The true face of stress
Josie Steenhart talks to two women about the toll stress was having on their health and the changes they made to improve their wellbeing.
It wasn’t until Wellingtonian Angela Meyer woke up one morning with blisters covering her face that she began to acknowledge the toll six years of ‘‘huge stress’’ was taking on her.
The blisters were shingles, an illness often linked to high stress levels, and Meyer was ordered to rest.
‘‘But I was so caught up in work I honestly didn’t know how to rest. It got to a point where I couldn’t eat or sleep and was so strung out I thought I was losing my mind.’’
Meyer says her stress was ‘‘a culmination of a failed attempt at sailing around the world with my then 1-year-old son, my father dying of cancer, huge financial worries, extreme bullying at work, trying to finish a novel, working full time, trying to start another business, being a mum and turning 40’’.
‘‘Things needed to change,’’ she admits.
Those changes included quitting her job, totally changing her diet and ‘‘re-evaluating everything’’ in her life.
At first, Meyer went on sleeping and anti-anxiety pills. She also went to a naturopath ‘‘who helped me get my gut working again’’, and began meditating every day.
Two years on, 42-year-old Meyer says she’s in ‘‘a much better space’’ but still exercises daily, avoids gluten and starts each morning thinking of three things she’s grateful for.
‘‘My mother has a mantra, ‘have an attitude of gratitude’, and while it may sound cheesy, it really works.’’
She now also knows to watch out for the triggers and signs her stress is returning. ‘‘A blistered face? Time to chill out!’’ Like Meyer, it wasn’t until she hit breaking point that Aucklander Janelle Brunton-Rennie really took on board what stress was doing to her life, and her health.
‘‘I was so tired, I was even tired in my bones. I’d become the kind of drained that all the caffeine in the world couldn’t mask,’’ the 34-yearold says.
‘‘Despite my desperate attempts, I couldn’t keep going. I was unhappy, but each morning I’d put my smiley mask on, and fire up my computer to begin my 100-or-more-email day.’’
It wasn’t until having coffee with a friend, who happened to be a nutritionist and wellness expert, that Brunton-Rennie conceded something was seriously wrong.
‘‘She asked me how I was and I actually just burst into tears. She delved a little deeper into how I was feeling, and sent me to get some tests done, which revealed a little more than I had hoped, but finally gave me some answers as to why I’d been feeling so ‘on empty’ for so long.’’
Brunton-Rennie’s tests showed a high thyroid antibody count, ‘‘adrenal fatigue’’, and low natural dopamine and serotonin levels.
‘‘I’d also developed an autoimmune condition known as Hashimoto’s disease. Like Coeliac disease, which is an autoimmune condition of the stomach lining and is exacerbated by an allergy to gluten, Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune condition of the thyroid, and possesses the same gluten allergy.
‘‘In essence, my body was overriding me, and telling me that my lifestyle was hurting it, and as much as I begrudgingly didn’t want to hear it and had been ignoring it for some time, I wasn’t going to be able to hit the override button anymore.’’
Instead, she began to make over her diet and lifestyle.
‘‘I tried a lot of different diets to see how I felt on each one. I practised yoga, mindful walks and breathing techniques among numerous others things.’’
Wellington GP Dr Richard Medlicott recommends similar techniques to help reduce the effects of stress.
‘‘Mindfulness is one option – finding ways to be in tune with your body and your mind and go through a process of physically and deliberately switching off the stress. A good walk, stretching, yoga and meditation are all things that will help you reduce the effects of stress.’’
Medlicott says it’s also important to address the cause of the stress, find ways to get out of the stressful situation, and to see a professional – ‘‘whether it’s a GP, a psychologist, a counsellor or a pastor, we all have different links’’.
He says the term adrenal fatigue has become something of a replacement definition for the symptoms and feelings related to stress.
‘‘We do have a lot of adrenaline running around our system when we’re stressed, and if it’s been there a long time it will make us feel tired and fatigued and all the other things that come along with stress. I don’t think the adrenal gland itself is getting stressed – I’m sure it could carry on quite happily pumping out lots of adrenaline, but the effect it has on your mind and other parts of your body is significant.
‘‘Stress is very real, it’s not good for your health at all, but there are things you can do to reduce it.’’
"It got to a point where I couldn't eat or sleep and was so strung out I thought I was losing my mind." Angela Meyer