The physical side effects of ptsd…

[Freddyt]

Exactly.
Been stuck in this vicious cycle: physical symptoms (Heart Arrhythmia, immune system deficiency, fibromyalgia…), physicians/urgent care, then tests, then being referred to psych/counseling, and then back to physicians/urgent care…and then repeat.

Sad because traditional medicine is trying to fix the results not the problem.....

 

[LME42]

Sad because traditional medicine is trying to fix the results not the problem.....

Right. Temporary bandaid with major side effects.
As for the psych: cognitive and talk therapy (3 solid specialized psychologists) proved not effective. Their Adv: Alt therapies such as Ketamine and Psilocybin …

 

[Friday]

@LME42 psilocybin can be fun, but it’s peculiar that either mushrooms or ketamine would be recommended to someone with a heart condition.

 

[LME42]

@LME42 psilocybin can be fun, but it’s peculiar that either mushrooms or ketamine would be recommended to someone with a heart condition.

Heart issues, come and go. All trigger-correlated. It goes like this: Trigger-BP goes to the roof, heart arrhythmia, tremors come back, night terrors, immune system goes down, shingles attack … then, the flat period with no major symptoms other than the chronic insomnia and general numbness.

 

[enough]

my body has been trained to strike me with pain in order to be satiated by opiates. Opiates gave me passage through some pretty extensive injuries and recoveries, but along the way my brain has learned that just being under the load of PTSD isnt enough, it has to cause physical pain to get the opiates that relieve the PTSD symptoms.
Nice try brain, really a great trick but seen it and recognize it, so knock it off and settle for a benzo, no opiates for you, you big faker.
I was trained that the psychosomatic pain i saw in the course of being a first responder should always be treated as real. In a triage situation it could be passed over for another victims very real pain, but in a situation with a one to one ratio victim to responder, all pain was real and treated as such.
After figuring out what my brain was able to subject me to, I will tell you that psychosomatic pain is as real as it ever gets, the nerves are screaming and you are listening.

 

[LME42]

my body has been trained to strike me with pain in order to be satiated by opiates. Opiates gave me passage through some pretty extensive injuries and recoveries, but along the way my brain has learned that just being under the load of PTSD isnt enough, it has to cause physical pain to get the opiates that relieve the PTSD symptoms.
Nice try brain, really a great trick but seen it and recognize it, so knock it off and settle for a benzo, no opiates for you, you big faker.
I was trained that the psychosomatic pain i saw in the course of being a first responder should always be treated as real. In a triage situation it could be passed over for another victims very real pain, but in a situation with a one to one ratio victim to responder, all pain was real and treated as such.
After figuring out what my brain was able to subject me to, I will tell you that psychosomatic pain is as real as it ever gets, the nerves are screaming and you are listening.

I know what you mean.

In September 2022, threw out all bottles: Alprazolam, Lorazepam, …

For insomnia, I only take edible 1:1 CBD-THC. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
As for pain: I treat it as a stimuli that makes me feel miserable, but alive. Because without it I usually feel mostly detached/numb.

I have 3 more “alternatives” on my list left (possibly to be tried): EMDR, Psilocybin, Ketamine (not likely, since, from what I’ve gathered, mainly for depression).

 

[ColinKevin]

I know what you mean.

In September 2022, threw out all bottles: Alprazolam, Lorazepam, …

For insomnia, I only take edible 1:1 CBD-THC. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
As for pain: I treat it as a stimuli that makes me feel miserable, but alive. Because without it I usually feel mostly detached/numb.

I have 3 more “alternatives” on my list left (possibly to be tried): EMDR, Psilocybin, Ketamine (not likely, since, from what I’ve gathered, mainly for depression).

Dr Celia Morgan (UK based) is one of the fascinating researchers in to ketamine. Particularly for addictions, or rather the pain underlying the need to medicate.

 

[Paul007]

So much is discussed about the I guess psych symptoms of ptsd that the physical symptoms get missed out.

I’m in a flare at present and it’s reminding me how much more goes on. I’m not a Dr, I was a nurse and have done lots of reading and discussions with clinicians on a colleague level in symptom lulls, but so many in the medical model are so over-specialised they forget the basics and big picture.

In short we get an activation of the sympathetic nervous system that doesn’t subside, combined with increased and prolonged release of things like adrenaline and cortisol. It’s no wonder that I forget to eat or feel nauseous eating, or that my senses are alert to basically everything and muscle tension lingers, and staying so heightened is exhausting so fatigue or plummets/crashes happen (like panic attacks more like hyperarousal attacks that last hours and feel like ordeals, then I get home or somewhere ‘safe’ and fall asleep regardless of the time because I’m exhausted trying to function despite the panic). The whole system can be stuck in fight/flight mode, during which blood flow is decreased to areas like digestion so constipation then ‘letting loose’, struggling to remember to eat or keep food down. In my case before I understood any of this I tried to cope with my trauma and ptsd symptoms by using what became anorexia (I literally wanted to slip through the floorboard cracks to escape the perps), and later the starvation mindset helped cut off the flashbacks/hyperarousal/etc as I was focusing on eating disorder behaviours compulsively (like counting and excessive exercise which released the pent up flight/fight energy). I’m in recovery or recovered from anorexia now but my body remembers and the triggering of the body’s trauma response triggers all those physical symptoms and others, not just the ‘psych’ symptoms commonly talked about.

Have others noticed any of this? I have some techniques to try and manage them, but it’s such a challenge, sometimes even to have a drink during those more acute heightened episodes.

Hello I read your post and I have same symptoms and I was interested in the techniques you mentioned can you please give me more information thank you

So much is discussed about the I guess psych symptoms of ptsd that the physical symptoms get missed out.

I’m in a flare at present and it’s reminding me how much more goes on. I’m not a Dr, I was a nurse and have done lots of reading and discussions with clinicians on a colleague level in symptom lulls, but so many in the medical model are so over-specialised they forget the basics and big picture.

In short we get an activation of the sympathetic nervous system that doesn’t subside, combined with increased and prolonged release of things like adrenaline and cortisol. It’s no wonder that I forget to eat or feel nauseous eating, or that my senses are alert to basically everything and muscle tension lingers, and staying so heightened is exhausting so fatigue or plummets/crashes happen (like panic attacks more like hyperarousal attacks that last hours and feel like ordeals, then I get home or somewhere ‘safe’ and fall asleep regardless of the time because I’m exhausted trying to function despite the panic). The whole system can be stuck in fight/flight mode, during which blood flow is decreased to areas like digestion so constipation then ‘letting loose’, struggling to remember to eat or keep food down. In my case before I understood any of this I tried to cope with my trauma and ptsd symptoms by using what became anorexia (I literally wanted to slip through the floorboard cracks to escape the perps), and later the starvation mindset helped cut off the flashbacks/hyperarousal/etc as I was focusing on eating disorder behaviours compulsively (like counting and excessive exercise which released the pent up flight/fight energy). I’m in recovery or recovered from anorexia now but my body remembers and the triggering of the body’s trauma response triggers all those physical symptoms and others, not just the ‘psych’ symptoms commonly talked about.

Have others noticed any of this? I have some techniques to try and manage them, but it’s such a challenge, sometimes even to have a drink during those more acute heightened episodes.

Do the PTSD symptoms and the trama and effects die down in time and the trama and PTSD is livable with the symptoms and not dreading the PTSD effects?

 

[Freddyt]

Do the PTSD symptoms and the trama and effects die down in time and the trama and PTSD is livable with the symptoms and not dreading the PTSD effects?

Realistically, you can. You can get better at managing your everyday. That's lots of what we do here is work on making our everyday better.

Therapy happens in its own time. Try to push it and rush it and you end up going at the same pace anyway - just with more trouble for yourself.

Making your everyday better is largely in your control. My thing is - I worry about my everyday, and let my T help me with therapy. It's what I found works best, because the better I make my everyday the more work we can do in therapy.

 

[Paul007]

So much is discussed about the I guess psych symptoms of ptsd that the physical symptoms get missed out.

I’m in a flare at present and it’s reminding me how much more goes on. I’m not a Dr, I was a nurse and have done lots of reading and discussions with clinicians on a colleague level in symptom lulls, but so many in the medical model are so over-specialised they forget the basics and big picture.

In short we get an activation of the sympathetic nervous system that doesn’t subside, combined with increased and prolonged release of things like adrenaline and cortisol. It’s no wonder that I forget to eat or feel nauseous eating, or that my senses are alert to basically everything and muscle tension lingers, and staying so heightened is exhausting so fatigue or plummets/crashes happen (like panic attacks more like hyperarousal attacks that last hours and feel like ordeals, then I get home or somewhere ‘safe’ and fall asleep regardless of the time because I’m exhausted trying to function despite the panic). The whole system can be stuck in fight/flight mode, during which blood flow is decreased to areas like digestion so constipation then ‘letting loose’, struggling to remember to eat or keep food down. In my case before I understood any of this I tried to cope with my trauma and ptsd symptoms by using what became anorexia (I literally wanted to slip through the floorboard cracks to escape the perps), and later the starvation mindset helped cut off the flashbacks/hyperarousal/etc as I was focusing on eating disorder behaviours compulsively (like counting and excessive exercise which released the pent up flight/fight energy). I’m in recovery or recovered from anorexia now but my body remembers and the triggering of the body’s trauma response triggers all those physical symptoms and others, not just the ‘psych’ symptoms commonly talked about.

Have others noticed any of this? I have some techniques to try and manage them, but it’s such a challenge, sometimes even to have a drink during those more acute heightened episodes.

I have symptoms similar to what you have wrote on and the flashbacks are the worst as I have them alot

 

[The_One]

I think my lower back pain obviously was caused by an accident I had while working but it flares up every once in a while and I’v had a cyst removed with my tube and ovary. It did traumatize me. Now I’m going to get fertility testing and guess what’s back? The lower back pain. Muscle pain, cramping of the muscles. On the side that had the left tube and ovary which is gone. I just think it’s funny.

 

[Freddyt]

I think my lower back pain obviously was caused by an accident I had while working but it flares up every once in a while and I’v had a cyst removed with my tube and ovary. It did traumatize me. Now I’m going to get fertility testing and guess what’s back? The lower back pain. Muscle pain, cramping of the muscles. On the side that had the left tube and ovary which is gone. I just think it’s funny.

I lived with a ton of back pain and back tightness/spasms - near debilitating at times. Thought it was all from a cartilage problem in my SI from years ago.

Most of it - was muscle tension from PTSD. It near disappeared after I found my original trauma. Still has arthritis in it because its been injured for so long but it's not affecting my life like it did for 40 years now.