Can stress cause hives like chemicals can?

Caution. Be advised that some cases of hives will cause shallowness of breath. If this happens or you’ve had them for over a week, see a doctor immediatly.

They are little red bumps on your skin that itch like crazy. Some people describe it as a bunch of bees having a party in there. They are caused by hormones in the skin that lets liquid ooze out of your veins which gathers in little pockets under your skin. Frequently, the hives will change location.

Most people know what causes their little bumps. They know that when they eat a radish, they will end up resembling one.

Some people develop the itchy little bumps after taking certain medications. Some causes are harder to find because they can be triggered by animals, mold, chemicals we use for personal hygiene, and some other diseases like lupus. The weather can also be a factor.

The skin is the largest organ in the body, and it is very sensitive. Stress is known to alter our internal chemistry, and can cause a hormonal imbalance. So, yes, stress can cause hives.

In some people, one of the symptoms of anxiety attacks is itchiness. Stress and anxiety cause the body to produce chemicals called cortisol and adrenaline. An intestinal peptide known as VIP may also be produced. An overabundance of these chemicals is thought to cause an imbalance in the body’s hormones, thus triggering an outbreak of hives.

If stress caused the rashes, they will stay till the anxiety is removed. One won’t go away without the other. If they stay longer than six weeks, they are called chronic hives.

Chronic hives are usually more mysterious. Their causes are rarely uncovered, even by expert investigators. Fortunately, both kinds of hives respond to a variety of treatments.

What to do when the bumps start? Take a cool shower. Hot water will trigger faster production of histamines which will turn you into an itchy bump factory.

Doxepin is often prescribed where the doctor thinks that anxiety is the cause of the outbreak. It contains an antidepressant to help reduce the anxiety and an antihistamine to reduce swelling. If there are signs of clinical depression, then more treatments might be in order.

The itchiness is the same, no matter what caused it so it is really hard sometimes to identify what triggered it. Perhaps it is a mixture of stress and chemicals in your environment.

Experts recommend keeping a diary of your surroundings when an episode begins. Note everything, the time of day, any food additives that might be around, any stresses and the location. Make a note of any new foods or chemicals like cologne that you are in contact with. It’s also important to note how long the episode lasts.

Sometimes, there is an underlying illness causing the hives episode. Always see a doctor to make sure that nothing more serious is displaying itself.

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Don’t Let Panic Attacks Control You – 3 Tips To Control Atttacks

For any one who suffers from panic attacks if they allow them to they can take control over their life. There are a number of things which one can do to prevent a panic attack happening. But should the situation become a chronic one then it may need to treated medically. Below we provide some tips on ways of how to stop panic attacks before they take complete control.

Tip 1 – A sensible way of stopping a panic attacks is to learn about breathing correctly. If you learn the right breathing techniques then you will find that you are able to relax far more quickly and easily. Today finding information on the various different breathing techniques and how to do them is very easy, just search online.

The simplest breathing technique used is where you sit in a quiet place and slowly begin to breathe in and out very deeply and slowly. The breathing is then helping to send messages around the body so it becomes relaxed and calm. As the body becomes more relaxed the production of adrenalin from the adrenal glands is reduced.

Tip 2 – It may take you some time before you are able to master this particular tip. In order to stop a panic attack one needs to learn how to remove all negative thoughts from one’s mind. So what you need to do if a panic attack starts is tell yourself that you can and will prevent it from escalating. Doing this wil help you to then get the situation under control and will help to make your mind more relaxed.

As soon as you stop having negative thoughts you now need to start replacing them with more positive ones. But you should not be thinking about lovely animals or beautiful sunshine. Instead your thoughts should be ones that further assert what you are already thinking. So you should be thinking things like what you have already done has provided the right response to the problem and then carry on with these.

Tip 3 – It is vital that as soon as you begin to feel a panic attack happening that you move away from the source immediately which has triggered the attack in the first plce. Also as soon as you begin to have these feelings you need to be able to recognize what they are and then making just very small changes. These changes can then help you to avoid a similar situation in the future or help you to deal with the panic attacks when they arise.

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Stress Testing for Stress Relief

For some time my wife and I were involved in research on student with reading disabilities. Our interest was to determine the relationship between reading disabilities and stress. Using a self-report pencil and paper test, we measured the stress of a group of nine-year-old students. To our great relief, there was no significant relationship between stress levels and reading disability. So there was no need for us to worry about stress relief programs.

I’m often asked when people want stress relief therapy to tell them how to measure their stress levels. It is quite easy to measure stress levels. A psychologist can quickly determine whether you are stressed, depressed, or anxious. Most of the systems involve you telling the psychologist has stressed you are. With careful reflection, most people can report reliably their levels of stress, depression, and anxiety.

If you did want a relatively objective measure of your stress you could ask a medical professional to do a urine analysis. Blood analysis is also another way of measuring the cortisol in your system. There seems to be substantial evidence that cortisol levels increase with psychological stress. There is little doubt that as your stress levels rise, there are increases in physiological responses too. These include elevated heart rate, blood pressure, flushing, skin changes and so on. For many people there are also headaches and even migraines and associated aura.

But you don’t need to seek medical advice. There are plenty of online tests of nearly anything. Unfortunately, you would never know how reliable these tests are. I use a 10 item Stress Test to understand how my clients feel about their levels of stress and anxiety. If we use this test several times over a period of months, we can both track the client’s changes in mood. To meet the challenge of managing stress I have to check that my stress relief therapy is working.

Typical questions when testing stress include references to feeling worried and upset, noting changes in sleeping or eating, responding to questions about feeling refreshed after sleep, being able to relax, feeling physically ill, being inattentive and unproductive and having mood swings. These responses can be grouped under four main headings: Physiological and Physical Responses; emotional responses, inter-personal responses; and cognitive responses.

It is important to understand your levels of stress. Stress relief therapy is much more effective when people are able to track and measure their stress responses. Stress is a silent killer and the enemy of well-being. High stress levels, burnout, and being overstressed are all counter-productive emotional states. When stress is constant and severe it is very disabling. If one wants to have an effective stress relief program, one needs to know how to measure and respond to stress. My stress relief therapy incorporates 15 effective strategies. What makes the exercise challenging is choosing the most effective stress relief strategies. Neither me nor my patients want to have lives are characterized by excessive stress.

Relationships are the first thing to suffer when an individual demonstration elevated stress. The pity of this is that social support from loved ones is the best way to ameliorate stress. We can relieve stress effectively when we talk with friends and share our feelings. This is free therapy. Stress relief is afforded through sharing our worries. There are occasions when the stress is too high to be relieved through social support. The current problems with home foreclosures is a serious stress. This requires professional help.

There is a lot written about stress but I hope that my particular view about stress relief and stress management is helpful. I really want to be able to help people manage their stress. If you can engage in effective stress relief programs, even if you run them yourself, you will have a happier and more successful life.

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