When you try to cope with trauma, your nervous system works hard. Often, too hard. Overwhelming memories, fear, and negativity can take physical form and course through your body in ongoing waves of disquieting sensations, discomfort, or pain. 

In other words, trauma actually hurts. At the very least, it can make you extremely uncomfortable in your own skin. 

Frequently we minimize the link between body and mind

Restoring the inherent safety and security of your body is at the core of the healing process. To believe that deep disturbance could happen in the mind and not in the body is a grave mistake. One that can lead to prolonged and unnecessary suffering. 

Your body and mind thrive together. United, they synergistically spur each other toward optimal health and performance. When trauma is allowed to come between body and mind, they stutter and strain, working against each other.

So, talk therapy is not the sole path to recovery. If trauma is stored in the body, easing that trauma must involve the body. Taking a bottom-up approach to relief, starting with the discomfort we consciously feel, is crucial. We don’t want to leave stuck, tense, painful places in our bodies unrecognized and unaddressed. The cost to our quality of life is too high. 

Often we simply don’t comprehend the warning signs our bodies send us 

That is of course, until the ache, pains, and spasms are chronic and debilitating. 

Truthfully, many trauma survivors who don’t benefit from somatic (body-centered) therapy live with a pile-up of health conditions that they never link to their trauma. The result? Attempts to straddle two painful experiences separately--one rooted in fear and anxious response; the other mired in physical tension and systemic reaction. This can become personally and relationally overwhelming.

Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. author of “The Body Keeps the Score” notes how terribly burdensome traumatic memory can be. Noticing your body is the link to peace. If we don’t take heed you may find the toll trauma takes includes the following:

Emotional Trauma, Perpetual Anxiety, and Your Kidneys

The effect of trauma on kidney function is worth mentioning first. The kidneys filter blood and are responsible for effective circulation. Research tells us that kidney function is impacted significantly by trauma-related stress responses.

If you’ve been traumatized, your muscles are probably tensed around your kidneys so that they are positioned high in your body, perpetually ready for fight or flight. Such sustained states of anxiety can raise blood pressure, elevate your heart rate, and keep too much sugar in your blood. Unaddressed chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease could result.

Your kidneys are often the best place to start therapy, however, you may be experiencing a myriad of bodily symptoms like those below as well:

Exaggerated Startle Reflex

Trauma in the body can show up as, a highly sensitive startle reflex. Your body overreacts to perceived threats, big, small and imagined. Essentially, your sympathetic nervous system is in overdrive.  Soon your high alert state leads to fatigue and exhaustion.

Tremors, Aches and Inexplicable Pain

Traumatic energy stuck in your body will often show up as back or joint aches or tension in the neck, face, brow, or jaw, even chest tightness. Some people complain of throat pain or a sense that they are choking, others experience shaking hands or strange numbness in various extremities. Recent research on women with fibromyalgia and chronic pain indicates a connection to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well.

Recurring Stomach Problems, Digestive Issues, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Trauma can be rough on your gut too. Your gut biome can be significantly disrupted as a result of impaired kidney function due to stress ( as mentioned above). This often leads to weight gain diarrhea, bloating, constipation and more.

Sleep Disturbance

It's not much of a leap to recognize how traumatic memories, conscious and suppressed, may manifest in nightmares, night terrors, disrupted sleep, and insomnia. The resulting exhaustion and fatigue can affect cognitive ability and physical coordination as well as your ability to heal from bodily wounds.

Suppressed Immune System

Unaddressed trauma has been shown to increase the odds of experiencing high levels of inflammation and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, or psoriasis. On a more everyday level, you may deal with more colds or infections, and have difficulty recovering from either.

Seek support for complete relief

Trauma can be very scary to confront, but addressing trauma piecemeal is not enough. The toll you pay to hold, bury, or ignore trauma is not worth your happy future.  

As a certified Somatic Experiencing® practitioner with advanced training, I am here to help you let go. Please read more about somatic experiencing and reach out soon for a consultation. You can heal and move forward.