Mind-Body Connection

Hello - I am newly diagnosed and really struggling. I have been reading extensively about mind body connection and ms. I’ve come to believe that my ms was caused by job stress. I am a psychiatrist and don’t mean to offend anyone but the job is not right for me. The emotional rigors are too much especially now that I have ms and I have other issues with the work as well. The problem is I have lots of debt and two children. My husband is not in support of me quitting due to finances. I could retrain in another field but it would be at least a year before I could begin that and I worry if I will be able to withstand the physical stress of another residency with ms. Basically I feel hopeless and I am so fearful that continuing this work will make the md worse but I feel I have no other choice.

being stuck in a situation which is bad for your m.s is something I totally understand.
I’m still stuck in my one but am making steps towards getting myself in a mentally healthier place.

I’d start looking for other jobs it doesn’t mean you are changing just yet.
But it would pay to get a good idea about what’s out there.

Its not my place to tell you what to do however, trying to problem solve a seemingly impossible situation a so frustrating I know.
I hope you can find a way to leave that job and do something less intense.
X

Welcome
Are there other ways you could improve coping with your job whilst you can't see a way to directly change it right now.
Mediation breaks during your day.
Is there support to help with shaking off the emotional load you mention the job has, was this covered during your training, were coping strategies shared.
Structured debt support to help to come out of it, in the UK citizen advice bureau might be a start, stay clear of the in it for money organisations.. this might fit in with a bigger plan to change your job.
These are just ideas I'm not saying you should do them or answer them, but you could do mediation as you need nothing but to sit still for 5 minutes and do a simple listen to your breathing exercise.
I hope you can find improvement in how you feel.

Hi Emilynd

I know what it is like to feel like everything is wrong but not know how to make it right.
Sometimes we are just too close to a situation to see the woods for the trees.
If you really feel like work is draining your energy then at present it is, this may be because you have a lot to take in at the moment so need to take a step back to see the bigger picture.

If after a chance to breathe, you still feel the same way then look into using your skills and training a different way.
You can still walk the same path, just with a different turn, i.e. becoming involved with other people's training etc.
You have done the major training so tweaking will not take too much time, certainly not take as much energy as swimming against the tide, that you are feeling now.

Also, are you attending supervision or therapy yourself? if not arrange that for yourself as taking care of yourself is the most important thing right now.

Be kind to yourself, that is so important, and something we can forget!

Be kind to yourselves!
Valley

Thank you so much for everyone who took the time to respond. In the short time since posting I’ve discussed retraining in internal medicine with a contact in that department and he anticipates I could start next July.

I will work on the meditation thanks for that suggestion. I don’t have any supervision right now but that is a wonderful suggestion.

I will have to work in my current situation for the next year, I’m just worried about how much damage will be done with stress in that time. I hope I can minimize it with other things like diet and exercise.

My wife and I use the headspace app for mediation and its been helpful. She also has similar reactions to work etc, but I fundamentally believe she would respond the same in any situation, its just how she is wired. Couple things that have helped her a lot. Exercise (running for her) has greatly changed how she handles stress. Its been commonly documented that stress relief comes with exercise and its been true for her. The other thing is when she is tired/fatigued life just feels harder. Everything is more stressful etc. She has taken to sleeping more and managing her schedule to ensure she is rested (rather then caffeine etc). Both of the above also are part of a healthy lifestyle and will only help with your MS.

Also just know, while stress may have been a factor in your MS, it is unlikely to be the cause of it. Consider the entire OMS lifestyle for sure.

Thank you for the last part. I almost wish I never discovered the mind body reading. I tend to be neurotic and this is causing so many negative feelings for me. Bad enough that I have it but to feel that I caused it is making it unbearable.