PTSD pain

April 13, 2020 12:15 PM

I got assaulted and my body is pain even though I'm not physically injured. Advice is welcome.

My body hurts. It's all in my head. I don't have an actual injury, but I feel it all day. My shrink and my friends have been unable to offer any advice on assuaging it. I don't know what it's called, "pain that's not real pain," but I'm sure I'm not the only person who's experienced it. It's been a long time since the incident and I don't know how long it will last. Any advice from people who have been through this would be fine.

posted by Sterros to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

Psychosomatic pain. All pain originates in your brain, so you're not "imagining" it. I have the same issue, which I take cymbalta for. You could also read an oft-recommended book, "the body keeps the score", by Bessel van der kolk. I find listening to pain focused meditation is helpful too; you could Google PTSD meditation, chronic pain meditation, etc and you should get some results.
posted by erattacorrige at 12:32 PM on April 13, 2020 [2 favorites]

Once we get the all-clear to "move about the country" again, I suggest checking out an EMDR practitioner. EMDR is used for PTSD with some success. Someone suggested it here on the green to me and I tried it, and I got some relief from my PTSD.
posted by juniperesque at 12:38 PM on April 13, 2020 [4 favorites]

I came in to recommend The Body Keeps the Score as well.

I have been through this and there wasn't exactly any one thing that solved it, but here's a list of things that helped or still help:

- activities that involve doing things on both sides of my body - yoga, martial arts, aquafit, pilates. You could try this via online video if you like right now.

- activities that involved breaking a sweat in a way I enjoyed - dancing comes to mind

- for me, meditation just made things a lot worse (and my husband teaches meditation!) but baths with candles and books helped. And there are some grounding exercises that help me, like "name 5 things you can see/hear/touch/smell/anything you can taste."

- redecorating, heavy bracelets, elimination of certain scents and triggers - all things that reminded my mind that I was not in the past, at a kind of low scan-the-environment level

- cats

- physical activities that are not necessarily pleasurable per se - cleaning, kneading bread, gardening
posted by warriorqueen at 12:45 PM on April 13, 2020 [5 favorites]

Hey, just checking in to also say that this pain is definitely real. You're feeling it, right? That means your brain is sending signals to/from your pain receptors in response to an event. You don't have to be injured for it to be real. This pain you're feeling is your brain telling you that something damaging happened. Trauma never really leaves the body. I was assaulted 5 years ago and still struggle sometimes daily. Sometimes I go a month without a problem. Pushing my physical boundaries in safe ways helps my mind recalibrate to the present. By this I mean doing more exercise than what I would normally do. Clean for several hours and forcing myself not to take a break/look at my phone/etc. Taking a long walk, instead of turning around at the halfway point where you'd be back at your house when you're not in the mood to walk anymore, keep going past the halfway point so you're still forced to walk back once it starts being boring. Anything that means struggle or pain (but safe pain! normal pain) in the here and now, and my body will focus on that instead. The good part is that typically all of my here-and-now pain goes away after an hour nap or night's sleep. It's not an immediate problem solver, but more often than not it sets me up for a much better day tomorrow
posted by FirstMateKate at 1:20 PM on April 13, 2020 [2 favorites]

This is a Thing. If you google for PTSD plus pain or psychosomatic pain you’ll see a lot about it. You might check out this book (and/or audiobook) “You Are Not Your Pain” which is an eight week mindfulness program to help with pain.
posted by hungrytiger at 4:04 PM on April 13, 2020

It doesn’t just take time - I was choked years ago and I still flinch in pain when my neck is touched gently by other people and can’t wear scarves. Other assault things have healed but it wasn’t far. Therapy helps gradually but desensitisation is also helpful in teaching your body there are gentle good touches and movements to replace. I found dry brushing, hot showers and long hikes Worked best for me In feeling inside my body again comfortably.

Another thing to ask is about getting anxiety treated. I was constantly tense which made me freeze and flinch all day long and it ached badly. Getting an anti anxiety med made my body feel less achy and ready to panic. This is something to discuss with a psychiatrist though.

Your pain is real. It will get better and you deserve comfort and help as you recover.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 4:50 PM on April 13, 2020

Curable is a subscription based app that walks you through managing chronic pain. All pain is a signal processed in your brain, therefore pain exists in the brain for literally anything. That goes for emotional pain or that your leg is torn open. Our bodies sometimes give us these signals when we don't need them. Pain = danger, but you are not in danger. So you can train yourself to shut off those signals. It talks about the brain and emotional and physical science of pain and while I haven't been using it as much as I wanted, what I have listed to has been very sound and helpful. They use real research data and even talks from experts in the field. Emotional trauma is very much a trigger for chronic or continuing pain.

There are MANY REAL actual not "all in your head"(bullshit term to ignore people's pain) conditions that cause pain. Just because pain is in your brain, doesn't mean there isn't an underlying condition. That could include muscle or skeletal problems, arthritis, fibromyalgia, etc. (If you are AFAB doctors and people often will not believe you and tell you it's all in your head even when it's not. And even if they can't find a physical cause, it may still require compassion and treatment. )
posted by Crystalinne at 8:16 PM on April 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

There's an unfortunate illness called reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), or, lately, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). I don't mention it because i think you have it, but it is an example of how pain can begin locally, and then something pain specialists call central sensitization sets in.. the pain is real just different from how it began. The existence is this condition, and many others, really makes clear that there's no explicit live between "physical pain" and "psychosomatic" pain.. as someone said above, pain is pain, and if possible should be interrupted.
posted by elgee at 8:19 PM on April 13, 2020

Ketamine infusions are used to treat PTSD and intractable pain. I would look into Ketamine clinics in your area.
posted by sweltering at 1:03 AM on April 14, 2020

Nth the pain is real. My therapist called them "body memories". Doesn't matter what you call it, it's real. For me, intensive therapy and medication were the treatments. I realize this is hard with the world's situation right now. I used the 5-4-3-2-1 technique, but with a different twist. I picked one object in the room and listed 5 characteristics about it. They could involve any sense. Then I'd do the same with another object, but list 4 characteristics. Repeat with 3, 2, and 1.

Feel free to MeMail me if you want to chat with someone who has been there.
posted by kathrynm at 10:22 AM on April 14, 2020