Managing daily life while living with the ups and downs of a chronic disease is a stressful thing. In myasthenia gravis (MG), that stress carries extra weight: Higher levels of stress have been shown to increase MG symptoms like muscle weakness and fatigue, making the disease that much harder to manage. Learning to effectively manage your stress when living with MG is an important part of protecting your overall well-being.
How stress affects MG
Stress is an emotional reaction to a situation where you feel under pressure, out of control or that you’re losing your sense of self. Problems at work, financial pressure and long-term health issues are all known triggers for stress. Depending on the person and situation, stress might be felt as anxiety, anger, fear, sadness, depression, frustration and irritability — or any combination of these.
These feelings don’t just mean an emotional burden. Emotional stress can manifest itself physically, causing muscles to tense and energy to be depleted. Hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are released, making communication harder between the nerves and muscles.
These physical symptoms are bad for MG. Stress leads to worsened MG symptoms, including:
- Eyelid drooping.
- Trouble swallowing and speaking.
- Muscle fatigue.
- Problems with mobility and balance.
These symptoms may create a feedback loop in MG: Stress makes MG symptoms worse, which makes MG unpredictable, which in turn leads to more stress — and therefore more symptoms.
All of this means that managing stress is a central part of managing MG.
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Tips on managing stress in MG
Stress comes in many forms. There are times when it can be avoided and others when it needs to be managed. These are some ways to effectively manage your emotional reactions to avoid symptom flare-ups.
Stop stress from starting
Living with a chronic disease pushes you to become more self-aware. Knowing and actively avoiding both your symptom triggers and unnecessary stress can go a long way in controlling symptoms.
- Limit contact with known stressors. Depending on how MG affects you, this could mean everything from staying home on a hot day to asking someone else to walk the dog when you’re already tired.
- Plan ahead to avoid potentially stressful social and work-related situations. This could mean saying “no” to plans when your social calendar is already full or letting a colleague present a team project at work.
Managing stress
No one can entirely avoid stress. When tension and anxiety arise, finding healthy ways to deal with the feelings can help.
- Find effective ways to distract your focus and boost your mood.
- Take a step back and actively decide to let the feelings of stress and anxiety go.
- Rest, nap and enjoy time to recuperate emotionally and physically.
- Learn relaxation techniques and how to meditate.
- Master deep breathing and stretching.
- Communicate your feelings to close friends and family.
- Join an MG support group.
Prioritize wellness
Taking care of your physical health and emotional wellbeing can put you in a better place to deal with stress when it does arise.
- Don’t let a healthy lifestyle fall to the wayside: Eat a well-balanced diet and get plenty of sleep.
- Stay active and exercise regularly at the level that’s right for you.
- Be indulgent: Don’t be afraid to prioritize self-care and surround yourself with comfort when you need to.
- Keep an active social network.
- Laugh. Try to find pleasure and fun in daily life.
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