Not many women consider the impact of stress when facing any illness including Breast Implant Illness.
But, in fact, stress is a major factor when it comes to roadblocks to healing, even before explant, when it can seem like it’s impossible to feel better until the implants are removed.
Believe it or not, though, stress shows up in your life in all kinds of ways, both internally and externally, and can and should be dealt with as soon as you are aware of it, even and maybe especially before explant.
It’s important to understand the difference between internal and external stress and how to go about managing both.
Some women, despite living quite a stressful life, insist they are not “stressed out.” Experiencing stress is not always just about feeling stressed out.
HOW EXTERNAL STRESS MAY BE AFFECTING YOU:
- high pressure job, working all the time, no time to relax and enjoy life
- feeling constant pressure of deadlines, kids, school, family
- eating on the go, no time to get into rest and digest mode
- constant exposure to toxic situations, people, relationships
- feeling on edge constantly
- feeling like you have too much to do and never enough time to do it
- feeling rushed, overloaded and overwhelmed
- everything and everyone annoys you
- feeling like you can’t do everything you’re supposed to be doing
- kids, husband, family, friends are afraid of you and your moods
- keep taking on more responsibilities, even though you know you’re not handling anything well
- feeling guilty or selfish for attempting to take time for yourself
- subconscious acknowledgement of not enough time or money for me
- subconscious or conscious thoughts that you are undeserving of peace, calm, rest, happiness, a break…
- everyone else comes first
- cannot relax, even if you try
- stress is out of control
And those are just a few that you are allowing into your life. Some of those are due to obvious external stressors such as exposure to toxic situations, people and relationships, but also toxic environments, products and even toxic food and water.
Yes, all of that contributes to stress, coming from outside your body, a lot of which you have complete control over. It may not seem like it now, but when it comes to a lot of these exposures, you decide what you will allow into your life.
When it comes to most responsibilities causing stress in your life, someone else can realistically take the burden, at least temporarily.
Someone else can do your job; someone else can cook dinner; someone else can volunteer at your kids’ school; someone else can plan the family reunion; someone else can do literally everything you are overloading yourself with.
But, no one can relax for you. No one sets your schedule for you, and no one decides what you will do, but you. Your number one responsibility needs to be to yourself, especially when dealing with something like Breast Implant Illness.
Proper and healing stress management requires that you 100%, absolutely own this fact about your life. YOU DECIDE FOR YOU, PERIOD.
When you’re in this chronic state of stress and overwhelm, your body lives in what’s called sympathetic dominance. This is also sometimes referred to as being in a state of fight or flight.
All of this over-scheduling yourself, overwhelming yourself with responsibilities, constant exposure to stressful situations which include toxic workplaces, people and relationships, pushes your body to remain in that state of fight or flight, leaving no time or ability to heal.
The body cannot heal itself in fight or flight. This may be a red flag for you. If you are trying to heal from any chronic condition, including Breast Implant Illness, but you are in a state of fight or flight, healing cannot happen. It just cannot. And this is why proper stress management is crucial even before explant.
A very simple way to manage this is to schedule breaks and self care into your day. Taking time to move into the parasympathetic state of rest and digest can begin to make all the difference in the world.
We aren’t talking about categorically removing all stress from your life. We’re talking about properly managing it. If you know you are going to have a lot of stress in your life, you must not only cut back on it as much as you can, but also, make time for your body to get into the nervous system state required to heal, which is that parasympathetic state of rest and digest.
Getting into the parasympathetic state of rest and digest, can be as simple as the following:
- limiting stress after sunset
- epsom salt bath before bed
- getting to bed by 10:00PM, and getting at least 8 hours of sleep
- saying no to things you don’t want to do or don’t have time for
- doing more of what makes you happy
- listen to uplifting music
- forming and nurturing relationships that make you happy
- getting out into nature, watching the sunrise or sunset
- taking the time to sit down and enjoy your healthy meals
- gratitude journaling before bed and/or upon waking
- turn off electronics an hour before bed time
- reading self-help/inspirational books
- turn off wi-fi at bed time
- sleep in completely dark room
- keep bedroom cool at night
Advanced things to consider to get into a parasympathetic state of rest and digest:
- breathwork
- meditation
- blue-light blocking glasses after sunset
- switch from wifi to wired internet
- use an air-filter to keep home air clean
- switch to non-toxic household products
- switch organic whole food
- switch to distilled water
- eliminate alcohol
INTERNAL STRESS
Internal stress can be an even more complex issue, but also, much harder to identify. These are the stressors that may or may not be leading to your feelings of overwhelm, stress and anxiety.
Internal stressors can and do absolutely contribute to all of the feelings referenced above. And oftentimes, in order to resolve these hidden internal stressors, we will need to identify what they are, as well as what kind of dysfunction they are causing.
This is where functional lab testing comes into the picture. Functional lab testing cannot be underestimated when it comes to their ability to help form the most complete picture of what is happening inside your body that can be keeping you from healing.
Hidden Stressors to look for include but are not limited to:
- food sensitivities
- viral/bacterial loads (Epstein Barr, Lyme, etc.)
- parasitic infection
- mold exposure
- chemical toxicity
- heavy metal toxicity
- gut infections
- leaky gut
- hormone dysregulation
- immune dysregulation
- digestive disorders
- blocked/stagnant detoxification/drainage pathways
- energy (mitochondria) dysregulation
- nervous system (sympathetic/parasympathetic) dysregulation
- oxidative stress
- systemic inflammation
These hidden stressors are all antagonists which keep your body in fight or flight mode (sympathetic dominance) and slow or stop healing altogether. Some of these can even be the cause of autoimmune disorders. Identifying them helps with the creation of protocols which optimize healing the damaged systems, restore function, and removing the toxins/stressors.
You can and absolutely should immediately begin eliminating the stressors you are aware of as this can help you on your healing journey, pre-explant. Post explant strategies for healing will be deeper and more intensive, but will be much easier to get through if you start even before explant.
If you’re wanting help to get through this process, please schedule your FREE BII Analysis below to find out if working with me is right for you.
And as always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly at andi@evolution-of-health.com
