Physical maladies from ptsd?

[cupfish]

My husband and I both have PTSD. I am a little ahead of him in my recognition and healing. He has a history of driving himself really hard, to ensure he is never criticized, not a weak link, he's the guy doing the most the fastest the best. (In other words he was trying to insulate himself from any kind of disapproval at huge cost to his stress levels.) Over the years his back has gone out when stressed. With his former mate it happened a lot and got worse. With me it virtually disappeared. Recently he has progressed in his healing so that he no longer has "super triggers" that last days/weeks and nearly cause us to split, push him back into that really dark PTSD place. He is learning that his real circumstances in life are pretty good, and there is no reason to panic and overwork and do the hardest jobs on the planet. Yay. This is huge. Last week his back went out and he is stewing in his own juices over why? I am fairly certain that PTSD is so insidious that if my husband no longer allows his diseased/hyper-vigilant brain to produce super triggers the remaining poison is channeling itself to his back, reminding him that HE BETTER NOT LET HIS GUARD DOWN DAMMIT. Has anyone else experienced a re-channeling of PTSD internal triggers? Or physical manifestations of the disease similar to this?

 

[Silver.]

I go through the exact same thing. All of my stress manifests itself into my back, in the form of muscle spasms. My rheumatologist (because I have multiple site arthritis and osteoarthritis and an auto-immune disease) treats this, with muscle relaxers. I weaned myself off klonopin from February to March, and it put in 9 spasms that he counted, it was the stress of going off the klonopin. He also told me it's pretty common for people to "throw their stress into their backs". Yoga, specifically geared for back pain, and a bead heating pad have been my rescues throughout the years. I don't have any remedies on how to stop doing it unfortunately because I still do it :/ But I wanted to comment because I go through this, my doctor recognizes it as being a legit reason this happens, and to let you know you two are not alone in this. I hope I have helped even a little x

 

[cupfish]

I go through the exact same thing. All of my stress manifests itself into my back, in the form of mus...

Of course this helps!!

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes @cupfish same for me, & same as @Silver-Ir , plus stomach, migraines etc.

I do find ptsd kind of like, tries to take you (me) down, no matter what. Almost like it is trying to wipe me out.

Yoga, specifically geared for back pain

Could I just ask where to find this? (Thank you.)

Hugs to you both. :hug: Really wears you out.

 

[Silver.]

I actually was talking with someone else last week about the yoga I do for sciatic. So I will include that here, just in case that comes up for anyone.
https://yogainternational.com/article/view/7-poses-to-soothe-sciatica

the spinal twist and the seated twist are my two favorites on there. There is some pop ups on that page, I run adblock there. I also do getting down on all fours, and arching then relaxing for 10-30 seconds each (depending on how I am feeling).

this one I really like #1, 2, 3, (4 makes the blood rush, but it does work), 5 and 10: Dead Link Removed

this link has some harder poses, if you are adept at yoga. I sometimes do them if I am feeling in the mood, but I am not super flexible due to everything, going on. There are a few repeats like the sciatic link, that's how I know they work :) : http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/yoga-poses-for-back-pain/

And if you are in the mood for some light exercise, I like doing #2 and # 6 http://www.fitwirr.com/fitness/-6-exercises-relieve-your-back-pain-and-strengthen-

I hope some of these will be of some help to you x

 

[Tinyflame]

Thank you so much @Silver-lr , I have saved it to check out tonight. That is so kind. And such funny timing- I was just thinking I should try to find exactly that, & someone else also said I should take up yoga. Thank you. :hug: Have had sciatica but other parts are even worse (for me).

 

[Silver.]

Definitely! I haven't found anything to help with the migraines, I am even doing neck stretches and exercises, but I still have to rely on imitrex for them :/
They wanted me to take something (I don't remember what) as a prevention for migraines. It was a 4 times a day med, and I said no thanks. I could never remember to take something that often. So right now it's just managing them.

When I first started yoga I was thinking, yeah right, it's not going to help. The more I did it, the more I enjoyed it. I like to throw on music, and I get to sort out my day in my head, go over whatever I dreamed of the night before etc, a bit of meditation, so it's rather nice. I think the hardest part of yoga is worrying if you are getting the pose/stretch right. I was always thinking, look at the pose, do it, scroll, to another one, repeat...But I memorized the ones that work fairly easily (and my brain is wonky so that's a bit of a small miracle :P )
Would love to hear about your progress with it! x

 

[Crow]

These days when my back seizes up, I call T for an emergency appointment. One session with her and my back is perfectly fine compared to going to the ER where they think I'm just trying to get muscle relaxers and don't believe there's a problem. I know I have said this over and over, but Somatic Experiencing is the best trauma therapy around for me. In the past, I wouldn't be able to stand up or walk down stairs for weeks. Now, 60 or 90 minutes and everything is relaxed and I'm pain free.

 

[Crow]

Oh and chelated magnesium has helped immensely too.

 

[Silver.]

but Somatic Experiencing is the best trauma therapy

I looked into this after I saw you post it (somewhere else? I can't recall)
Where I live, there is one practitioner within an hour drive, they don't take insurance. If it was local, I would seriously consider trying to find a way to make it work, because it does sound pretty great.

 

[Crow]

I gotta tell you @Silver-lr , I lived 58 miles from my trauma T for several years. It was worth the drive. And yeah. The good trauma specialists never seem to take insurance. I get about 30% back from my provider....it's something I guess. But yeah, I drove nearly 3 hours roundtrip for several years and well worth it to my health.

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes I think it's the same with the migraines. Mine are getting increasingly worse.