Stress/Anxiety compromising my immune system
Discussion
Hi,
I'm not really sure what advice I'm after to be honest, so anything including MTFU is appreciated.
Basically for the last 3 months I've been living in a extreme state of anxiety which has physically manifested itself by affecting my digestive system, near complete loss of appetite at first, unable to tolerate sweet food (I usually have a very, very sweet tooth) and that has caused some severe weight loss, and it's really affect my sleep, if I'm lucky I'll get 4 hours a night.
On the weight front I started to diet and exercise in January at 14st2lb and got down and plateaued at 11st9lb by September, just 2lb of my target which I was happy with. I'm a little over 6'. Without going into details about the event that triggered my anxiety, as that has all been resolved now, I lost a further 5lbs in just a few days before the rate decreased. I've ended up hovering around 11st for a couple of months now. I was 10st11lb this morning but a bit constipated from the codeine so hadn't been when I weighed myself.
In the last 5 or 6 weeks I've been knocked flat fighting this b
d cold virus that's doing the rounds, never being able to fully shake it. I also have a long term back issue which flared up again a few weeks ago for the first time in 4 years. I ended up on Codeine Phosphate and Naproxen. The codeine completely messed with my head and my urinary system so I came off that asap. I saw a Chiro last week and they managed to crack me and I've been much improved since then. The day after (last Wednesday) I lived entirely in the bathroom with diarrhoea and vomit. To put that into context I live/work in a childcare environment and had to clean up some 2 year olds sick on Monday so I guess I managed to get some evil kids bug.
Last Saturday I started coughing really badly, had a raging sore throat and after 12hours or so started coughing catarrh up. I'm still coughing but controlling it with codeine linctus and paracetomol. It's now moved up to congest my sinuses and I feel properly crap either freezing cold or sweating like the proverbial.
So that's a basic history. My thoughts are I really need to sort my sleep and ability to eat out. I do eat healthily but still struggle to eat as much as I used to do, I am supplementing with multi-vit/mineral. I figure if I can sort those two out then my body might have some spare energy and a better chance to fight off infections. I'm going to speak to my Doctor on Thursday about sleeping pills. I'm thinking that even if I have only one good nights sleep a week then it'll be a start to getting my body back into a healthier sleep pattern. I was on Zopiclone back in September but still didn't get a full nights sleep on that, so I need something with a bit more of a sledgehammer effect, I am rather loathed to take medication though but I'm really struggling now. On the food front, I'm just going to have to try and stuff more food down my hole, I suppose it's helpful that Christmas is here on that front!
Cheers,
Rob
I'm not really sure what advice I'm after to be honest, so anything including MTFU is appreciated.
Basically for the last 3 months I've been living in a extreme state of anxiety which has physically manifested itself by affecting my digestive system, near complete loss of appetite at first, unable to tolerate sweet food (I usually have a very, very sweet tooth) and that has caused some severe weight loss, and it's really affect my sleep, if I'm lucky I'll get 4 hours a night.
On the weight front I started to diet and exercise in January at 14st2lb and got down and plateaued at 11st9lb by September, just 2lb of my target which I was happy with. I'm a little over 6'. Without going into details about the event that triggered my anxiety, as that has all been resolved now, I lost a further 5lbs in just a few days before the rate decreased. I've ended up hovering around 11st for a couple of months now. I was 10st11lb this morning but a bit constipated from the codeine so hadn't been when I weighed myself.
In the last 5 or 6 weeks I've been knocked flat fighting this b
d cold virus that's doing the rounds, never being able to fully shake it. I also have a long term back issue which flared up again a few weeks ago for the first time in 4 years. I ended up on Codeine Phosphate and Naproxen. The codeine completely messed with my head and my urinary system so I came off that asap. I saw a Chiro last week and they managed to crack me and I've been much improved since then. The day after (last Wednesday) I lived entirely in the bathroom with diarrhoea and vomit. To put that into context I live/work in a childcare environment and had to clean up some 2 year olds sick on Monday so I guess I managed to get some evil kids bug.Last Saturday I started coughing really badly, had a raging sore throat and after 12hours or so started coughing catarrh up. I'm still coughing but controlling it with codeine linctus and paracetomol. It's now moved up to congest my sinuses and I feel properly crap either freezing cold or sweating like the proverbial.
So that's a basic history. My thoughts are I really need to sort my sleep and ability to eat out. I do eat healthily but still struggle to eat as much as I used to do, I am supplementing with multi-vit/mineral. I figure if I can sort those two out then my body might have some spare energy and a better chance to fight off infections. I'm going to speak to my Doctor on Thursday about sleeping pills. I'm thinking that even if I have only one good nights sleep a week then it'll be a start to getting my body back into a healthier sleep pattern. I was on Zopiclone back in September but still didn't get a full nights sleep on that, so I need something with a bit more of a sledgehammer effect, I am rather loathed to take medication though but I'm really struggling now. On the food front, I'm just going to have to try and stuff more food down my hole, I suppose it's helpful that Christmas is here on that front!
Cheers,
Rob
Edited by B19GRR on Tuesday 16th December 13:21
Puts my ailments into perspective.... I've had bronchitis for around the last 6 weeks and generally feeling a bit off colour / like I'm coming down with a cold from time to time, just can't shake it. Been to the docs twice and had two lots of antibiotics with next to no effect. Going back again tomorrow.
Like you I put it down to a general state of knackeredness as we have a 18 month old that won't sleep through at the moment (she's been ill too) so I haven't had an unbroken nights sleep for at least a couple of months. I also feel that a couple of decent nights and I'll be getting back on track but it just isn't happening right now so I've just got to get on with it.
Almost dreading Christmas as we'll be doing the rounds of the grandparents (Essex and Oxford) so four nights of rubbish sleep in uncomfortable beds with undoubtedly some interruptions from the kids. Bad enough if I'm fighting fit.
Like you I put it down to a general state of knackeredness as we have a 18 month old that won't sleep through at the moment (she's been ill too) so I haven't had an unbroken nights sleep for at least a couple of months. I also feel that a couple of decent nights and I'll be getting back on track but it just isn't happening right now so I've just got to get on with it.
Almost dreading Christmas as we'll be doing the rounds of the grandparents (Essex and Oxford) so four nights of rubbish sleep in uncomfortable beds with undoubtedly some interruptions from the kids. Bad enough if I'm fighting fit.
Hi CD,
I don't think you can discount 6 weeks of bronchitis as being insignificant, completely knackering I'd say! Keep avoiding the box though
I've just failed to eat my dinner, blandomatic curry. Had half a bagel around 5 and felt sick, just managed about 5 forkfuls of curry before having to call it quits. I'm wondering if I should get something like Complan to supplement my meagre calorie intake in hopefully a way I can tolerate. I think it's mainly the flueyness at the moment that's making me feel sick, that's not very helpful though.
Right I'm off to bed, hurray!
Cheers,
Rob
I don't think you can discount 6 weeks of bronchitis as being insignificant, completely knackering I'd say! Keep avoiding the box though
I've just failed to eat my dinner, blandomatic curry. Had half a bagel around 5 and felt sick, just managed about 5 forkfuls of curry before having to call it quits. I'm wondering if I should get something like Complan to supplement my meagre calorie intake in hopefully a way I can tolerate. I think it's mainly the flueyness at the moment that's making me feel sick, that's not very helpful though.
Right I'm off to bed, hurray!
Cheers,
Rob
To me (I am not a doctor), it sounds like you could do with tackling your anxiety as well as going to the GP regarding sleeping pills. That might mean speaking to the doc about treatments such as CBT or mindfulness based therapies.
From personal experience a few lifestyle changes may assist in taking the edge off. They aren't cures by a long stretch, but for example you could consider
Cutting down/out alcohol, caffeine and sugar
High dose Vit D3 and omega oil supplementation (I've personally also found vit D3 good for helping to throw off illness as well)
Regular exercise
Exposure to daylight early in the day
Meditation/mindfulness is something that has helped me massively and I cannot recommend it enough. Of course, people are different, but please consider giving it a try.
From personal experience a few lifestyle changes may assist in taking the edge off. They aren't cures by a long stretch, but for example you could consider
Cutting down/out alcohol, caffeine and sugar
High dose Vit D3 and omega oil supplementation (I've personally also found vit D3 good for helping to throw off illness as well)
Regular exercise
Exposure to daylight early in the day
Meditation/mindfulness is something that has helped me massively and I cannot recommend it enough. Of course, people are different, but please consider giving it a try.
Hi,
Thanks for your thoughts, they're all appreciated. I should've said that I've been seeing a counsellor since October which has been a fairly gruelling but very helpful process as it appears I'm a bit messed up for at least 35 of my 42 years+. The cause of my anxiety this year has very much been resolved though and I don't feel anxious at all now, I'm just suffering physically from the fall out of it I guess.
I've been teetotal for 22 years but a few weeks back I decided to say "**** it" and had a couple of glasses of wine with MsGrr to go with some nice baked Camembert. I figured that the issues I had with drink when I was twenty are well and truly past me now.
I don't drink tea or coffee unless there's really no alternative, stick with the hippy teas instead.
I had been exercising, running three times a week and doing weights on other days but since September this has dropped off as I've been devoting more time to help MsGrr with the childcare business but I've just not physically been up for anything these last six weeks.
I've definitely suffered from SAD in the past so I'm aware of the feeling but I don't think I'm suffering currently. I would like to spend a bit more time outdoors but having a geek job isn't conducive to that. We've got a holiday booked for the end of Feb though to catch some winter sun hopefully, really looking forward to that. I've been meaning to get some more vit D for a while and I just ran out of fish oil capsules this week.
I've been doing (or attempting) meditation for a few weeks now and have had some alternative therapies because I figured why not. So overall I think from an emotional well being point of view I've got things as under control as they can be.
I saw my Doctor this morning. She prescribed me some more Zopiclone to use as I saw fit and I'm having some blood taken on Friday just to rule out any physical causes. I did feel like I turned a bit of a corner last night though. I'd been in bed doing the evening reading with the lad around 8 and feeling really out of it then around 9 I just seemed to wake up and was happy enough to get the washing up done and what not. I didn't sleep that well though, fairly light dozing on and off so I'm currently feeling a little out of sorts again but I'm not huddled under a duvet on the sofa like yesterday.
Cheers,
Rob
Thanks for your thoughts, they're all appreciated. I should've said that I've been seeing a counsellor since October which has been a fairly gruelling but very helpful process as it appears I'm a bit messed up for at least 35 of my 42 years+. The cause of my anxiety this year has very much been resolved though and I don't feel anxious at all now, I'm just suffering physically from the fall out of it I guess.
I've been teetotal for 22 years but a few weeks back I decided to say "**** it" and had a couple of glasses of wine with MsGrr to go with some nice baked Camembert. I figured that the issues I had with drink when I was twenty are well and truly past me now.
I don't drink tea or coffee unless there's really no alternative, stick with the hippy teas instead.
I had been exercising, running three times a week and doing weights on other days but since September this has dropped off as I've been devoting more time to help MsGrr with the childcare business but I've just not physically been up for anything these last six weeks.
I've definitely suffered from SAD in the past so I'm aware of the feeling but I don't think I'm suffering currently. I would like to spend a bit more time outdoors but having a geek job isn't conducive to that. We've got a holiday booked for the end of Feb though to catch some winter sun hopefully, really looking forward to that. I've been meaning to get some more vit D for a while and I just ran out of fish oil capsules this week.
I've been doing (or attempting) meditation for a few weeks now and have had some alternative therapies because I figured why not. So overall I think from an emotional well being point of view I've got things as under control as they can be.
I saw my Doctor this morning. She prescribed me some more Zopiclone to use as I saw fit and I'm having some blood taken on Friday just to rule out any physical causes. I did feel like I turned a bit of a corner last night though. I'd been in bed doing the evening reading with the lad around 8 and feeling really out of it then around 9 I just seemed to wake up and was happy enough to get the washing up done and what not. I didn't sleep that well though, fairly light dozing on and off so I'm currently feeling a little out of sorts again but I'm not huddled under a duvet on the sofa like yesterday.
Cheers,
Rob
Back to the doctors this morning. Now got some Erythromycin as I have a chest infection, not really surprising. I did actually have a semi-reasonable night last night but overall I still feel like I've coughed both lungs out a good couple of dozen times, just today - hurray!
Cheers,
Rob
Cheers,
Rob
From my own experience, you may need to just let the illnesses run their course, giving yourself everything you can to assist healing. It's important to get enough restful sleep as part of that, I feel.
If you have spent months in a state of high stress you will have had chronically high cortisol, in all likelihood, which can wreak havoc with the immune system. In that sense you could consider it a natural consequence and be kind to yourself as you recuperate.
If you have spent months in a state of high stress you will have had chronically high cortisol, in all likelihood, which can wreak havoc with the immune system. In that sense you could consider it a natural consequence and be kind to yourself as you recuperate.
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