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Psychosomatic symptoms (e.g. pain) and EMDR

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Juso

MyPTSD Pro
Hey guys,

I have the general impression that since I've started doing EMDR therapy some months ago, I began to gradually feel more psychosomatic symptoms (e.g. bone pain in hands, arms, feet and legs, pain in my lower abdomen, intense itching and violent scratching, ect). Can anyone relate?

Thanks;blank;
 
oh ya.. hands go numb, lose my voice, achey all over....all part of the fun of EMDR.
If it goes on for more than a day or so after your session let your T know - she may need to back off on the intensity to get your brain/emotions/body caught up with each other
 
@Freida Thanks for your reply😌In my case it does not happen directly after or during the session (tho sometimes it does too) - it just happens increasingly more on average since I started doing EMDR therapy. Does that make sense?
 
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Yep!

My fibro will often act up if I've had a couple rough sessions in a row but it sometimes takes a couple days to really hit me.
I think it has to do with the stress/inflammation connection. I sometimes forget how really, really stressful emdr is and that it activates my fight or flight response and dumps a crap ton of adrenaline into my system. After a while that builds up and wham!!!!! I'm down on the couch and trying to back track what set it off. Especially in the beginning before I figured out which self care routine would help.
 
I think it has to do with the stress/inflammation connection.
That makes sense!
For me it feels like something is coming out of my body - but the process of pulling it out is painful and lenghty. Sometimes I also think EMDR just reveals parts of me/lets them speak.
Thanks❤️
 
Yep!

My fibro will often act up if I've had a couple rough sessions in a row but it sometimes takes a couple days to really hit me.
I think it has to do with the stress/inflammation connection. I sometimes forget how really, really stressful emdr is and that it activates my fight or flight response and dumps a crap ton of adrenaline into my system. After a while that builds up and wham!!!!! I'm down on the couch and trying to back track what set it off. Especially in the beginning before I figured out which self care routine would help.
Hi Frieda. I just did my first EMDR and I’m in so much physical pain now I think I might be having a fibromyalgia flare up and I don’t have fibromyalgia! It’s been a week and I’m still very achy. What’s an example of self care that helped you? Thanks!
 
My go to right afterwards are epsom salt baths. 2 or 3 cups into hot water - soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Sucks the pain out pretty quickly.

1 Tylenol and 1 motrin before the appt can help, then some yoga and light meals for the next day or so.

Make sure your t knows you are having pain. That's really going to be the most helpful self care -- don't try to tough stuff out. Let her know how you feel between treatments so she can adjust what you are working on during the sessions.

Stick with it! It's a bit of trial and error at the beginning but it does get easier 😊
 
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My go to right afterwards are epsom salt baths. 2 or 3 cups into hot water - soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Sucks the pain out pretty quickly.

1 Tylenol and 1 motrin before the appt can help, then some yoga and light meals for the next day or so.

Make sure your t knows you are having pain. That's really going to be the most helpful self care -- don't try to tough stuff out. Let her know how you feel between treatments so she can adjust what you are working on during the sessions.

Stick with it! It's a bit of trial and error at the beginning but it does get easier 😊
Thank you so much😊
 
When you shake the EMDR tree, lots of stuff falls out. Learning how to manage your Stress Cup (go to Articles on the blue menu bar above) and grounding are pretty big skills that help too.
In my case, most of my physical pain really was all in my head. Body memories, recalled pain, your mind can do some not nice things to you. Keeping your stress cup from overflowing is a big thing, a really big thing. As is grounding. It can help you function better and be able to cut off psychosomatic symptoms.

Think about your mind like a computer. Following an EMDR session your brain is running this huge program that is going through your memories changing how you feel about them to get them to process. Just like when your computer is processing lots of stuff the rest of the system is slow - the same happens with your brain. Being overwhelmed is a common thing after heavy sessions. Siphoning off stress and keeping grounded are very important because stuff you didn't expect will show up. You are changing how you feel about all of your memories. When the pain in those memories is reduced they suddenly seem to show up out of nowhere. Being prepared to deal with them is one of my keys to functioning better day to day.
 
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