Physical Pain From PTSD

[Lionheart]

I wanted to add that according to head psychiatrist at our local university, as part of my PTSD, my brain is channeling emotional pain, conflict, stress etc., into physical pain. I don't know how common this is, but it kinda bites, as doctors are unwilling to give me medication to help with the pain.

 

[sisyphe]

Does anyone else ever have the problem that you wake up with your entire body aching like you have a really bad flu? Basically, it feels so bad that I feel like I can't move and I just have to go back to sleep until it goes away after a few hours. When it first started happening to me when I was a kid, my mum took me the the doctor after I missed 4 days of school in a row. The doctor said I wasn't really sick and it was just due to stress like she thought it was purely some psychosomatic thing to get out of going to school every day. The thing I don't get is this is still happening to me fairly often, even when there's nothing I want to get myself out of doing, and it feels so horrible that it's impossible for me to believe it's just psychosomatic.

 

[anni]

Hi Sisyphe,

I'm not positive but I think you can let yourself off the hook on the whole psychsomatic thing. There's a difference between the pain your body insists on giving you as part of PTSD and the pain in a psychosomatic illness. I hate to expand on a subject I am in no way a qualified professional about but from what I've read there really is a difference.

For instance, you'll probably read in this forum of people who have neck pain, heart valve problems and migraines, among many other things. These are genuine biogenic results of the stress hormones doing things like making your heart beat too hard for long periods of time, etc. You are probably having very real manifestations of harm done to your body through your neurological system.

I THINK psychosomatic pain is when your brain convinces your body there IS harm done when there really isn't anything there. It seems to be a different kind of neurological glitch.

With PTSD, we (you) have so much to deal with. Trust your instincts when you say 'it's impossible for me to believe it's psychosomatic'. Just be very kind to yourself and know you're not at all alone! :)

I might be wrong, in which case more knowledgable people will no doubt correct me. I did just wish you to know that PTSD wrecks havoc on the human body, and hope you find some relief for your symptoms very soon! :)

Take care!

Anni

 

[onebravegirl]

Here is my theory.
You know the fight or flight reaction that we have when in danger? PTSD stirs up those terrifying emotions. After I would have an "episode" of anxiety my muscles would feel very sore. If we were physically running in panic, lactic acid lubricates the muscles so you can run faster, our brain tells the body to produce it. Once that acid cools down after we have stopped it makes the muscles sore.
There was this study done in a Florida University that analyzed the chemical make up of tears. The results for tears of joy and tears of sorrow were completely different. Our brains creates different chemicals depending on the thought behind the emotion. Cool eh?
So I just wonder if maybe when we are in the panic mode our brain actually could be producing the chemicals needed to actually flee our emotional fear. I am sure it is debatable, I am not a medical professional. But in my experience if we think it we feel it.
Dead Sea Salts in a warm bath suck the ache out of every bone and muscle in my body immediately, you might want to try some. Most health food stores sell them.:thumbs-up
O

 

[madjon]

I have had a nasty headache for two days, my muscles have knots in, and i feel tired, just some of a number of things that can happen when i get stressed above my 'normal' stress levels.

 

[Marlene]

Wow...lots of responses since the last time I checked! Seems chronic pain and chronic fatigue are just another fun, fun part of the PTSD party we've all been invited to. I figure between keeping the ibuprofen companies in business and keeping the stock up on heating pad companies...I'm just doing my part of help the economy. *rolling eyes*

Lisa

 

[steffi]

Hello, I'm new to this.
I often go three or four days feeling ok and then something seemingly small will trigger me and my whole body - especially back, neck and shoulders - will suddenly lock. It is painful but what I find most difficult about it, is that it alters my mood too, I emotionally can not relax because my body is in this spasm, and the spasm can last for a number of days. The only thing that I have found that unravels it is a proper sauna treatment - including, a freezing cold shower or plunge pool at intervals (so sauna, then cold shower, then steam room, then ice plunge pool, then sauna again, and another cold plunge pool). THe heat really helps but somehow the cold really gets into the muscles and really helps to release them. Also Bikram yoga helps. I find the whole muscle lock thing difficult because it is unpredictable, and I can be feeling fine and then suddenly my whole day is ruined, I lose all my confidence - I seem to turn (inwardly) into a child.

 

[Seneca]

I've actually been curious about this phenomenon lately. I know headaches are common, but I never get headaches. What I DO get are random, faint twinges of pain all over my torso whenever I'm thinking about certain things. They get worse the longer I keep up the thinking. It's almost like my subconscious is faking a heart attack to scare me into not dealing with things.

 

[theworrier73]

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

I have all of the same symptoms and more.

 

[Traumagirl]

My doctor labels my pain as fibromyalgia and clumps it with my chronic fatigue. Then he tells me that he has no medications that will work for the pain. He gives me more stress relief strategies, but after trying them all, I know they are not enough. The pain is always worse at the end of the day and I have a really hard time putting my kids to bed.

 

[monsterme]

I have all over joint pain and sometimes it feels like all of the tendons hurt, too. I never test positive for the inflammation markers. This pain seems to come and go with regularity since I was 14 years old and I'm now 59. I've had CPTSD , probably for decades and was only recently diagnosed. The pain flares are really annoying. Sometimes even sheets hurt and the only way to stop the pain is movement. Right now all of my fingers hurt, knees , ankles and everything in between. I even dropped the kitten the other day because my thumbs went.

 

[racquel1x]

I have been disabled physically from ptsd for the past year. I held my anxiety in my muscles and it will not release, although I have sorted the mental side my body will not let it go. My right shoulder physically jerks up and down to every little noise, my upper body is like concrete physically contracting and moving all day. I get electric tingling . Contractions in my back, darts and shocks through my body. I am only up a couple hours before the pain takes over as the hardened muscles pull me forward and pull on my spine. I am going to ask my dr to refer me to a physio to get assessed and think about some kind of body brace to hold me upright as I have to spend most of the day laying down. It has stolen my life :(