How has stress affected your health?

[ToLiveInPeace]

Tl

Would you share with me all the ways, harmless or otherwise, that stress has made your body go haywire - and the outcome, please. (And what helped/helps?)

Sleep, I either can’t sleep or sleep at the wrong times or too much.

Over eat, I pile on the flab.

Mood, I get withdrawn almost non verbal for long periods of time.

Stomach in knots.

What helps.. Spotify and earphones. I walk and listen to my favourite music endlessly.
Box sets are a distraction.
Friends, I mean good and trusted friends, they help.

Pretty much the same as @crosser62 for the effects. I listen to music and watch TV too and play around on the Internet to try to feel better. I just retreat into my own fantasy world basically. I don't have any friends.

Stress causes me to have tight back, shoulder and neck muscles. Yoga and pilates help.

Night sweats, neck pain, teeth grinding and dry scalp, randomly.

My hair started turning grey within 3 months of extreme stress situation. Stayed grey for the year long stress situation. When life started to get less stressful, hair actually stopped getting so drastically, and somehow reversed greying effects. I still have some grey hairs at 35, but nowhere near the extremes it got to through the horrible stress years.

Hair loss, irritability at pretty much everything, wired all the time. Tipping point for me was heart rate, even when resting, hitting 135 (going up to 160+ at peak times).

Signed off with stress. Took a good 6 months to feel 'normal'. Didn't go back to that job....

IBS, depression and nervous break down...Buscopan, Prozac and moving jobs

I get stomach issues and intrusive thoughts.

Listening to music while cooking helps me. Also having something practical to do and complete like, sewing a cushion cover, painting a door or reorganizing a cupboard.

Accupuncture has also been something that really helps lift my mood.

I get a throat infection, really sore swollen glands and usually end up with a feeling of having a lump in my throat. It can last weeks depending on how anxious I let myself get over it.
I also get the calcium stuff at the back of the throat to go with it and it makes my breath stink

When I'm stressed I get awful spots and dry skin.

I either pile on the pounds through comfort eating or lose drastic amounts of weight through not eating at all. I also retain lots of water and get very puffy eyes /hands/feet.

I get horrendous periods (I'm on hormonal contraception so typically don't get periods at all. I know I'm very stressed when I start cramping and bleeding and crying all the time)

My sleep tends to be up the wall, not enough of it and broken/at the wrong times.

I get thundering migraines that make me feel weak and exhausted for days.

I get very badly bloated and get very loose bowels (sorry about tmi)

My memory is affected too and I struggle to move information from my short term to my long term memory. I also struggle to remember clearly very stressful times from the past.

I'm very stressed at the moment and have experienced all of these in the last five days. I wish I could just sleep for a week

Oh dear thinking about it I’ve had awful things caused by stress.
Phobia of eating in public
Anorexia
Agoraphobia
IBS
Insomnia
Sciatic pain
All sorts really. What helps me is CBT, sertraline and exercise

Doubled over with stomach cramps, nausea, sweating, fainting/dizzy spells, lack of sleep or should I say ZERO sleep. Grinding teeth....

Had a fainting episode today while with two guys on site! 🤦🏻‍♀️ they didn't know what to do.

What helps for me (other than eliminating the root causes which is the only true remedy), is hot showers (I've been having two a day the last week), reading something light and easy and catching up with my friends to vent

I suffer with TMJ syndrome and angioedema through stress. Has been really debilitating over the years, nausea is pretty much constant from anxiety. Angioedema caused my lips, eyes and throat to swell. Only relief I’ve had from tmj was the four years I was on amitriptyline.

Stress with the neighbours gave me high blood pressure. I could feel it was up as it felt like a fist pushing hard into my chest. Also made me breathless. As it was so high I had to go onto tablets.
Unable to sleep, listening to music in bed can help.
Skin on my bum and thighs breaks out in eczema.

Meningitis brought on by immense stress, which had the knock on effect of hypothyroidism. Still recovering 18 months later.

I now jog with the dogs, and shut the world out when I feel stressed because I'm scared it'll kill me.

If I'm stressed I get anxiety symptoms these days - difficulty breathing, insomnia, inability to eat.

I also have IBS .

What helps - yoga, meditation, running/cycling, music and getting out and seeing friends.

Hair loss
Gastric issues/ acid reflux
Massive bleed from the bowel after doubled over stomach pain that splattered the toilet and bled all day which I suspect was a stomach ulcer now.
Anxiety which is controlled by meds
Special headaches that start in the neck and leave me crippled. Husband massages the knots out of shoulders which gets rid of them.
Dizzy spells and teeth grinding at night.

I take beta blockers, exercise, mostly eat well and limit alcohol/don't smoke. Take buscipan, lots of immodium and reflux meds.

Unfortunately if you can't remove the stress then you have to find a way of managing it. Good friends, don't hole yourself up. Friends are much money receptive to you needing a damned good laugh rather than offloading. Laughter really lifts you up.

Shoulder & back pain from tensing, teeth grinding, constipation & other digestive issues (acid reflux, bloating etc), heavier & more painful periods (have had period a come a week early when under extreme stress, i’m normally very regular), sore throat & swollen glands (always wonder how stress causes this?) & sometimes really bad migraines.

What helps me is Pilates, going for a good walk, distracting/time out with an easy read or a light hearted boxset on Netlfix, talking to a close friend & getting things off my chest.

IBS, chest pain, nausea, waking in the night. I need a new job. 😞 Hope you're ok OP.

It's stops me sleeping
I get shingles /cold sores
Weird back stabbing pain too

At my worst (when with narc exh) backache, migraines, neurological abnormalities, shingles, dizziness, insomnia, hair loss, stomach cramps, thoughts of suicide.

Chest pain
Blood pressure spikes
Laryngospasm( very scary)
Breathless
Dizzy
Gas in stomach chest
Pins and needles in arms
Migraine aura

Once I ended my marriage all my symptoms went. I occasionally get migraine these days.