Let’s all go into PMR remission by using “Don’t worry, be happy”

We all communicate so well on this great ‘Patient’ website and share our PMR miseries but I think that we should also be sharing more of our “happiness’s”.

There is a branch of medicine that addresses the state of mind influence on our physical health called psychoneuroimmunology. It deals with the influence of our emotional state such as stress and nervous system activities on our immune functions. Studies suggest that mental states such as stress can influence health and how subjective moods connect with the incredibly complicated physiology of the nervous and immune systems.

Many of us with PMR feel somewhat ‘separated’ from others (family and friends) who just don’t understand what we are feeling both mentally and physically.

I am sure that stress and loneliness push our immune responses in the wrong directions, shaping our ability to fight PMR disease. I think that the medical professionals that deal with PMR and similar diseases need to try to generate greater understanding of how the immune system and nervous system interact.

I think that “happiness therapy”, including regular doses of humor and specific ‘fun’ things that each of us personally enjoy should be one of the most important issues proposed by our medical professionals and not just how ‘rotten’ things are and will be.

Rheumatologists know that portions of the nervous system connect with immune-related organs and response to stress can suppress parts of the immune system and, over the long term, lead to damaging levels of inflammation. They know all about this from studying the immune molecular messengers such as the stress hormone cortisol and the immune messenger proteins called cytokines. But do they talk to us about this ?

Another ‘big’ factor is that lonely people who may be less likely to eat well or to visit their doctor regularly can have upregulated genes related to inflammatory response, whereas sociable people tend to generate the opposite.

Most of us are driven only by our own feelings, and our happiness depends only on our personal feelings. If these feelings are adverse, we may become very stressed. But if we care about things beyond ourselves — community, politics, etc. then stresses tend to be of less concern. There seems to be enough evidence to suggest that emotions contribute to health.

So – “Don't worry, be happy” and “Be sociable” are very important factors for all of us with PMR.

Dave

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