Chronic Symptoms, Disease & the Stress Response

Since the 1930's and the ground breaking work of Dr Hans Selye, scientific research has proven without a doubt that what leads to chronic disease is NOT so much an outside agent but rather the body's response to it.  Dr Selye termed his findings the General Adaptation Syndrome and redefined the word "stress" to mean the environmental, physiological or life event/emotional trigger that leads to predictable changes in the body. Dr Selye's findings set the stage for decades of research on the stress response which greatly enhanced our understanding of the hormonal, inflammatory, and immune response that can result when the body is challenged.

Precision medicine teaches us that each unique individual is the culmination of their genetics, life exposures and life experiences.  Every day individuals encounter stressors: infections, financial responsibilities, child birth, etc. Many individuals adapt to these routine stressors with no issues for years, then slowly chronic symptoms start to develop. Other individuals have experienced a lifelong inability to adapt to stressors, with chronic symptoms starting in infancy or childhood. Learning to understand how each body is managing the stress response is essential to helping restore balance and resolve symptoms.

The Stress Response Explained

Dr Selye noted that many different triggering events produced the same cascade of biological responses in the body - whether an organism was frustrated, made ill or injured the body's response mechanism was the same. So what is the body's response to stress?

The Stress Response Framework Explained from a Precision Medicine Perspective

1. The body's initial response is for the hypothalamus to send a signal to the pituitary gland to stimulate the release of corticoid hormones from the adrenal gland (this is referred to as the HPA Axis).  

2. This influx of corticoids causes significant shifts in blood sugar and mineral balance in the body. Some corticoids are anti-inflammatory and some pro-inflammatory.  Some stimulate the immune system and some inhibit the immune system.  

3. Corticoids act directly on the lining of the stomach by increasing acid production, decreasing mucus production and increasing intestinal permeability.  

4. Corticoids act on the kidneys and stimulate the release of hormones which increase blood pressure and heart rate.  

5. The liver is stimulated by corticoids to release glycogen and support cellular energy, but the liver is also responsible for clearing out the elevated hormones from the blood stream.  All toxic by-products are sent to the liver for elimination.  

This is a highly simplified explanation, but it provides you with a foundational understanding of how each body system is drawn into the Stress Response and how challenging it can be to restore balance. Since Dr Selye's time, we have learned that there are influencing factors that effect each individual's stress response including: age, gender, personality, genetics, current health and past experiences.

How to Recover and Restore Balance

The Stress Response Recovery Framework from a Precision Medicine Perspective

Step 1

Understand how you got here.

When considering your current health status and chronic symptoms, the first step to discovering your path to healing is to reflect on how you got here.  What are your genetic predispositions?  How old are you?  Are your symptoms new or have you suffered from chronic symptoms for years?

Step 2

Identify triggers - where possible

Some individuals can pinpoint a single stressor which lead to their symptoms, others may have multiple stressors in close succession and still others may have a lifetime of stressors.  Sometimes identifying a stressor is essential to recovery - for example mold exposure in a person predisposed to chronic mycotoxin illness.  If the mold and mycotoxins are not removed from the body, healing will not occur.  On the other hand, some individuals may have recovered from the initial stressor (for example a viral illness) but the remaining stress response that was triggered in the body remains.

Step 3

Collect data

Collecting data to show how your body is functioning is essential to build your personal plan to recovery.  Advanced lab testing in addition to routine blood work can provide insights into your genetics, hormone balance, nutritional markers, gut health, inflammation, organ function and mitochondrial health.

Step 4

Address Imbalances

Once biological markers are obtained, a targeted plan can be developed and measured to address your imbalances. Genetics, age, sensitivities, lifestyle and support all impact your personal response to a treatment plan. 

Step 5

Recover

Everyone's road to recovery looks different.  The thing is, Life is still happening while you are taking this journey.  Laying the foundation of healing with lifestyle strategies, dietary support, sleep, movement and stress management techniques is essential to allow the rest of the treatment plan to work.

I encourage many of my patients to "Write the Story of You." Working out the answer to Step 1 in the recovery process (understanding how you got here) can be a real challenge for many individuals. Although it can be exasperating and feel time consuming, sitting down and writing out a timeline of events in your life can be very helpful in both identifying triggering events and in understanding which symptoms are a direct result of that event. From there, building a plan to address symptoms can make more sense.

If you are uncertain how your body is managing your stress response, it may be helpful to start with a simple Adrenal Stress Response test to check your stress hormone levels.