Stress and Trauma

cherylmarhefka (twinkie(AT)javanet.com)
Fri, 13 Nov 1998 18:18:28 -0800

Hi Connie,Alan & Everyone, I think stress has a lot to do with
most illnesses.The year previous to my dx.,was horrendous for me & my
family.In September of '94 my youngest daughter had optic neuritis,was
blind in one eye for about a week.She was treated with high dose
steroids IV;I was an RN so I gave the meds at home for a week in
tapering doses.She fully recovered from this,but it is sometimes a
precursor to ms,it created a great stress in her marriage & her
life.Then in April of '95 my son was diagnosed with paranoid
schizophrenia and was in a locked ward in the local VA hosp.for 7
weeks.I took off a lot of time from my full time night job (worked in a
respitory care unit 12 hr shifts).Then in early Aug 95 my son in law
left my daughter-the stress of the optic neuritis was too much for
him-he was worried about her someday getting ms & being debilitated.Then
on Aug 13 I became paralyzed & was dx. with tm.I definitely think the
stress of all the illnesses had something to do with the "virus",plus I
had been working 4 12 hr shifts a week to get caught up due to all the
time I took off.I was run down & very tired,& believe this left me open
to infection.Oh one other thing.I had been scratched by one of my cats
and when I went into rehab the nurse practioner seemed to think this was
significant(I just remembered this) I wish everyone well. Alan keep
up with exercises & keep a positive attitude. Cheryl M.