MH, that is a personal take of yours. Of course it is good to take care of our mental health, but we should also avoid going into meta-stress, o metaworry, meaning the fear that stress or worries can harm you.
We do not want misinformation here, but to present information as accurately as possible.

Psychological stress is not something magical, a good part of the harm it does is via changing behaviours. Stressed people deprioritise sleep and diet, some increase the use of substances like alcohol or stimulants, smoking and risk taking. Stressed people might deprioritise their health altogether, such as not taking medication when needed, or not going to the doctor when health is poor. Stressed people might disengage from prevention. The way stress affects a person is mostly due to genetics. Studies on how stress affects hormones in the body and what can result from that do not have consistent findings outside cardiovascular issues.

Many of the websites present outdated information that is purely speculative about how "stress" impacts health. Scientifically speaking, many of the assertions are not supported by studies. Sometimes, said websites inaccurately present results of research on chronic pain, which is due to various inflammatory diseases that often have a genetic base as being psychological stress, when it has nothing to do with it.

There is a myth that "long-term exposure to cortisol" increases risk for cancer. That assertion is not only inaccurate, because severe chronic stress can have a paradoxical effect on the level of cortisol: it leads to cortisol dysfunction (low levels of cortisol), but it is not scientifically supported. And most of studies on stress and health refer to severe stress and deprivation, usually from childhood on. Not to a singular event in life.

Science shows there is no link between psychological stress and increases in platelets. If there were such link, we would know it by now.

There is also no link supported by science between cancer and psychological stress.

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/c...

There are types of Inflammation that, in time, can lead to cancers, but those types of Inflammation are not due to psychological stress. They are due to genetic factors (e.g., genes linked to inflammatory disease, including autoimmunity), due to pathogens (e.g., HPV infections, EBV infections, H.pylori infections, etc.), due to behavioral factors (such as smoking, high alcohol intake, UV exposure, repeated injuries), and due to environmental factors, such as being exposed long-term to substances qualified as carcinogens. Sometimes medication for other diseases can increase the risk for developing cancers.

As my field of research is psychology, it is a bit difficult to see so many myths about psychological stress.

Does stress cause cancer?

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/cancer-myths/can-stress-cause-cancer

Probably just a coincidence for you as, if anti-anxiety medication would reduce platelet count, it would be known by now. But that is not the case. SSRIs do not reduce platelet counts.

Studies do not show psychological stress to increase platelet count to a level that would make a difference in diagnosis. Actually, put together, studies do not find significant differences in platelet count between people who score higher in anxiety or depression and people who do not. Some studies find increases, some studies find decreases, samples are very small. Overall, one cannot say that psychological stress increases platelet count significantly. There is no sound scientific support for that.

What studies agree on is that stress can increase platelet volume (their size), which in turn affects platelet reactivity. This means that, during stress, platelets might be more prone to clump together, more than usual, and also to make platelet-leukocytes aggregates. This means higher clotting risk.
If anything, several studies found lower platelet levels in people with generalised anxiety disorder, because bigger platelet volume is often associated with lower number of platelets.

From one of the studies:
"Also platelet levels were found to be significantly lower in GAD patients in our study. This finding is consistent with the non-linear inverse relation between platelet volume and platelet count."
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24...

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With all due respect, Tia, a quick google search as to whether stress can affect platelet levels gives a resounding “yes”.

There are older studies, but this one I found easily is from 2021:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s1148...

I’m not going to argue this with you again, but the important takeaway, for me, is that we need to be mindful, care for ourselves and be aware that what is going on in our lives can have an impact on our health.

I appreciate your expertise, Tia, and wish you a good holiday,

“Science shows there is no link between psychological stress and increases in platelets. If there were such link, we would know it by now.”

Well, not trying to pick a fight, it would seem to me that this is actually an unknown, as in not something that has yet been scientifically studied.

My point was that sustained physical/emotional stress followed by an increase in platelets and/or other blood counts, which then decrease when mitigated by symptom reducing medication may indicate a cause and effect.

I have had the same experience as Janice reports, likely even more so, and over an extended time period. I only have related issues to extreme stress in hindsight, but I think it’s a noteworthy correlation.

Well, I have a different take on this, not so much a scientific one but a personal one.

Stress can and does profoundly and negatively affect our bodies, that is an established fact. And particularly so for prolonged and severe stress that we must endure and get thru rather than an episode or incident of some sort that passes quickly.

It’s not the meds that reduce our platelets, but the relief from the stress effects that the medications provide.

I read something here about our bodies inflammatory responses to stress, and how that can affect us and our illness, and it was a lightbulb moment for me.

We’re all different, more or less mentally and emotionally resilient based on our individual lives and coping mechanisms.

We have to be able to function, and to rest, is the bottom line, and particularly prolonged stress/anxiety can not only be severely debilitating but negatively impact our bodies in the long term.

Take your meds judiciously, and be grateful for them.

Al the best to you.