Stress and its impact on health

Doctors who see adults in outpatient clinics know that it is very common for patients to come in after visiting several colleagues from different specialties. failed. You become the next link in a desperate chain to find the cause of the multiple and common symptoms affecting you.

Tachycardia, palpitations, feeling of shortness of breath, chest pain, a feeling of bursting in the vessels in the neck, a feeling of low blood pressure or a bad heart beat take them to the cardiologist; shortness of breath and sighing to the pulmonologist; constipation, diarrhea, abdominal bloating, discomfort when eating, reflux, abdominal pain to the gastroenterologist; tremors, headaches, tingling, numbness in the hands and feet, twitching of the muscles, for example, opening the eyelid, cause them to go to the neurologist; and heat and/or cold waves, weight gain or loss, lack of sexual desire, sleep problems, urge to cry, emotional fragility, aggression or feelings of tiredness lead them to refer to an endocrinologist to rule out “some problems”. hormonal”.

What’s going on with me? The patient wonders and despairs. A colleague of mine dared to suggest that he was assessing the possibility that he was very stressed and that what he was suffering from was an anxiety disorder, so his exams had turned out well and no treatment was relieving him as he was poorly focused.

We refuse to acknowledge that we have sympathetic hypertonia as a result of an involuntary and unconscious state of alertness that makes us ready to fight or flee, even if we don’t want to, perhaps because we see ourselves as sensitive. This is because of the stress, traffic, financial constraints we experience daily, work, family and social relationships and different situations of daily life, as well as the inevitable and increasing needs of those who depend on us. the risk of walking on the street exposed to crime.

All this has an effect on a chronic and constant secretion of cortisol and adrenaline, increased sympathetic tone, neuronal inflammation in the cerebral cortex, impaired hedonic regulation of appetite; Executive thinking decreases, concentration and memory are lost, decision making becomes difficult. The constantly alert person does not get enough sleep and this perpetuates the mood problem. You’re not making this up, this is a real and very serious problem, a real disease with complex physical consequences. It’s more complicated than what he thought he had.

It’s certainly a good idea to go to a mental health clinic if you think you have stress that is hard to deal with, or if your doctor recommends it after you’ve ruled out other causes of your symptoms.

*Active member of the Guatemalan Society of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition. University 14,384.