Mastering Stress: A Personal Journey to Mental and Physical Wellness

I've learned during my journey with NMO that stress can cause a lot of negative reactions in my body. This can have an impact on mental health, but also result in physical side effects. When my mind is constantly in a state of panic, I find myself unable to relax and have much needed downtime.

I was a chronic stresser. I had a tough two years right before my first NMO attack, and I believe that played a crucial part of the reason I have this illness. There are a lot of ways I work to control my mind, in order to keep NMO symptoms at bay and keep myself as healthy as possible.

What is causing me to feel this way?

First, you need to acknowledge what your triggers are. Ask yourself: What causes you to flare up? Are you in a negative environment and you don’t even realise it? Are you surrounding yourself with toxic people and relationships?

To stop from living in a state of panic and stress, you need to figure out what is actually causing you to feel this way. That is the only way you will be able to fix the problem. If you cannot figure it out yourself, you can always ask for help! Whether it is a doctor, psychologist or a friend. You are not alone in this.

My personal triggers

Now, if you’re still struggling to find your triggers, write down situations where you’ve found yourself stressed, or have found yourself flaring up with your symptoms. For example, if I get really itchy (neuropathic itch), I know I’m in a state where I’m so stressed that my body cannot handle it. Then I know to back down and try to relax, before it gets any worse.

I’ll give you another example. During exam season I find myself at my worst state possible. I’m itchy, my nerve pain is at its worst and I have horrible brain fog. And I know why: because I’m constantly stressing and barely sleeping.

If this sounds familiar, you cannot continue to live like this forever. We should take care of our mental health as well as our physical health, they are both so important.

What has helped me?

Antidepressants

They’ve calmed me down to an extent, where I have control of my mind and can stop myself from overthinking to the point I flare up. Not always though. When I can’t help myself enough, I have people around me that can reassure me with factual information instead of my mind making things up and stressing me out more.

Always consult with your doctors if considering starting an antidepressant, to find out what will be best for you.

The internet

The internet can be an awful place sometimes, where you search symptoms and it diagnoses you with something completely unrelated to what you actually have. However, saying that, it is still a very helpful tool to find things that work for you. By reading people’s experiences and remedies, you can really change the way you deal with stress. Don't trust everything you read on the internet, but it can be a piece of the puzzle.

People around you

It is crucial you are surrounded by people that genuinely care about you and calm you down. Get rid of those toxic relationships that keep you from getting better mentally. This is easy to say, but hard to do. But one must do this in order to live a calm and comfortable life.

Focus on yourself

The most important person in your life should be YOURSELF. We don’t realise that until it’s too late. Looking out for others all the time does not benefit us, if we don't leave room to check on our own wellbeing. The only person that invests in YOU is YOU. And you should make the most of it before it’s too late. We only have one life and we should live it for ourselves.

You are not alone

There are so many ways for us to live a happy lifestyle without being miserable, it’s hard but it’s worth it at the end. Please, if you ever feel alone, someone is out there that cares about you. Do not go through any troubles alone.