The four of us scheduled the speakers, laid out of the plans for the fairgrounds, placed the food orders for thousands of meals, executed the large advertising campaign, designed the website, ordered the video and audio equipment and the lighting and stage rental, signed up companies for the 100-space exhibition hall, and equipped the two kitchens for the hungry mob. An unbelievable amount of work goes into an expo of this size, especially when you have only four staff members to organize the entire operation. You cannot imagine the months of stress we experienced unless you have put on a major event like this one yourself. Believe me, anxiety attacks and serious flare-ups were common and actually happened on several occasions.
     In 2000, I found my co-worker on the floor writhing in pain from a swollen liver. It looked like a large melon protruding out of his abdomen. In 2001, the two of us would wake up in the middle of the night soaking in in sweat and struggling to breath from panic attacks. Then on top of the stress of organizing the event, I was writing four presentations to deliver for the four-day event.

     In 2004, the Good Lord allowed me to experience a first-hand confirmation that attitude can and will affect your body in serious ways, especially with pain and inflammation.
     But, before I share my stories with you, I first want to have a brief study on how stress affects the body. Hans Selye stumbled upon the idea of the General Adaptation Syndrome (G.A.S.) which he first wrote about in the British journal Nature in the summer of 1936. The G.A.S., alternately known as the stress syndrome, is what Selye came to call the process under which the body confronts stress. In animal studies he discovered that animals exposed to stress demonstrated similar responses.

• First, the animals developed ulcers.
• Second, the adrenal glands became swollen.
• Third, the thymus gland and lymph nodes atrophied. The thymus gland and lymph nodes are very important parts of the immune system. They are primarily involved in fighting infection and inflammation. (Selye 1998).

 � Alarm Reaction: The body prepares itself for "fight or flight." No organism can sustain this condition of excitement, and a second stage of adaptation ensues.

� The Stage of Resistance: We begin to adapt and the immune system responds with increased activity in the T- and B-cell response to invaders and antigens. Our bodies begin to work overtime, to combat emotional, physical, or disease stressors.

� The Stage of Exhaustion: Finally, if the duration of the stress is sufficiently long, the body wears out and gives up. Even mild levels of stress can trigger an alarm reaction. Now think about continual fear, anger, bitterness, resentment, grief, unforgiveness, etc.

 

 

     We realize that psychological factors can alter or change our immune systems. Stress can create an alarm reaction in our bodies. An alarm reaction stimulates the adrenal gland to release adrenaline and when the central nervous system is stimulated, blood sugar rises, the heart beats faster, the lungs breathe more rapidly, the eyes dilate, and blood is sent to organs such as the brain and muscles for flight or fight.
     What causes an alarm condition? Here are a few possibilities: unforgiveness, resentment, retaliation, anger, hatred, guilt, shame, sorrow, loneliness, fears, grief, self-hatred, being rejected, rejecting others, fear of rejection, jealousy, and envy. Another way of putting it is to say we suffer from constant stress rather than the occasional fight or flight response. 

 

Stress and Excessive Cortisol 
    

     The adrenal cortex produces two of the most critical stress hormones, cortisol and DHEA. Cortisol is a steroid hormone, with effects very similar to prednisone. It blocks inflammation and suppresses the immune system. DHEA balances out cortisol.
     With the onset of stress, the adrenals increase cortisol by 50% and DHEA levels decrease. But with prolonged stress cortisol rises to nearly 240% of normal and DHEA drops to near zero. The elevated cortisol with its prednisone-like effects and no DHEA to counteract it, wreaks havoc on a variety of the body organ systems.  Diagnostics, 1991

 

� Stimulates conversion of noradrenaline to adrenaline.

� Blocks the conversion of T4 thyroid hormone to the more active T3, and possible hypothyroidism. 
� Suppresses antibody production and T-cell activity, thus increasing chance of infection.
� Protein breakdown increases 38% while manufacturing of protein drops 28%.
� Rheumatoid arthritis activity correlates with emotional stress.
� Heavy metal chelation is blocked.
� Elevated cortisol also suppresses natural killer cells.
� Cortisol blocks insulin and controlling blood sugar levels.
� Stimulates the conversion of DHEA to estrogen in fat cells (especially abdominal fat).
� Cortisol "fries" the delicate dendrites in the brain that are necessary for transfer of information.

 

� Coronary Artery Disease - Fear, anxiety, and stress besides lifestyle habits
� Hypertension - Fear and anxiety can be root causes.
� Stroke and aneurysms - Rage and anger; root can be bitterness.
� Asthma - Anxiety and stress; fear of abandonment and rejection.
� Ulcers, Irritable bowel Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis - Anxiety and stress.
� Tension Headache and Muscle Contraction Backache - Anxiety  and stress.
� Autoimmune Disease - Self-rejection, self-hatred, self-bitterness. Guilt, regret, sorrow, and shame are negative emotions that are evidence of self-hatred. The body agrees with the mind and starts attacking itself. Lupus, Crohn's, diabetes, and MS are examples.
Anxiety, fear, and stress are synonymous. In ulcers, the fear and anxiety come first and the bacteria and viruses show up after the immune system is compromised.

 

     My first story took place a few weeks before Modern Manna's 2002 Health and Healing Crusade. My secretary informed me that she was quitting and left a couple of weeks before the event. This compounded stress threw me into my first-ever asthma attack. Did you notice above that asthma can be caused from anxiety and stress caused by the feelings of abandonment of rejection?

     I woke up in the middle of the night and could barely breathe. I crawled out of bed and to the bathroom and could not get up off the ground or it got worse. I tried everything I knew for the next seven hours, natural remedies and breathing techniques that I had learned, but with minimal results. I finally woke up my wife (at the time) and told her to rush me to the emergency room at the hospital. I seriously thought I might go into respiratory arrest, as I slowly crawled across my back deck of the house to the car, because my air was nearly shutting off. I really did not think I was going to make it and offered what I thought might be my last prayer to the Lord. The children were alarmed and scared and so was I -- after all I was the "health guy" and my children had never seen me call for the doctor before. 

     I knew, God willing, we could drive to the hospital faster than the paramedics would arrive at our country home. When the nurses wheeled me into the emergency room, the doctors took immediate action. Thank God for crisis care! Not only was my blood oxygen very low, but an X-ray of my chest showed pneumonia as well. The doctor said: "You are lucky to be alive, for this was a very close call." I knew my angel had delivered me in time and God had sustained me through the ordeal.

     I had to stay in the hospital for five days in order to get on track, and was surprised because I had never had an asthma in my life. I soon learned learned the trigger to my attack was stress -- i.e. stress induced asthma. Before being discharged from the hospital, the doctor prescribed two medications and told me I would have to take them for the rest of my life. But since I learned stress was the cause, I immediately started a "destress program" that included fine-tuning my lifestyle habits, taking supplements and herbs to relieve the stress, and a serious exercise program. I started more aerobic exercise and played racquetball five days a week. Soon I built up my lung capacity and was able to discontinue all medication which I have been off for over six years. However, when under extreme stress, I still may start to wheeze on rare occasions.
      My second story took place one day before the 2004 Health and Healing Crusade. One of my four presentations that year was actually entitled, "Can Attitude Affect Your Healing?" It seemed that the Dear Lord was going to teach me a truth beforehand that negative emotions may cause pain and inflammation in the body, especially in the bowels. You see, that year I had a new co-worker who thought she knew more than I did, even though this was her first crusade and my tenth. She was very stubborn and nearly impossible to work with. As a result, the day before the crusade was to start, I got an excruciating pain in my abdomen that sent me to my knees. It got worse over the hours. Because I thought I might be having an appendicitis attack, I called my doctor and scheduled an appointment later that afternoon just in case. In the meantime, my masseuse massaged my stomach in circular motions in an attempt to relieve the spasms.

      While lying on the floor, my cell phone rang and it was "little miss know-it-all." The pain intensified as I again failed to get my point across to her, so I hung up and prayed for the tenth time that morning. The Lord showed me that the stress in my mind was telegraphing the information to my bowels and causing the inflammation and pain. My negative reaction to her, and the stress it caused me was taking its toll in my intestines.
     Finally, I forced myself to get up and immediately drank a full 16 oz. bottle of liquid probiotics. I then forced myself to run around the block several times while in prayer. I was convinced my bowels were inflamed and locked up due to the stress originating in my mind. After all, I had my recent research to support my conclusion. The painful episode would soon become the opening story of my next day's presentation "Can Attitude Affect Your Healing? Well, my bowels finally moved from the exercise, the 16 oz. bottle of probiotics, and prayer and I knew relief was on the way! I thanked the Lord Jesus!    
     Friend, every day I learn more about Psychoneuroimmunology or PNI. My latest story that I am about to share with you once again proves that negative emotions can suppress immune function and affect your health. In 2005, I watched my mother die while standing by her bedside. A few months later my father would join her and die from a broken heart and grief. I will never forget the sores all over my father's arms soon after my mother died. They itched so bad that he would scratch them until they bled. In the morning his arms would have dried blood and large blisters on them where he scratched all night. My father suffered from psoriasis from the age of 17, and his skin was his weakest organ. Cortisone creams helped the itch some, but never stopped the dermatitis completely. Now I realize the dermatitis on his arms was caused from negative emotions in his mind and his body was merely responding to the grief.
      Do you believe that you can inherit weak organs from your parents and other genetic diseases? In the past two years, once when I was at the peak of my divorce and the other when I was fighting for restraining orders against a mad man who was threatening my four children, my arms flared up just like my father's did after my mother died -- his wife for 56 years. I couldn't stop scratching my arms and scratched the skin right off. I developed blisters and sores on both arms that would bleed just like my father's did. I tried every natural remedy for relief, but finally had to go to the doctor for a diagnosis.  The doctor said: "It is neurodermatitis, a skin disease caused by the nerves and from your scratching. There are many nerve endings on the surface of your arms and when your nerves react to extreme stress it can cause itching. The worst thing you can do is scratch the areas because the nerve endings kind of multiply and you can make matters worse. If you wouldn't have scratched the areas there would have been no sores." He prescribed a cream which finally stopped the itching. The sores took a lot longer to heal.

     I noticed that when my stress level increased, the itching would also increase. In fact to prove that it was my nerves, one day a car nearly hit me at an intersection and my arms instantly felt like someone was using them for a pin cushion. Every sore reacted at the same time to the stress from to the emergency. Was God teaching me another lesson on the mind/body connection that I could use to expand my presentations on the subject? I believe God was educating me so I could educate others. What better way to understand the mind/body connection than from a personal experience.
      This past Friday night I left the ministry late and grabbed a magazine on my way out the door. Amazing, there was an article in it entitled "Psychodermatology: A New Approach to Protect the Skin." As I anxiously devoured the information, I found the answer to my own problem. The dermalogical problem on my skin was actually caused by stress.  No wonder the stress tabs and the herbal nerve formula only slowed the itch but never cured the problem. The neurodermatitis on my arms was caused by the negative emotions originating in my mind and I was trying to heal myself from a physical standpoint only.
    With the newly emerging field of psychodermatology, scientists have reported studies that show our "emotions, particularly stressful ones, can unleash a torrent of free radicals and stress hormones such as cortisol that not only age our skin but cause a wide range of allergic and inflammatory skin ailments. Dermatologists are now recognizing that when emotions such as stress and anxiety are creating havoc within the skin, there is little in their pharmacopeia that can solve the problem. It is at the junction of the skin that physicians and psychiatrists truly see the interaction of the mind/body connection. ... Acting through the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems, this new phenomenon is being called the 'brain-skin connection' that may underlie inflammatory skin diseases triggered or aggravated by stress. Indeed, dermatologists worldwide are recognizing that significant numbers of their patients have underlying psychological components related to their skin complaints" and I am one of them! (Life Extention, July 2009, pp. 67
      "Stress-related skin disorders include:

God Bless You,

Danny Vierra

Modern Manna

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