Physical Pain From PTSD

[Marlene]

For the longest time, the physical and mental/emotional components of PTSD had been about equal. As I’ve worked on my traumas and moved towards healing I’ve found that the mental/emotional components have become a bit easier to live and deal with. Yes, sometimes I can be knocked on my ass with symptoms. They’re not as severe and I bounce back much quicker than before.

Imagine my surprise when the physical component isn’t following the mental/emotional. While there has been some improvement in the duration of the pain/fatigue/feeling run over by a truck, there’s been no improvement in the amount of it I deal with. Fifteen minutes of high-level anxiety is still followed by hours of aching muscles, lack of energy and that run-over-by-a-truck feeling. If I have a lot of stress or anxiety, it can trigger days of pain. I feel like I’m 85 some days.

Doing everything I’m supposed to do (exercise, eating right, keeping stress down) helps…but only to a point. I’m finding that even a small increase in stress/anxiety causes such a physical reaction in me. Actually the physical part is harder for me to deal with than the mental/emotional part right now.

Is anyone else dealing with anything like this?

Lisa

 

[ms spock]

I did for the longest time Marlene

I don't know how I got better but gradually I just did.

I totally relate to what you are talking about.

ms spock

 

[ghost]

The gift that keeps on giving

Asthma
Muscle spasms
Lost partial sensation and control of my right arm for short while in Feb
Palpitations
Fitness wrecked
Had a few days around June when I felt like I was moving in slow motion - my muscles were weaker and less responsive
Psoriasis - my fingers actually bleed sometimes
Gastro-intestinal pain/tightness
Ocassional chest pain
Blood circulation problems
Reflux

The rest I'd prefer not to mention.

PTSD - truly the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Hen]

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It is completely linked to the PTSD. I also get fatigue also somedays after emotional stress is nasty but it's the pain i hate.

 

[Deleted member 541]

Lisa,

The truck that ran you over....Well he did a U-turn, drove up US 1 and smacked into me a few times.....

When stressed out, later my neck, upper back, and head, pay for it. I have been pretty stressed/anxiety up, and then last night got triggered pretty badly.......This morning, my shoulders feel like I was beaten with a baseball bat, and I have a headache the size of Texas.......

Yes, the gift that keeps on giving.........I would gladly give up all presents for the rest of my life, thank you!!!!!

 

[anni]

Hi,

I did not know anything about physical manifestations of PTSD! I frequently feel as if I've fallen asleep on an interstate somewhere because a truck or two must have hit me. The symptoms Lisa describes fit exactly. I always just thought it was from an endlessly reckless few decades in the horse world and chalked it up to age and old damage.

Thank you for this thread! It just never entered my mind that the PTSD would be responsible for the really dreadful aches I get!

Is it permitted in this forum to mention a name brand of the muscle rub I've found works really well? Besides the generic ibuprofen and hot soaks in the bathtub there are a couple over the years which have gotten me some relief but I'm not sure if it's o.k. to mention brands.

Thanks again for the post!

Anni

 

[Grainne]

Well, my list includes but is (sadly) not limited to: Migraines, tension/cluster headaches, tendonitis, joint pain, sciatic nerve pain, other - random nerve pain, muscle aches/spasms and terrible sleep distrubances (which I know isn't really a 'physical' symptom, but the exhaustion it creates certainly is). My bones literally ache some days...every single one of them. I completely identify with the run over by a truck reference! My physicial symptoms seem to come and go - not enough of the 'pressure' points for a fibro diagnosis, but, I think what I experience is similar, if not quite as severe as a fibro sufferer.

No pain medication works to relieve any of the pain, so I just learn to live with it. I do find, however, that the level of discomfort I am in is in direct proportion to my level of stress.

I'm not certain what ties in with PTSD and what might just be a coincidence, but I've been assessed and discharged by just about every medical service I could think of that might be able to help me figure my symptoms out. The last doc said to me "well, I give up. I have no idea what's wrong with you. I guess you just have random, wide-spread pain, etiology unknown. Better get used to it"

I laughed, cried...lol...and carried on.

 

[Grama-Herc]

Marlene,

Prior to being diagnosed, my mother seriously thought I was exactly like one of her sisters---a real life hypochondriac! I was sick all the time just like her. Of course, I'm still sick all the time and full of aches and pains, like the rest of us.

Stress has a serious and devastating affect on not only our bodies but also our immune system. There are days when I feel like the truck that ran over me was overloaded with concrete. My shoulder muscles are like iron bars, they are so tight
from stress. My neck always aches and the headaches, well need I say more.

Just even so much as a small spell of anxiety/stress/panic can wreck havoc on our bodies. I don't think we will ever be completely free of this. Not as long as PTSD
remains in our life.

We can deep breathe to get through the troubled times. Meditate to help calm ourselves. Even take meds for the pain, but as long as ptsd keeps giving us little jolts of crap, we are gonna ache, hurt and generally feel like s**t. IMHO! :)

 

[dust]

Hi Marlene,

thanks for this post. I experience physical pain too, but it is getting better - doesn't last as long, is less acute and I use visualisation techniques to try to calm myself.

Still, it is hard. And when it is happening it feels like it will never end (I get a build up of tension in my muscles that drives me mad!)

It is all hard to deal with and so slippery... if it isn't one thing it is another. I find I just can't be on top of second guessing it all the time.

Keep on keeping on,

dust

 

[Manic11]

Yes! I definitely know what you mean. I guess part of me new it was linked to my PTSD but I never really acknowledged it.
Especially if my anxiety is high, after a panic attack or dissociation, I feel dizzy, exhausted, sore all over and feel like that same truck ran into me or I ran a 20 day marathon.
I found that sometimes light yoga, meditation or a relaxing bath helps with it.

Hope this helps.
Manic

 

[skyp56]

Hi Marlene
I, too, have aches and pains beyond what I feel I should have for my age--I feel like I'm 153, sometimes, instead of 53.

I also have fibromyalgia. I wonder sometimes if the PTSD caused it, or just triggered it to flare up with stress, as others have mentioned.

It's been recommended to me to use capsazim (sp?) cream. I know I use heat, vibration of a massage cushion, and aspercreme type rub, but haven't been brave enough to use the capsazim on it. That stuff gets HOT!!!!!

So, there must be a whole fleet of trucks that run people like us over, lol! Maybe we can figure out what company they work for and sue them and get rich, tee hee hee!

Seriously, though, I hope for health and healing to you, Marlene, and all the others in so much pain here, on this forum!
{{{{{HUGS}}}}}
skyp56

 

[DreamCatcher]

I also have terrible aches and nerve pains. In my research on fibromyalgia / chronic fatigue I have found that there are a great many similarities in chemical imbalances.
Unfortunately there is no magic cure, but good self care does help, and lots of warm baths with epsom salts helps me!

Love to all