Dear Mima37/Ju:

You are welcome.

“I was diagnosed with CFS/ME in 2016… I never feel relaxed, I always feel tense and worried.. my tests showed my cortisol was high.. I always feel tense and uptight” –

Cortisol is a hormone that causes an increase in the concentration of sugar (glucose) in the blood. This is how I understand stress, much simplified: there is acute, time-limited stress and there is chronic stress.

When a deer notices an approaching predator, its heart starts pumping blood fast so to provide the leg muscles sugar and oxygen for the purpose of running away fast. As the heart does that, and a fast running is anticipated,  the blood sugar depletes and is expected to deplete even more, so a hormone called cortisol is released to the blood. It travels to the muscles and breaks down protein in the muscles, converting them to sugar, so to get more sugar to the blood.

It is not a good thing for the deer to have some of its muscle broken down, but the logic of nature is: I’ll deal with less muscle later, for now I have a higher priority: I need more sugar because I have to run fast to save my life!

So the deer, energized with sugar and oxygen pumped to its legs, runs very fast. After a short while, when it perceives that it is safe, it is exhausted. It has no energy to eat or anything, so it lies down and rests, for a long time. During the long rest, its muscles rebuild. After the rest and restoration, it is as good as new.

Now, take this deer and place it in a small cage in a zoo. It is stuck, it perceives danger: how can it escape if a predator approaches; how can it look for food? (it doesn’t rely on being fed; it is not a domesticated); perceiving danger, its heart pumps blood to its legs, muscles break down, and this happens for a long time. The deer doesn’t get to run away, nor does it get to rest, so it stays cages, stressed and exhausted.

In other words, in an acute stress situation, the brain/ body attends to the immediate need of running away from danger/ flight (or fight a danger); some damage to the body is done, later (when the danger is over) to be corrected. In a chronic stress situation, the danger is not over, the body doesn’t get to run away from the danger, or fight the danger, and it doesn’t get to rest because .. the danger is still there.

The damage done to the body of an animal who prepares to run away or fight danger is not limited to breaking down of muscle protein, it includes a compromised immune system, a compromised cognition (ability to concentrate, to remember, etc.). But all the damage is supposed to be temporary and corrected once the animal is no longer in danger.

Unfortunately, when an animal, including a human, perceives danger but cannot run away from it or fight it, the damage done to the body in preparation to do the impossible (flight or fight), does not get corrected, health is not restored, and therefore damage can be permanent, such as ending up with chronic high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, neurological conditions and other illnesses and syndromes. And these illnesses and syndromes create even more stress!

I know that your doctors already guided you toward all the relaxation practices possible since you were diagnosed, and indeed you’ve been experiencing improvement in your stress responses. Better do more of what works, persistently and patiently.

anita

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by .