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As we said in part 1, being stressful with disease is fine, however you need to make sure that your stress is not out of control. In order to control your stress, you need to know your personal stress threshold – the point when stress has become limiting verses motivating and to know your personal warnings signs for stress overload.
Warning signs when your stress level is out of control:
There are four general classifications of symptoms for stress overload; physical, behavioral, cognitive and emotional. The following list shows many of the common symptoms of stress overload but not all of them. The symptoms listed below are good guide for you to find out if your stress is out of control, however it is not equivalent to a professional diagnosis.
| Cognitive Symptoms· Inability to concentrate· Memory problems· Poor judgment
· Seeing only the negative · Anxious or racing thoughts · Constant worrying Physical Symptoms · Aches and pains · Diarrhea or constipation · Nausea, dizziness · Chest pain, rapid heartbeat · Loss of sex drive · Frequent colds |
Emotional Symptoms· Moodiness· Irritability or short temper· Agitation, inability to relax
· Feeling overwhelmed · Sense of loneliness and isolation · General unhappiness Behavioral Symptoms · Eating more or less · Sleeping too much or too little · Isolating yourself from others · Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities · Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax · Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing) |
Generally, the more symptoms you have, the higher possibility that you are overly stressed. Keep in mind, having these symptoms does not exactly mean that your stress is out of control because some of the symptoms can also be caused by other physical problems. For example, if you have breast cancer, it is highly possible that you have symptoms like pains, nausea, dizziness or loss of appetite. The symptoms mentioned above are just guide for you to figure out whether you are too stressed and whether you should take actions to regulate your stress. If you only see the negative side of your disease and constantly worry about your disease, you may be overly stressed, and you may take actions like use CBD to regulate your anxiety.
Generally speaking, if you have more than five symptoms above, it is highly possible that you are overly stressed. Be familiar with your health condition, pay attention on the symptoms you have that are not caused by your physical problem. If you are not sure whether you are overly stressed, go talk with your doctor about the symptoms you have and find out your point of stress overload.
Sources
Jemmott, J. B., et al. (1983). Academic stress, power motivation, and decrease in secretion rate of salivary secretory immunoglobin A. Lancet, 1, 1400–1402.
Jeffrey S, Nevid & Spencer A. Rathus (2013). Psychology and the Challenges of Life: Adjustment and Growth (12th edition). 111-113
Melinda Smith, Robert Segal, and Jeanne Segal. Stress Symptoms, Signs, and Causes. The Effects of Stress Overload and What You Can Do About It, Helpguide,org, 2014, Web. 11 February 2015.
Part 1: http://ubcf.info/stress-management-breast-cancer-part-1/
Part 3:http://ubcf.info/stress-management-breast-cancer-part-3/
