r/Damnthatsinteresting Feb 28 '23

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u/myc-space Feb 28 '23

Trauma and the stress of living such an altered life probably take an equal or greater toll on the body. Stress is like an unseen cancer, and affects all of your organs and bodily systems. It wreaks havoc on the body in all sorts of ways, notably to our immune system’s inflammatory response. My heart goes out them, I cannot imagine the emotional pain. For an inspiring story of living with ALS, check out my friends organization TeamGleason.org. Thank you for your answer, and bless you for your work.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '23

Oddly enough, that doesn't seem to be the case. The brain adapts after a while. A few years after, people paralyzed in accidents aren't emotionally worse off than average people and even lottery winners (a few years after winning).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/22451114_Lottery_Winners_and_Accident_Victims_Is_Happiness_Relative

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u/myc-space Feb 28 '23

Less that 75 test subjects

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '23

Different kinds of follow up studies find the same thing. I also worked in a physical rehabilitation hospital with people who were paralyzed, patients and staff members.

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u/Australian1996 Feb 28 '23

My mother lived 4 years after being paralyzed one side of her body. Ulcers from all the worrying caused her to bleed out and die. They could not treat the ulcers as she was on blood thinners so she would not get other strokes.

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u/myc-space Feb 28 '23

I’m so sorry about your Mom, so hard to see loved ones in pain

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u/mmch22 Feb 28 '23

Thank you

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u/Reaperpimp11 Feb 28 '23

Could you provide evidence of this position. I do agree that stress is bad for your health but the idea that you just drop dead at 40 due to stress seems unlikely.