Re: Reflections on Degenerative Illness

Unfortunately, to the readers out there, all my symptoms have become 5x times as severe. This proves it is degenerative.

Degenerative means either tending to get worse or just getting worse. So the latter definition is matched, but "tending to get worse" doesn't necessarily apply.

I believe my illness is (primarily) stress caused, too. The progression from well to ill and back to where I am now has not been steady. I get worse, I get better, it comes and goes. The long term trend has been an arc from slowly getting ill to — thankfully — slowly getting better. I would be careful about mistaking a downward period as indicating "a tendency to get worse".

The mind makes the body ill...The body makes the mind ill...

It makes perfect sense.

If you think stress is one of the primary factors in your illness... Understand that external stressors are one part of the equation. Internal sensitivity is another. The distinction has helped me.

Supporting your stress system with diet, exercise, and supplementation is very helpful. Here's what's working for me: Small meals (easy to ignore this suggestion, but big meals really cause problems), snacking, no Sugar spiking, no stimulants or drugs (caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, cannabis). Per meal: 1g vitamin C, 1 enzyme capsule, 25mg zinc, 1g taurine, 1g calcium, 500mg magnesium. Daily: 1g pantothenic acid (B5), 50mg manganese, 1 capsule stress formula B complex (Dr. Wilson has published an optimal B vitamins ratios list that may be of use). Ideally, these nutrients should be gotten from food, but it might be very difficult getting the quantities needed.

Also, frequent hydration, even if you're seemingly peeing it right back out. Mix in a little salt to help your system hold on to it and to push your sodium:potassium ratio in the right direction.

Light daily exercise helps. Try walking for half an hour — it'll get you exercise and it does double-duty, providing a kind of psychological therapy.

Meditation and relaxation. Meditation provides you time to relax an anxious mind, and such relaxed time is itself very valuable, but it also calms the sympathetic nervous system in the long term. One particular way that it does so, and this is really an amazing and powerful thing, is that it helps you to disengage your stress/anxiety reflex. It trains up an ability to give yourself a mindful moment before your brain kicks in grief or fear, before your brain slams your stress system into action. This way you can look at things intellectually, logically, dispassionately. You can engage your intentional self-reprogramming. "When Mike says that sort of thing, he's just being emotional and lashing out, he doesn't really mean me harm." "It's okay to accept the criticism, it doesn't really challenge my value as a human being." "There isn't any need to be frustrated at the lack of progress in our relationship, there's still hope for change. I just need to remember this each setback."

Also, regular, restful sleep. Get to bed at the same time each night. Make a routine of it. Take this idea seriously. We far too easily discount the value of sleep, including the value of a regular bedtime. Far too easily. I find that when I get to sleep at the same time for an extended period my ability to articulate (in thought and words) and my memory both start improving dramatically.

Find someone to hug if you can. Oxytocin is a huge stress reliever. Relationships can be challenging, so getting this might be hard. If you can't find a human, find a dog.