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The physical side effects of ptsd…

Told my PCP my hands were going numb. She said it could be anything and told me not to worry about it.

I get this as well. I was diagnosed with Functional Neurologic Disorder as a child (what used to be conversion disorder, now more understood as what happens to the brain when it is traumatized extensively). Gabapentin can absolutely help with the nerve stuff. I always know when I am about to be in a world of shit because my hands instantly go numb and lock up into painful positions. I can't even type properly.
 
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 feel like you're telling my story too. The anorexia is what I will die from eventually. All the rest of it is a nightmare but the anorexia is always in the background, slowly depriving me of the strength to continue. I have constant muscle pain and don't sleep well. Whenever I'm struggling with the ptsd I stop eating and there's nothing to help it. I used to be overweight and people constantly asked me how I was losing weight, what's my secret? I would tell them that I couldn't eat because of stress, and they would laugh and wish it would happen to them too. Stupid.
I appreciate your insights. It's nice to not feel alone.
 
get this as well. I was diagnosed with Functional Neurologic Disorder as a child (what used to be conversion disorder, now more understood as what happens to the brain when it is traumatized extensively).
Oh I’ve just been diagnosed with this! I was explained that it was functional (no head or spine injury) and my pdoc has hypothesised it’s to do with trauma stuff… I was hoping it wasn’t yet another thing trauma has done to mez currently can’t walk so wheelchair-bound. Please tell me it gets better?! I’m reminding myself it’s just temporary but I’m not actually convinced.

Sorry to infest this thread, just had to ask
 
It does get better. It's tied to my state of mind and PTSD symptoms so when I am medicated and stable it's much less of a problem
I’m medicated, but maybe things need tweaking. Maybe my brain just needed a break from my legs, or maybe it’s my brains way of punishing for going out and having fun a couple weeks ago (symptoms started a couple days after). Thanks for the hope though. I’m getting shortlisted for physio, hopefully that helps.
 
Yup got a chronic illness caused by it. Called Addison's disease or Adrenal insufficiency, and its autoimmune.

In short - body keeps flooding itself with cortisol to create homeostasis. Eventually - it leads to where the body says "I cant be this badly hurt and survive all this time" and rather than shut it down it creates antibodies to eat it.

So now my cortisol comes from a bottle.......and my immune response comes from the same bottle.
 
Have others noticed any of this?
LMAO… I’m constantly doing the A&P cliff-notes for the sympathetic v parasympathetic, autonomic v somatic, etc. round these parts. One of these days I’ll just mock up a stock-reply complete with pictures, but there are so many different facets that can be problematic for different people at different time that individual reply has just made more sense.

***

I was incredibly lucky, when my life first went sideways, that everyone around me was doing the exact same thing. I didn’t realize at the time, how normalizing what’s hard is such a gift. The more I learned? The more normal things became.

It was only much later I came up against individuals who’d always been swimming upstream.

Least I can do is kick the same knowledge sent my way. No one needs fear of the unknown, the strange, the different… added to what’s already hard work & hard won.
 
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The Body does indeed Keep The Score!
Such a brilliant book! I’ve recommended it to most of my clinicians and suggested sharing it with MH staff, especially those who definitely work with survivors (whether disclosed trauma or not). It was such a concise and validating look at trauma, where most I’ve read are specific to certain types of trauma or certain treatments or medical aspects.
 
So many in such a brief time.
I have chronic pain from non-trauma causes, though it’s exacerbated when in ptsd flare and according to my pain specialist the pain sensitisation is likely more pronounced because of the trauma responses in my body.

Definitely gut is rarely discussed, but makes sense. Without details, IBS and chronic nausea (not just reflux) I’ve been told are linked to the traumas. Then the inflammations (partially due to another condition but exacerbated and/or triggered by the traumas) and idiopathic conditions.

Then the medical misunderstanding of sleep. I got lucky with a GP a decade ago who before leaving the country put me in touch with a few specialists (wish there was a speciality in medicine for trauma that looks at the whole body impacts), and found out my ‘insomnia’ and other sleep symptoms were largely from what they’ve called alpha-intrusions, which stops me dreaming and getting restful sleep, and most commonly occurs in trauma survivors or those with chronic pain, and working with the GABA receptors seems to help on that.

Amazing how many people we can end up seeing for different body systems where the causes are largely because of, triggered by or exacerbated by trauma.

I know of Addison’s amongst other endocrine disorders, not fun.
And yes, a summary would be fab but the way our bodies display the physical reactions can be so varied it’s harder to keep below a thesis or few worth of information.

Sometimes I find the physical reactions harder than the flashbacks, yet psychiatrists I’ve encountered largely look only at the ‘psych’ symptoms and psych meds. Guess still a relatively new area in relation to medical understanding, at least apart from a handful of clinicians. Wish there were more studies on the physical reactions, it would help guide treatments to include the whole body especially if an option early in the treatment process, though took me over a decade of misdiagnosis of the psych side before a younger psychiatrist recognised it.
 
Oh I’ve just been diagnosed with this! I was explained that it was functional (no head or spine injury) and my pdoc has hypothesised it’s to do with trauma stuff… I was hoping it wasn’t yet another thing trauma has done to mez currently can’t walk so wheelchair-bound. Please tell me it gets better?! I’m reminding myself it’s just temporary but I’m not actually convinced.

Sorry to infest this thread, just had to ask
Not at all infesting the thread…I couldn’t see one on the physical aspects associated with trauma hence started this, plus I may be new to this forum but I know my trauma mind wants to keep saying sorry even for literally nothing, so don’t worry about joining and asking. We’re all dealing with various aspects of the same thing, being trauma survivors, so welcome to the thread.

As to neurological conditions, some doctors are catching on that trauma can cause a variety of issues physically, and there’s neuroplasticity that’s being researched further which might be part of what the physio would be incorporating without fully saying. Hope it helps and I’ll leave that to others with experience of the same/similar condition, but welcome to the thread of the less discussed physical aspects of ptsd 🌺
 
Thought of another…grinding in my sleep, much more severe when my ptsd is flaring (as confirmed by my ex), and even in countries with supposed universal healthcare (eg Oz) dental isn’t always covered and wait lists if eligible for public care are very lengthy so I usually grind through my guard and can have to wait over a year for a moulding. Last guard coincided with trauma flare and I was lucky I had follow up already booked to check fitting with use, I literally wore through the guard in 3mths because of the body’s trauma reaction during my sleep, not looking at sleep quality.
So many physical issues from trauma and so many specialists 🤷‍♀️
 
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