10 ways to calm your stress response

I’ve been living with a body that’s stuck in fight or flight since my teens. Of course for the longest time I didn’t know how to control or manage it.

Then once I knew what I was dealing with, I was conditioned to believe that it’s the nature of the disease. Basically take the medication and suck it up. In a way, this is true. Biochemically we will always be stuck in fight or flight, with the constant stream of adrenaline overflowing in our bloodstream.

But what about what we can control? Why doesn’t anyone tell us about that? I’ve accepted I can’t control all the elements of this disease, but let’s talk about what we can impact. All the ways we can help to calm our systems down, slowly reconditioning our body’s stress response. Which by the way helps with many different aspects of life, not just the grenades inside of us.

Learning more about the nervous system I believe has unknowingly kept me alive. It’s what has allowed me to combat the constant stream of stress with a balance of calm through my own daily practices. These practices I believe we should all be doing more of, with or without pheo para!

I know I will always need medication to manage the dangerous adrenaline levels that the tumors produce. I’m okay with that, but it doesn’t take your body out of fight or flight. It doesn’t calm the system’s stress response, because as humans we all experience stress. If you add in the residual impact of the adrenaline + Trauma + biochemical levels and you think – I’m doomed!

Luckily I’m a unicorn and we believe in endless hope, magic, and sparkly miracles.

You don’t have to have a crazy rare cancer to experience a fight or flight response. It can be triggered for so many reasons, the trick is being able to calm it down.

This isn’t something we learn at the doctor unfortunately, so take notes my friends!

1. Guided meditation. I wouldn’t make it through my most painful procedures. Fact: meditation/hypnosis used to be used as anaesthesia! Search on YouTube for free meditations specific to your mood and schedule. The mindful movement and Michael sealy are some of my personal favourites.
2. Deep breathing: too obvious? Most of us don’t mindfully breathe from the belly. Next time you’re feeling stressed, pause, take 3 deep breaths by inhaling through the nose expanding the belly and then exhaling by the mouth.
3. Noise + Light: if you’re feeling reactive or triggered, dim the lights, ask those around you to speak quietly or leave the room and go to a safe place. This is especially important in hospitals since health care workers are trained to speak loudly, and the lights are very harsh.
4. CBD: always check with your doctor first. I’ve had amazing success as of recent with CBD oils. I have tried both THC therapy and pure CBD, the THC aggravates my tumours + symptoms. CBD on its own alleviates and calms my system during the day and helps me sleep at night. Do your research for quality & safety! Sleep has been my biggest struggle over the years with all the residual adrenaline. However it’s so essential for our healing, if you can find something that works for you it’s such a blessing.
5. Zero gravity position: raising your legs above your heart. NASA puts astronauts in zero G before take-off to equalize their weight and ease the stress on their bodies as they are launched into space. Cool right?! They have special wedge pillows that offer this ability. Or you can prop your legs up against a wall, or build a pillow fort. Whatever works for you
6. Gentle movement, walking, light stretching, anything you’re able to do. I really love Thai chi videos to move along to and you can bring your phone or laptop anywhere outside to enjoy it in nature. I just discovered physio that is yoga centred and that made me very curious. It’s to help the body with movement while healing certain injuries. I’ll keep you posted if we try!
7. Red light therapy: only 10 mins to see incredible benefit for mood and anxiety. I recently invested in a home setup because I needed the access safely and consistently for what I’m looking for. Laying in the warm red light is calming in itself, but it’s proven to have benefit for depression, anxiety, stress, and a whole lot of other things! There’s plenty of clinics, spas, and salons that have red light therapy. There is also a wide range of options + sizes for home. This is the company I used.
8. Vagus nerve toning: a new device I’ve been trying/enjoying is called ‘sensate’. A necklace that uses is infrasonic technology to stimulate the vagus nerve. It vibrates against the sternum paired with calming sounds on an app through your phone. You choose how long you want your session to be and select the music and just enjoy. It’s scientifically proven to ‘tone’ the vagus nerve with continued use. I love when I find things like this and they actually work. Again, just the 5 mins of calm is beneficial BUT with built in deeper benefits. Absolutely phenomenal @mysensate
9. Nutrition plays a role in everything. I’ve talked about this before and if you have pheo or para you probably follow a low tyramine diet. If you’re wondering what that is – the MAIN no no’s would be fermented/pickled foods, processed foods, and soy. Having MCAS I can’t eat foods high in histamine either or else my system goes haywire. Being mindful + learning what triggers your body’s stress/anxiety helps a lot!
10. H20, If you are dehydrated, your body is not functioning properly, and therefore may cause increased levels of stress. Ever notice your heart rate increases or feels like it’s skipping beats when you don’t have enough water? There are many many tricks to stay hydrated, this isn’t something to skip on.

Some added extras: different forms of healing therapy OR trauma coaching can be helpful with PTSD. Not everyone responds to talk therapy so this is an alternative approach. Post traumatic stress causes the body to be locked in fight or flight as well, so seeking the appropriate care for you can be helpful. I just began trauma coaching, using internal family systems or ‘parts work’ as the main healing modality. I’ll update more on that later when I’ve had more time to work on this.

Supplements: I won’t recommend anything specific but checking your full blood panel is so important. When you have a low nutrient level or something is off, it can cause you to feel run down which then makes your body stressed. Talk to your doctor about a FULL blood panel.

Self care practices you enjoy, Epsom salt baths, journaling, reading, etc. For me I’m writing this blog as we speak as a way to calm my own stress response.

These are my main healing practices at this moment, I use a combination of these to help normalize my baseline stress levels. I hope this helps you too. For my ‘attack survival guide’ and more resources click my drop down menu on the home page.

Remember, through channeling our energy into the things we can control – we live an empowered life. We live with intention, and remove the lens of fear.

You can follow along with my social channels @pheovsfabulous

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