Most of us live with stress in our daily lives and most find ways to deal with it. Several factors could be adding to our stress in ways we are not aware of. We are all aware of the indicators of excessive stress:
Mental - irritable, anxious, depressed, hard to focus or memory unreliable.
Sleep - hard to fall asleep, restless sleep, vivid or stressful dreams, not rested in the morning.
Pain - Tight sore muscles especially neck, shoulders and back. Headaches, joint pain
Digestive upsets - gas, bloating, pain, irregularity even nausea or queasiness
Weight gain - or inability to lose weight
Anxiety and depression - You already know how this feels
Does it surprise you that all of these could be caused by a different type of stress? People who have problems with food allergies or sensitivities can experience all of these and more. Ask people if they have a food allergy and the first thing they think of is a skin rash. That can happen with certain type of allergies. Food reactions can happen hours or days after you eat it and can last for days. If you are eating something you are reactive to everyday you can experience a constant barrage of stressful and uncomfortable symptoms and not be able to identify the source.
It is often difficult to identify which food is a problem. If you are allergic it may show up in a blood test. If you are sensitive or intolerant a blood test may not help. These problems are often not identified and people can be on numerous medications without real relief.
Hidden infection. People think that a dose of antibiotic fixes all kinds of infections. It doesn’t touch viruses or fungus and bacteria can hide in places where an antibiotic can’t get to it. Fatigue is the most common symptom but over time it can drain your immune system to the point where you catch everything that comes around.
Adrenal Fatigue. When your adrenals are overworked the physical and emotional effects of stress can double or triple. The symptoms above can be the start of a cascade that leads to a host of chronic diseases including autoimmune.
So pay attention to your stress symptoms. You might not be able to blame it all on your job or family or circumstances. You might need some help.