What is a normal stress reaction?

[sara n.]

I would really like to know what a normal reaction to a stressful event is? If a person were truly healthy, needing no supplemental hormones of any kind, what would happen when they had a sudden worrisome stress? And what would the body do to compensate, how long to get back to equilibrium?
thanks for any help,
sara n.

 

[Gabriel]

That's really hard to answer and generalize, as there are hundreds of different stressors, with different strengths and countless pathways that are involved in overcoming stress. Usually the body ramps up stress hormones such as cortisol, estrogen, serotonin, adrenaline that do their job while decreasing the hormones that are active in the unstressed state (thyroid, progesterone). Usually that change should be only very brief and after that the system should go back into balance. Both excess and lack of stress hormones is problematic.

 

[HDD]

I experience abnormal stress reactions in certain situations. It happened this week and I felt off for the whole day. Would that indicate either excessive stress hormones and/or lack of thyroid and/or progesterone?

 

[HDD]

"Less visibly, progesterone stabilizes and normalizes nervous, secretory and growth processes. Biochemically, it provides the material out of which all the other steroid hormones (such as cortisone, testosterone, estrogen and salt-regulating aldosterone) can be made as needed. Progesterone's simple molecular structure allows it to balance either an excess or deficiency of those other hormones, even when there is a defect in their synthesis."

"Many factors, including poor nutrition, climate, emotional or physical stress (even excessive running) and toxins, can cause a progesterone deficiency. Use of estrogens, birth control pills and even IUDs can also bring about a deficiency. Animal studies and clinical experience suggests that the prenatal hormonal environment (a mother's excess of estrogen during pregnancy) can incline a person toward a deficiency of progesterone relative to estrogen."

"In several ways both progesterone and thyroid hormone can be considered primary regulatory hormones. Both of them regulate metabolism directly at the energetic and synthetic levels: both have a normalizing, anti-stress action on the pituitary gland; and each has a promoting action on the other. Both are blocked (and consumed) by stress and promoted by light and good nutrition. Both are nutrients in cultures that eat the whole animal, including ovaries and thyroid, butter, cream and milk contain small amounts of progesterone and shellfish seems to be a good source."


It would seem that you could improve your health with nutrition, light, progesterone, and thyroid to be able to handle stress.

 

[HDD]

"In monkeys living in the wild, when their diet is mainly fruit, their cortisol is low, and it rises when they eat a diet with less sugar (Behie, et al., 2010). Sucrose consumption lowers ACTH, the main pituitary stress hormone (Klement, et al., 2009; Ulrich-Lai, et al., 2007), and stress promotes increased sugar and fat consumption (Pecoraro, et al., 2004). If animals' adrenal glands are removed, so that they lack the adrenal steroids, they choose to consume more sucrose (Laugero, et al., 2001). Stress seems to be perceived as a need for sugar. In the absence of sucrose, satisfying this need with starch and fat is more likely to lead to obesity"

More sugar!

 

[HDD]

And from KMUD interview on endotoxins, RP states that mental stress can cause intestine to lose barrier and bacteria to pass into bloodstream. Even thinking stressful thoughts cause endotoxin to be absorbed.

Endotoxin alone will cause estrogen to go up 5 times in animal study.

Carrot salad, antibiotic help by lowering estrogen and cortisol.


**This is from my notes, so feel free to correct me if I have something wrong.**

 

[Mittir]

And from KMUD interview on endotoxins, RP states that mental stress can cause intestine to lose barrier and bacteria to pass into bloodstream. Even thinking stressful thoughts cause endotoxin to be absorbed.

Endotoxin alone will cause estrogen to go up 5 times in animal study.

After listening that interview i started using that image of endotoxin entering blood stream
whenever i get agitated or angry. It is a very powerful incentive to keep myself calm.

 

[sara n.]

Thank you all so much, every reply contained helpful info.
FWIW, it doesn't seem like I've ever had a "normal" stress reaction in my life.

Re the GI info, I have had chronic IBS-D (up to diarrhea events 7-8 times a day) off and on for about 30 years, even in "off" periods I usually have diarrhea events daily. My neurologist (I have peripheral neuropathy of unknown cause) is researching several possibilities for testing. He was extremely interested that a course of penicillin for dental work caused complete remission of the diarrhea. And that was the second time an abx had fixed GI issues. The first time Z-packs for cellulitis completely stopped severe stomach pain I was having while on a very foolish attempt at the HCG diet (learned a lesson there!). I personally think some kind of SIBO, H. Pylori, or C. difficile infection or my doctor thinks even Whipple's disease may be a possibility even if remote.

Nothing I have tried myself has resolved the diarrhea and probiotics, kefir and so on made it much worse. I just can't make myself eat the carrot salad or bamboo shoots daily, or even a couple times a week, so I have discussed longer term antibiotic therapy with Peat via email. He seemed to think it is worth a try. My neuro also mentioned a trial of longterm abx. I don't wish to have duodenal or colon biopsies so I have limited his testing options, LOL. "Try it and see" seems to me a much better option than having invasive potentially fatal testing. If it turns out my doc doesn't want to Rx a trial of abx for me, I will just order it myself and do my own trial.
sara n.