"Stop stressing! That has to be what causes it" . For years I have heard that from friends and family, who really mean well. And for years I have said 'stress doesn't cause it'.
Christmas was a very busy time for me. We hosted a nice traditional dinner and everything just HAD to be perfect... you know?! After everything was over Christmas night, my pain came back. So, now I find myself reflecting on the events of that time and start wondering if stress could play a small part in the flare ups. Then again, I question everything when in pain... :)
Any thoughts on this?
I totally agree that stress can trigger mine. When I am sitting at work and getting aggrivated about something I have to stop and make myself relax because I can "feel" the pain coming on. Funny how we doubt ourselves. You are spot on though. It DOES happen.
The perfection those of us with TN have to go for is the perfection of keeping an even keel…in other words, of letting go of keeping “things” or getting this perfect. Stress fires up TN like crazy. Same for not enough sleep or rest. The bottom line is we need to be mindful of ourselves. This is not the same as being selfish. When we are mindful of ourselves we can be there for others. When we are not mindful and get in a bad flare we impact others.
Keep Heart
Bellalarke
Stress flares TN…TN flares stress!
Stress is absolutely a trigger for me. and the more i hurt, the more i stress...lol
For me, the pain comes after the stress; not during. So i can do/handle whatever the stressful thing is..but later, i'll get a horrendous flare of breakthrough pain. My day to day pain is usually handled well with my meds...it's breakthrough pain that gets me nowadays.
I, too, had some pain come with christmas..for the same reason. I wanted everything to be perfect and was moving and grovin' to make it happen. and BOOM...later the pain came. So i understand exactly where you are coming from.
~Wishing us all a stress free and pain free existence. (Hey! i said wishing.....)
Mistee
Ha, I hate when people tell me this. But I know it is partially true. I got a terrible TN flare up when I started student teaching and around my wedding (even though it was a tiny family affair). I hate to admit it, but I think it does play a role. I am not sure I would let on though ;).
Ugh, I hate this one. My mom is the worst about it. I try to get her to explain to me how to be totally stress free as a stay-at-home-homeschooling mom to 5, ages 1-12. My pain usually(but not always) hits when I finally do get to sit down and chill in the evenings. Maybe the stress of the day builds up the pain and it hits in the evening. I don't know. Typically during a remission period, I spend my evenings smelling non-existent cigarette smoke. My husband has told me that I have a monkey kicked back in a recliner smoking somewhere in my brain (But MRIs have failed to verify his theory!). I have now decided that when the pain hits in the evenings, the monkey is putting out his cigarettes out on my trigeminal nerve. It's either that or the stress. Doctors can't figure anything out, you guys know how that goes!!
There was a big discussion sometime last winter or spring about people smelling cigarette smoke or something like that when a flare is about to happen. Put that in the search bar if you’re interested to see you’re not the only one…MRI or no MRI finding-