -- who can afford the emotional energy for that when the brain is healing?

I can feel myself get worked up too sometimes, and it's hard, but we have to remember..

step back

take a deep breath

let it go.....let it go....
or get out of the way of it.....

but don't go near that stress mess
or you're right Space Cadet

our brains will make our bodies
pay for it
with (fill in the blank) ______________________ (noise insensitivity)

________________________ ________________________

It's not worth it.

Find some peace and hold onto it.

Peace!
pm

Oh, if only it were possible...
 

Not that I completely disagree but allow me to suggest an alternate view.

Eliminating stress 100% is next to impossible. Life continues to happen. Bills need to be paid, we deal with traffic, jobs, other people. It's how we deal with the stressors that is important.

Things that help me deal with stress caused anxiety include mindfulness meditation, gentle yoga, massage therapy, talking to spouse and friends about it, etc.

Wishing all of you a stress reduced weekend.

:grouphug:

I agree with the above poster.

Let me rephrase my original statement: Avoid UNNECESSARY Stress at all Costs.

It's virtually impossible to entirely avoid stress. It's everywhere you go and it's a natural part of life. I've got three kids -- my life will never be completely stress free. Even after they are grown up and leave home. There's also bills, family emergencies, work, plus much more.

So, stay away from stress that can be avoided.

Nick

My view
 

Avoiding stress is great, and early on in recovery, it is so important, but at some point, you have to try to improve how you cope with stress. My physiological reactions have not been good recently. I tend to just burst into tears. I can't help it! But where do I go from there? I've been working on ways to calm myself down and then I try to focus on positive things. I also have to focus on what I can do rather than what I can't do and be forgiving of myself.

But you are right to stay away from people who only bring stress to your life! It isn't worth it!

My view
 

Avoiding stress is great, and early on in recovery, it is so important, but at some point, you have to try to improve how you cope with stress. My physiological reactions have not been good recently. I tend to just burst into tears. I can't help it! But where do I go from there? I've been working on ways to calm myself down and then I try to focus on positive things. I also have to focus on what I can do rather than what I can't do and to be forgiving of myself.

But you are right to stay away from people who only bring stress to your life! It isn't worth it!

I agree with the sentiments of other posters regarding stress.

I completely avoided other people as much as possible - including my wife and children for a couple of months and before I knew it I was back working again.

It cost a fair bit of money because the kids went to a childminder after school, but it was money well spent.

It also took a lot of patience and effort from my wife also as she took the children out all weekend or looked after them whilst I was in another room.

Avoiding noise and stress is crucial, for me this meant isolating myself and getting quiet rest. The other crucial component was an antidepressant which took my stress levels down further.

Reflexology and massage also helped.

Good luck with reducing stress because this helps recovery.

In all fairness, Nick, you said "avoid" stress, not "eliminate" it completely. As such I completely understood what you were originally trying to say.

Also got you on the whole anger triggers situation. Anger has been a huge issue with me since the accident, and I mean huge, as in legal problems huge. I have personally found my martial arts training to be a major help in this area, as martial arts is all about self-control. But it's much better if the anger doesn't get triggered in the first place, as you suggested.

Stress is a Big One
 

I still have 3 teenagers at home and putting everything in perspective can be difficult. I have recently started a restorative yoga class and I find that great. Massage is really wonderful. I also took a 21 day meditation challenge which really put me in the right frame of mind. The key to stress is how you react to everything and what spin you can put on it. Thanks for the reinforcement, somethings I forget.