A memorable line from the show was when President Bartlet was asked about his stress level. He quipped that stress was something made up to sell flavored coffee. Funny, but as a person living with MS, maybe not fully accurate. Even the fictional president would have to agree that 2020 — with its global pandemic, bitter U.S. presidential campaign followed by a contested election result, and whatever the next months are sure to proffer — is a year that has raised anxiety more than just a tick. For me, personally, there was the added stressor of a major non-MS-related health issue that required an eight-hour surgery and 12-day hospital stay afterward. RELATED: Notes From the Postsurgical Ward
How External Stress Affects MS
Though most MS patient advocacy websites spend a bit of time on stress (see the National MS Society and the MS Society of the UK), few talk about the direct correlation between external stressors and the MS disease itself. MS is considered by most researchers to be related to the immune system. The body’s own defense system seems badly programmed, or somehow becomes misguided, and begins attacking the fatty myelin coating on our central nervous system wiring. Chemical stress reactions in the body have a direct effect on the functioning of the immune system. While I understand that stress can lower immune system effectiveness, it has always puzzled me how a depleted immune response would be a bad thing for someone who has lymphocytes that like to munch on our nervous system. It has been explained to me by some of the world’s experts in the field, but all I can get straight is that it’s like adding two odd numbers and getting an even result. MS is a complex disease. Perhaps too complex for me to understand all of it well.
Major Negative Stressors vs. Major Positive Stressors
A 2014 study by researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago concluded that major negative stressful events predict increased risk for MS brain lesions. Among the “major negative” events researchers connected with increased MS activity were a death in the family, losing one’s job, and finding out a partner is cheating. Positive stressors — such as the birth of a child, landing a new job, moving to a more manageable home, and the like — were also considered major stressors. But not only did these positive major stressors not have the same increased MS MRI activity, but research subjects with positive stress also showed lowered MS activity in scans two months after reporting the stresses. RELATED: Share Your Best Tips for Managing Stress on MS Tippi!
Through Stress, Sometimes, Comes Resilience
Stress is a part of life, no matter what President Bartlet might think. It is most surely a part of living in the year 2020. A positive point to understand is that by having experienced and come through to the other side of stressful events in our lives, we develop what the experts refer to as resilience. So in a way, the major stressors of our lives have made us stronger and more able to cope and adapt to the things to come. Like a well-trained Olympian then, that’s how I’ll look at myself going into 2021 and beyond. Heaven knows this year has been a workout in life’s stress gym. Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers, Trevis
