ValJester

Does anybody know if there is any substance to this?

It is with some reluctance that I mention Debra Jay here as she is a well know interventionist and most of us here in SR would not hold some of her views.

As with Al-Anon we can take what we want and leave the rest.

Leaving aside intervention, she makes some moving and insightful observations, both medical and psychological, about addiction and its effects on the wider family.

Particularly she explain how the defence mechanisms we have, which produces Adrenaline and Cortisol , if constantly kicking into action create physical harm to our bodies. She cites effects on memory, ability to concentrate and some rather worrying physical aspects relating to ageing!

Interested to hear anyone else’s thoughts and happy to elaborate more on what I have read.

LexieCat

I don't think it's exactly a newsflash that living with constant, severe stress has adverse effects on one's health. I don't have any statistics at my fingertips, but it's certainly intuitive.

PurpleWilder

My old sponsor swears that the stress of her alcoholic marriage brought on full-blown diabetes and fibromyalgia.

lightseeker

I work in the medical field and have studied this extensively. The research is credible and plentiful. I truly believe that the Anon side of addiction is equally as deadly and dangerous as substance abuse. Generally, your are chosing the "tortise" or the "hare" route to physical destruction.

I don't have to read literature and listen to a researcher to know that this is all true. All I have to really do is look into the mirror to see the effects.....

freeradical99

I have no doubt that there are long-term effects from prolonged hypervigilance. Has something to do with the adrenal hormone cortisol; was reading a lot about this, and what I recall is that high cortisol levels are damaging to many body systems, particularly the brain (and mind). (Not that the brain is a 'system'.)

I believe that there are drugs in trial to block non-stop cortisol secretion. I know this is vague, but I'd like to see those medications make it to market. I know I need some.

Good luck with your search.

freerad

kudzujean

I'll always believe that living approximately 10 years with my alcoholic father shortened caused some physical problems for my mother, and ultimately shortened her life.

sandrawg

My sister was married to 2 alcoholic husbands over the space of 30 yrs and she is one of the unhealthiest people I know. Diabetes..obesity...high blood pressure..and mentally very messed up.

I've read that spouses of alcoholics are more likely to be obese. Maybe food is a coping mechanism? Yet another reason to get away from them..

Tuffgirl

I have said over the last 5 months that I look better, feel better, sleep better, and think better not living with the RAH anymore. It was a seriously intense living environment and it was effecting me in a variety of ways.

However, it isn't just physically detaching that's important...its emotionally detaching as well. That was where Al-Anon helped.

However, I can attest to the health effects...I lived them...inability to concentrate, memory shot, constant anxiety, situational depression, hair falling out, eye twitches, and so on. Ugh! I am having flashbacks just thinking about it again.

SoloMio

This is coincidence because I just read her book "No More Letting Go" cover to cover this past weekend. And you're right: I think there are some here that would resist her model, but her theories on how the disorders of our AH get transferred psychosomatically to us, AND we have the double whammy of dealing with the extra cortisol boost every day... man, not a pretty prognosis.

I don't know anything else about it, as I just read about it myself, but it's definitely food for thought.

And FWITW: I LOVED her book.

lillamy

It is absolutely true that living with stress raises your cortisol levels to dangerous proportions that provide lasting medical problems.

My experiential evidence is that regardless of the fact that, while married, I was at the lower end of ideal weight, ran approximately 30 miles a week, lifted weights three times a week, and was in excellent shape (did bike races, running races up to 12K, etc), and ate extremely healthy, and my doctor could find nothing wrong with me -- I had symptoms that made him say "fibromyalgia" and "auto-immune diseases" and "chronic fatigue syndrome" and a whole bunch of other scary stuff. But apart from a low iron level, all my test results came back normal. And he couldn't explain why on weekends I could sleep 15 hours and wake up exhausted.

Another doctor zoned in on hormones and cortisol levels particularly, and after a whole battery of tests diagnosed me with adrenal fatigue. Treatment? "Reduce the stress in your life." He apologized for saying it and said he knew how ridiculous an Rx it was. But I did. Two weeks later, I left my AH. I've been improving ever since.

Chino

Excess cortisol can lead to metabolic syndrome.

sandrawg

FYI: Cortisol and Stress: How Cortisol Affects Your Body, and How To Stay Healthy in the Face of Stress

Cyranoak

Considering that I spent the last ten years hypertensive, I imagine there has been an affect on my now 45 year old body. I believe it's only because I eat well, exercise often, spend time with friends each week, and drink good beer that I'm not worse off than I already am.

Thank God I'm not an alcoholic. I would miss beer.

Cyranoak

wanttobehealthy

All I have is my personal experience but it's eye opening (even to me as I sat and thought about this thread).

I'm slim, a long distance runner, eat really healthily (bc I like to), and generally felt and looked younger than my age for a long time. When D3 was born I was dx with a thyroid condition and put on meds, I've since had to increase those meds regularly bc my thyroid is wacked (hows that for a medical term) due in part to "adrenal fatigue" according to my doctor. This winter I was hospitalized and have a heart condition that I was unaware of and will be on heart medication for the rest of my life most likely. I have aches and pains that I never did and I feel like I've aged about 10 yrs in the past 2. I look at photos of me from 3 yrs ago and today and am appalled by how gaunt and worn out I look now. It's not something I am proud of and I know that stress has had a huge, if not the entire part in all of this.

My hope is that being apart, permanently from AH, I'll get back not just mental health but physical health too.

Stress sure does a number on the body...

tjp613

If you happen to have Netflix, look up National Geographic's fascinating special on this topic. It's called Stress: Portrait of a Killer

skippernlilg

I was recently hospitalized for hypertensive emergency. BP=220/140. In ICU for three days getting it down.

I find out tomorrow if my adrenaline and cortisol levels are out of whack and whether an adrenal gland is showing signs of a tumor.

I'm curious about this!

Linkmeister

I can attest to that. I'm 40 lbs heavier than I was when the relationship started and over the past couple of months (since things ended), I've dropped 7 lbs, a good start........and since he's out of my life, my smoking has gone waaaaaayyy down.

Babyblue

Yes cortisol over time does have effect.

Even moms who are pregnant and under tremendous amounts of stress during pregnancy give birth to babies with higher levels of cortisol.

That is why stress literally ages people. It starts to do damage over time. Some research is now showing it can be reversed if the person is undergoing intensive therapy, treatment, self care etc.

TakingCharge999

I watched Dr Oz.. lol.. he said oranges, lemon, citrus fruits "cut" cortisol
So let's all go buy some oranges today...

In my case I have been healthier since out of relationship with alkie but my work is high stress and I have been resenting it at 29. Time to apply all the relaxation tecniques available.

Ponder

ugh.. same here. I've gained so much weight over the past two years. I don't think it's the food so much as the massive drop in activity level. I just don't want to go out and do anything anymore, especially with him because it always involves drinking, someway somehow.