A little stress is good – it helps you get your reports in on time or your house clean before company comes. But too much stress is harmful. Aside from affecting your body, from elevated blood pressure to poor gut health, stress can contribute to alterations in your mood and can even make you more prone to anxiety and depression. We have an epidemic of anxiety and depression in this country, as evidenced by the skyrocketing number of prescriptions that are written for antidepressants. For some people these medications work wonders, but for many they work only partially, temporarily or not at all.
Recent articles about the side effects and imperfect results of antidepressants have left some people wary. But there is another way – a lot can be done to help alleviate stress, anxiety and depression without medications.

You may think that stress reduction requires you to meditate, leave work at 3:00 or do yoga three times a week. While all of these things would do wonders for your mood, you have a powerful stress-reducing tool at your disposal that is free and always available – your mind.
Our thoughts are major contributors to our wellbeing, or lack thereof, and we have more control over them than you might think. It may seem to you that your feelings are controlled by events (“my boyfriend didn’t call so I feel sad”) but actually the event (boyfriend didn’t call) leads to a thought (“he doesn’t like me”) which lead to a feeling (rejected and sad). Both the event and the feeling are hard to hange, but we have impressive power over our thoughts.

Let’s consider another example. You have been waiting an hour for your spouse to get home from work, but the expected arrival time has come and gone and you are wondering what happened. What might you be feeling? Let’s look at how the thought that we attach to an event alters the resulting feeling.

Event: spouse is late coming home from work.
Thought #1: “She’s been in a car accident”
Feeling #1: fear, anxiety
Thought #2: “He puts his work above the family. He could get home n time if he really wanted to.”
Feeling #2: hurt, rejected, sad, angry
Thought #3: “he must be stuck in traffic”
Feeling #3: neutral, maybe even compassion
Once you realize that your feelings are related to your thoughts, you can start to make important changes. When a negative or unhelpful thought follows an event, you have the power to replace it with a more positive and helpful one. And the more you practice the
better you’ll get!

So put your mind to work and take back control of your feelings!
Wishing you health and wellness.
Dr. C.
www.insightmedicalconsultants.com
(photo courtesy of britannica.com)
Dr. Chiaramonte is a private Health Advocate and the founder of Insight Medical Consultants. She has been quoted by CNN, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today as an expert on patient advocacy.
www.InsightMedicalConsultants.com

An even more common, yet often ignored, symptom is increased menstrual bleeding in a woman who is 35 or older. While there are many benign causes of irregular and heavy periods, in this population they can be a sign of uterine (aka endometrial) cancer. So if you are over 35 and your periods become heavier or more frequent than they had been in the past, you should talk to your gynecologist about checking the inside of your uterus for polyps or cancer. If you have already been through menopause and then start bleeding again, run, don’t walk, to your doctor for an evaluation.

Colon cancer also occasionally gives hints that its victims ignore. Rectal bleeding, even small amounts, can be from an unsuspected cancer in the large intestine and needs to be evaluated. I have seen people in their 20s with colon cancer, so don’t ignore your rectal bleeding even if you think you are too young to worry about it. The basic lesson is this: if you see blood in a place that you shouldn’t, take note. Cancers sometimes announce their presence with blood and it is up to you to pay attention. A trip to the doctor may be inconvenient, or even embarrassing, but if it results in an early diagnosis of cancer, one that is small enough to be cured, you will never regret the decision.
-Dr. C.

www.insightmedicalconsultants.com

(photo courtesy of www.healthyyounaturally.com)

Dr. Chiaramonte is a private Health Advocate and the founder of Insight Medical Consultants. She has been quoted by CNN, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today as an expert on patient advocacy.

www.InsightMedicalConsultants.com