# Stress levels off the charts



## 18680 (Oct 7, 2005)

Hello. I've not posted on this particular category before. For one, I don't like to talk about my anxiety, depression and stress problems. In my world, that has always meant weakness and has made me "different" in my family and community. However, the time has come that I need some help. I'm 44 years old. I've had serious bouts of hives, acid reflux, high blood pressure that led to heart failure, yada, yada, yada. The other night I was driving home and a crown fell off my tooth. Well, okay, I had to go around looking like a big idiot without a tooth in the front of my head for a morning, but I'm thinking "Big deal, this probably happens a lot." When I got to the dentist and handed her the plastic bag with my fake tooth in it, she looked at me quite strangely. "Have you been in an accident?" No. "Have you been hit or struck in the mouth?" No. Come to find out, the remaining tooth structure had been broken off. Not just broken, mind you, but apparently I've been grinding my jaws together so hard from stress that I snapped my tooth off at the root. She said it wouldn't have made any difference if it were a real or fake tooth because once she looked in my mouth, she said the damage is extensive. Apparently, I even chipped the porcelain off the crown. She said the same thing the cardiologist and gastroenterologist said. "You have to stop being so stressed." Well, don't they realize that if I knew how to be any other way than how I am that I would be? I don't know how to not be anxiety-ridden. I don't know how not to be stressed. Can anyone give any insights into this? Thanks. Mrs. P


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## Tiss (Aug 22, 2000)

Mrs. P, Sorry to hear you are so anxious so I guess I have to say "join the club". I've been anxious from birth which I believe is, for some of us, inherited and hard wired into our brains. Then, add to that the various traumas in life and voila, you get a person that is struggling daily with anxiety and stress. I am almost 50 and can not remember a time in my life when I was not worried or anxious about something. Then, when I was a teen I had a terrible trauma and it got worse. I was diagnosed with TMJ at age 20---had terrible jaw pain and was grinding my teeth so badly that I was grinding them down. I've worn a splint at night for 30 years which has been a Godsend. But, I also take antianxiety medication and antidepressants. I've been an exerciser all my life, eaten right, etc. yet nothing really eliminates the anxiety really effectively. It can be so debilitating. I wish someone would come up with a magic pill that could help those of us with truly debilitating anxiety and abnormal reactions to stress. I feel like my adrenaline is in constant overdrive--not very comfortable way to live. Therapy helps, medication helps. Do what you have to do. It is NOT helpful for friends, family or professionals to tell us to "stop being anxious". Hello?? If that worked we wouldn't even need a forum like this! Good luck. I'm sorry you feel so lousy. Some days are better than others.


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## 20250 (Jul 14, 2005)

Hello Mrs P. Sounds like you're having a rough time. The last I read from you, you got the new job and was happy to be making the move. Did you start that job yet and do you like it there if you did? It's sucks to live everyday filled with anxiety, stress, and everything else and I'm sorry for you and by asking for input hopefully someone here can say or do something to help you.I started dealing with my anxiety, depression, and stress right here in this forum. For me it was dealing with past hurt and situations that effected my life and the day I wrote about it and got so many positive responses from you guys, I could feel the anxiety, really, the fear begin to fade away. I have been slowly facing my past fears day by day.Are you on any anxiety meds. Xanax helped me alot to begin to face reality, and now I don't really think I need to take them anymore. Another idea that may help is to right down everything in your life that may be causing the stress and anxiety, and what changes need to made... Are you happy with your Job, Husband, a certain friend or person in your life.. Maybe something from your past is eating you up inside like in my case? I had to do a lot of soul searching to figure out what IT was that had my head so messed up and decided it was time to face my demons so I could have my life back.I hope something I said helped you, and if you ever need to talk you can E mail me anytime. You may want to look at mike's hypno tapes site, as they can help with stress and anxiety and IBS at the same time. If you need anything, just Holler...Loud, cause I'm way over here in Jersey. Take care,Brett


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## 20358 (Nov 14, 2005)

Sorry to hear your being plagued by the anxiety. I know what you're going through. I was always told to meditate. Yeah right! IF I could clear my mind well enough to meditate, I wouldn't be anxious. But I have found the right medication's and the right dosage and found some really good books on the subject. One thing that has really helped me is to allow your body to feel the anxiety and tell yourself it's okay to feel anxious. It takes practice but it helps. You are actually feeding the anxiety by fighting it. It encourages the fight or flight response. Like a bad dream, you need to look anxiety in it's face and not be afraid of it. Just a suggestion. I hope you feel better soon.


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## 18680 (Oct 7, 2005)

Hi guys. Thanks for the input. My tooth is out again and I'm refusing to leave the house until I can see the dentist again. Since closing my own paper, I've been thinking a lot about all this stuff. I'm supposed to start the new job in March. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I'll do it. I'm having thoughts about maybe getting out of journalism. I'm really sick of small town politics and the hoo-doo that goes on with that. I'm thinking of looking into something else. You're right, Brett. I have some pretty serious issues in my past. Since I've been doing all this thinking, I can almost pinpoint the time in my life when everything went wrong and has been slightly "off" ever since. There's nothing I can do to change it, but I've decided that I can probably do something to help young girls protect themselves against it. I'm dealing. That's the best I can do right now. I asked my husband if he would go with me should I ask my priest for a counseling session. He agreed to go. I have a good husband. We're happy, but he has his own issues right now, too. The doc gave me Zoloft one time. It turned me into a crazy person (I guess I should say crazier than usual.) I was actually kind of dangerous. I have to go back soon and get my blood pressure and heart prescriptions refilled. I think I'll ask if he has anything else that's not so ... altering. Thank you all so much. Your support helps.


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

mrs. publisherYou are doing the right thing and the first step is recognizing the problem, then deciding to do something about it. I will be very honest by saying its the "doing something about it" though, which is the most important.The bodies HPA Axis is the "stress system."The problem is stress and anxiety. These things effect IBS as well and there is actually a lot about it and IBS, but stress and anxiety are different and learning about them is VERY important for a person to first understand the problem and then how to treat it individually. IT can be treated effectively.There are meds that help and more importantly there are things you can do that can be very effective. But you have to do them, kindof like excersise.I have a ton of info on all this and would be glad to help. Stress vs. anxietyhttp://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002140.htmRelaxation Resistancehttp://www.ec-online.net/Knowledge/Article...tionresist.htmlWhat is the "fight or flight response?"http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/Educa...nter/fight.html"Introduction Stress is an adaptive response that is not unusual or unique to only certain individuals. In humans and animals, internal mechanisms have developed throughout evolution, which allow the individual to maximize their chances of survival when confronted with a stressor. A stressor in this context is any situation that represents an actual or perceived threat to the balance (homeostasis) of the organism. In a wide variety of real, life threatening situations -- such as an actual physical assault or a natural disaster -- stress induces a coordinated biological, behavioral, and psychological response. "http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/stress.htmlStress can wreak gastrointestinal havochttp://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/dfw/news/...dfw_news_to_use


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## 20250 (Jul 14, 2005)

If you have not tried xanax yet, It may help you take the edge off, just to get the ball rolling. I hear ya on the zoloft and other meds like it. I was thinking of asking my doc to put me on it and I'm so glad that I did not go that route. It's good that you want to face it and deal with it. Good luck with the counseling sessions and get better soon Please.Brett


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## 17176 (Mar 31, 2005)

sorry your feeling unwell mrs p..I feel councelling is the best thing ive ever done (apart from leaving adolph) i hope you get some benefit from it, im sure you will.. good luck xx


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

This is an excellent article from Time Magazine on anxiety.The Science of Anxietyhttp://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2...iety/story.html


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