Ptsd In Muscles

[Rachel46]

A year on my muscles are still holding the memory, my back is constantly up a notch and shoulders jerk arms flail away from anything close to me and muscles contract at loud noises.

This worsens when I leave the house and my body turns to rock. I am always in discomfort unless I sit or lay as my body won't rest back into position. I take 45mg mirtrazaoine without this I had to hold my sons hand to walk down the road as my muscles were billowing in my back. Therapy has taught me there is no magic wand as the trauma is stored in my body but I have lost my freedom and self to this. I freeze when I walk and am so self conscious of my stiffness and high shoulders it has become debilitating. Only for the love of my family am I still here.

Anyone else improved over time from this state or am I stuck??

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

Hello,

I moved your thread from the Help Desk. The Help Desk is for admin questions, forum help and questions for staff members.

Have you talked with a doctor about all this?

Best wishes.

 

[Rachel46]

Yes nothing can be done, was told may never leave me completely :(

 

[Kas_Can_Fly]

I don't know much about it myself, but reading your post reminded me of TRE - Trauma Release Excercises. They are a type of therapeutic exercise that unlock body memories and supposedly expel negative tension that is stored in your body after trauma, there are some interesting (albeit slightly alarming, watch and see!) videos on YouTube, from people and a polar bear which was quite something. I don't know if you would need a therapist to aid you through this, I should imagine so - to avoid retraumatisation, but maybe it's an idea? Good Luck! :)

 

[silkleaves]

Oh man, I did find the polar bear youtube vid, but when it came upon the woman and seeing her cry, esp to hear her say "wtf is wrong with me", I just couldn't anymore. I have felt that way, and said the exact same things out loud to myself so many times...it was just too hard to watch.

I do believe in trauma being held into the muscles. When I'm really upset, and sometimes even seemingly out of the blue, my entire body is in pain, just like how I felt after I had been beaten. My back kills, my stomach feels like I've been punched, my arms are sore, and I can barely stand, sometimes not at all because my thighs are screaming. It's so scary, and all I can do is curl up and cry, from the pain, from how I know it cant be real but it feels so real.

I'm not sure if this is the same thing...is it? Because I don't think Im releasing any trauma during these episodes, just reliving it.

 

[ghotiff]

In talk therapy there are articles on "reliving" versus "relieving". What they describe is that if therapy moves too fast, talking about the trauma can result in reliving and not relieve ing anything. It would make sense to me for there to be a similar parallel for physical symptom work, so you may need to work on this taking much, much smaller steps. I know when I first started therapy I went way too fast and did myself a lot of damage that I needed to heal from before starting again more slowly.

 

[greenleaf]

I definitely think that you can improve this quite a bit, although it may take a lot of time. Sorry the doctor was pessimistic; perhaps they haven't looked into lots of anecdotal reports? There aren't good studies on a lot of things that help a lot of people, so some doctors ignore a huge number of options. (Unfortunately massage, yoga, and aerobic exercise don't make loads of money for drug companies.)

Is there anything physical that you can do that safely gets your heart rate up for a while? Maybe an elliptical, swimming, or walk on a treadmill slowly with the angle cranked up? It doesn't have to be high-impact. Keep trying physical things until you find one that lets out stress. Ideally it should be something pleasant for you, which gives another positive boost to some brain chemicals.

A doctor told me many years ago that exercise was one of the best things for this severe tension and stress, and I am very grateful to have formed the habit.

Apparently the stress hormones themselves get somewhat used up by exercise, or something like that. I don't know the details chemically, but I feel like my "cup full of stress" goes down by quite a lot with a workout. I can feel more "in" my body, some muscles partly relax. It's not a total cure, it's a symptom management, but it really improves my life.

It sort of makes sense; these are fight/flight hormones, and we probably didn't evolve to be sedentary when we have a lot of them in our systems. They are probably meant to do something to help us run, or for instance for you to hit back at a cave bear with your shoulders and arms, and might be toxic and cause too much tension if we don't move. Just be careful and good to yourself, since tight muscles can get strained if you increase the activity too fast.

There are also somatic therapies and many other non-talk approaches that really deal with the root body connections with trauma too; there are threads here about them I think.[DOUBLEPOST=1401244833,1401244720][/DOUBLEPOST]p.s. there is also this interesting recent article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/a-revolutionary-approach-to-treating-ptsd.html

 

[franciemarnie]

Try somatic therapy. It has removed most of the trauma in my body and most of the discomfort. The trauma energy can be released. A good Somatic Therapist will help you. I got immediate relief and it continues.

 

[Hashi]

nothing can be done, was told may never leave me completely

I'm sorry, but this I think this is such an outrageous comment by the person who told you this. Of course nothing can be done by people who don't know what to do about it.

Something can be done. Somatic therapy is my suggestion too. In my case, it was craniosacral therapy with someone who really understood trauma.

 

[Ladyghosthunter]

I really despise doctors at times. If I were you, go get another opinion as it maybe something that could be helped by muscle relaxants, but I'm not a doctor.

My doctor, who has the personality of wet cement, told me that, because of my panic attacks and osteoarthritis in my knees, I have costochondritis and that is may stay with me forever or leave within 6 months. Great. I can barely lift my arms and the breathing hurts like you know what. She stated that stress can make it worse but yet, I've got PTSD, and that should explain a lot (Fight or Flight reaction). I REFUSE to get another cortisone shot as I've had two in my knees recently along with a gel shot in one of my knees.

Here is what I've got. I do have Nabumetone but it's for my knees, not my chest. I feel like crap today and worse yet, I've got to get rid of crap in my house for a yard sale. I wanna cry.

 

[racquel1x]

Thank you for your responses . I have ordered a somatic DVD to help try to reset muscles in my body and have been ref for physio. I am researching somatic therapists also and hope this would offer some relief as my muscles are still stuck and jumping around. Do I need a somatic therapist that works with trauma particularly? Thanks[DOUBLEPOST=1404812749,1404812599][/DOUBLEPOST]Ps I tried the tre but didn't find it helpful maybe it was too soon but after doing all the exercises pre shaking I found that the shaking took place without doing the exercises also if you layed on the floor in that position much as it does in yoga etc and my belief wasn't strong enough after this. Anything is worth a try though :)

 

[greenleaf]

Hi @racquel1x, I'm very glad you are looking into getting better help, and got a physio ref! If you can find a somatic (or any other) therapist who has trauma training that is often most helpful. But never forget there are other people and approaches out there, plus new research going on all the time.

It may take a while to work this out even with an educated helper, as trauma survivors can all be a bit different.

Not giving up on yourself ever is the best approach, I believe.