Can you be "stressed out" and not know it??

[newgene87]

I ask this because I'm living through very stressful situations at home with my fiancé and her family ( who lives with us: dad, brothers). I mean, there's always so much drama. It's so crazy; that's an understatement. But it's something I have no hand in. (this IS OUR PLACE BTW). Now, I am fervent believer in Christ. Besides this site, I study, meditate, and pray daily: and I mean throughout the day. I'm on a mission to memorize the bible; seeing that Joshua 1:8(or 9) and Psalm 1:2 implies that we "meditate" or "audibly muse" on the word; but basically I'm in constant prayer. I talk to God, like my best friend and father. Confess my faults and sins. But for the past 3 weeks; I've been getting terrible migraines or headaches. They're only on the left side of my head and they are very intense. And they last for 6 or more hours. I've had them almost everyday to every other day. I acknowledge that wha I'm going thru IS stressful no doubt (readying my mind for marriage is enough); but our relationship is more than fine. But could I be stressed and not even realize it??? I went to the hospital, got blood work done and a CT scan and it came back fine; so I'm healthy (far as I know). But, I don't feel stressed...I feel like I'm denying that I'm stressed, but I'm not; but I'm still getting these headaches . It's very discouraging. Does stress take over the body? I mean, as far as I know, I've given it to God; but is that just another way of saying, hold it in and suppress it. I've very genuine with my faith but now I'm seeking some advice. Any takers? Thanks

[Gina]

I'll bite.

Yes!  Stress can definitely take over the body.  I'm so glad what you had wasn't a blood clot.  You scared me there for a minute.  But it could also be a number of things.

I'm guessing your doctors performed a full evaluation on you and you told them whether or not you're taking any meds, or if maybe you've changed something about the way you're working during the day, putting your spine out of alignment and causing those headaches -- heck I'm not a doctor.  Just throwing it out there. 

I wonder if you might be allergic to anything new the dad and brothers might have unknowingly brought with them when they came to stay.  I remember someone on the forum here mentioned their child was allergic to MSG, but I can't recall the symptoms they were having.  Have you changed your diet, started going to different restaurants?

It's either that or maybe you're slowly being boiled alive in all that drama.  Maybe the drama didn't come on full blast but increased gradually over a certain period of time so that it's hard to tell where the drama started and your headaches began?

I can't tell you what to do.  I mean, I imagine you've thought of every which way to approach the issue as softly as you can so you don't hurt anyone's feelings.  What a load.

Thing is, you don't have to say anything.  You can just give a look and if they can take a hint, they'll know what you're saying.  Or, you could appeal to their sympathy and say, Hey, guys I've a migraine and it has your name written all over it. 

I will definitely pray for you.  That sucks.

In the meantime, try sitting down and reading something funny; laughter's great for tension (if that's the cause of your migraine).  Google Jim Gaffigan.  He's hysterical.

[Dennis Vogel]

I have to force myself not to get too stressed everyday - But sometimes it does feel like my job is killing me

http://www.bottomlinepublications.com/content/article/health-a-healing/hands-on-help-for-tension-headaches

I try to tell myself that in 100 years non of this will matter.

[Joel]

A while back I was having pretty bad headaches, a Monday thru Friday kind of thing.
Then one night a family friend that is a nurse at a local hospital happened to bring up in conversation that they were seeing more people coming in having headaches due to the ingredients in diet drinks.
At that time I was drinking more than a few during my shift at work, that explained to my mind why I didn't have them on the weekend.

Cutting out diet drinks solved it for me. 

Joel