Just wondering how many of you feel physical pain due to stress. I certainly do. When I am stressed, my body aches. Especially my legs and my feet. A few years ago I had horrible constant pain in my left hip, it was when I had a very horrible job (and not just stressful, but like the owner was investigated for not paying overtime to his workers, and later after I had left they told my friend she couldn't have maternity leave - it made her go into labor 2 days later, one month early). Now, the hip pain is mostly gone but I still feel stress in my legs and my joints. My legs are currently aching so badly I feel like I can barely walk. Of course I can walk, but I am dragging.... I just wondered if others experience this, or anything like this? If so, what do you do that helps?

Namaste!
~Mal

Hi Mal

I have shoulder, neck, head and face pain as well as my left leg has been acting up lately. I know that this pain is emotional in nature and some of it is stress related. It seems to be how my body processes some of my "stuff".

What works for me is meditation. I meditate on the pain and observe it shifting. I tell myself I am open to any messages my body wishes to give me and that I am willing to service my own needs. So sometimes I get messages from the pain such as an image or a thought that suggests what the pain is about and what I need to do to relieve it. I act on that message. This has helped.

I believe the day I will be pain-free is the day that I have fully accepted who I am and honoured my needs and passions. It's a slow process for me.

Hope this helps a bit.

Trish

Stress can cause all kinds of problems including pain. It just manifests differently in different people. And we all know about tension headaches. I believe it is our bodys way of letting us know there is disharmony. I am a big believer in meditation, yoga, exercise, good nutrition, etc. HSPs , more than others need to really take care of themselves!!
Of course if you continue to have the leg pain, I would see a Dr. about it.. maybe stress has taken a toll and you developed fibromyalgia? Or there is another problem.

Katy

I have what I've always refered to as my temporary fibromyalgia pain. I've never been diagnosed with it but that's what I call it because it feels just like the description you read about and because it comes only in times of stress.

Hi Maliades,

It's been my own experience that stress can cause all kinds of pain. Back in 1999 I was in a car accident (minor one - was rear ended) but this led to all sorts of things - tennis elbow, neck problems etc. At the same time I was beginning to feel the first inklings of stress from being in both the wrong career (HR consulting) and a bad marriage. Fast forward a couple of years, and my arm and neck pain got so bad that I had to quit my job. I was told that I would never have full function in my arm again (it hurt even to change the radio station in my car), that I had full blown fibromyalgia, (I also heard chronic fatigue syndrome as a diagnosis) To make an incredibly looooooooooooooooooooooooong story short - the month I moved out of my house and separated from my husband at the time (July 2005), was the last time I had any kind of doctor bill or visit. In fact, this past summer was the first time I've visited a doctor in over five years - and I know that's "just" because of my bully boss!!

I'm happy to say that I've regained full function of my arm - and I've also learned to to listen to my body when it speaks - I know now that when my neck hurts or "goes out" that I am not really listening to my intuition. My current job is causing me an amazing amount of stress - and I remember that the night before I accepted it, I literally was lying on my floor in pain, unable to turn my head.

I have also worked through some of this pain with a hypnotherapist who utilizes "Holographic Memory Resolution" - it has been amazingly helpful in releasing some very negative patterns - more info can be found here if anyone is interested:

http://www.healingdimensions.com/HMRbody.htm

Whew! I've been a bit verbose..... I'm new here, so will try not to overstay my welcome!!

Your story is testimony to the deep connections between mind, stress and body. I'm glad you shared with us. It's good to hear you're feeling better.

Here is a brief physiological explanation of stress/pain connection:

'Stress causes a release of stress hormones. Stress hormones increase the perception of pain.
Stress hormones also cause the muscles to tighten up. The muscles may tense up so much they go into painful spasms. Back and neck muscles are particularly sensitive to the effects of stress.
Muscle tension reduces blood flow to the tissues (reduced oxygen and nutrients to the tissues). Reduced blood flow delays healing. Adequate circulation is also necessary to flush acidic waste products (byproducts of muscular activity) from the tissues. A build up of acidic waste products in the tissues can cause fatigue and pain.'
One stress hormone is Cortisol.

Thanks everyone for the comments! I know that the majority of my pain is from stress... I just don't know how to stop it, I get overwhelmed (especially at work) so easily.

Trish, I need to start meditating again... I am planning to set our 3rd bedroom up as a yoga/workout/meditation room. But I can go ahead and clear some stuff out of the way and start meditating now...so I will make that a priority for this week!

Katy, I've been to a specialist doctor but she never mentioned fibromyalgia as a diagnosis. It was odd, because of all the books I've read, my feeling is that my symptoms are closer to fibromyalgia than anything else. But like Rose, my symptoms seem to come and go. 'temporary fibromyalgia pain' seems fitting... the doctor did say I have the gene for spondyloarthritis, which doesn't mean I have that or I'll get it, but I have an indicator for it. Right after that blood test is when the horrible job fired me and so I had no health insurance, and stopped seeing the doctor. That is also when I started working on remodeling our house, a lot of hard physical work from morning til night, but like you SavorieGirl, my pain disappeared! I was amazed... but I knew it was because I was out of the horrid stressful job, and doing something I enjoyed (working on the house). I haven't seen a doctor or even taken any OTC meds since then - 2 years ago now. It's such a mystery! But if stress really plays such a big part in pain, as Poppy posted, then how to prevent/limit stress is the new question. I will continue to work on this...
thanks again everyone for posting
~Mal

That's good information Poppy. Quite interesting.

Hi - I hope it's ok to 'wake up' this topic again because I'm having some troubles I'd like to share with the tribe.

It's now three weeks since I happily received the boot from my horrible stressful drudge office job and I'm starting what I had foreseen as a time of rest and recovery.
I've had an irresistible urge to spring clean - my office has been cleared out and set up for my self-employed future. I've also been spending time on a few voluntary and personal projects - things that make my life meaningful but didn't get a look in when all my energy was on surviving work. So all this is good.

But it seems like the stress symptoms aren't really going away. Consciously I feel very happy with my life but I still have some creeping unease which is coming out in stiff neck and shoulders, strange pains in my hands and jaw/face which I instinctively feel are coming from a 'wrong hormone' swishing around, pins and needles in my hands and also eczema on my palms and a dotty rash all over everything!

And the wicked thing about these symptoms is that I'm finding them a bit stressful...

I know I need to just keep meditating, slow down and try not to 'leap' at life as much, quit the multi-tasking habit, sniff the breeze, etc etc. I'm trying - trick is trying without getting tense about it!

sal