General Physical Symptoms

[Sighs]

My vet suffers from a lot of physical symptoms. I know that when he is in physical pain his PTSD crankiness flares up - hell we all feel more irritable when we are in pain. I'm sure that some of his physical pain is due to / contributed to by his PTSD because I think the mind and the body are more connected than we understand. But having said that if you break your ankle you break your ankle - PTSD or not. He has a lot of spurs in his spine and hips, a knee reconstruction that didn't turn out so well and the buggered ankle. He was a paratrooper for many years - the human body is not designed to hit the ground that hard that often! He also suffers from headaches almost every day and sometimes a strange pain in and around his eyesocket which the doctors can't explain.

I have got him an inversion table for his back and offer to massage his back and hips almost every night. He won't let me very often - I think he sees it as a sign of weakness or something? Any suggestions which might help would be gratefully received.

 

[Justmehere]

I can tell you care about him a lot. That's really kind of you to be willing to do for him.

PTSD or not, it's very natural to "guard" something that hurts. With PTSD, it's also very hard to be touched even when people are not in pain. PTSD also can do a number on senses, and people are really sensitive to all kinds of stimulus. An inversion table that hangs someone down head first could easily be overwhelming.

It can also be a trigger to be positioned in that way.

It can also be a thing where people with PTSD don't want to feel "weak" - but it's not just simple pride. "weakness" and being vulnerable has been a very real life or death danger in the past. Feeling week again can be massively terrifying.

There is also the very real possibility that such somatic work could unintentionally release a lot of locked up trauma energy, which can be re-traumatizing for a sufferer (and even a supporter) if both people don't understand heats happening and how to handle it and process it. If it doesn't happen fast, sometimes it can happen slowly and leave people feeling bad afterwards.

I would recommend reading the book The Body Bears the Burden by dr scaer for more info on how trauma is somatically stored in the body and the best ways to handle it.

And keep talking to him, when he is ready, so that he can best explain what helps him.

I commend you for your efforts to understand PTSD and him better!

 

[bell]

Is there a way you can make the massage seem more sensual (not necessarily sexual) and less therapeutic? Oils, mayhaps?

 

[Sighs]

@Justmehere - he likes the inversion table and uses that quite often. Thank you for the insight about feeling weak. I had seen it as a bit of a male pride/ego thing but of course you are right - feeling weak could be a trigger as it must be terrifying to be in a battle and feel your physical strength ebb. I will try and get a copy of the book you recommended.

@bell - lol - I tell him all the time that I want to rub his back because I love touching him not because his back is sore! I also tell him its not fair for a body to look so good and yet cause him pain!

 

[bell]

Just curious, how does he react when you tell him that? Does it make things better? Or worse?

 

[Sighs]

@bell - Every time I compliment him on his physicality he says "no I'm not - I'm old and tired". Every time I compliment him on something else (like being smart or hard working etc) he says "don't know about that". He usually does let me rub his back once I've convinced him its not a bother and he's not being a burden and that its something I like doing for him.

 

[Chava]

Maybe a sign of weakness or maybe it hurts. Massage is usually not good for me. I got a really good massage once and woke up at 3am wanting to kill myself. Another gentle massage blew up into full-body pain. Sorry I don't have much to offer. I've looked at those inversion tables....even without adding massage, but just laying on them, are they helpful for pain? I have chronic upper back pain and need to find any reason I can tolerate to just lay down and rest.

 

[Sighs]

The inversion table feels a bit weird to start with but if your back issues are about compression of the spine nothing seems to open up the vertebra as well as hanging upside down. You don't have to lie on it for ages - literally get on, flip upside down, count to 20 and flip up again. Repeat a couple of times then you're done for the day. You don't lay on them to rest though so not sure if its what you're looking for. I don't have major back problems but when I use it I can feel my lower back and pelvis open up and relax. Not sure how it would go for upper back pain - depends on the cause of your pain. Worth trying if you can get access to one without having to buy. Not that expensive once you know it helps you.