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2035 W. Houston Street, Suite A | Broken Arrow, OK 74012
intake@legacycounselingservices.com | (918) 505-4367

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  • Home
  • Therapists
    • Bonnie Lee, LPC
    • Patti Trammell, LCSW
    • Claudia Becerra, LPC
    • Sandy Stone, LPC
    • Mark Fry, LPC
    • Ted Robinson, LPC
    • Dr. Melissa Leedy, Ph.D
  • Services
    • Mental Health Therapy
      • Relationship counseling
        • Couples Counseling
        • Pre-Marital Counseling
      • Workshops/Groups Tulsa
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        • Tulsa Anxiety Counseling for Teens
        • Tulsa Counseling for Bullied Teens
        • Tulsa Counseling for Depressed Teens
      • Individual Counseling
        • Tulsa Counseling for Adult Anxiety and Worry
        • Tulsa Counseling for Adult Depression
        • Tulsa Counseling for Chronic Illness, Chronic Disease, and Injury
        • Tulsa Counseling for Chronic Pain
        • Tulsa Counseling for Depressed, Anxious, or Stressed Women
        • Tulsa Counseling for Insomnia
        • Grief & Bereavement Counseling
        • Counseling for Trauma
        • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
        • Counseling for Anxiety
        • Therapy for Depression
        • Emergency and Crisis Management Referrals
      • Men’s Issues
    • Executive Coaching and Public Speaking
    • Continuing Education Seminars
      • Therapist Continuing Education Trainings
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(918) 505-4367

intake@legacycounselingservices.com

CORE VALUES: Excellence | Integrity | Authenticity | Personal Growth

What you Didn’t Know About Stress and Chronic Pain

February 23, 2016 by Melissa Leedy

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Throughout the month of February, I’ve been writing about chronic pain. Today I’m going to give you the skinny on how bad stress affects chronic pain.

Let’s start with what stress is. We all have stress. If you are a living, breathing, human being you have some degree of stress in your life. Some stress is good. Maybe it’s even exciting stress, such as when you are buying a new home, starting a new job that you wanted, or planning a party. We call this eustress. But then there is the bad stress that we usually think about. The bad stress is called distress and happens when our ability to cope with a situation is floundering and we begin to feel overwhelmed. Our resources for coping are maxed out! Distress might be when we have chronic health problems that we can’t find answers to, when we have significant financial debts, when your car breaks down all the time, constantly fighting with your family, or when you are constantly under the gun at work.fjhdk

Stress produces normal bodily responses that are usually helpful for us: increased heart rate, faster breathing, tensing muscles, increased alertness, etc… However, when we are experiencing the bad stress (or distress) a lot, then these normal bodily reactions go into overdrive and start causing problems in our body. One way to think about this is if you drove your car at its max speed for hours on end. After a while your car probably wouldn’t be running right and you’d eventually run out of gas. The same thing happens to our body, essentially.

For the person who doesn’t have chronic pain, dealing with constant stress is going to take a toll on your body (we’ll talk about this in the coming months), but for the person with chronic pain stress is a major player in increasing pain. Here’s some things you might not have know about stress and pain:
fdhjflkjdlkPain leads to stress. Having a major health condition, such as chronic pain, limits your ability and enjoyment of life. You attend frequent medical appointments, have multiple medications to take with multiple side effects, and might be always on the lookout for answers, healing, or support. Just the act of constantly searching can be stressful. You don’t sleep well, may not have good support, and may have financial problems due to having to work less. Almost every aspect of your life is impacted and unless you’ve developed good coping skills that you practice regularly then your chronic pain is a major source of stress for you.

Stress leads to pain. Stress is related to how you believe you cope with things. If you believe you aren’t coping well then you might fall into depression, anxiety, isolation, poor sleep…all things that we know of that open the pain gate (see my previous blog http://legacycounselingservice.com/how-a-psychologist-views-chronic-pain/) and increase a person’s experience of pain. Then there is the straight physiological aspects of stress…. increases in hormones, such as cortisol, that lead to chronic inflammation which can lead to chronic pain. All in all, bad stress is just not a good thing.

So what do you do? Try to work on incorporating 3 or 4 practices into your daily life to help you manage stress. Some things to consider are exercising regularly, playing with your kids or doing other fun activities, getting adequate sleep, talking with supportive friends or family, praying, doing deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation, keeping your thoughts realistic and focusing on the positive things in life.fldhjflkdjfldj

If you find that you are struggling with chronic stress, chronic pain, or both, give me a call and we can talk about whether counseling would be helpful for you. You can reach me at 539-777-1129 or via secure email at Dr.Leedy@legacycounselingservice.com

Filed Under: Anxiety, Chronic Illness/Disability, Chronic Pain, stress

2035 W. Houston Street, Suite A
Broken Arrow, OK 74012

(918) 505-4367
intake@legacycounselingservices.com

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