Why Does Stress And Anxiety Cause Joint Pain
Life is full of stressful situations. You may feel stress over meeting a deadline, managing finances, or even something as simple as getting the kids out the door in the mornings .
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Seven out of ten adults in the United States say they experience stress or anxiety daily, and most say it interferes at least moderately with their lives.
Stress has become such a part of daily life that many people dont realize its a problem until symptoms become unbearable, and sometimes, irreversible.
How To Tell If Stress Is Causing Your Fever
A psychogenic fever exhibits many of the typical fever symptoms, such as:
- Body chills or aches
- Fatigue
In the case of acute stress, like if you suddenly receive bad news or experience the death of a loved one, you might feel these symptoms and recognize a psychogenic fever. But cases are rarely so clear cut. Thats especially true with chronic stress, like taking care of a loved one who is ill, which can build up over time and result in psychogenic fever symptoms.
To diagnose psychogenic fever, other physical causes of fever must be ruled out, Miller Parrish says. Its important to note that fever most commonly occurs with illness or injury. So, if youre also experiencing symptoms like nasal congestion or coughing with fever, its likely indicating an underlying cause for the fever other than stress, like the cold or flu.
If you experience fever regularly but cant easily identify the underlying cause like an illness or injury you should keep a fever journal, Miller Parrish says. Record what temperature youre experiencing, the symptoms you have, and how long the fever lasts. If the unexplained fever continues, you should see a doctor.
If that persists for days to weeks, it would be prudent to see a doctor to rule out causes that need medical treatment, Miller Parrish says. If those causes are ruled out or treated and the high temperatures persist, other psychological and de-stressing interventions may help.
How To Overcome Stress And Coffee Addiction
If you currently are a coffee addict, your goal is to slowly and progressively ween yourself off of it over the coming 4-8 weeks. Decaf is your friend! Then get yourself clean for at least 3-6 weeks. I have more details on how to do this in this article on coffee and fatigue.
Trust me when I tell you that its worth it your energy, mood, and performance will all increase after you go through this process as it is step one on the way to overcome stress.
Also Check: How To Tell If Your Stressed
Stress Causes Fatigue By Making You Depressed
One of the other big problems with chronic stress is that it can trigger depression. By disrupting your mood and making you depressed, it can sabotage your energy levels.
Mood and energy levels are very much intertwined. Think about it: How many times in your life can you remember feeling like you are bursting with energy but also feeling really sad? How many times can you remember feeling terribly depressed but feeling like your energy is amazing? Both of those scenarios are extraordinarily rare.
Usually, energy and mood work together in positive upward spirals or negative downward spirals. Better moods facilitate better energy, and better energy facilitates better moods. And vice versa.
So one of the big problems with chronic stress is that it wrecks your mood. And along with that, your energy. There are many ways that stress wrecks your mood:
- CRH and dynorphin both are implicated in causing depressive episodes. ,,
- Chronic HPA activation is also known to induce depression.
- Chronic stress can cause neurotransmitter resistance and imbalances in the brain , and those neurotransmitter effects are linked with depression. ,
- Chronic stress also decreases BDNF and impairs neurogenesis both of which are important in staving off depression.
- Chronic stress causes certain important energy-regulating areas of the brain to atrophy .
How To Prevent Allergy Fatigue
The best way to prevent allergy fatigue is to find an effective treatment option for your allergies. The first step in managing allergies and preventing symptoms like fatigue is to find out which specific allergens trigger your reactions. After this diagnosis, there are ways to minimize allergies and avoid fatigue. You can minimize allergy fatigue in several ways:
Also Check: How To Manage Anger And Stress
How Is Fibromyalgia Diagnosed
Because fibromyalgia is a cluster of different symptoms, it’s not always easy to diagnose.
There’s no specific test for fibromyalgia. So doctors might do tests to rule out other conditions or problems. For example, feeling very tired can be a sign of a thyroid problem. So a doctor may do thyroid tests. If the tests show a person’s thyroid is normal, the doctor will know something else is causing the problem.
A doctor will ask about a person’s medical history and symptoms, and do an exam. If there is no sign of other health problems, and the patient has had widespread pain for at least 3 months, doctors may decide it’s fibromyalgia.
Diagnosing fibromyalgia can take a while . That can get pretty frustrating. Don’t give up. You may need to find a doctor who has experience with the condition.
How To Minimize Muscle Aches Associated With Anxiety
- Anxiety can cause muscle aches and pains all throughout the body.
- We highlight 3 different issues from anxiety that could lead to muscle aches.
- Behavioral changes because of other anxiety symptoms can also lead to muscle aches.
- Muscle aches can be treated similar to how one would treat muscle aches from exercise or sleeping poorly.
- In the long term, it will be important to reduce anxiety to stop muscle aches from recurring.
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What Is The Best Remedy For Stress
There are a few herbal remedies that can be used to calm the symptoms of mild stress, anxiety and hyperactivity, the gentlest of which is Avena sativa. This is made from freshly harvested Avena sativa herb rather than oat grains which is used in food. This makes it naturally rich in B vitamins which, as Ive already discussed, are important when we are feeling stressed.
Why Does My Body Ache Causes & Treatment
Body aches are an uncomfortable but common symptom of a variety of medical ailments. If youre experiencing body aches, your muscles may feel weak, sore, tired, or hard to move.
For most, body aches are easily treatablea few days of rest and hydration can provide relief from any discomfort. For some, body aches, particularly those that last a long time, can indicate a serious underlying medical condition that may require treatment.
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The Connection Of The Mind And Body With Stress
You may be having regular headaches these days, and in recent times, your neck has also been feeling tight with severe pain, then it becomes necessary to visit the doctor.
However, did you know that it might happen that the doctor will not see anything physically wrong, and he might even ask, What is happening in your life these days? You can tell him that things are quite intense these days.
You are not just experiencing multiple deadlines at work, but you may also be having some volunteering activities and also taking care of your parents/kids, who are not well.
Then the doctor will indeed suggest you gently that the main reasons for severe headache and pain in the neck are the hectic schedule and feelings of depression related to your parents/kids well-being.
Also, based on the results of the multiple studies conducted in recent years, it is clear that depression, stress, panic attacks, anxiety and emotional events can cause some of the severe physical symptoms associated with stress.
Tip: There is a difference of effectiveness between Alpha-Stim and TENS for treating pain, anxiety, depression and insomnia.
Let find out what are the common physical symptoms associated with stress.
Try A Variety Of Relaxation Approaches
- Keep your focus here and now: Try to live through your senses, not just your head. The more mindful you are, the more this will help to reduce your cortisol levels.
- Take a break in nature: This can not only reduce your stress hormones, but also boosts natural killer cells that increase your immunity.
- Enjoy regular touch: Through hugs, making love or enjoying a massage. Enjoyable physical contact triggers the release of oxytocin, which has calming impacts.
Dont:
- Persist with meditation if its not working for you: Try visualization or listening to soothing music with your eyes closed. Chanting for just 12 minutes a day can also reduce stress levels and lower inflammation in people who are stressed.
- Slouch: Instead strike a power pose. Try the victory pose and the wonder woman pose . Research from Harvard University shows that these kinds of poses, drop your cortisol and raise your testosterone, so you feel more in control and more able to handle risks and tricky situations. Amy Cuddy, who is an expert in this area, gives a fantastic Ted talk about the impact of body language on hormones and emotional states.
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Psychological Stress Can Cause Back Pain
Though it might seem hard to believe, mental or emotional distress may be the reason you are experiencing back pain. In fact, there is a long list of physical symptoms that have been proven to be associated with stress and anxiety, including:
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Low libido
Stress itself is the bodys reaction to certain usually unpleasant situations or thoughts. You may not realize it, but when you are feeling stressed or anxious, there are chemical and physical reactions taking place in your body to try and protect you from harm. Cortisol and adrenaline are released, and there is typically an involuntary tightening of your muscles. This often occurs in the neck, shoulders, and down the spine. Prolonged tension in these areas can lead to back pain and, more specifically, lower back pain. You may have had a massage therapist tell you that you hold a lot of tension in your shoulders, and this phenomenon is what they are referencing.
Youre Using One Part Of Your Body Over And Over
When you repeatedly use just one part of your bodywhether while working out or typing at worka more focused body ache and concentrated pain can take the form of a repetitive motion injury. A common example? Carpal tunnel syndrome.
Doing the same motion repeatedly can cause muscles, ligaments, and tendons to become swollen and inflamed, which causes the ache. In addition to aches, you may notice a lack of strength and reduced range of motion in the affected area.
Ease the aches: Strengthening exercises through physical therapy, wearing braces to keep the area stable, and occupational therapy may be needed to get the body part functioning normally again.
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Address Root Causes Of Your Stress
- Seek counseling: if you need to help heal from unresolved trauma or need support for depression.
- Reduce lifes daily stressors: These can add up to big adrenal impacts if they continue day after day. That might mean you get up just 15 minutes earlier so you dont have to rush and have time for breakfast. Or it might mean that you try pull back your mortgage payments so you have more money to get through the week.
A while ago, a woman from our Hormones Balance community contacted me for help with stabilizing her hormones. When she wasnt improving we tried to identify hidden stresses that may be standing in the way of her hormonal balance. She identified that she was suffering stress every morning when she had to walk through an area where she didnt feel safe on her way to work. Once she took a different route, even though it took her a little longer, her stress levels significantly reduced and her hormonal health substantially improved. Its a potent reminder of just how much we are hardwired for survival and as a result, how big even seemingly small stressors can be.
- Address relationship problems and potential abuse: Make time for more intimacy and improved communication with your partner. If youre not in a good place together, read some self-help books together or attend couples counseling. I did a call about abusive relationships , watch it here.
Dont:
How To Stop Anxiety Muscle Aches
As soon as your muscles start to ache, treatment is not unlike muscle aches from exercise or injury. These aches are simply your muscle’s way of rebuilding themselves and ensuring they’re in the best of health. So if you want, you can treat these aches using many of the same tactics that you would use to treat any of those aches, such as:
- Hot shower
- Over the counter painkillers
- Stretching
Loosening up your muscles can be very effective at relieving some of the tension that you feel which in turn will decrease the aches that you experience. Some solutions that are specific to anxiety include:
- Massage It’s not clear exactly why massage also seems to help with anxiety, but it’s likely that the stress-release activity combined with the good feelings you get in your muscles after the massage is over has anxiety reduction benefits.
- Exercise Exercise may create muscle aches in some ways, but over time it will improve your muscle’s ability to respond to stress, and should decrease your anxiety as well. Exercise can be very effective for controlling muscle tension.
- Yoga Yoga is, of course, a form of exercise. But many people find that yoga seems to have its own benefits for anxiety symptoms, especially muscle tension. Yoga can help improve muscle movement and stretch them out to decrease future tension.
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Learn More With Overcoming Estrogen Dominance
The body has an amazing ability to heal. We just need to give it the right resources.
In Overcoming Estrogen Dominance, my goal is to empower and give you the tools to take control of your hormones and health.
More than 70% of women experience estrogen dominance. The symptoms range from lumpy and fibrocystic breasts to thyroid nodules, hot flashes, fibroids, uterine polyps, painful, heavy or irregular periods to infertility and miscarriages, from mood swings to insomnia, weight gain to fatigue.
So many women have experienced the pain and frustration that comes when they feel their symptoms and complaints are dismissed or minimized. This is particularly true for women who are experiencing the symptoms of hormone imbalance. Even when doctors do offer treatment, its typically in the form of prescription medication or invasive surgical procedures.
In Overcoming Estrogen Dominance, I hope to show that those extreme interventions are often unnecessary, and to give women a roadmap to reverse estrogen dominance using food, herbs, supplements and natural protocols to rebalance hormones.
To get your copy of Overcoming Estrogen Dominance, go here.
How Stress Affects Sleep
This infographic from Insider Living shows how stress affects sleep.
- 26% of women report trouble sleeping at least once a week compared to only 16% of men.
- 19% of individuals ages 25-64 admit to losing sleep due to stress a few nights per week.
- 54% say that stress or anxiety increased their anxiety about falling asleep at night.
- 52% of men and 42% of women reported that stress affected their ability to remain focused the next day.
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What Can I Do For My Lower Back Pain
The first step in getting relief from your back pain is to identify its cause. For instance, the treatment for trauma-induced back pain may be something for which you need professional help, while tension-induced pain may be able to be treated at home.
In general, over-the-counter medications, ice, and heat can provide significant relief from run-of-the-mill lower back pain. At the onset of your back pain, apply a cold compress for about 15 minutes, 3 4 times a day. After the first few days, use a heating pad instead. Warm showers or baths may also help loosen your muscles and relieve your pain. In some cases, massage therapy may help alleviate your symptoms. However, make sure that you seek treatment from a qualified, certified, and experienced professional, as improper techniques may result in a worsening of your pain.
For back pain that is caused by more serious conditions, including disk problems or osteoarthritis, professional intervention may be needed. In some cases, surgery may be recommended, but there are many instances when less invasive techniques can be equally or even more beneficial. Dr. Williams is proud to offer the breakthrough Regenexx family of procedures to his patients suffering from chronic pain and other problems. During your initial consultation, Dr. Williams will thoroughly evaluate your case, begin the process of diagnosing your condition, and explain how Regenexx treatment may benefit you.
See Rashes On Eyelids
If your musculoskeletal pain comes bundled with eyelid rashes, you could be in the grips of dermatomyositis. This is an autoimmune disease that causes general aching because it inflames the blood vessels beneath your skin. It can make it hard to swallow, and to stand up from a seated position. Common symptoms include fatigue and rashes. These can be red or purple, and they tend to itch. And they don’t just appear on eyelids dermatomyositis rashes may appear on cheeks, elbows, knees, knuckles, the back, or the upper chest.
Your doctor might prescribe medications like corticosteroids to control the symptoms. There are exercises that can be learned to keep your strength and flexibility up as well, and therapies to control the swallowing problems that can result from this disease. Purified blood products can be offered as injections, and these can stop the damage to your muscles and skin for a time. But they need to be administered regularly and they are expensive.
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