Trauma has profound impacts on our bodies, or as Bessel van der Kolk says, the body keeps the score. I know it all too well. Glancing at a list of the effects reads like part of my health bio. Two on the list stand out to me: autoimmune disorders and gastrointestinal disorders. I have asthma and eczema, two autoimmune disorders. I also have acid reflux. My body has indeed kept the score.
Trauma can also cause tension in the shoulders and jaw, and a feeling of being disconnected from the body. As a result, trauma survivors are often not able to relax. I struggle to relax. I constantly feel tension in my body, particularly in my neck and shoulders.
Our brains send signals to our bodies. With trauma, the brain goes into fight, flight, or freeze mode, also known as survival mode, which can lead to chronic fatigue, sleep problems, muscle tension, headaches, digestive problems, rapid heart rate, and blood pressure changes. The amygdala, our brain’s danger detector, becomes more reactive after trauma, while the region that processes memory and context, the hippocampus, often struggles to separate present occurrences from past memories.
While not all of the effects can be healed by processing the trauma, some can. I had high blood pressure until two or three months into EMDR therapy. Nearly two years later, my blood pressure is in a good range.
Healing My Body
I’m still tense and struggle to relax. I started meditating again because I know it helps calm my mind, which in turn calms my body. I also still have allergies and asthma. I’m doing immunotherapy for my allergies, which means biweekly shots, and I will have surgery to clear up my severely congested nose. My asthma has improved significantly since I started receiving allergy shots. I am doing all I can to undo the damage trauma has done to my body.
At the end of the day, when I lay my head on the pillow, I know that I am doing all I can to recover mentally, emotionally, and physically from the effects of trauma. And that is all I can do. My best is good enough for me to heal.
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I created a separate newsletter called Life Worth Living to offer email courses on trauma recovery and other personal development topics. The first course, Healing From Trauma, includes journal prompts. When you sign up for the newsletter, you will be directed to subscribe to the course.
Makes sense. I have anxiety issues cuz of it. I also shake my legs all the time.