stress

[jane]

Does anyone feel that stress played a part in developing cancer? I endured a terribly stressful time 2 years before diagnosis. It was so bad I had the most awful palpitations. Being an ex nurse, I knew it wasn't symptoms of heart problems but looking back I wonder if I should have done something to lower my stress. I always wonder if I may not have developed cancer. There is no family history of cancer of any type in my family and they have all lived into their 90's.

[Pollyanna]

Yes, I've wondered about this myself. I grew up in a pretty volatile household, and spend most of my childhood walking on eggshells. So, not to play the blame game, but I started to wonder about all the roiling inside and if it had anything to do with my cancer.

I've always lived in fear of everything, but when I got my diagnosis, it strangely melted away. I guess the realization of one's mortality makes taking risks not so scary. And, if you can face cancer head-on, what could possibly come your way that's worse?

I've started to really examine how I get stressed, and how I tend to take on everyone's stress, and I've started to really let that go. And it feels pretty darn good. Living in a house with 2 teenagers, there's plenty of drama on a daily basis, but I've given them back ownership of their stress - it's really not my issue to deal with.

So is there a connection? I believe so. If you have all this emotional churning inside you, and it doesn't come out, it's got to manifest itself somehow, somewhere inside.

[bossan]

One of the biggest obstacles I've had since diagnosis is forgiving myself and accepting my fate. Stress, food, lifestyles have their tolls on us BUT do not forget is affects ALL OF US!!!

I once read that getting cancer is like when a hurricane hits a neighborhood and one house gets destroyed, one gets some damage, some none at all, why is that?

I say this with love on my heart.

[Maggie]

I feel that stress has a pretty big impact on your body. I don't know if I'd say that stress was the reason for my cancer, though I have to admit, since I was little, all my nerves and stress went to my bowels and stomach. I would most certainly say that stress helped me find my cancer. When I was diagnosed, it was my senior year in college and I had just came home from studying abroad in Germany and my credits hadn't transferred well from Germany so I was almost overloading on my credits. Also, I had spent all my money in Germany and I was working 30-40 hours a week working at a pharmacy. I was completely stressed out and that's immediately when I started bleeding badly and that's what prompted me to go to the doctor.
Maggie

[Hannah]

There are known hormonal changes in your body that are given off under stress - one that we all know about is adrenaline (epinephrine), which is actually a hormone that is excreted by your adrenal gland during certain types of stress.

When you think about it, there is so little that we really know about how our bodies work, and about cancer in general. All of that said, there has been NO evidence that adrenaline or any other "stress hormones" cause cancer. Hey, that's good news for those of us Type As out there, right?! I wish we had all of the answers, but we just don't.

Hannah

[jane]

Thank you for the replies. I know that the minute I get stressed, my stomach ties up in knots and I can't eat a thing. I lose weight really quickly. It would be interesting if some studies were done to see if there is a link with bowel cancer and stress but research funds can only go so far!

[Lifes2short]

I also had no family history. I have a good diet and I exercise frequently. I've always felt that stress played a part in my getting cancer - I'll certainly never know for sure. What we do know is that stress is bad for the immune system and cancer grows when the immune system malfunctions. So I do believe that there could be a relationship. I certainly try hard to manage my stress these days - not easy to do when trying to manage a terminal disease. But it is amazing how trivial those other things were that I used to worry about.

[LA8]

I concur with everyone - at about a year into a very stressful (money) situation, my symptoms started!

[scottg]

seems more studies on stress and colon cancer should be done.the stories are so similar to mine i cant help but think stress was a factor....same childhood and life-long anxiety and stress.

[Edward]

I know we tend to wonder about stress and the lack of cancer in family history. Here are two factors we often are looking at, but tend not see the big picture.

Diet - no matter what we seem to touch even if it is raw fruit or veggies, there may have been some preservative or chemical added to them. Wonder why bread stays for almost two weeks with out getting mold? Why do we buy bagged lettuce? Just a theory that a doctor told me is that in today's day and age we don't eat enough "live enzymes" which build up our immune systems.

Environement - This is a theory and maybe some agree. All the great stuff out there to make our lives better could actually be doing the opposite. Look at commercial farming and all the wonderful preservatives in food.

Again both of the above or only food for thought.

[Pollyanna]

What I do know is that my uncle is a farmer, and talking with him, he tells me the most money he spends on his farm is "product" (i.e. chemicals) to keep his soil fertilized. So, what 100 years ago was rich, loamy, nutrient-filled soil is now just virtually sand and a platform for mixing all this chemical hodge-podge to make the stuff grow in the "ground".

Ick. Makes me want to financially drive myself into the ground buying every organic product out there.

Although my husband has his own conspiracy theories about organic foods, after paying $6 for a gallon of milk...

[Edward]

Charlie Gibson of ABC News is doing a report all this week on organic foods. If you google ABC News it should get you to the report.