When Stress Flares
by Marie Karns
Arthritis Today, June 2005

Stress can exacerbate arthritis pain, as well as other conditions harmful to your health. Chill out and feel better now.

Chuck Currie, 35, is no stranger to stress. From serving sandwiches at Baloney Joe's soup kitchen to running operations for the Goose Hollow Family Shelter in Portland, Ore., Currie worked with the homeless, one of the nation's most stressed populations, for 17 years. He witnessed people suffering from disabling health conditions and teenagers dying from AIDS.

Two years ago when Currie moved to St. Louis, changed his career path and started a Master of Divinity program, his own stress level surged. "Moving, changing careers and entering seminary were all stressful things that happened in quick succession," he says. At the same time, Currie began experiencing swollen and painful joints in his hands and feet. At times his symptoms were so severe he couldn't get out of bed; twice the flares sent him to the emergency room. Currie, who has psoriasis, had developed psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory joint condition occurring in roughly 23 percent of people with psoriasis.

As Currie experienced, stress packs a powerful wallop for people with autoimmune diseases, because some of the biological pathways that ignite the stress response are the same pathways involved in immune-system malfunctions. For people with arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, stress prompts the release of chemicals in the brain and body that can trigger flares, inflammation and pain. To make matters worse, some of those chemicals, like cortisol, increase the risk of developing other chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, obesity, anxiety and depression (see "Stressing Health"), which can often create more stress. Managing your health after this cycle takes hold can seem like jumping for a helium-filled balloon that's floating out of reach. Luckily, what goes up can come down, and practicing stress reduction techniques can help restore your system's balance and protect your overall health.
 

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