To Stress or not to Stress

Along with being a lifelong connoisseur of RAS, I also have

the pleasure of being wrapped in a layer of skin that does not

respond favorably to the sun.  That’s a more eloquent way of

saying that I’m a lily-assed white guy.

And thanks to spending a lifetime in Texas and for most of my younger years wearing sunscreen that only

blocks the UVB rays that would normally give me a sunburn and tell

me to seek shade while totally ignoring

the UVA rays that actually do all the damage, I’m now seeing all

manner of strangeness appearing on my skin.  Every trip to the

dermatologist produces one more procedure than the last time.  And

whenever I have to explain to people why I have a bandage on my forehead, I will inevitably be

told the same thing…

“Dude, you should wear sunscreen.”

As if I don’t know that I’m pale-skinned.  As if I’m dumb enough to

not wear sunscreen.  As if all the damage wasn’t already done years

ago.

And then I punch them.  In my head.

Same thing with the canker sores.

First thing everybody tells me is I have herpes, about which I

educate them.  The second thing they say: “You’ve got too much

stress.”

As if I can’t deal with life.  As if I’m a Woody-Allenesque neurotic

who should be medicated.

Truth is, many people do swear that their RAS flares up because of stress, but it honestly isn’t a

correlation that I’ve seen in myself. 

Some of the most stressful times of my life – and I’m talking home buying, divorce, producing a

feature film, being laid off, family illness, you name it – I didn’t see

any ulcers at all.

To me, there’s a couple of reasons for this assumption out

there, one is confusion with stomach ulcers, which doctors

believed for decades were brought on by stress.  But

recently, even that has been disproven. 

The discovery ofHelicobacte rpylori bacteria in the 80s led to the conclusion that most peptic ulcers are caused by a bacterial infection.  The discovery even earned a Nobel Prize in 2005.

The other reason is what I might call the Horoscope Effect. 

Horoscopes are designed so that they could apply to anybody at any time.  There’s always “an

opportunity ahead” or “a setback you’ve just experienced.” 

Hence anybody who reads it believes that it must be talking about them.  Same here.  At any given time, we’ve all got some kind of stressor in our lives.

Is there ever a time when you can seriously say you’re not

under any stress at all?  It’s very rare (and wonderful).  So it’s

very easy when you get an ulcer to say, “It must be that thing at work,” or “that upcoming class reunion…”  But chances are, it

has nothing to do with that.

Having said all that, it has been proven that people’s mental

state can affect their physical state.  An increase of stress

hormones in the brain can alter your body’s chemistry in negative ways.  So I’m not

saying it’s absolutely not true.  I just know it’s not true for me.

What do you guys say?  Have there been specific instances

where a stressful situation clearly brought on your canker

sores?  What about stressful situations that didn’t? 

Or exceptionally relaxed times in your life when you still had an outbreak?  Do you see an absolute correlation?  Let us

hear it!

And if you’re convinced it’s stress that’s getting to you, find

some ways to relax.

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